575 research outputs found

    Nice Food, Good People : Technologies of subjectivity and class distinction in media texts about the right kind of food

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    MinkĂ€lainen ruoka mÀÀrittyy kulttuurissamme hyvĂ€ksi? Ruoka mÀÀritellÀÀn useimmiten hyvĂ€ksi koska se maistuu hyvĂ€ltĂ€, mutta ruoka voi olla hyvÀÀ myös muilla tavoin. Ruokaan liittyvĂ€t arvomÀÀritykset kiinnittyvĂ€t muodostamiimme moraalisiin arvostelmiin: siihen, millainen ruoka ansaitsee huomiomme tai hyvĂ€ksyntĂ€mme, minkĂ€laista ruokaa pidĂ€mme sosiaalisesti ja kulttuurisesti arvokkaana ja ennen kaikkea siihen, mÀÀritymmekö me itse hyviksi, arvokkaiksi ja legitiimeiksi kuluttamamme ruuan kautta. TĂ€ssĂ€ vĂ€itöskirjassa esitĂ€n, ettĂ€ ruuan kulttuurista diskurssia asuttavan subjektin arvo kietoutuu yhtÀÀltĂ€ kulttuuriseen erottautumiseen ja toisaalta itsen hallinnointiin. Tutkimuksessa pohdin, kuinka arvottaminen ja se liike, jonka kautta kuulumme jonnekin ja etÀÀnnymme jo(i)stakin muotoutuu ruuan kuluttamiseen kiinnittyvien merkitysten kautta. TĂ€mĂ€ vĂ€itöskirja lĂ€hestyy hyvÀÀ ruokaa eettisen syömisen ja terveellisen syömisen perspektiiveistĂ€. Eettiseen ja terveelliseen ruokaan kiinnittyy muun muassa luonnollisuuteen, puhtauteen ja elinkelpoisuuteen (fitness) viittaavia kulttuurisia arvostelmia, ja siten joitakin keskeisiĂ€ (ruoka)kulttuurisia kysymyksiĂ€ voi lĂ€hestyĂ€ niiden analyysin kautta. VĂ€itöskirjassa perehdyn eettisen syömisen merkityksiin luomua ja lĂ€hiruokaa kĂ€sitteleviĂ€ journalistisia tekstejĂ€ tarkastelemalla, ja analysoin ruokaa ja terveellisyyttĂ€ digitaalisten mediasisĂ€ltöjen wellness ruokaan keskittyvien aineistojen avulla. VĂ€itöskirjan neljĂ€ osajulkaisua avaavat monipuolisia nĂ€kökulmia mediavĂ€litteiseen ruokakulttuuriin ja sen tarjoamiin subjektiasemiin. EnsimmĂ€isessĂ€ tutkimusartikkelissa tutkin luomu- ja lĂ€hiruokaan Helsingin Sanomissa kiinnittyviĂ€ merkityksiĂ€ ja selvitĂ€n, minkĂ€laisin diskursiivisin keinoin ruoka mÀÀritellÀÀn luomuja lĂ€hiruokateksteissĂ€ kulttuurista arvostusta ansaitsevaksi, ja miten erityisesti autenttisuuden ja nostalgian diskurssit kietoutuvat aineiston teksteissĂ€ kulttuuriseen pÀÀomaan. Toinen artikkeli keskittyy Helsingin Sanomien uutisartikkeleihin ja niissĂ€ muodostuviin luokkamerkityksiin: artikkelissa tutkin, minkĂ€laisia kulttuurisia erontekoja luomu- ja lĂ€hiruokateksteissĂ€ tuotetaan, millaisiin luokkakulttuureihin eettisen ruoan kuluttaminen lehden diskursseissa kiinnittyy ja minkĂ€laisiin diskursiivisiin keinoihin nĂ€mĂ€ kĂ€ytĂ€nnöt nojaavat. Kolmas artikkeli uppoutuu wellness-ilmiöön liittyviin merkityksiin, ja analysoin artikkelissa wellness-kulttuuriin yhdistyviĂ€ ruokablogeja kiinnittĂ€en huomiota niihin minĂ€tekniikoihin, joiden keinoin ’ideaali wellness-yksilö’ blogiteksteissĂ€ rakentuu. NeljĂ€s ja viimeinen tutkimusartikkeli pureutuu digitaaliseen wellness-kulttuuriin analysoimalla Instagramin #womenswellness (pseudo)yhteisöÀ ja sen sisĂ€llöissĂ€ kierrĂ€tettyjĂ€ tunnesÀÀntöjĂ€ ja neuvoteltua naiseutta. Artikkeli kysyy, minkĂ€laisten tunteiden nĂ€yttĂ€miseen yhteisön tunnesÀÀnnöt kannustavat, ja miten nĂ€mĂ€ affektiiviset kĂ€ytĂ€nnöt kietoutuvat yhteen populaarimedian feminististen muodostelmien kanssa. NĂ€iden neljĂ€n tutkimusartikkelin puitteissa lĂ€hestyn aineistojani 1) sosiaalisen luokan (erityisesti keskiluokan) ja kulttuurisen erottautumisen sekĂ€ 2) hallinnallisuuden ja (sukupuolittuneisiin) subjektiviteetteihin liittyvien terveysaatteen (healthism) ja uusliberalismin kĂ€sitteiden kautta. Tarkoituksenani on tuoda työn yhteenvedossa yhteen edellĂ€ mainittuja teoreettisia nĂ€kökulmia ja niihin liittyviĂ€ tutkimusongelmia, ja siksi vĂ€itöskirjan yhteenvedossa lĂ€hestyn osatutkimuksia ja niissĂ€ tĂ€rkeĂ€ssĂ€ osassa olleita teoreettisia kehyksiĂ€ hyvĂ€n elĂ€mĂ€n kĂ€sitteen kautta. Tavoitteenani on vastata yhteenvedossa kysymykseen, jota voi pitÀÀ erÀÀnlaisena hyvÀÀ subjektia painottavana koosteena vĂ€itöskirjan analyyseista ja osatutkimusten monista tutkimuskysymyksistĂ€. Keskityn siten yhteenvedossa hyviin ihmisiin hyvĂ€n ruuan konteksteissa, kysyen: minkĂ€laisia arvokkaita subjekteja nykykulttuurin ruokadiskurssit tuottavat? Yhteenvedon lopussa esitĂ€n, ettĂ€ ruuan diskurssit kiinnittyvĂ€t hyvĂ€n elĂ€mĂ€n ideaaleihin ensinnĂ€kin tavoitellen jotakin, kurkottaen kohti edessĂ€ siintĂ€vÀÀ tĂ€ydellisyyttĂ€ (tĂ€ydellistĂ€ terveyttĂ€, kehoa, tasapainoa), ja toiseksi pyrkimĂ€llĂ€ turvaamaan hyvĂ€n ja huonon sekĂ€ hyvien ja huonojen ihmisten vĂ€liset etĂ€isyydet, jĂ€hmettĂ€en asemiinsa tiettyjen ruokien tai elĂ€mĂ€ntyylien kulttuurisen legitiimiyden ja toisenlaisten ruokien tai elĂ€mĂ€ntyylien epĂ€legitiimiyden. Hahmottelen yhteenvedossa neljĂ€ erilaista kulttuurista subjektiasemaa, joita analysoidut mediatekstit lukijalleen tarjoavat. NimeĂ€n nĂ€mĂ€ subjektiasemat hyvĂ€n maun subjektiksi, moraaliseksi subjektiksi, tasapainoiseksi subjektiksi sekĂ€ resilientiksi subjektiksi, ja pohdin sitĂ€, miten kulttuurinen erottautuminen, luokka ja sukupuoli kytkeytyvĂ€t subjektiasemiin aineistoissa erilaisin tavoin. VĂ€itöskirja tuo esiin, kuinka ruokaan kiinnittyvĂ€t makuarvostelmat ja subjektiasemat eivĂ€t mÀÀrity ensisijaisesti esimerkiksi valinnanvapauden tai itsen kehittĂ€misen kautta, ja kuinka ruuan diskursiiviset neuvottelut tuovat nĂ€kyviksi toimijoiden eriarvoisuuden suhteessa kulttuuriseen statukseen tai itsen toteuttamiseen. Analyysien perusteella voidaan todeta, ettĂ€ luokka ja sukupuoli mÀÀrittĂ€vĂ€t vahvasti sitĂ€, miten ja minkĂ€laisista lĂ€htökohdista hyvĂ€n elĂ€mĂ€n ideaalia yhteiskunnassamme tavoitellaan.What kind of food might be categorised as good in our contemporary society? Describing food as good most often means that it tastes good, however, food is evaluated as good in other ways as well. These evaluations touch upon the moral judgements we make: what kind of food is worthy of our attention and approval, what kind of food is deemed as socially and culturally legitimate, and, most importantly, whether the food we eat and the culinary lifestyles we aspire towards make us good, worthy or legitimate. I argue that evaluating the subject of mediated food discourse – be it ourselves or ‘the other’ – is entangled, firstly, with cultural distinction and secondly, with governing the self. In this dissertation, I ponder how evaluation, the movement through which we belong somewhere or turn away from something else is done through mediated meanings connected with food consumption. This dissertation approaches good food from the perspectives of ethical eating and healthy eating. Ethical and healthy food incorporate cultural evaluations connected with, for example, naturalness, pureness, cleanliness and fitness, and thus some of the central food-related judgements of goodness and legitimacy can be addressed through mediated meanings connected with ethicality and healthiness. In this dissertation, ethical eating is examined in terms of how organic and locally grown food (i.e., sustainable food) are framed in journalistic texts, and healthy eating is viewed through the wellness food culture of digital media. The four publications open multiple perspectives on the contemporary mediated food culture and the legitimate subjectivities inhabiting it. The first publication analyses the meanings connected with organic and local food in Helsingin Sanomat through an examination of texts that can be categorised as ‘lifestyle journalism’, asking how organic and local food are legitimised in the data, and how authenticity and nostalgia are deployed in connection with sustainable lifestyle. The second publication centres on Helsingin Sanomat news articles and the class-related meanings created there in connection with organic and local food. The paper asks what kind of cultural distinctions are produced in these journalistic texts, and through which discursive strategies ethical consumption becomes associated with and attached to different class cultures. The third publication delves into the cultural field of wellness, analysing the ways in which subjectivity is discursively produced in the blog content of three wellness food blogs run by women. The article seeks answers to the question of how, and through what kind of technologies of the self the ‘ideal wellness subject’ is created in the blog texts. Finally, the fourth publication examines digital wellness culture through an analysis of the #womenswellness intimate public of Instagram, concentrating on the affective practices observable in the food-related content of this intimate public and how gendered existence and popular feminism factor into the displays of feeling in that space. The paper asks what emotions are encouraged in the #womenswellness public of Instagram, and how these affective practices intertwine with contemporary configurations of feminism in popular media. In these four research articles I approach my data predominantly through theoretical discussions on 1) social class (especially the middle class) and cultural distinction as well as 2) governmentality and the (gendered) subjectivities related to healthist and neoliberal ‘sensibilities’. With the intention of bringing these scholarly discussions together, the introductory part of this dissertation reflects on the research articles and on their theoretical frameworks through the concept of ‘the good life’. As I endeavour to answer an overarching research question focusing on the good people behind the good food, this dissertation asks: What kind of a valuable subject is being produced in contemporary food discourses? I propose that mediated, everyday food discourses adhere to the good life through, firstly, aspiring towards something (a lifestyle or a state of being for example): reaching for a beacon glimmering in the distance, promising perfection and happiness if we only stretch our reach far enough. Secondly, these food discourses work to secure the symbolic distance between good and bad, solidifying and reaffirming the legitimacy of certain foodstuffs, practices and eaters and the illegitimate status of others. In the concluding section of this dissertation, I formulate four different subject positions that seem to be offered to the (right kind of) recipient in food-related media texts. These are the tasteful subject, the morally-righteous subject, the balanced subject and the resilient subject, all of which attach to cultural distinction, class and gender in different ways. This dissertation shows that the judgements and subject positions related to good food are not a matter of free choice or self-improvement, as the discursive negotiations relating to food depict how subjects are on unequal footing with regard to cultural status or possibilities for ‘selfactualisation’. On the basis of the analyses, what is evident is that formations of class and gender have a crucial bearing on from which positions and with what kind of stakes the good life is pursued to begin with

    Food - Media - Senses: Interdisciplinary Approaches

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    Food is more than just nutrition. Its preparation, presentation and consumption is a multifold communicative practice which includes the meal's design and its whole field of experience. How is food represented in cookbooks, product packaging or in paintings? How is dining semantically charged? How is the sensuality of eating treated in different cultural contexts? In order to acknowledge the material and media-related aspects of eating as a cultural praxis, experts from media studies, art history, literary studies, philosophy, experimental psychology, anthropology, food studies, cultural studies and design studies share their specific approaches

    Behavior quantification as the missing link between fields: Tools for digital psychiatry and their role in the future of neurobiology

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    The great behavioral heterogeneity observed between individuals with the same psychiatric disorder and even within one individual over time complicates both clinical practice and biomedical research. However, modern technologies are an exciting opportunity to improve behavioral characterization. Existing psychiatry methods that are qualitative or unscalable, such as patient surveys or clinical interviews, can now be collected at a greater capacity and analyzed to produce new quantitative measures. Furthermore, recent capabilities for continuous collection of passive sensor streams, such as phone GPS or smartwatch accelerometer, open avenues of novel questioning that were previously entirely unrealistic. Their temporally dense nature enables a cohesive study of real-time neural and behavioral signals. To develop comprehensive neurobiological models of psychiatric disease, it will be critical to first develop strong methods for behavioral quantification. There is huge potential in what can theoretically be captured by current technologies, but this in itself presents a large computational challenge -- one that will necessitate new data processing tools, new machine learning techniques, and ultimately a shift in how interdisciplinary work is conducted. In my thesis, I detail research projects that take different perspectives on digital psychiatry, subsequently tying ideas together with a concluding discussion on the future of the field. I also provide software infrastructure where relevant, with extensive documentation. Major contributions include scientific arguments and proof of concept results for daily free-form audio journals as an underappreciated psychiatry research datatype, as well as novel stability theorems and pilot empirical success for a proposed multi-area recurrent neural network architecture.Comment: PhD thesis cop

    PenChain: A Blockchain-Based Platform for Penalty-Aware Service Provisioning

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    Service provisioning is of paramount importance as we are now heading towards a world of integrated services giving rise to the next generation of service ecosystems. The huge number of service offerings that will be available to customers in future scenarios require a novel approach to service registry and discovery that allows customers to choose the offerings that best match their preferences. One way to achieve this is to introduce the provider’s reputation, i.e., a quality indicator of the provisioned service, as an additional search criterion. Now, with blockchain technology in our hands, automated regulation of service-level agreements (SLAs) that capture mutual agreements between all involved parties has regained momentum. In this article, we report on our full-fledged work on the conception, design, and construction of a platform for SLA-minded service provisioning called PenChain. With our work, we demonstrate that penalty-aware SLAs of general services–if represented in machine-readable logic and assisted by distributed ledger technology–are programmatically enforceable. We devise algorithms for ranking services in a search result taking into account the digitized values of the SLAs. We offer two scenario-based evaluations of PenChain in the field of precision agriculture and in the domain of automotive manufacturing. Furthermore, we examine the scalability and data security of PenChain for precision agriculture

    Beyond Document Page Classification: Design, Datasets, and Challenges

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    This paper highlights the need to bring document classification benchmarking closer to real-world applications, both in the nature of data tested (XX: multi-channel, multi-paged, multi-industry; YY: class distributions and label set variety) and in classification tasks considered (ff: multi-page document, page stream, and document bundle classification, ...). We identify the lack of public multi-page document classification datasets, formalize different classification tasks arising in application scenarios, and motivate the value of targeting efficient multi-page document representations. An experimental study on proposed multi-page document classification datasets demonstrates that current benchmarks have become irrelevant and need to be updated to evaluate complete documents, as they naturally occur in practice. This reality check also calls for more mature evaluation methodologies, covering calibration evaluation, inference complexity (time-memory), and a range of realistic distribution shifts (e.g., born-digital vs. scanning noise, shifting page order). Our study ends on a hopeful note by recommending concrete avenues for future improvements.}Comment: 8 pages, under revie

    Evaluating FAIR Digital Object and Linked Data as distributed object systems

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    FAIR Digital Object (FDO) is an emerging concept that is highlighted by European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) as a potential candidate for building a ecosystem of machine-actionable research outputs. In this work we systematically evaluate FDO and its implementations as a global distributed object system, by using five different conceptual frameworks that cover interoperability, middleware, FAIR principles, EOSC requirements and FDO guidelines themself. We compare the FDO approach with established Linked Data practices and the existing Web architecture, and provide a brief history of the Semantic Web while discussing why these technologies may have been difficult to adopt for FDO purposes. We conclude with recommendations for both Linked Data and FDO communities to further their adaptation and alignment.Comment: 40 pages, submitted to PeerJ C

    Development of linguistic linked open data resources for collaborative data-intensive research in the language sciences

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    Making diverse data in linguistics and the language sciences open, distributed, and accessible: perspectives from language/language acquistiion researchers and technical LOD (linked open data) researchers. This volume examines the challenges inherent in making diverse data in linguistics and the language sciences open, distributed, integrated, and accessible, thus fostering wide data sharing and collaboration. It is unique in integrating the perspectives of language researchers and technical LOD (linked open data) researchers. Reporting on both active research needs in the field of language acquisition and technical advances in the development of data interoperability, the book demonstrates the advantages of an international infrastructure for scholarship in the field of language sciences. With contributions by researchers who produce complex data content and scholars involved in both the technology and the conceptual foundations of LLOD (linguistics linked open data), the book focuses on the area of language acquisition because it involves complex and diverse data sets, cross-linguistic analyses, and urgent collaborative research. The contributors discuss a variety of research methods, resources, and infrastructures. Contributors Isabelle BarriĂšre, Nan Bernstein Ratner, Steven Bird, Maria Blume, Ted Caldwell, Christian Chiarcos, Cristina Dye, Suzanne Flynn, Claire Foley, Nancy Ide, Carissa Kang, D. Terence Langendoen, Barbara Lust, Brian MacWhinney, Jonathan Masci, Steven Moran, Antonio Pareja-Lora, Jim Reidy, Oya Y. Rieger, Gary F. Simons, Thorsten Trippel, Kara Warburton, Sue Ellen Wright, Claus Zin
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