Transcendendo tecnologia: computacao ubıqua ou technomagia? (Transcending technology: ubiquitous computing or technomagic?)

How do we transcend technology? How does technology transcend us? Can technology be used as an instrument to expand subjectivity and create another reality? The pervasive use of technology nowadays raises a number of questions and perspectives concerning its relation to spirituality: research has been conducted through interviews and selected literature; different ways to incorporate aspects of spirituality in our interactions with technology are out- lined in this chapter

Is the impact of public investment neutral across the regional income distribution? Evidence from Mexico

This paper investigates the contribution of public investment to the reduction of regional inequalities, with a specific application to Mexico. We use quantile regressions to examine the impact of public investment on regional disparities according to the position of each region in the conditional distribution of regional income. Results confirm the hypothesis that regional inequalities can indeed be attributed to the regional distribution of public investment, where the observed pattern shows that public investment mainly helped to reduce regional inequalities between the richest regions.regional development, quantile regression, public investment

Anche i files hanno un'anima

Even files have a sou

Artist talk and Rebus demo

Artist talk and Rebus dem

Il segno audiovisivo. Cinema d'animazione e nuovi linguaggi

Quali sono gli elementi che caratterizzano la fruizione di un frammento audiovisivo di un disegno in movimento? E quali le differenze tra un disegno che comunica senso e uno che invece ne è privo? Per rispondere a queste domande, l’autrice scompone nei suoi elementi costitutivi una breve animazione di Osvaldo Cavandoli – una linea che separa e crea, sintetizza e divide – proponendo un modello della significazione audiovisiva discusso con il geniale “artigiano”. Dopo una panoramica sulla nascita del cinema d’animazione, il volume affronta una riflessione sui linguaggi e sulla comunicazione in generale fino a giungere in una zona altamente semiotica e, attraverso una rivisitazione dei concetti di fisiognomica e sinestesia, guardando la simulazione con il binocolo, suggerisce l’immaginazione come strumento di ricerca, l’analisi minuziosa come metodo di scoperta e la digitalizzazione dei dati reali come comune identità delle sostanze del mondo, nonché frontiera e nuovo linguaggio di interpretazione e verifica della conoscenza

Political competition and the allocation of public investment in Mexico

This paper examines the causality between central government spending in regions and local elections, in an environment of increasing electoral competition and a undefined decentralisation. This study examines Mexican elections during the period 1990-1995 where the main party started loosing part of its influence and there were many claims of use of the budget to favour the central governing party. We employ data on public investment and municipalities ruled by the PRI in each Mexican region. The evidence shows that there is opportunistic behaviour of the central government using public investment to gain local control of pressures for decentralisation.

The Ball in the Hole

“The Ball in The Hole” is an interactive video installation, running on GPL homemade software, which uses the principle of tele-presence. Two rooms are showing a projected mirror, where the user can see and recognise himself. On the floor there is a spiral, containing a luminescent ball. When the user grabs the ball, spontaneously attempting to play with it, the projected mirror will start erasing, showing the other room. The ball, as an interface, will act on the video as an eraser on a pencil drawing. The two rooms / spaces are symmetrical. After the complete erasure of the image, the mirror will show the remote room only. At this point the game flips: the ball, rubber and pencil at the same time, gets the capability to erase the other person / space / video. Therefore this deletion of the Otherness corresponds to the redrawing of the Self. You draw as much as you erase, in direct proportion. The process continues endlessly rendering the installation a social happening where the user becomes the main character of an improvised performance