Tuwim’s Dialogues with Banality

The article examines the relation between Tuwim’s poetry and modern colloquial language. The avant-garde artists for whom in the beginning of the 20th-century art was an elite occupation, treated every-day speech as a mass form of communication. Tuwim’s poetry was frequently criticised for banality. Matywiecki presents the poet as a hero fighting with the demon of commonness. The crucial thesis of the article is that banality which is modified in a creative way says more about the epoch than elitist visions. In his poetry, satire and cabaret work Tuwim transformed triviality into dialog and a common human being into a creative person. Transition of the street talk into original speech is the defence against reducing individual being to cliché which means the fear of 20th-century killing ideologies.Zadanie „Stworzenie anglojęzycznych wersji wydawanych publikacji” finansowane w ramach umowy nr 948/P-DUN/2016 ze środków Ministra Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego przeznaczonych na działalność upowszechniającą naukę

Witkacy’s Amusia

Witkacy suffered from amusia as a child and as an adult person. He was seriously interested in music only for a little over twenty years (1890–1914?). He wrote his main works as an amusic. The relation between amusia and metaphysical feelings may suggest that Witkacy wrote dramas and created painting compositions in order to evoke the lost strangeness of being. Amusia could have also been the reason for Witkacy’s ambiguity – he was defending and degrading high art at the same time

Freedom and secretiveness, in late modernism

The text considers two metaphors describing creative freedom in modern society: secretiveness and shadow. In the shadow, creative individuals protect themselves against the ubiquitous need to explain and screen life. The text proves that contemporary literature (Sebald, Quinard) and essay (Vuarnet, Maffesoli) search inspiration in secretiveness and shadow while at the same time they see a threat to art in the mechanism of explanation

Comparative analysis of social media accessibility

The paper assesses the accessibility compliance level of social media websites and their usability in terms of universal design. The study was performed on “reddit” and a social media website created by the author of the article for the express purpose of meeting the WCAG requirements as closely as possible, named “Twittn’t”. The analysis has been performed with the use of a survey study, an automated WAVE tool and an eye-tracker. The research groups consisted of fifteen and twenty people for survey and eye-tracker study respectively. The test results have shown strong correlation between usability of the social media website interface and number of its WCAG errors

Who will be ‘healed’ by the National Centre for the Prevention of Dissocial Behaviour?

Problematyka prawnej reakcji wobec sprawców przestępstw seksualnych jest obecna w dyskursie społecznym i naukowym od dłuższego czasu. Pomimo druzgocącej krytyki, jaka spadała na polskiego ustawodawcę po uchwalaniu kolejnych regulacji dotyczących zwalczania przestępstw seksualnych, prezydent podpisał ustawę o postępowaniu wobec osób z zaburzeniami psychicznymi stwarzających zagrożenie życia, zdrowia lub wolności seksualnej innych osób. Instytucje prawne przewidziane przez ten akt prawny wpisują się w rozwiązania nazywane zbiorczo Prawem o postępowaniu ze szczególnie niebezpiecznymi sprawcami przemocy seksualnej (ang. Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) Legislation). O ile sama idea takich regulacji nie jest oceniana jednoznacznie negatywnie, o tyle istotnym problemem, który może pojawić się w Polsce na gruncie realizowania zapisów tej ustawy, jest brak stosowania w polskiej praktyce penitencjarnej i sądowo-psychiatrycznej nowoczesnych narzędzi oceny ryzyka recydywy. Z tego względu musi budzić wątpliwości kwalifikowanie sprawców przestępstw jako osób stwarzających zagrożenie, szczególnie zważywszy na znaczny zakres planowanej ingerencji w prawa i wolności obywatelskie tych osób. W artykule przedstawiono podstawowe założenia regulacji SVP, jak również podstawowe informacje dotyczące oceny ryzyka recydywy wśród przestępców seksualnych. Wskazane kwestie teoretyczne zestawiono następnie z polskimi rozwiązaniami, a także z polską praktyką dokonywania oceny ryzyka recydywy.The issue of a legal response to sex offenders has been present in the social and academic discourse for a long time. Despite severe criticism directed against the Polish legislature after the adoption of the earlier regulation on combating sex offenders, the President of the Republic of Poland signed the Act on Proceedings against Persons with Mental Disorders Posing a Threat to Life, Health or Sexual Freedom of Others. Legal institutions for which this law provides for are part of the solution collectively referred to as the (SVP <Sexually Violent Predator> Legislation). While the idea of such regulations shall not be assessed as unambiguously negative, an important issue that may arise on the basis of implementing the provisions of this Act, is the fact that there are no modern tools of risk assessment in practical use or available in the Polish prison system and forensic psychiatry. Consequently, classifying sex offenders as SVPs must bequestioned, especially in view of the significant scope of the planned interference with their civil rights and liberties. The article presents the basic principles on the SVP Legislation, as well as basic information on the risk assessment of recidivism among sex offenders. It then summarises the theoretical issues present in Polish solutions, as well as the Polish practice of assessing the risk of recidivism

Freedom in community or freedom in solitude? Remarks on republicanism and liberalism

A political thought is an area of legitimate contribution of competitive ideas. Liberalism is often considered as one of the most significant and influential paradigm of our times. The common acceptance of liberal conception of negative liberty can be acknowledged as a proof of this tendency. At the same time clearly visible is the renaissance of republicanism and the conception of active participation in governance. The liberal and republican assumptions have similar roots but different social practices. The aim of this paper is to examine in contrast liberal and republican conceptions of freedom. The author discusses main categories of both political traditions: state, commonwealth, common good, citizen, individualism, law, limited power and freedom itself. The author attempts to compere republicanism and liberalism as the competitive political paradigms to show the dilemmas of modern states and societies where there is no common consensus referring to definition of liberty

Assessment of the potential of the main seaports of the Baltic Sea region

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to assess the potential of the major seaports of the Baltic Sea Region (BSR).DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: This analysis covered the seaports included in the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) in the European Union (EU) and the major Baltic ports of the Russian Federation. The research was based on an analysis of the data found. An assessment of the surveyed seaports was made on the basis of the author's index comprising four sub-indicators. The following were taken into account: access to ports from the sea and land, functioning of intermodal terminals, connection from ports to industry, size of the port centre.FINDINGS: A total of 89 ports from nine countries were surveyed, of which 17 received a good rating on a three-point scale. The ports of Gdansk, Riga and Gothenburg were rated highest with the maximum number of points. The results of the assessment were partly in line with the previous classification of the ports and the current handling volumes. Differences were due to the fact that other factors, especially geopolitical factors, additionally influenced the cargo volume of individual ports.PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: On the basis of this analysis, it is possible to identify seaports in the Baltic Sea region that have the potential for further development and those where further development of the port requires investments primarily related to improving access to the port.ORIGINALITY/VALUE: This article presents the results of my own research into various aspects of seaports in the Baltic Sea region. Part of this analysis is an update of previous research, which has made it possible to identify changes in the environment of some of the ports studied.Subsidy for research activities in the discipline of socio-economic geography and spatial management, no. 503-0003-230000-01.peer-reviewe

Irzykowski prekursor Witkacego, broń Boże – poprzednik

Analizuję retorykę sporu między Karolem Irzykowskim i Witkacym, traktując polemiczne wypowiedzi jako wyraz skrywanych resentymentalnych uprzedzeń. Spór ten interpretuję jako pojedynek dwóch nieuznanych intelektualistów, oskarżających się o anachronizm i przyznających sobie miano prekursora. W psychomachii Irzykowskiego i Witkacego podkreślam nieustanne wykraczanie obu pisarzy poza normy etyczne artystycznego sporu, przez nich samych postulowane