MediaScape: towards a video, music, and sound metacreation

We present a new media work, MediaScape, which is an initial foray into a fully interdisciplinary metacreativity. This paper defines metacreation, and we present examples of metacreative art within the fields of music, sound art, the history of generative narrative, and discuss the potential of the “open-documentary” as an immediate goal of metacreative video. Lastly, we describe MediaScape in detail, and present some future directions

Acceptance and expectance: Cultural norms for alcohol use in Denmark

Alcohol consumption levels in Denmark are high with the risk of increased morbidity and mortality in the population. It is suggested that people's views of “normal” use of alcohol must be the platform for formulating effective alcohol education and prevention strategies. However, little is known about the cultural norms for alcohol use. The aim of this article is to examine the perceptions of cultural norms for alcohol use in Denmark among different age groups and the similarities and differences between the groups, including examining how people construct and negotiate the cultural norms for drinking. Five focus group interviews were conducted with one group per the following age groups: 16–20; 21–34; 35–44; 45–64; and 65–82. These groups consisted of both men and women with five to six participants in each group (a total of 27). Thematic analysis was performed with the aim of developing themes that reflected the cultural norms for alcohol use. The unifying theme of this research was Danish people's acceptance and expectance of social drinking. Alcohol is widely accepted and associated with mutual expectations to drink, leading to identification of cultural influences and facilitation to drink. The social drinking context plays an important role in people's perceptions of the normality of drinking. This includes the selection of particular beverages, and regularly leads to consumption above the recommended levels for low risk to health. This calls for public health attention that promotes low risk drinking in the social context and aims to prevent and reduce serious alcohol-related harm and health problems across the population

Peripheral Patterns

2010 Masters Photo Documentatio

The science of soundscapes : systems creating expressions of mood and text

Miles Thorogood, Creative Technologist specializing in developing computational assistive technologies, and Instructor cross-posted between Creative Studies and Computer Science, walks through his creation of soundscapes, art and technological literacies. This podcast was created by the UBC Okanagan Library in contribution to Science Literacy Week - http://scienceliteracy.ca/Creative and Critical Studies, Faculty of (Okanagan)Arts and Sciences, Irving K. Barber School of (Okanagan)Library, UBCComputer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics, Department of (Okanagan)Creative Studies, Department of (Okanagan)UnreviewedFacultyOthe

Okanagan Waterways Past, Present and Future: Approaching Sustainability through Immersive Museum Exhibition

This paper presents Waterways Past, Present and Future, a research project and exhibition in Okanagan Syilx territory, aimed at increasing awareness of the relationship between people and water towards catalyzing sustainable water practices. The exhibition’s multi-channel audio-visual media was designed to immerse, provoke, destabilize, transform and move visitors to take responsibility for water. Drawing on many ways of knowing and doing in the creative process, the exhibition opens different entry points to the research, thus encouraging an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural audience to engage with it. Waterways’ contribution to sustainability discourse lies in its empowerment of collaborative inquiry as a way of knowing, understanding and representing our world. The epistemological dimensions of the exhibit present multiplicities embedded in the social life of water, inviting dialogues, shaping cultural narratives and developing new forms of creativity. Through the sensual process of immersion and activation of lateral thinking, the exhibition facilitates connections across cultures, connections that act as agents for social transformation. Waterways’ experiential journey transcends our personal and dominant socio-cultural patterns, reaching beyond normative structures to new creative realms shared ethical space.Creative and Critical Studies, Faculty of (Okanagan)Science, Irving K. Barber Faculty of (Okanagan)ReviewedFacult

Using Zircon isotope compositions to constrain crustal structure and pluton evolution in a complex lithotectonic terrane : the Iapetus suture zone granites in Northern Britain

The Trans-Suture Suite (TSS) of calc-alkaline granite plutons straddle both sides of the Iapetus Suture in Northern Britain. Their emplacement during the early Devonian post-dates subduction of the Iapetus Ocean and their origin and tectonic relations have proved difficult to reconcile with tectonic evidence for orogenic convergence and uplift. We report the first in situ study of zircon U–Pb, O and Hf isotopes from magmatic zircons from three TSS granites. Ages of 410 ± 6 Ma for the Criffell pluton, 416 ± 5 Ma for the Shap pluton and 410 ± 3 Ma for the outer zone of the Fleet pluton are coincident with the intrusion of regionally prolific lamprophyre dykes within transtensional tectonic environments. Resolvable age differences between the outer and inner two zones of the Fleet pluton (387 ± 5 Ma) suggest two distinct stages of emplacement that bracket an ∼10 Myr phase of transpression recognized from geological evidence. Mean zircon oxygen isotope compositions (δ18O) range from ∼5·0‰ to ∼9·0‰ and generally increase in tandem with inter-grain isotope heterogeneity in more silicic magmas, providing evidence for increased additions from sedimentary sources in addition to the involvement of more mafic magmas. Magmatic zircons from dioritic enclaves from the Criffell granodiorites have U–Pb ages up to ∼9 Myr older than their host rocks and have distinct oxygen isotope population distributions. It is suggested that these may represent entrained, cognate material derived from deeper crustal hot zones. Initial εHf values from the three plutons are distinct from each other, show little or no variation within plutons and differ substantially from mantle values, requiring significant crustal reworking. Zircon Hf model ages (0·9–1·0 Ga) indicate that most reworked crust was of Avalonian origin, consistent with geophysical evidence for underlying Avalonian crust beneath the Iapetus Suture