1,596 research outputs found
Language, Media and Community in the Information Age
This article argues that the electronically mediated communication contributes to the construction of new,
mediated forms of communities which are based on the synthesis of virtual and physical communities. The
appearance of these new forms of communities leads to a new conceptualization of the relation between self
and community. The aim of this article, on the one hand, is to show that with the mediatization of communities,
our concept of community becomes more complex. On the other hand, in this essay I consider the assump
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tion that the medium of the mediatization and new conceptualization of community is a specific, pictorial
language of electronically mediated communication
Mass media destabilizes the cultural homogeneous regime in Axelrod's model
An important feature of Axelrod's model for culture dissemination or social
influence is the emergence of many multicultural absorbing states, despite the
fact that the local rules that specify the agents interactions are explicitly
designed to decrease the cultural differences between agents. Here we
re-examine the problem of introducing an external, global interaction -- the
mass media -- in the rules of Axelrod's model: in addition to their
nearest-neighbors, each agent has a certain probability to interact with a
virtual neighbor whose cultural features are fixed from the outset. Most
surprisingly, this apparently homogenizing effect actually increases the
cultural diversity of the population. We show that, contrary to previous claims
in the literature, even a vanishingly small value of is sufficient to
destabilize the homogeneous regime for very large lattice sizes
More playful user interfaces: an introduction
In this chapter we embed recent research advances in creating playful user interfaces in a historical context. We have observations on spending leisure time, in particular predictions from previous decades and views expressed in Science Fiction novels. We confront these views and predictions with what has really happened since the advent of computers, the Internet, Worldwide Web and sensors and actuators that are increasingly becoming integrated in our environments and in devices that are with us 24/7. And, not only with us, but also connected to networks of nodes that represent people, institutions, and companies. Playful user interfaces are not only interesting for entertainment applications. Educational or behavior change supporting systems can also profit from a playful approach. The chapter concludes with a meta-level review of the chapters in this book. In this review we distinguish three views on research and application domains for playful user interfaces: (1) Designing Interactions for and by Children, (2) Designing Interactions with Nature, Animals, and Things, and (3) Designing Interactions for Arts, Performances, and Sports
Childrenâs reading with digital books: past moving quickly to the future
Digital books, such as e-books, story apps, picture book apps, and interactive stories, are narratives presented on touchscreens with multimedia and interactive features. Evidence suggests that early reading of print versus digital books is associated with different patterns of parentâchild engagement and childrenâs outcomes. Parentsâ verbal scaffolding, childrenâs age, and the congruence between a bookâs narrative and its interactive and multimedia features are three documented process variables that explain the difference between reading print and digital books. To maximize the added value of digital books for children, we need to study the interaction among the characteristics of parents, children, and books; we also need to target these interactions through interventions and through collaborations between designers and researchers
Sparrows can't sing : East End kith and kinship in the 1960s
Sparrows Canât Sing (1963) was the only feature film directed by
the late and much lamented Joan Littlewood. Set and filmed in
the East End, where she worked for many years, the film deserves
more attention than it has hitherto received. Littlewoodâs career
spanned documentary (radio recordings made with Ewan MacColl
in the North of England in the 1930s) to directing for the stage
and the running of the Theatre Royal in Londonâs Stratford East,
often selecting material which aroused memories in local audiences
(Leach 2006: 142). Many of the actors trained in her Theatre
Workshop subsequently became better known for their appearances
on film and television. Littlewood herself directed hardly any material
for the screen: Sparrows Canât Sing and a 1964 series of television
commercials for the British Egg Marketing Board, starring Theatre
Workshopâs Avis Bunnage, were rare excursions into an area of practice
which she found constraining and unamenable (Gable 1980: 32).
The hybridity and singularity of Littlewoodâs feature may answer,
in some degree, for its subsequent neglect. However, Sparrows Canât
Sing makes a significant contribution to a group of films made in
Britain in the 1960s which comment generally on changes in the
urban and social fabric. It is especially worthy of consideration,
I shall argue, for the use which Littlewood made of a particular
communityâs attitudes â sentimental and critical â to such changes and
for its amalgamation of an attachment to documentary techniques
(recording an aural landscape on location) with a preference for nonnaturalistic
delivery in performance
Common Extra House Lab: Recipes for Citizenship in Transition or the Domestic-collective Usage of the Common Good
Este artĂculo describe acciones que simulan mejoras en el modo de habitar de redes de ciudadanos. El marco formativo es el Ășltimo curso de arquitectura llamado Common Extra House Lab. En este no se fomenta la distinciĂłn entre aula, laboratorio y ciudad. Lo domĂ©stico y su espacio pĂșblico inmediato (el extra-house) constituyen el punto de partida para nuevos experimentos sociotĂ©cnicos. La metodologĂa resultĂł ser experimental para lo habitual del marco acadĂ©mico y produjo una colecciĂłn de acciones y formatos de foros hĂbridos que gestionaban personas, tecnologĂas, escenarios y recursos, que acabaron formulĂĄndose como recetas para una ciudadanĂa en transiciĂłn y se convirtieron en el legado para el siguiente curso.This article describes actions that have led to progress in ways of living in citizen networks. The training framework is the last architecture course called Common Extra House Lab, in which it was encouraged to consider that there is no distinction between classroom, laboratory, and city. The domestic and its immediate public space (the extra-house) are the starting point for new socio-technical experiments which could be considered experimental comparing them with academic standards, producing hybrid forums managed by people, technologies and resources. They ended up becoming recipes for citizens in transition and turned into the legacy for the next course
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