Identity, Identification, and Media Representation in Video Game Play: An audience reception study

ABSTRACT IDENTITY, IDENTIFICATION AND MEDIA REPRESENTATION IN VIDEO GAME PLAY: AN AUDIENCE RECEPTION STUDY Adrienne Shaw Supervisor: Dr. Katherine Sender Research on minority representation in video games usually asserts: 1. the industry excludes certain audiences by not representing them; 2. everyone should be provided with characters they can identify with; and 3. media representation has knowable effects. In contrast, this dissertation engages with audiences’ relationship to gamer identity, how players interact with game texts (identification and interaction), and their thoughts about media representation. This dissertation uses interviews and participant observation to investigate why, when and how representation is important to individuals who are members of marginalized groups, focusing on sexuality, gender and race, in the U.S. The data demonstrate that video games may offer players the chance to create representations of people “like them” (pluralism), but games do not necessarily force players to engage with texts that offer representation of marginalized groups (diversity), with some rare and problematic exceptions. The focus on identity-based marketing and audience demand, as well as over-simplistic conceptualizations of identification with media characters, as the basis of arguments for minority media representation encourage pluralism. Representation is available, but only to those who seek it out. Diversity, however, is necessary for the political and educative goals of representation. It requires that players are actively confronted with diverse content. Diversity is not the result of demand by audiences, but is rather the social responsibility of media producers. Media producers, however, can take advantage of the fact that identities are complex, that identification does not only require shared identifiers, and that diversity in a non-tokenistic sense can appeal to a much wider audience than pluralistic, niche marketing. In sum, diversity can address both the market logic and educative goals of media representation. I conclude by offering three suggestions bred from this analysis. First, researchers should be critical of this emphasis on pluralism rather than diversity. Second, rather than argue video games should include more diversity because it matters, producers should include it precisely because representation does not matter in many games. Finally, those invested in diversity in games should not be to prove the importance of representation in games, but rather argue for it without dismissing playfulness

The Tyranny of Realism: Historical accuracy and politics of representation in Assassin’s Creed III

Like other games in its series, Assassin’s Creed III (AC3) is heavily invested in a wellresearched, nuanced representation of historical conflicts. Yet as with any historical text, designers must be selective in their storytelling. Through their choices, we can better understand who might be the expected audience for this “speculative fiction.” This article addresses AC3’s tensions around realism. In it, the author addresses the politics of representation in how players are asked to identify with particular characters (constructed identification), how the game was produced (constructed authenticity), and the version of history portrayed in the game (constructed history). The author argues that the game’s ludic and narrative possibilities limit its ability to critique colonial powers during the American Revolution. The article concludes by looking at what counterhistorical approach to AC3’s story might entail. Throughout, the author discusses how the game’s expected audience, that is Ubisoft’s construction of the intended player, is reflected in each of these decisions and limits the emancipatory possibilities of AC3

16. Intro to Linguistics 2 (D, P)

Week 2 further explores relationships between morphological and syntactic systems, as well as their interface with meaning (semantics), and aspects of language use (songs, stories, baby talk, etc.) Other questions to be discussed include: What is a “polysynthetic” language? What does it mean for different languages to be related to each other, whereas other languages are “genetically distinct”? What is a “dialect”? What kinds of changes in a language can occur over time? Class participants will build documentation and analytical skills through hands-on experience with data from a diversity of endangered Indigenous languages around the world. Participants are particularly encouraged to contribute resources and questions from languages they want to learn more about

Developing an intervention to equip nurses for acute life threatening events (ALTEs) in hospital:a phenomenological approach to healthcare research

Objectives: To understand staff's experiences of acute life threatening events (ALTEs) in a pediatric hospital setting. These data will inform an intervention to equip nurses with clinical and emotional skills for dealing with ALTEs. Method: A mixed design was used in the broader research program; this paper focuses on phenomenon-focused interviews analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Results: Emerging themes included staff's relationships with patients and the impact of personhood on their ability to perform competently in an emergency. More experienced nurses described "automatic" competence generated through increased exposure to ALTEs and were able to recognize "fumbling and shaking" as a normal stress response. Designating a role was significant to staff experience of effectiveness. Key to nurses' learning experience was reflection and identifying experiences as "teachable moments." Findings were considered alongside existing theories of self-efficacy, reflective thought, and advocacy inquiry to create an experiential learning intervention involving a series of clinical and role-related scenarios. Conclusion: The phenomenological work facilitated an in-depth reading of experience. It accentuated the importance of exposure to ALTEs giving nurses experiential knowledge to prepare them for the impact of these events. Challenges included bracketing the personhood of child patients, shifting focus to clinical tasks during the pressured demands of managing an ALTE, normalizing the physiological stress response, and the need for a forum and structure for reflection and learning. An intervention will be designed to provide experiential learning and encourage nurses to realize and benefit from their embodied knowledge

Infection control and the significance of sputum and other respiratory secretions from adult patients with cystic fibrosis

BACKGROUND: There is limited data available on the environmental and public health impact of the microbiological hazards associated with sputa from patients with cystic fibrosis [CF]. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Burkholderia cenocepacia (formerly Burkholderia cepacia genomovar III), Staphylococcus aureus and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia are bacterial pathogens which are commonly found in the sputum of CF patients. A study was performed to ascertain the amount of sputum produced relating to microbial loading, as well as the diversity of bacteria present in a population of adult patients, with particular attention to pathogenic organisms. METHODS: Sputum from adult [>18 years old] CF patients [n = 20], chosen randomly from a population of 138 CF patients, was collected over a 24 h period on admission to the in-patient CF unit and enumerated quantitatively, as well as the sputa from 138 adult CF patients was examined qualitatively for the presence of infecting microflora. In addition, all different phenotypes from the sputum of each patient were identified phenotypically employing a combination of conventional identification methods [e.g. oxidase], as well as the API Identification schemes [API 20 NE, API 20 E]. RESULTS: This study demonstrated that patients with cystic fibrosis generate large numbers of bacteria in their sputum, approximating to 10(9 )organisms per patient per day. Although these organisms are introduced to the environment from the respiratory tract mainly via sputum, relatively few represent true bacterial pathogens and therefore are not clinically important to the general public who are immunocompotent. The greatest risk of such environmental microbial loading is to other patients with CF and therefore CF patients should be made aware of the hazards of acquiring such organisms from the environment, as well as socializing with other CF patients with certain transmissible types, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cenocepacia. CONCLUSIONS: Environmental health professionals should therefore be aware that CF patients are a greater risk to their peer grouping rather than to the general public or health care workers and that good personal hygiene practices with CF patients should be encouraged to minimize environmental contamination and potential acquistion

Malnutrition defined by GLIM criteria identifies a higher incidence of malnutrition and is associated with pulmonary complications after oesophagogastric cancer surgery, compared to ICD-10-defined malnutrition

Background & Objectives Low muscle mass, measured using computed tomography (CT), is associated with poor surgical outcomes. We aimed to include CT-muscle mass in malnutrition diagnosis using the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) criteria, compare it to the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10) criteria, and assess the impact on postoperative outcomes after oesophagogastric (OG) cancer surgery. Methods One hundred and eight patients who underwent radical OG cancer surgery and had preoperative abdominal CT imaging were included. GLIM and ICD-10 malnutrition data were assessed against complication and survival outcomes. Low CT-muscle mass was determined using predefined cut-points. Results GLIM-defined malnutrition prevalence was significantly higher than ICD-10-malnutrition (72.2% vs. 40.7%, p < 0.001). Of the 78 patients with GLIM-defined malnutrition, low muscle mass (84.6%) was the predominant phenotypic criterion. GLIM-defined malnutrition was associated with pneumonia (26.9% vs. 6.7%, p = 0.010) and pleural effusions (12.8% vs. 0%, p = 0.029). Postoperative complications did not correlate with ICD-10 malnutrition. Severe GLIM (HR: 2.51, p = 0.014) and ICD-10 (HR: 2.15, p = 0.039) malnutrition were independently associated with poorer 5-year survival. Conclusions GLIM criteria appear to identify more malnourished patients and more closely relate to surgical risk than ICD-10 malnutrition, likely due to incorporating objective muscle mass assessment

New Constraints on the Complex Mass Substructure in Abell 1689 from Gravitational Flexion

In a recent publication, the flexion aperture mass statistic was found to provide a robust and effective method by which substructure in galaxy clusters might be mapped. Moreover, we suggested that the masses and mass profile of structures might be constrained using this method. In this paper, we apply the flexion aperture mass technique to HST ACS images of Abell 1689. We demonstrate that the flexion aperture mass statistic is sensitive to small-scale structures in the central region of the cluster. While the central potential is not constrained by our method, due largely to missing data in the central 0.5$^\prime$ of the cluster, we are able to place constraints on the masses and mass profiles of prominent substructures. We identify 4 separate mass peaks, and use the peak aperture mass signal and zero signal radius in each case to constrain the masses and mass profiles of these substructures. The three most massive peaks exhibit complex small-scale structure, and the masses indicated by the flexion aperture mass statistic suggest that these three peaks represent the dominant substructure component of the cluster ($\sim 7\times 10^{14}h^{-1}M_\odot$). Their complex structure indicates that the cluster -- far from being relaxed -- may have recently undergone a merger. The smaller, subsidiary peak is located coincident with a group of galaxies within the cluster, with mass $\sim 1\times10^{14}h^{-1}M_\odot$. These results are in excellent agreement with previous substructure studies of this cluster.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, MNRAS accepted (7 Dec 2010

Effective Mitigation of Anchoring Bias, Projection Bias, and Representativeness Bias from Serious Game-based Training

AbstractAlthough human use of heuristics can result in ‘fast and frugal’ decision-making, those prepotent tendencies can also impair our ability to make optimal choices. Previous work had suggested such cognitive biases are resistant to mitigation training. Serious games offer a method to incorporate desirable elements into a training experience, and allow the use of mechanisms that enhance learning and retention. We developed a game to train recognition and mitigation of three forms of cognitive bias: anchoring, a tendency to be inordinately influenced by one piece of information; projection, an implicit assumption that others think or know what you do; and representativeness, judging the likelihood of a hypothesis by how much the available data resembles it. Participants were randomly assigned to play the training game once, twice spaced by 10 to 12 days, or a control condition that used a training video. External questionnaire-based assessments were given immediately post-training and 12 weeks later. Superior training was seen from the game. An independent group using our training game with their own novel bias assessment instruments (to which the researchers and game-developers had no access or content information) validated the key finding. These results demonstrate the viability and high value of using serious computer games to train mitigation of cognitive biases