Pathwaves Digital Music: Horizon Scan

A Horizon Scan of Drivers and Trends within the Canadian Digital Music sphere for consideration in meaningful innovation for musicians and disruption that may favour creatives. Created as part of the Pathwaves Digital Music Incubator by the Super Ordinary Laboratory at OCAD University

Video game subcultures: playing at the periphery of mainstream culture [special issue of GAME Journal]

This issue of GAME Journal offers an overview and a series of case studies on video games from the point of view of subcultural theory. There has been little work in game studies from this perspective, which offers a theoretical frame for the ever growing complexity of the audiences involved with the medium of the video game. The study of subcultures on the other hand has a long standing and complex tradition which culminates in what has been recently defined as the “post-subcultural” theoretical scenario

Metaverse. Old urban issues in new virtual cities

Recent years have seen the arise of some early attempts to build virtual cities, utopias or affective dystopias in an embodied Internet, which in some respects appear to be the ultimate expression of the neoliberal city paradigma (even if virtual). Although there is an extensive disciplinary literature on the relationship between planning and virtual or augmented reality linked mainly to the gaming industry, this often avoids design and value issues. The observation of some of these early experiences - Decentraland, Minecraft, Liberland Metaverse, to name a few - poses important questions and problems that are gradually becoming inescapable for designers and urban planners, and allows us to make some partial considerations on the risks and potentialities of these early virtual cities

Tech Imaginations

Prof. Dr. Jens Schröter, Christoph Borbach, Max Kanderske und Prof. Dr. Benjamin Beil sind Herausgeber der Reihe. Die Herausgeber*innen der einzelnen Hefte sind renommierte Wissenschaftler*innen aus dem In- und Ausland.Technologies and especially media technologies are pervasive in modern societies. But even more omnipresent are the imaginaries of modern technologies – what technologies are thought to be capable of or what effects they are supposed to have. These imaginations reveal a lot of the political and ideological self-descriptions of societies, hence the (techno-)imaginary also functions as a kind of epistemic tool. Concepts of the imaginary therefore have experienced an increasing attention in cultural theory and the social sciences in recent years. In particular, work from political philosophy, but also approaches from science and technology studies (STS) or communication and media studies are worth mentioning here. The term "techno-imagination", coined by Vilém Flusser in the early 1990s, refers to the close interconnection of (digital) media and imaginations, whose coupling can not only be understood as a driver of future technology via fictional discourses (e.g. science fiction), but much more fundamentally also as a constitutive element of society and sociality itself, as Castoriadis has argued. In the first part of the issue several theoretical contributions add new aspects to the discussion of socio-technical imaginaries, while in the second part a workshop held in January 2022 at the CAIS in Bochum is documented, in which the case of the imaginaries of “Future Internets” was discussed

“Only if you were in my shoes, you'd see it the way I do!” Reflecting on Professional Identity and Improving Design Practice: An Autoethnographic Phenomenological Study of Disabled Residents in Second Life

ABSTRACT Reflecting on professional identity and improving design practice: An autoethnographic phenomenological study of disabled residents in Second Life Antonia Tzemopoulos, Ph.D. Concordia University, 2015 A limited number of studies have examined e-learning environments for people with disabilities. Essentially, these studies place emphasis on descriptions pertaining to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards and highlight interface design theory. Much has been said regarding interface design but little has been said regarding the interrelationship between the virtual environment, user emotions and the disabled learner. As spaces of learning are changing, going from the once traditional classroom environment to that of the virtual space, there is a growing need to understand how people with disabilities feel within the “pixelated” environment, thus allowing instructional designers to obtain a better understanding of what is a “good design” for people with disabilities. Virtual environments allow people with disabilities to participate in activities which would not be possible in real life, exploring regions that are bound by diverse aesthetical experiences, various stimuli and sociality. However, a number of questions still remain unanswered and can equally contribute to the improvement of the instructional design practice while fostering the idea of “doing good” for the disabled user. In this study, which extended over a period of one year, research was conducted on adults with various real life disabilities (visible or non-visible) who are active residents within Second Life, a 3D online environment. The researcher, also a resident of Second Life, had an opportunity to interact with members of Virtual Ability Island, an online environment that enables users with a wide variety of disabilities to obtain support, access to health information and develop mastery of navigation of the online world using different tutorials. Resulting from her multiple visits, friendships emerged prior to commencing the research journey. Reflecting as a researcher, she sheds light on some of the challenges she encountered during the research process and how interacting with people from Virtual Ability Island altered her perception of the meaning “designing for people with disabilities”. The methodology used is unique: a fusion of autoethnography, phenomenology, and narrative research combined with Tillmann-Healy’s Friendship as a Method. Using reflective journaling, casual conversations, field notes and virtual snapshots, the researcher’s thoughts parallel those of the disabled residents of the Second Life community. The Virtual Ability Island residents took the researcher on a visual, emotional and textual journey, sharing their experiences of Second Life. Although, the purpose of this study was intended to create dialogue, as well as evoke emotions, the underlying purpose was to demonstrate that alternative research methods can be considered as professional tools. These tools highlight active listening, emphasize ethical reasoning, and encourage critical self-reflection, while focusing on empathy, compassion and relationship building with the participant(s). They also aid in the interaction and gathering of data from people with disabilities in virtual environments such as Second Life

Examining university student satisfaction and barriers to taking online remote exams

Recent years have seen a surge in the popularity of online exams at universities, due to the greater convenience and flexibility they offer both students and institutions. Driven by the dearth of empirical data on distance learning students' satisfaction levels and the difficulties they face when taking online exams, a survey with 562 students at The Open University (UK) was conducted to gain insights into their experiences with this type of exam. Satisfaction was reported with the environment and exams, while work commitments and technical difficulties presented the greatest barriers. Gender, race and disability were also associated with different levels of satisfaction and barriers. This study adds to the increasing number of studies into online exams, demonstrating how this type of exam can still have a substantial effect on students experienced in online learning systems and technologies