Vandalism as a Symbolic Act in Free Zones

The concept of vandalism is analyzed as a symbolic act. An analysis of vandalism from a situational-positivistic, or a motivational-psychological, approach hardly gives an understanding of vandalism as a meaningful individual and social act. A humanistic and cultural perspective can supply ways to understand a nonprescribed behavior such as vandalism. The original meaning of vandalism is plundering and laying waste of a civilization's symbols and environment. This appropriation of physical environment also occurs in the industrialized societies' urban environment and then often is perceived as motiveless. "Free zones" develop in societies where norms and obligations are neutralized. Vandalism is nonprescribed in that it appears in these free zones where norms, obligations, utility, and common sense are switched off. The environment is "marked" by damaging or destroying objects to change the message of the physical milieu. Vandalism is a gesture of "negative honor," which reflects a complex of feelings. Vandalism comprises two sides of an autonomy problem: to be isolated from an unwanted membership (juvenile vandalism) and to be free of an unwanted outside position (adult vandalism). An essential question is which methodological and theoretical concepts a researcher in the social sciences should use to discover the rationality of vandalism and to make it comprehensible

Similarity reasoning for local surface analysis and recognition

This thesis addresses the similarity assessment of digital shapes, contributing to the analysis of surface characteristics that are independent of the global shape but are crucial to identify a model as belonging to the same manufacture, the same origin/culture or the same typology (color, common decorations, common feature elements, compatible style elements, etc.). To face this problem, the interpretation of the local surface properties is crucial. We go beyond the retrieval of models or surface patches in a collection of models, facing the recognition of geometric patterns across digital models with different overall shape. To address this challenging problem, the use of both engineered and learning-based descriptions are investigated, building one of the first contributions towards the localization and identification of geometric patterns on digital surfaces. Finally, the recognition of patterns adds a further perspective in the exploration of (large) 3D data collections, especially in the cultural heritage domain. Our work contributes to the definition of methods able to locally characterize the geometric and colorimetric surface decorations. Moreover, we showcase our benchmarking activity carried out in recent years on the identification of geometric features and the retrieval of digital models completely characterized by geometric or colorimetric patterns

Making music in the radial mainstream: representations of creative practice in UK-based pop/rock

Popular music is one of the United Kingdom’s most readily engaged with and exported cultural forms. Commensurate with such a positioning, there exists a wealth of academic literature on the subject across a breadth of interests and research focus. However, there also appears to be a somewhat lower level of attention to the experience of the professional practitioners who are engaged in creating this cultural form. An attention to creators’ discourses and how they may represent their experiences of practice will then be of value in adding some additional ‘real world’ context and content to existing thought on popular music. Drawing on an original data set from interviews with leading practitioners, this thesis is the production of such a work. Through the application of relevant sociological models, the study forms a participant-based characterization of creative practice in UK-­‐‑based pop/rock in an area that I have termed the ‘radial mainstream’. Themes drawn from the research participants and my own experiences of professional practice characterize creative work as being an assemblage of activities that are informed by the lived environment, mediating forces, musical influences, and creators’ ideals of practice. Underpinned by tenets of phenomenology and ethnographic inquiry, this is also a multi.. .voiced representation of how specific professionals think and feel about their practice and the contexts within which they operate. The wider study of popular music may benefit from the production of a ‘micro’ representation of creative practice, wherein subsequent thought can be more properly attentive to the depictions and preoccupations that emerge in this discourse on creating UK-­‐‑based pop/rock in the ‘radial mainstream’

Virtual pop: gender, ethnicity, and identity in virtual bands and vocaloid

Virtual bands have been present in popular culture for decades, and they have become the topic of increased scholarly interest over the past few years. Despite this new work, however, there remains a need for more indepth critical studies into gender and ethnicity in virtual phenomena, as this approach promises to open up new areas of enquiry. Focussing on questions of gender and ethnicity, my thesis will investigate the mechanics through which identity is constructed in animated, puppet, and hologram virtual band characters. My thesis will draw on a range of empirical, theoretical, and ethnographic approaches in order to analyse how and to what extent virtual band characters are created and disseminated by those in the industry, on the one hand, and by fans, on the other. In particular, I consider this question through the concepts of agency (perceived and attributed), authorship, and authenticity, and in relation to the notion of suspension of disbelief, examining ways in which animation affords greater potential for forms of ‘layered awareness.’ Following a historical overview of virtual bands, and a critical appraisal of relevant theoretical perspectives on this topic, the thesis moves to a close reading of two case studies that reinforce and subvert gender and ethnic stereotypes commonly found in popular culture: Gorillaz and Vocaloid. These examples present different aspects of identity construction in virtual media, the former apparently led by the band’s creators, the other by its fans. Within Gorillaz, my discussion centres around the female guitarist Noodle, who, I will argue, is a modern-day Orientalist construction. By contrast, the chapters on Vocaloid draw on fan studies techniques to show that Vocaloid’s fan base contains a large, unexpected demographic, and that part of the fans’ dedication stems from their confirmed expectations of gender and ethnic identity in the Vocaloid characters

Variations and Application Conditions Of the Data Type »Image« - The Foundation of Computational Visualistics

Few years ago, the department of computer science of the University Magdeburg invented a completely new diploma programme called 'computational visualistics', a curriculum dealing with all aspects of computational pictures. Only isolated aspects had been studied so far in computer science, particularly in the independent domains of computer graphics, image processing, information visualization, and computer vision. So is there indeed a coherent domain of research behind such a curriculum? The answer to that question depends crucially on a data structure that acts as a mediator between general visualistics and computer science: the data structure "image". The present text investigates that data structure, its components, and its application conditions, and thus elaborates the very foundations of computational visualistics as a unique and homogenous field of research. Before concentrating on that data structure, the theory of pictures in general and the definition of pictures as perceptoid signs in particular are closely examined. This includes an act-theoretic consideration about resemblance as the crucial link between image and object, the communicative function of context building as the central concept for comparing pictures and language, and several modes of reflection underlying the relation between image and image user. In the main chapter, the data structure "image" is extendedly analyzed under the perspectives of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. While syntactic aspects mostly concern image processing, semantic questions form the core of computer graphics and computer vision. Pragmatic considerations are particularly involved with interactive pictures but also extend to the field of information visualization and even to computer art. Four case studies provide practical applications of various aspects of the analysis

The archaeology of Lapita dispersal in Oceania: papers from the Fourth Lapita Conference, June 2000, Canberra, Australia

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF LAPITA DISPERSAL publishes refereed papers from the Fourth Lapita Conference held in Canberra, 2000. Lapita archaeology is of fundamental importance to understanding the Pacific since it unearths information about the first people to establish themselves beyond the Solomon Islands to as far east as Samoa around 3000 years ago, and whose descendants eventually colonised Polynesia. The wide distribution of Lapita, its relatively rapid spread, debate about its origin, composition and mode of dispersal, and the meanings to be extracted from its distinctive and often striking ceramics are issues that underpin a sustained interest in it regionally and also from perspectives in world archaeology. This volume reports new results and interpretations about the nature of the Lapita phenomena and the varied transformations that affected Lapita society

The Archaeology of Rock Art in Western Arnhem Land, Australia (Terra Australis 47)

Western Arnhem Land, in the Top End of Australia’s Northern Territory, has a rich archaeological landscape, ethnographic record and body of rock art that displays an astonishing array of imagery on shelter walls and ceilings. While the archaeology goes back to the earliest period of Aboriginal occupation of the continent, the rock art represents some of the richest, most diverse and visually most impressive regional assemblages anywhere in the world. To better understand this multi-dimensional cultural record, The Archaeology of Rock Art in Western Arnhem Land, Australia focuses on the nature and antiquity of the region’s rock art as revealed by archaeological surveys and excavations, and the application of novel analytical methods. This volume also presents new findings by which to rethink how Aboriginal peoples have socially engaged in and with places across western Arnhem Land, from the north to the south, from the plains to the spectacular rocky landscapes of the plateau. The dynamic nature of Arnhem Land rock art is explored and articulated in innovative ways that shed new light on the region’s deep time Aboriginal history