942 research outputs found
The Colonial Efficacy of Casta Paintings
How can we understand artworks as classification systems? Is art a valid object of study in information science? If we answer “yes” to the latter question, how do we examine the first question? Casta paintings in colonial New Spain present a robust opportunity to understand art’s classificatory and documentary powers. In order to evaluate the efficacy of casta paintings as a classification system, it is necessary analyze how these works, as objects of colonial visual culture, enacted subjugation on multiple levels. Complex networks of power produce every classification system. Colonial power, particularly in urban New Spain, was often performed in seemingly paradoxical manners. Casta paintings responded to colonial anxieties about miscegenation, but they also acknowledged the realities of racial amalgamations in colonial New Spain. Put simply, New Spain was simultaneously a jewel for the Spanish Empire and the heart of an evil, non-Christian Other. This context reveals the critical necessity of social classification systems for European colonial expansion. To evaluate the knowledge organization casta paintings produced for colonial powers, I will focus on those held in the Denver Art Museum’s (DAM) New World Department. The DAM’s holdings include a complete set of sixteen casta paintings by Francisco Clapera, along with individual works by Jose de Alcibar and unidentified artists. Recognizable signifiers in these paintings enacted social classification at several levels in colonial New Spain.1 For the methodology of this project, I follow Jonathan Furner’s approach to evaluating classification systems.2 Furner’s prompt for classification researchers to evaluate how classification systems represent identity begets evaluation classification systems’ ideological and material structures. In the case of casta paintings, it makes sense to appraise their functions of identity representation on the one hand, and their descriptive power and retrieval functions on the other hand
Diversity of emergent dynamics in competitive threshold-linear networks: a preliminary report
Threshold-linear networks consist of simple units interacting in the presence
of a threshold nonlinearity. Competitive threshold-linear networks have long
been known to exhibit multistability, where the activity of the network settles
into one of potentially many steady states. In this work, we find conditions
that guarantee the absence of steady states, while maintaining bounded
activity. These conditions lead us to define a combinatorial family of
competitive threshold-linear networks, parametrized by a simple directed graph.
By exploring this family, we discover that threshold-linear networks are
capable of displaying a surprisingly rich variety of nonlinear dynamics,
including limit cycles, quasiperiodic attractors, and chaos. In particular,
several types of nonlinear behaviors can co-exist in the same network. Our
mathematical results also enable us to engineer networks with multiple dynamic
patterns. Taken together, these theoretical and computational findings suggest
that threshold-linear networks may be a valuable tool for understanding the
relationship between network connectivity and emergent dynamics.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures. Preliminary repor
The Only Canadians: Canada's French and the British Connection
Canada has two long-standing national myths: Loyalism and the Conquest. The
nature of these myths, their historical founding, and the tenacity with which they
reinforce each other are examined. During Canada's early years, the name "Canadian"
applied only to the nation's French. English Canadians were British. Working
chronologically and using literary examples set in the context of their day, this
essay demonstrates the resentment felt by French Canadians over Loyalism's grip on
their English-speaking compatriots. Does Canada's continued adherence to the British
monarchy keep Canada divided and prevent a sense of common nationality?Le Canada perpétue depuis longtemps deux mythes, à savoir le loyalisme et la
conquête. La nature de ces mythes ainsi que leur fondement historique et la ténacité
de leurs liens réciproques sont examinés ici. Dans les premières années du Canada,
le terme « Canadien » désignait exclusivement des Canadiens français, alors qu’on
appelait les Canadiens anglais, des Britanniques. La présente étude démontre, selon
un ordre chronologique et à l’aide d’exemples littéraires replacés dans le contexte
de leur époque, le ressentiment des Canadiens français à l’égard du loyalisme dont
faisaient preuve leurs compatriotes anglophones. Est-ce que l’adhĂ©sion du Canada Ă
la monarchie britannique divise toujours le Canada et l’empêche d’avoir un sens de
nationalité commune
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Can only Librarians do Library Instruction? Collaborating with Graduate Students to Teach Discipline-Specific Information Literacy
Subject Librarians often have difficulty delivering instruction that reaches the often large, introductory courses in their disciplines in a meaningful way. However, there is a need for basic subject specific library instruction that scaffolds advanced upper-division classes. This challenge requires rethinking the idea that only librarians can teach information literacy, and we propose creative collaboration between librarians and graduate students to integrate information literacy into introductory disciplinary classes. This paper presents one strategy for collaborating with graduate students to reach first-year students, and is the combined effort of the Art \u26 Architecture Librarian and the lead graduate art history TA at CU-Boulder. The required World Art Studies I \u26 II classes are one of the best ways to reach all CU-Boulder art undergraduates, but teaching every recitation would be too much for one art liaison librarian. By using a train the trainer model to teach the TA’s how to conduct an information literacy sessions, we were then able to reach students in small interactive classes led by graduate students. The paper will present assessment data gathered from students and describe both our successes and areas for improvement. To study the effects of the program we interviewed the TA’s, and we found that collaboration also had benefits for the graduate students. It introduced them information literacy and honed their pedagogical skills. Since often the best way to learn is to teach, they found their own research skills improved. The graduate students expressed enthusiasm for collaboration with the library, and we believe our program is the start of many library partnerships throughout the careers of these future art professionals and faculty
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