Studying Games in School: a Framework for Media Education

This paper explores how media education principles can be extended to digital games, and whether the notion of ‘game literacy’ is an appropriate metaphor for thinking about the study of digital games in schools. Rationales for studying the media are presented, focusing on the importance of setting up social situations that encourage more systematic and critical understanding of games. The value of practical production, or game making, is emphasized, as a way of developing both conceptual understanding and creative abilities. Definitions of games are reviewed to explore whether the study of games is best described as a form of literacy. I conclude that games raise difficulties for existing literacy frameworks, but that it remains important to study the multiple aspects of games in an integrated way. A model for conceptualizing the study of games is presented which focuses on the relationship between design, play and culture

Economic development of a peripheral region: the case of Karelian timber industry

This paper focuses on current patterns of restructuring in Russian Karelia's timber industry, which constitutes the backbone of the regional economy. In particular, the paper investigates the relationship between an increased export orientation of this industry and a notable worsening of its output structure, combined with a lack of technological innovations. This situation results in a general instability of Karelian economy, which is increasingly dependent on fluctuations of international timber prices, as well as on exchange rate policy of the Russian government and central bank. This results in a decline in Karelian living standards, especially in remote rural settlements, which are crucially dependent on export of raw timber. Moreover, the current business climate in Russia strengthens Karelia's specialisation in export of raw timber and deters investment in higher-added-value timber-processing industries. The paper discusses this relationship and suggests that the Republic should start to stimulate the development of domestic-market-oriented timber-processing industries on account of an active inward investment promotion strategy.

E-Literature, New Media Art, and E-Literary Criticism

In his article E-Literature, New Media Art, and E-Literary Criticism Janez Strehovec explores the commonalities between electronic literature and new media art. Rather than deploying the traditional conceptual apparatus of e-literary criticism directed first and foremost to the new media elements of e-literature, Strehovec takes into account approaches from current theories in the social sciences and humanities. In doing so, he draws upon examples of new media art as a practice in which the novel\u27s social paradigms change the way of art-making and challenge the very function of art. Close-readings of some new media art projects including Bookchin\u27s Mass Ornament, EDT\u27s Transborder Immigrant Tool, and Jodi\u27s ZYX demonstrate that new media art is questioning the very ontological status of the field in terms of abandoning aesthetic and artistic functions in favor of their functions of use. In contrast, e-literature\u27s interactions with society challenge the intrinsic possibilities of this field, especially in terms of blurring the boundaries between forms and revolutionizing e-literature\u27s means of expression

Taloyhtiön korjaushanke - Linjasaneerauksen hallinta saumattomana yhteistyönä

Opinnäytetyössä tutkitaan suurten korjaushankkeiden toteutusta taloyhtiöille eri osapuolten toteuttamana yhteistyönä. Esimerkiksi linjasaneeraukseen liittyy monenlaisia ongelmakohtia, jotka ovat tuottaneet asukkaille ja osakkeenomistajille harmia. Opinnäytetyössä perehdytään näihin kohtiin ja etsitään niihin mahdollisia ratkaisu- ja välttämiskeinoja alan kirjallisuudesta. Työssä myös kuvataan taloyhtiön korjaushankkeen kulkua yleisellä tasolla saneerauspäätöksestä toteutukseen ja takuuaikaan saakka sekä käsitellään yleisempiä linjasaneerausmenetelmiä ja putkimateriaaleja. Kirjallisuudesta kävi ilmi monia ongelmakohtia, joiden riski kannattaa ottaa huomioon jo urakan alkuvaiheessa. Ongelmia monille urakoitsijoille ovat tuottaneet ainakin puutteelliset suunnitelmat, taloyhtiön hitaus päätöksien teossa, aikataulussa pysyminen, yllättävä lisätöiden määrä sekä työmaalla esiintyvät yllätykset. Suurin osa ongelmista oli sellaisia, jotka olisivat vältettävissä hyvällä suunnittelulla, yhtenäisellä valvojan valvomalla työn laadulla ja ennakoivalla työnjohdolla. Toimeksiantajana toimi Kotikymppi Oy, joka tekee taloyhtiön linjasaneerauksissa rakennustekniset työt. Yrityksessä opinnäytetyötä voivat hyödyntää ainakin uudet vastuuhenkilöt urakkalaskennassa ja työnjohdossa. Jatkossa yritys pystyy puuttumaan ongelmakohtiin paremmin jo ennen kuin niitä ehtii syntyä. Työtä voivat hyödyntää taloyhtiön korjaushankkeissa myös taloyhtiöt, nuoret työnjohtajat ja opiskelijat.Large renovation projects for housing cooperatives carried out by various partners were examined in this thesis. For example, pipe renovations have had multiple issues that have produced inconvenience to residents and stockholders. In the thesis those points were familiarized with and possible solutions and methods were searched from literature to avoid the problems. Also, the progress of a renovation project of a housing cooperative was dealt with in the thesis in general from the decision of renovation to the execution and to the warranty period, as well as the most common pipe renovation methods and pipe materials. Many problems that should already be known at the beginning of a project were revealed in the literature sources. At least incomplete plans, slowness of making decisions at the housing cooperatives, keeping up with the schedule, surprising amount of additional work and unpredictable things occurring at the building site have caused problems to many contractors. Most of the problems could have been avoided with good planning, solid quality of work overseen by a supervisor and predicting work of the chair. The thesis was commissioned by Kotikymppi Oy, which makes the civil engineering work in pipe renovations of housing cooperatives. The thesis can be utilized in the company at least by the new persons responsible for contract calculation and job management. In the future, the company is able to address the problem areas better before the problems even develop. Housing co-operatives, fresh foremen and students utilize the thesis in the renovation projects of housing co-operatives

Social justice and financial capitalism. Some notions on risks, hierarchies and value.

The recurring financial crises and intensive financialisation force a reconsideration of theories of justice. This article analyses financial capitalism as an ideal-type. In ideal-typical financial capitalism, risks and positions of vulnerability take a pronounced role in the determination of social positions. Risks also come in a specific ontological form. Further, the analysis extends to the production of value in financial capitalism and its relation to a particular logic of determining social positions. The article discusses, how should theories of justice be updated to accommodate this particular ontology of risks. This requires also making a distinction between explicit and implicit priority orders in a society.peerReviewe

Cross-border shopping at the EU's Eastern edge: the cases of Finnish-Russian and Polish-Ukrainian border regions

Untersucht wird das grenzüberschreitende Einkaufen zwischen Finnland und Russland sowie Polen und der Ukraine seit dem Zerfall der Sowjetunion. Es geht hier hauptsächlich um bestimmende Faktoren, Auslöser und Ausprägungen dieser Tätigkeit zusätzlich zu ihrem Umfang und ihren Trends, um deren Auswirkungen auf den grenzüberschreitenden Austausch und die regionale Entwicklung zu verstehen. Dieses Einkaufen macht einen wesentlichen Teil der gesamten Mobilität aus und ist durch vergleichbare Fluktuationen auf beiden Seiten der untersuchten Grenzen gekennzeichnet, während es in beiden Fällen auch einige Spezifika gibt. Ein gemeinsamer Aspekt ist, dass in den ersten Jahren nach dem Regimewechsel eine Schattenwirtschaft in unterschiedlichen Ausprägungen beim Grenzübergang eine wichtige Rolle gespielt hat. Seit damals hat der normale grenzüberschreitende Einkaufstourismus, der durch die Attraktivität des Nachbarlands als Reise- und Freizeitziel begünstigt wurde, mit dem Zustrom von Russen nach Finnland an Bedeutung gewonnen, während die meisten Einkaufsbesuche von Ukrainern nach Polen weiterhin mit gewinnorientiertem Weiterverkauf verknüpft waren. Veränderungen der Devisenkurse stellten sich in beiden Fällen ebenso als Faktoren heraus, insbesondere bei den kurzen und häufigen Fahrten Finnland-Russland und (hauptsächlich) Ukraine-Polen zur Nutzung von Preisunterschieden bei besteuerten Gütern wie Kraftstoff und Zigaretten. Schließlich wird auch darauf hingewiesen, dass grenzüberschreitendes Einkaufen direkte Auswirkungen auf die regionale Entwicklung haben kann, da lokale/regionale Interessenvertreter darin einen wirtschaftlichen Vorteil sehen: Die Anziehung von Einkaufstouristen aus Russland ist in Südost-Finnland trotz der Anfälligkeit für Veränderungen bei den geopolitischer Bedingungen eine wichtige Entwicklungsstrategie geworden.This paper investigates cross-border shopping across the Finnish-Russian and the Polish-Ukrainian borders since the disintegration of the Soviet Union from a comparative perspective. Cross-border shopping can be defined in various ways for diverse purposes; this study is interested mainly in the conditioning factors, drivers and forms of this activity in addition to its volumes and trends in order to understand its implications to cross-border interaction and regional development. It is observed that cross-border shopping accounts for a substantial part of all mobility and that cross-border shopping is characterized by comparable fluctuations across both of the studied borders, while the two cases show some specific features, too. A common aspect is that during the first years after the regime change, informal economic activities in various forms played a major role in border crossings in these two regions. Since then, ordinary cross-border shopping tourism supported by the attractiveness of the neighbouring country as a travel and leisure destination has grown in importance in the influx of Russians into Finland, whereas most shopping visits by Ukrainians to Poland continued to be linked to profit-oriented reselling. Also, changes in exchange rates resulting from geopolitical turns and economic cycles have proved to be factors in both cases, particularly in conditioning short and frequent trips from Finland to Russia and (mainly) from Ukraine to Poland for utilizing differences in prices of excise commodities such as fuel and cigarettes. Finally, the study also shows that cross-border shop¬ping may have direct implications to regional development, as local-regional policy stakeholders may see it as an asset: the attraction of shopping tourists from Russia has become a key development strategy in Southeast Finland despite the vulnerability to changes in geopolitical conditions