Picture, Poetry and Theatricality. Writing the Salons is ‘describing’ the Salons

If it is true that a painting can \u2018think visually\u2019, then Diderot was the first one to state it; he also said it better than anyone else. Diderot\u2019s Salons show precisely that the \u2018imaginal\u2019 sense that arises from the fruition of pictures needs to be investigated on the basis of the concepts of \ue9kphrasis and theatricality \u2013 understood as the capacity of exploring the power of pictures in close relation to the composition of the scene, the expressive and pantomimic gestures and what can be called a \u2018theory of affections\u2019

Vers le kitsch. Les racines du melodrame en tant que categorie esthetique

This paper analyses melodrama as a theatre genre, its contents and structure, its relation with the audience and with the emotions that it stirs. It casts light on the connections between melodrama and kitsch, in order to attempt an aesthetic categorization

Tableaux vivants : da Diderot a Jeff Woll

From picture to photography and back. Tableau vivants, in their gestural synthetic dimension, represent for Diderot the apex of expression that the image can make explicit. Nothing closer to Wall\u2019s poetics. His works show outstanding attention to detail: from scenic design to protagonists\u2019 costumes, from light to actors\u2019 action. And the result is exactly what Diderot saw in the eyes of people observing Chardin\u2019s art: imagination at work

L’antimelodramma di Victor Hugo : la vendetta di Triboulet

The purpose of the essay is to demonstrate through the analysis of Hugo\u2019s Le roi s\u2019amuse how the reconciliation of opposites, which is a typical melodramatic element, is alien to the author\u2019s poetics. In fact, the opposition of contrasts, which turns evil into good in a gradual process of formation, is not revealed in Hugo\u2019s work as a principle of disintegration but, paradoxically, is resolved in an element of harmonious relatedness within a upper unity assured from the function of art

Questions of taste : Diderot and the stratification of aesthetic judgement

\uabThe further one goes to find a definition of \u201cgood taste\u201d, the wider off the mark one gets; taste is nothing but the ability to judge what pleases or does not please the majority\ubb. This incisive definition by Rousseau, which could find many supporters, is as true as any persuasive definition, yet does not explain much. It is nonetheless incontestable that in eighteenth century France the term \u201ctaste\u201d assumed extremely diverse and at times divergent meanings and connotations. These meanings and connotations met or clashed in Diderot\u2019s method of thinking

Web conversations about complementary and alternative medicines and cancer: Content and sentiment analysis

Background: The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among cancer patients is widespread and mostly self-administrated. Today, one of the most relevant topics is the nondisclosure of CAM use to doctors. This general lack of communication exposes patients to dangerous behaviors and to less reliable information channels, such as the Web. The Italian context scarcely differs from this trend. Today, we are able to mine and analyze systematically the unstructured information available in the Web, to get an insight of people's opinions, beliefs, and rumors concerning health topics. Objective: Our aim was to analyze Italian Web conversations about CAM, identifying the most relevant Web sources, therapies, and diseases and measure the related sentiment. Methods: Data have been collected using the Web Intelligence tool ifMONITOR. The workflow consisted of 6 phases: (1) eligibility criteria definition for the ifMONITOR search profile; (2) creation of a CAM terminology database; (3) generic Web search and automatic filtering, the results have been manually revised to refine the search profile, and stored in the ifMONITOR database; (4) automatic classification using the CAM database terms; (5) selection of the final sample and manual sentiment analysis using a 1-5 score range; (6) manual indexing of the Web sources and CAM therapies type retrieved. Descriptive univariate statistics were computed for each item: absolute frequency, percentage, central tendency (mean sentiment score [MSS]), and variability (standard variation Ò). Results: Overall, 212 Web sources, 423 Web documents, and 868 opinions have been retrieved. The overall sentiment measured tends to a good score (3.6 of 5). Quite a high polarization in the opinions of the conversation partaking emerged from standard variation analysis (δ≥1). In total, 126 of 212 (59.4%) Web sources retrieved were nonhealth-related. Facebook (89; 21%) and Yahoo Answers (41; 9.7%) were the most relevant. In total, 94 CAM therapies have been retrieved. Most belong to the "biologically based therapies or nutrition" category: 339 of 868 opinions (39.1%), showing an MSS of 3.9 (δ=0.83). Within nutrition, "diets" collected 154 opinions (18.4%) with an MSS of 3.8 (δ=0.87); "food as CAM" overall collected 112 opinions (12.8%) with a MSS of 4 (δ=0.68). Excluding diets and food, the most discussed CAM therapy is the controversial Italian "Di Bella multitherapy" with 102 opinions (11.8%) with an MSS of 3.4 (δ=1.21). Breast cancer was the most mentioned disease: 81 opinions of 868. Conclusions: Conversations about CAM and cancer are ubiquitous. There is a great concern about the biologically based therapies, perceived as harmless and useful, under-rating all risks related to dangerous interactions or malnutrition. Our results can be useful to doctors to be aware of the implications of these beliefs for the clinical practice. Web conversation exploitation could be a strategy to gain insights of people's perspective for other controversial topics

Content and Face Validity of the Evaluation Tool of Health Information for Consumers (ETHIC): Getting Health Information Accessible to Patients and Citizens

Background: Health information concerns both individuals’ engagement and the way services and professionals provide information to facilitate consumers’ health decision making. Citizens’ and patients’ participation in the management of their own health is related to the availability of tools making health information accessible, thus promoting empowerment and making care more inclusive and fairer. A novel instrument was developed (Evaluation Tool of Health Information for Consumers—ETHIC) for assessing the formal quality of health information materials written in Italian language. This study reports ETHIC’s content and face validity. Methods: A convenience sample of 11 experts and 5 potential users was involved. The former were requested to evaluate relevance and exhaustiveness, the latter both readability and understandability of ETHIC. The Content Validity Index (CVI) was calculated for ETHIC’s sections and items; experts and potential users’ feedback were analyzed by the authors. Results: All sections and most items were evaluated as relevant. A new item was introduced. Potential users provided the researchers with comments that partly confirmed ETHIC’s clarity and understandability. Conclusions: Our findings strongly support the relevance of ETHIC’s sections and items. An updated version of the instrument matching exhaustivity, readability, and understandability criteria was obtained, which will be assessed for further steps of the validation process

La acción y la materia. La estética de Dino Formaggio

L\u2019intenzione del presente articolo \ue8 di introdurre il lettore ad alcuni aspetti centrali della personalit\ue1 e dell\u2019opera di Dino Formaggio. In primo luogo, per lui l\u2019arte si caratterizza per un\u2019energia rivoluzionaria e liberatrice che agisce sul piano concreto del farsi dell\u2019opera e sul piano culturale di una comunicazione simbolica. In secondo luogo, l\u2019arte \ue8 anche una sapiente esplorazione delle possibilit\ue0 dei materiali e un coinvolgimento corporeo e intuitivo. In questo senso Formaggio mette in risalto l\u2019idea che per chi fa l\u2019arte la fase operativa, la fase propriamente fabbrile e la stretta relazione con il materiale sono fondamentali. Partito da questa visione di fondo, il presente articolo cerca di riflettere sul senso della tecnica artistica nell\u2019opera di Dino Formaggio e sulla sua relazione con il materiale, l\u2019ispirazione e il contesto storico, fino a accedere a una definizione coerente del concetto stesso di arte.The intent of this article is to introduce the reader to some central aspects of the personality and work of Dino Formaggio. First, for him art is characterized by an energy revolutionary and liberating acting on the concrete level of production of the work and the cultural level of a symbolic communication. Secondly, art is also an intelligent exploration of the possibilities of materials and the involvement of the body and an intuitive participation. In this sense Formaggio emphasizes the idea that for those who make art, the operational phase, the production phase and the close relationship with the material are central. Based on this view, this article seeks to reflect on the meaning of artistic technique in the work of Dino Formaggio and its relationship to the material, inspiration and historical context, to access a consistent definition of the concept of art