106 research outputs found
Grounds for a Third Place : The Starbucks Experience, Sirens, and Space
My goal in this dissertation is to help demystify or âfilterâ the âStarbucks Experienceâ for a post-pandemic world, taking stock of how a multi-national company has long outgrown its humble beginnings as a wholesale coffee bean supplier to become a digitally-integrated and hypermodern cafĂ©. I look at the role Starbucks plays within the larger cultural history of the coffee house and also consider how Starbucks has been idyllically described in corporate discourse as a comfortable and discursive âthird placeâ for informal gathering, a term that also prescribes its own radical ethos as a globally recognized customer service platform. Attempting to square Starbucksâ iconography and rhetoric with a new critical methodology, in a series of interdisciplinary case studies, I examine the role Starbucksâ âthird placeâ philosophy plays within larger conversations about urban space and commodity culture, analyze Starbucks advertising, architecture and art, and trace the mythical rise of the Starbucks Siren (and the reiterations and re-imaginings of the Starbucks Siren in art and media). While in corporate rhetoric Starbucksâ âthird placeâ is depicted as an enthralling adventure, full of play, discovery, authenticity, or âromance,â I draw on critical theory to discuss how it operates today as a space of distraction, isolation, and loss
Offene-Welt-Strukturen: Architektur, Stadt- und Naturlandschaft im Computerspiel
Welche Rolle spielen Algorithmen fĂŒr den Bildbau und die Darstellung von Welt und Wetter in Computerspielen? Wie beeinflusst die Gestaltung der RĂ€ume, Level und Topografien die Entscheidungen und das Verhalten der Spieler_innen? Ist der Brutalismus der erste genuine Architekturstil der Computerspiele? Welche Bedeutung haben LandschaftsgĂ€rten und Nationalparks im Strukturieren von Spielwelten? Wie wird Natur in Zeiten des Klimawandels dargestellt? Insbesondere in den letzten 20 Jahren adaptieren digitale Spielwelten akribischer denn je Merkmale der physisch-realen Welt. Durch aufwĂ€ndige Produktionsverfahren und komplexe Visualisierungsstrategien wird die Angleichung an unsere ĂŒbrige Alltagswelt stets in AbhĂ€ngigkeit von Spielmechanik und Weltlichkeit erzeugt. Wie sich spĂ€testens am Beispiel der Open-World-Spiele zeigt, fĂŒhrt die Ăbernahme bestimmter Weltbilder und Bildtraditionen zu ideologischen Implikationen, die weit ĂŒber die bisher im Fokus der Forschung stehenden, aus anderen Medienformaten transferierten ErzĂ€hlkonventionen hinausgehen. Mit seiner Theorie der Architektur als medialem Scharnier legt der Autor offen, dass digitale Spielwelten medienspezifische Eigenschaften aufweisen, die bisher nicht zu greifen waren und der Erforschung harrten. Durch VerschrĂ€nken von Konzepten aus u.a. Medienwissenschaft, Game Studies, Philosophie, Architekturtheorie, Humangeografie, Landschaftstheorie und Kunstgeschichte erarbeitet Bonner ein transdisziplinĂ€res Theoriemodell und ermöglicht anhand der daraus entwickelten analytischen Methoden erstmals, die komplexe Struktur heutiger Computerspiele - vom Indie Game bis zur AAA Open World - zu verstehen und zu benennen. Mit "Offene-Welt-Strukturen" wird die Architektonik digitaler Spielwelten umfassend zugĂ€nglich
What is the Avatar? Fiction and Embodiment in Avatar-Based Singleplayer Computer Games: Revised and Commented Edition
What are the characteristic features of avatar-based singleplayer videogames, from Super Mario Bros. to Grand Theft Auto? The author examines this question with a particular focus on issues of fictionality and realism, and their relation to cinema and Virtual Reality. Through close-up analysis and philosophical discussion, the author argues that avatar-based gaming is a distinctive and dominant form of virtual self-embodiment in digital culture. This book is a revised edition of Rune Klevjer's pioneering work from 2007, featuring a new introduction by the author and afterword by Stephan GĂŒnzel, Jörg Sternagel, and Dieter Mersch
Play Among Books
How does coding change the way we think about architecture? Miro Roman and his AI Alice_ch3n81 develop a playful scenario in which they propose coding as the new literacy of information. They convey knowledge in the form of a project model that links the fields of architecture and information through two interwoven narrative strands in an âinfinite flowâ of real books
âThere are things going bump in the night all over this townâ: Gothic Tourism, Haunted London, and the Geographies of Haunted Space
London, with its historical legacy as a haunted space that dates back to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, remains a top destination for global and domestic ghost tourists. Despite Londonâs thriving supernatural status and its consistent popularity with ghost tourists, there has yet to be a sustained study of, or dedicated edited volume on, the phenomenon of London ghost tourism and its history to date. My project represents an attempt to fill this lacuna. Using the eighteenth-century aesthetics of associationism as a point of departure, this thesis deploys a mixed or hybrid methodology to achieve three objectives: first, to provide original research by means of case studies on sites of hauntings, ghost tourism practices, and/or the use of ghosts in heritage; secondly, to offer an overview of London ghost tourism trends from the nineteenth century to the present day; and thirdly, to introduce select spatial and cultural theories to situate how haunted space and its associated tourism practices achieve a certain kind of âin-placenessâ. In total, this study offers a thorough exploration of London ghost tourism practice from the nineteenth century to the present-day and argues that ghosts and hauntings are inextricably tied to place, alter our relationship to the urban landscape, and allow us, as either âarmchairâ or in-person tourists, to navigate the liminal realm of real and imagined Gothic space. To achieve these objectives, each chapter situates a particular aspect of ghost tourism within the relevant London traditionâimaginative literary tours, walking tours, multimedia virtual tours, and so forthâand, then, deploys the methodology best suited to the phenomena under consideration. This interdisciplinary approach aims to provide an original theory of how Gothic and/or ghost tours engage with the supernatural in a way that is distinctive, imaginative, and sui generis
Sensational Subjects
This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Under what conditions does âsensationâ become âsensationalâ? In the early nineteenth century murder was a staple of the sensationalizing popular press and gruesome descriptions were deployed to make a direct impact on the sensations of the reader. By the end of the century, public concern with the thrills, spills, and shocks of modern life was increasingly articulated in the language of sensation. Media sensationalism contributed to this process and magnified its impact, just as sensation was, in turn, taken up by literature, art and film. In the contemporary world the dramatization of these experiences in an era of media panics over terrorism and paedophilia has taken an overtly melodramatic form, in which battles of good and evil play out across the landscapes of our lives. Sensational Subjects develops an innovative, interdisciplinary approach to exploring these themes, their impact and their implications for understanding the modern world. A companion volume, Sympathetic Sentiments: Affect, Emotion and Spectacle in the Modern World is published simultaneously by Bloomsbury
50 Years World Heritage Convention: Shared Responsibility â Conflict & Reconciliation
This open access book identifies various forms of heritage destruction and analyses their causes. It proposes strategies for avoiding and solving conflicts, based on integrating heritage into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It reflects on the identity-building role of heritage, on multidimensional conflicts and the destruction of heritage, and considers conflict-solving strategies and future perspectives. Furthermore, it engages theoretically and practically with the concepts of responsibility, reconciliation and sustainability, relating mainly to four Sustainable Development Goals, i.e. SDGs 4 (education), 11 (e.g. World Heritage), 13 (climate action) and 17 (partnerships for the goals). More than 160 countries have inscribed properties on the UNESCO World Heritage list since the World Heritage Convention came into force. Improvements in the implementation of the Convention, such as the Global Strategy for a Representative, Balanced and Credible World Heritage List, have occurred, but other conflicts have not been solved. The book advocates for a balanced distribution of properties and more effective strategies to represent the global diversity of cultural and natural heritage. Furthermore it highlights the importance of heritage in identity building
Representation Challenges
Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are technological domains that closely interact with space at architectural and urban scale in the broader ambits of cultural heritage and innovative design. The growing interest is perceivable in many fields of knowledge, supported by the rapid development and advancement of theory and application, software and devices, fueling a pervasive phenomenon within our daily lives. These technologies demonstrate to be best exploited when their application and other information and communication technology (ICT) advancements achieve a continuum. In particular, AR defines an alternative path to observe, analyze and communicate space and artifacts. Besides, AI opens future scenarios in data processing, redefining the relationship between man and computer. In the last few years, the AR/AI expansion and relationship have raised deep transdisciplinary speculation. The research experiences have shown many cross-relations in Architecture and Design domains. Representation studies could arise an international debate as a convergence place of multidisciplinary theoretical and applicative contributions related to architecture, city, environment, tangible and intangible Cultural Heritage. This book collects 66 papers and identify eight lines of research that may guide future developments
Spatial Formats under the Global Condition
Contributions to this volume summarize and discuss the theoretical foundations of the Collaborative Research Centre at Leipzig University which address the relationship between processes of (re-)spatialization on the one hand and the establishment and characteristics of spatial formats on the other hand
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