Diversidad audiovisual e integración cultural. Analizando el programa Ibermedia

Pese a deficiencias en el funcionamiento y a su falta de ambición económica, la creación del programa Ibermedia ha sido un punto de inflexión para crear un espacio audiovisual común para la región iberoamericana. A través de un fondo financiero multilateral, el programa ha intentado estimular la coproducción de productos para el cine y la televisión, el montaje inicial de proyectos cinematográficos, la distribución de películas dentro del mercado regional y la formación de recursos humanos para la industria audiovisual. Realizar una primera evaluación de sus primeros años de funcionamiento (1998-2007), analizar las opiniones que se han vertido sobre el mismo, así como realizar una primera valoración de su impacto en la región es el objetivo central de este trabajo

La estrategia del caracol. Un breve recorrido por la cooperación cinematográfica de la UE con otras regiones

El presente trabajo defiende la idea de que la política audiovisual europea debe aprender a mirar hacia fuera, replanteando necesariamente sus relaciones externas, ya que hasta el momento ha buscado definir su identidad conforme a una serie de condicionantes que pudiesen hacerla competitiva frente a la estadounidense, ignorando de este modo que el nuevo imaginario cultural (internacional-popular) impone nuevos espacios de cooperación e intercambio de productos que superan las actuales fronteras nacionales y regionales. En esta vuelta de tuerca, reclamamos para la Unión Europea no sólo el papel de potencia económica competitiva frente a los Estados Unidos, sino también el ejercicio de una función de liderazgo en la defensa por la diversidad cultural de nuestras pantallas. Dicho ejercicio pasa necesariamente por fortalecer las políticas nacionales de cultura, así como por avanzar en procesos de integración y cooperación interregionales, donde la industria cinematográfica puede jugar un papel esencial. En este articulo, llevaremos a cabo una evaluación de los programas de cooperación audiovisual que la UE mantiene hoy en día con otras regiones del planeta, un espacio aún por desarrollar, lastrado por todo tipo de condicionantes e intereses, pero que ofrece una salida viable y un complemento necesario e interesante a su política proteccionista

Rethinking the definition of participatory video at the interface of theory and practice

Since at least the 1960s, participatory video (PV) has aimed to readdress film’s traditional focus on entertainment and the media’s interest in global news with the intention of promoting local and community development. This has usually meant empowering communities to work via consensus to elaborate different audiovisual products which reflect community problems and aspirations in various ways. In the words of Shirley White, author of Participatory Video. Images that Transform and Empower, PV acts as “a powerful force for people to see themselves in relation to the community (…). It brings about a critical awareness that forms the foundation for creativity and communication” (White, 2003: 64). This paper addresses the concept of PV comprehensively by mobilizing critically both academic takes on the subject and the professional views of a variety of practitioners and experts. It aims to outline a number of uses and modes which coexist within PV with the aim of generating a more fruitful discussion on its defining features and the relation between canonical and marginal examples of participatory videomaking. To that effect, our methodological approach combines a literature review (including key works in English as well as theoretical contributions in the field of Latin American critical communication studies) with data obtained from a number of in-depth interviews with experts and experienced practitioners. Three key areas are identified as major elements within a PV experience: process, communication and results. Focusing on the analysis of how productive tensions between participants and facilitators play out in each of these areas, we propose a broad instrumental definition in the hope of contributing to the ongoing theoretical discussion on PV. Finally, the main areas of debate as perceived by video practitioners -format, genre and the role of the Internet- are discussed with a view to establish how these issues are currently being negotiated within the field

Avanços, dificuldades e desafios para uma política de integração cinematográfica na américa central

La cultura y, especialmente, la industria del audiovisual deberían jugar un papel muy significativo en el proceso de integración que la región centroamericana está viviendo. No obstante, la falta de legislación y políticas para favorecer las producciones locales, el monopolio de los productos norteamericanos y la dificultad de circulación de obras propias de la región, constituyen algunos escollos en un contexto socioeconómico difícil ya de por sí para cualquier industria local. Analizar este contexto en términos de medidas políticas, iniciativas empresariales y actividades culturales de repercusión en la región dentro del campo del cine, constituirá el núcleo central de este trabajo que pretende señalar algunos pasos necesarios para utilizar la industria del audiovisual como herramienta que favorezca la identidad común centroamericana y su proceso político de integración.The culture and, especially, the audiovisual industry should play a very important role in the process of integration that Central American region is experiencing. However, the lack of legislation and policies to promote local production, monopoly of North American products and the difficulty of circulating the audiovisual works around the region are some of the pitfalls in a difficult socio-economic context for any local industry. The analysis of this context in terms of political measures, business initiatives and cultural activities of repercussion in the region, constitutes the core of this work that provides some recommendations to use the audiovisual industry as a tool that favors the common identity of Central American region and its political integration process.A cultura e, especialmente, a indústria audiovisual devem desempenhar um papel muito significativo no processo de integração que a região da América Central está a viver. No entanto, a falta de legislação e políticas para favorecer a produção local, o monopólio dos produtos norte-americanos e a dificuldade de circulação de obras da próprias da região, são algumas das armadilhas em um contexto sócio-econômico já difícil para qualquer indústria local. Analisar esse contexto em termos de medidas políticas, iniciativas empresariais e atividades culturais de repercussão na região dentro do campo do cinema, será o cerne deste trabalho que visa apontar alguns passos necessários para utilizar a indústria audiovisual como uma ferramenta que favoreça a identidade comum centro-americana e seu processo político de integração

Congruency fit: beyond performance in the auto supplier industry

The effects of manufacturing strategy (MS) and technology (T) on performance have been studied separately, but few studies have examined the relationship between MS and T practices clusters that improve effectiveness when implemented jointly, and even then they do not consider possible congruency between the two. This paper develops a congruency (selection) model to test for any interconnection between said clusters, without addressing causation or their combined effect on performance. The implicit outcome is that the plant will achieve a desirable effectiveness level. Through a wide-ranging survey of auto supplier plants, two approaches are considered: 1) grouping both clusters in pairs (canonical correlation analysis); and 2) a more general selection view version, with practices from both clusters related multidimensionally and subordinated by bivariate analysis (regression) to test for any congruent pattern. Both methods find a congruent relationship between manufacturing strategy and technology practice clusters, although the second provides greater detail.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia DPI-2006-0553

Mapping Participatory Video as a Field of Knowledge. A review of the main theoretical and practical contributions

El Video Participativo (VP) supone dentro del ámbito académico un objeto de estudio poco trabajado pero singular, ya que supone un campo interdisciplinario que ha llevado a la academia muchas experiencias de dimensión práctica y ha generado conocimiento y reflexión más desde la acción que desde el debate teórico. Así, este trabajo trata de hacer un recorrido por los principales autores, publicaciones y enfoques que en un primer momento enmarcaron la reflexión sobre el uso del audiovisual de manera participativa y/o comunitaria para, posteriormente, desarrollar un trabajo de profundización sobre los textos que, ya bajo la definición de “video participativo” sistematizaron experiencias, abrieron distintas líneas de reflexión y llevaron el VP al corpus teórico de la investigación social. Cerraremos este itinerario con los debates más relevantes que se están produciendo en la actualidad que plantean nuevas formas de entender y aplicar el VP adaptado a las herramientas y entornos tecnológicos actuales, al tiempo que cuestionan o intentan recuperar los planteamientos tradicionales que se asociaron a estas experiencias.Within the academic field, Participatory Video (PV) has established itself as a singular object of study, still in need of rigorous attention. It represents and inter-disciplinary terrain that has attracted academic interest towards practical experiences, generating knowledge and a sort of critical debate more focused on action patterns that on theoretical insights. The following pages attempt to identify the researchers, publications and approaches that first framed the debate on participatory and community audiovisual practice. We will discuss in-depth the texts that, under the PV label, proceeded to conceptually structure experiences, open original debates and shifted PV towards the theoretical repertoire of social research. The essay will close with a critical overview of relevant contemporary debates that explore new ways of understanding and using PV in relation to new digital media while, at the same time, recuperating or questioning traditional participatory strategies associated to PV as a practice

Multilayer Spiking Neural Network for Audio Samples Classification Using SpiNNaker

Audio classification has always been an interesting subject of research inside the neuromorphic engineering field. Tools like Nengo or Brian, and hardware platforms like the SpiNNaker board are rapidly increasing in popularity in the neuromorphic community due to the ease of modelling spiking neural networks with them. In this manuscript a multilayer spiking neural network for audio samples classification using SpiNNaker is presented. The network consists of different leaky integrate-and-fire neuron layers. The connections between them are trained using novel firing rate based algorithms and tested using sets of pure tones with frequencies that range from 130.813 to 1396.91 Hz. The hit rate percentage values are obtained after adding a random noise signal to the original pure tone signal. The results show very good classification results (above 85 % hit rate) for each class when the Signal-to-noise ratio is above 3 decibels, validating the robustness of the network configuration and the training step.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2012-37868-C04-02Junta de Andalucía P12-TIC-130