Meaning in life as a source of entertainment

In this paper we mean to introduce into the field of entertainment computing an overview of insights concerning fundamental human needs. Researchers such as Hassenzahl and Desmet, discuss design approaches based on psychological insights from various and varied sources. We collect these and expand them with a focus on meaning in life as seen in humanistic philosophy. We summarise the various roles that these insights can play in our research on new technology, and illustrate the discussion with examples from the field of computer entertainment

Linking activity and place attachment dimensions in enhancing the sense of place

Sense of place definition includes the point where the physical form, activity and meaning are intertwined in the people experience of a place. In urban design and place quality research, much has been discussed on the influence of the physical form and activity on the sense of place. However, the linkage between these components with place meaning and attachment has not been adequately explored, in particular on urban streets. This paper highlights the role of activity in supporting attachment to shopping streets in the city centre of Kuala Lumpur. Surveys and face-to-face interviews with users of Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman (JTAR), Jalan Masjid India (JMI), Jalan Petaling (JP) and Jalan Bukit Bintang (JBB) were conducted to examine their perception of the streets’ activities and its significance to their association with the places. The research demonstrates that activity has strongly influenced place attachment as reflected in the users’ identification of and dependence on the shopping streets. The attachment is the result of constant and long term engagement with the activities, mainly shopping, trading and socio-cultural interaction

Pleasure and meaningful discourse: an overview of research issues

The concept of pleasure has emerged as a multi-faceted social and cultural phenomenon in studies of media audiences since the 1980s. In these studies different forms of pleasure have been identified as explaining audience activity and commitment. In the diverse studies pleasure has emerged as a multi-faceted social and cultural concept that needs to be contextualized carefully. Genre and genre variations, class, gender, (sub-)cultural identity and generation all seem to be instrumental in determining the kind and variety of pleasures experienced in the act of viewing. This body of research has undoubtedly contributed to a better understanding of the complexity of audience activities, but it is exactly the diversity of the concept that is puzzling and poses a challenge to its further use. If pleasure is maintained as a key concept in audience analysis that holds much explanatory power, it needs a stronger theoretical foundation. The article maps the ways in which the concept of pleasure has been used by cultural theorists, who have paved the way for its application in reception analysis, and it goes on to explore the ways in which the concept has been used in empirical studies. Central to our discussion is the division between the ‘public knowledge’ and the ‘popular culture’ projects in reception analysis which, we argue, have major implications for the way in which pleasure has come to be understood as divorced from politics, power and ideology. Finally, we suggest ways of bridging the gap between these two projects in an effort to link pleasure to the concepts of hegemony and ideology

Dialectical Spaces in the Global Public Sphere: Media Memories across Generations

A decade ago, CNN and MTV emerged as new types of 'global' players, initiating and supporting a new global transnational community of 'news junkies' and music cultures from New York, to Tokyo, to Buenos Aires and Los Angeles. Today, access to international news is not only available in many countries around the world, but international channels have multiplied and created 'imagined communities' (Anderson, 1983), affecting new political alliances, conventional journalism and - increasingly - national public spheres. The following research report will discuss new issues of globalization and focus on the impact of media-related globalization processes on 'life-worlds' in various countries

Weird Science! It’s My Creation . . . Is It Really? Or: Crafting a New Universal Trademark Standard for User-Created Avatars

In modern trademark law the process of registering a valid trademark is straightforward. In the United States the Lanham Act is the ruling law of trademark law. The Lanham Act grants protection to the owner of a registered mark which is distinctive and used in commerce. Assuming all the requirements are met, the owner of a mark can use the mark within its discretion and enjoy the protection under the Lanham Act. As trademark law has continued to evolve, the law has expanded to protect previously unforeseen categories. The two most obvious examples which demonstrate the evolution of protection under trademark law are trade dress and antidilution protection. These two areas demonstrate trademark law’s ability to evolve to address areas not recognized through established law. Nowhere is an adaptation of trademark law required more than in user-created avatars. The emergence of user-created content has begun to become a common occurrence within the areas of electronic media. Video games can currently give players a blank slate upon which they can build their own creation. Issues however arise when there are inquiries into who legitimately owns theses creations and what protections they are afforded

The cultural spaces of Siegfried Kracauer: The many surfaces of Berlin

Abstract not available

William Shakespeare as a Purveyor of Re-Productions: Understanding Shakespeare’s Plays as Profitable Products

This project, “Recasting William Shakespeare in The Business of Playwriting,” works to reinvigorate the value gained by reading Shakespeare by: Beginning with espousing the importance of reading Shakespeare as a practical businessman first, instead of the mythological literary genius that men decades and now centuries after Shakespeare marketed and herald him as. Although this is not the primary focus of this paper, it is an important framework that begins to enable us to shift our presumptions of the canonical text, Romeo and Juliet . The next section sets the backdrop, i.e. the environment, in which Shakespeare used an emerging profession to recreate literature and runs through the “ancestry” of the star-crossed lovers archetype. Finally, the main section of this project identifies and explicates particular loci where Shakespeare transformed the original text in order to target and appeal to the audience of the times; in particular to Romeo & Juliet , this includes that of the creation of suspense, tragedy in relation to comedy, and an interrogation of love at first sight. This project concludes with a quick review of other proof of audience recognition within Shakespeare’s corpus that can lead to further investigations and close readings of other texts, Shakespearean or not, for financial motivations. All of which will help readers of Shakespeare come away with a greater business appreciation of his work and possibly force readers to think about the economic constraints and incentives shaping literature

Characteristics of Vietnamese lexis of Vietnamese Australian immigrants

The Vietnamese of Australian communities (VAC) still maintains many obsolete expressions originating from and related to the Southern Vietnamese political institutions of the pre-1975 Southern government. In addition, VAC has adopted English loanwords (ELs) through close contact with Australian English and uses them extensively to fill gaps in vocabulary. English loanwords have not only been borrowed in their original forms but were also nativized through the mechanism of loanwords and loan translation. Moreover, hybridised expressions have been coined by Vietnamese Australian émigrés through the compounding of one English or Vietnamese item with a Vietnamese or English item through loan blending

Sound for Fantasy and Freedom

Sound is an integral part of our everyday lives. Sound tells us about physical events in the environ- ment, and we use our voices to share ideas and emotions through sound. When navigating the world on a day-to-day basis, most of us use a balanced mix of stimuli from our eyes, ears and other senses to get along. We do this totally naturally and without effort. In the design of computer game experiences, traditionally, most attention has been given to vision rather than the balanced mix of stimuli from our eyes, ears and other senses most of us use to navigate the world on a day to day basis. The risk is that this emphasis neglects types of interaction with the game needed to create an immersive experience. This chapter summarizes the relationship between sound properties, GameFlow and immersive experience and discusses two projects in which Interactive Institute, Sonic Studio has balanced perceptual stimuli and game mechanics to inspire and create new game concepts that liberate users and their imagination