Realtors, Resistance, and White Roses

I remember driving to school with my mother, eyes wide. I thought, as we passed by buildings and stores and little cafes with seats outside, that the small suburban town we were driving through was beautiful. And when I told my mom, she looked at me out of the corner of her eyes and told me: “Did I ever tell you how Dad and I were going to move here?” “Here?” I said. “No… I don’t think so.” “We were looking at a house that we both liked, but when I asked the real estate agent about how I heard there was some anti-Semitism going around, you know what she said?” “What?” “She said ‘is that a good thing, or a bad thing?’” [excerpt

Ms. Marvel: Changing Muslim Representation in the Comic World

Examines the representation of Muslim women in the comic book world, and how Kamala Khan (the titular Ms. Marvel) along with some other characters usher in a new wave of how Muslim women are depicted in comics

The White Screen

There was laughter all around me, and I couldn’t help but join in. I was at the orphanage, playing ball with a bunch of kids in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Despite being a little homesick and barely knowing the language, I was having few problems living here. I loved this place, with its ancient roots and friendly people. I loved hearing the morning’s call to prayer when I woke up. [excerpt

Improving the Navigability of Tagging Systems with Hierarchically Constructed Resource Lists and Tag Trails

Recent research has shown that the navigability of tagging systems leaves much to be desired. In general, it was observed that tagging systems are not navigable if the resource lists of the tagging system are limited to a certain factor k. Hence, in this paper a novel resource list generation approach is introduced that addresses this issue. The proposed approach is based on a hierarchical network model. The paper shows through a number of experiments based on a tagging dataset from a large online encyclopedia system called Austria-Forum, that the new algorithm is able to create tag network structures that are navigable in an efficient manner. Contrary to previous work, the method featured in this paper is completely generic, i.e. the introduced resource list generation approach could be used to improve the navigability of any tagging system. This work is relevant for researchers interested in navigability of emergent hypertext structures and for engineers seeking to improve the navigability of tagging systems

Reliability measurement during software development

During the development of data base software for a multi-sensor tracking system, reliability was measured. The failure ratio and failure rate were found to be consistent measures. Trend lines were established from these measurements that provided good visualization of the progress on the job as a whole as well as on individual modules. Over one-half of the observed failures were due to factors associated with the individual run submission rather than with the code proper. Possible application of these findings for line management, project managers, functional management, and regulatory agencies is discussed. Steps for simplifying the measurement process and for use of these data in predicting operational software reliability are outlined

Twitter in Academic Conferences: Usage, Networking and Participation over Time

Twitter is often referred to as a backchannel for conferences. While the main conference takes place in a physical setting, attendees and virtual attendees socialize, introduce new ideas or broadcast information by microblogging on Twitter. In this paper we analyze the scholars' Twitter use in 16 Computer Science conferences over a timespan of five years. Our primary finding is that over the years there are increasing differences with respect to conversation use and information use in Twitter. We studied the interaction network between users to understand whether assumptions about the structure of the conversations hold over time and between different types of interactions, such as retweets, replies, and mentions. While `people come and people go', we want to understand what keeps people stay with the conference on Twitter. By casting the problem to a classification task, we find different factors that contribute to the continuing participation of users to the online Twitter conference activity. These results have implications for research communities to implement strategies for continuous and active participation among members

Beyond Sanity. Women in 19th Century Spiritualism Between Pathologization and Liberation

This paper aims to explore the changing role of female mediumship within Spiritualism and its predeceasing movements from the early 19th century up to the late Victorian era. In the course of this exploration, the development of Spiritualist thought, its accounts of the beyond and the various means of establishing contact will be traced from Mesmerism and Somnambulism up to table-turning and Bourgeois Séances. In all of those different stages of development, female mediums have played a central role. The assumption that women are more accessible for spirit communication or even possession derived from classical patriarchal discourses that rendered women as weaker of will, more amenable to influence, more emotionally sensitive and generally passive. Continuities and discontinuities of such stereotypical notions of femininity will be traced throughout the different phases of Spiritualist practices. The analysis of the ambivalent position of 19th century female mediumship between pathologization and liberation not only reveals certain dominant patriarchal discourses on femininity as well as their subversion but also interesting insights concerning the shifting perceptions of the beyond and its interconnectedness to the earthly realm within this historical context