Toronto Metropolitan University Open Journals
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Paying it forward: Academic intergenerational support through the Scholarly Gathering Circle
No full textIntroduction: Traditional mentorship in higher education often assumes hierarchical relationships in professional development. While this model has its place, as scholars, we sought to co-create a more relational, reciprocal space where the whole person: mind-body-spirit, could belong and flourish. In response to these holistic learning principles, our Scholarly Gathering Circle (the Circle) was created as a mutually encouraging community that fosters the continuity of knowledge and experience across generations in a safe space. Methods: The Circle consists of a mentor, a retired professor, and four of her former graduate students. Every season, we co-create a space rooted in mutual trust, respect and care. We meet on Saturday afternoons for three hours to, using holistic learning principles, share stories of our academic, professional and personal achievements and challenges. In this article, we share and analyze, using the Narrative Inquiry framework, reflections of our experiences within the Circle. Results: Five narrative patterns emerge within our reflections of shared experiences: holistic wellbeing, organic co-construction of knowledge, relationality and belonging in academic spaces, intergenerational learning and knowledge continuity, and reimagining of higher education. Much like Dewey argued, learning is deeply rooted in human connections that foster the continuity of education in a particular setting. Conclusion: Our experience suggests that relational, community-based mentorship, like our Scholarly Gathering Circle, can serve as a powerful contrast to the often-isolating structures of traditional higher education. By centering humanity, care, and reciprocity, without diminishing academic rigour, we can sustain and empower scholars in ways that established models may not. This reflective account outlines how others may create their own scholarly gathering circles within higher education, unrestricted by physical, academic, or geographical space
Expanding Interactivity in Film: Emergent Narratives through VR and Spatialized Cinematic Experiences
No full textThe common application of the term ‘interactive’ within film and cinema tends to require the creation of hyper-narratives. However, this can have implications for the viewer’s emotional connection to and experience of the film. This article argues that film cannot be reduced to the plot, as the communication of story in film relies on visuals and sound that constitute the film’s simulation of reality: the world of the story. Furthermore, virtual reality (VR) blurs the line between immersive and interactive experiences, in the way it spatializes the audio-visual simulation of the film world. Indeed, the immersion of the viewer within the film world can create a feeling of interactivity via physical space, similar to immersive theatre such as Burnt City (2022), making the viewing experience participatory—even though the temporal flow of the narrative is not essentially altered. Therefore, interactivity in film does not have to mean audience or personal control over the plot but can instead be expanded to include the world of the story and the ways in which this world can be immersive, especially through the application of emerging technologies, such as VR and Internet of Things (IoT). This can give rise to viewer interaction through the embodied, spatial relationship to the fictional world and the narrative, rather than through making choices about the plot. Through this kind of spatialization of the cinematic experience, the structure of the narrative is contingent on the viewer’s embodied choices within the space, which gives rise to a sense of emergent narrative. This article explores the above argument, rooting it in a theoretical framework based in narratology, semiotics, and phenomenology, especially the writings of Sobchack and Merleau-Ponty, and then considers its practical application in the recent multi-media installation and ongoing practice-as-research entitled Nested Cinema. The aim of this research is to test the potential for emergent narrative through spatializing the cinematic form into an immersive experience, while orchestrating smart technology and devices across multiple nested layers of experience: the installation space and IoT flexible lighting, synchronized multi-screen projection, multi-channel audio, and VR. In this way, the installation offers a unique participatory experience, in which the installation participant makes embodied choices toward the narrative by repeatedly transitioning between the nested layers of the experience—in the process complicating the boundary between their sense of primary reality and the experience of the simulated world of the story. Apart from employing practice-as-research methodologies, the research engages qualitative methods to account for the participant experience via in-depth interviews. This article presents the practical outcomes and findings of the research and considers the wider potential and application of this work to future interactive modes of immersive home cinema technology
Ludonarrative Media as a Bridge Toward the Complexity Out There: An Interdisciplinary Lens Revolving Around the Resonance Theory
No full textHow humanity may harmoniously situate itself within the world’s multiscale complexity (Wu 2013) is an enduring topic made increasingly urgent by today’s wicked crises (Lönngren and van Poeck 2021). Among many scholarly endeavors on the topic, the resonance theory (Rosa 2019) is notable for offering a comprehensive framework for such ecological mutualism. Relatedly, ludonarrative media like narrative games have shown great potential in facilitating resonance, as reflected in their recent usage to communicate complex issues (Koenitz, Barbara, and Eladhari 2023) and their increasing ubiquity (Karhulahti 2015), the latter best exemplified by the metaverse (Deniz 2023). Drawing upon our recent research on designing interactive narratives for communicating complex issues (Atmaja and Sugiarto 2022) and a model of “ludonarratification” of society (Atmaja et al. 2024), we integrate the resonance theory and ludonarrative media’s state of the art to help realize that potential.
The resonance theory starts from the act of resonance itself, which consists of cognitive, affective, and sensorimotor aspects, aligning with three domains of learning (Dettmer 2005). Upon its application, it expands in three directions: the horizontal axis of social life, the diagonal axis of adjacent and more-than-human realities, and the vertical axis of metaphysics and metanarratives. Firstly, as Figure 1 shows, a well-designed ludonarrative medium can help our cognitive, affective, and sensorimotor faculties connect with the world’s complexity by (1) providing a ludonarrative world that simplifies reality without incorrectly representing it, (2) presenting the ludonarrative world through engaging and empathetic storytelling, and (3) manifesting the storytelling as representative assets and empowering user interfaces (Atmaja and Sugiarto 2022). Secondly, as seen in Figure 2, there is also a close alignment between the axes of resonance and our three-dimensional model of ludonarratification, which describes how ludonarrative media may organize to “ludonarratify” every activity in society, i.e., turn the activity into a narrative game. First, as demonstrated by the metaverse (Deniz 2023) and megagames (Johansson, Berggren, and Leifler 2023), the media can form a vast systemic hierarchy while retaining each’s independence, which lets the player safely experience various social institutions. Second, similar to transmedia multiverses (Kustritz 2014), there can be many such supersystems, separate yet influencing each other, which allow resonating with living and non-living “others” from adjacent realities. Lastly, game science shows us how to manage the media according to higher aspirations through metagaming (Klabbers 2018) and meta-metagaming (Boluk and LeMieux 2017).
We will provide a hypothetical example of the application of ludonarrative media and their supersystems, multiverse, metagames, and meta-metagames to assist humanity in resonating with the world
The Multiverse as Theory in Postmodern Speculative Fictional Narratives
No full textThe Multiverse as Theory in Postmodern Speculative Fictional Narratives considers the concept of the multiverse beyond the immediacy of being merely an excuse or scenario for the development of stories, instead positioning the multiverse as a theoretical method in which speculative fiction narratives can explore diverse issues to bridge ideas across cultural, social, and philosophical analysis.
Taking a cross-cultural approach, the book centres around the critical engagements that literary and media texts have with the representations of the multiverse, beyond considering this subject as a mere rhetorical flourish or a passing fad. A diverse and international team of authors engage with the multiverse from the point of view of “other worlds,” understanding it not as the appearance of another independent world, but as the collision of two or more different worlds into one of them. From this key finding, the multiverse encourages us to pay attention to the influence that fiction exerts on narratives and world-building, providing possible frameworks to rethink critical aspects of temporality, space, self, society, and culture in contemporary times.
This pioneering work will interest students and scholars working in the areas of media and cultural studies, comparative literature, popular culture studies, speculative fiction, and transmedia studies
Everything We Did : Perpetual Karaoke, Film, Archive, Performance, Exhibition
No full textSelected by The UK National Archives as a ‘Highlight of the Year in Archives, 2024’, this research is focused on a recurrent project that investigates performative ritual as a mode of reframing fragmented memories and trauma as a way of repairing hope, a portal created to bring resilience.
Time and archive are reimagined through the ritual of Perpetual Karaoke (Film, Archive, Performance and Exhibition); Everything We Did conjures sixteen weeks of 1991 into the present. Everything We Did invokes portals of popular culture, creating ‘a social resource’ (Drew, 2001), where anyone can become what that want to be.
With a focus on the months of the collapse of the USSR and declaration of Ukrainian independence in 1991, the karaoke space becomes comparable to an active haunting, inviting the participants to create a ‘collective bonding’ (Pierce, Laurnay et al) to reimagine and reinterpret the past, delving into ‘Entangles Histories’ and ‘counter-factuals’, (Shevel & Popova, 2023).
‘What haunts the digital cul-de-sacs of the twenty-first century is not so much the past as all the lost futures that the twentieth century taught us to anticipate.’ (Fisher 2012).
Participants are invited to join the ritual of the karaoke, which is inhabited by masked narrators, (as in Cindy Sherman’s Play of Selves, ‘alter-egos that compete inside the self’). There is only one song, the endurance and repetition conjure energies past and present. These are recounted in testimonies which form the perpetual collection of cultural and historical reinterpretation through participation. These have included queer histories, Ukrainian personal accounts and archive reinterpretation.
Everything We Did featured at the MeCCSA conference in September 2024 as a 9 hour performance, exhibition and film. This presentation is a reflection of this ongoing Perpetual Karaoke project
Butches, bears and beyond: The orientations of fatness/queerness
No full textThis paper examines the ways that fat and queer individuals have their identities caught in the unenviable space between oversimplification and underrepresentation. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with fat queer individuals, this paper examines fat queer phenomenologies of identity primarily through Sara Ahmed’s (2006) Queer Phenomenology. Through Ahmed’s positing of an orientation toward queer, this article demonstrates how fat queer individuals attempt to orient themselves and their identities in response to these rigid understandings of what fatness and/or queerness can be. In exploring how fat queer people found themselves represented, certain stereotypes emerged that were neither entirely affirming nor entirely rejected representations of fatness and queerness. The limitation of these representations was often not the representations themselves, but instead the assumption that fat queer identity fell within the narrow bounds the representations depicted. To draw, then, on an orientation toward queer, this paper analyses fat and queer identity as it holds onto stereotypes and subcultures as sites of reference while it orients itself away from rigid norms to produce a more expansive and nuanced idea of fat queer identity
Determination of the Sorption Curve of Hygroscopic Building Materials by the Inverse Method: A Preliminary Study
No full textThe work presents preliminary studies on inverse algorithms for sorption curve determination. The technique of measurement of the sorption curve described in EN ISO 12571:2021 standard would take months to characterize these parameters. The proposed inverse method aimed to accelerate the measurement process by applying an in-house developed non-equilibrium heat and mass transfer model. The model was developed in ANSYS Fluent using advanced customization interfaces like User-Defined Function (UDF), User-Defined Scalar (UDS), and User-Defined Memory (UDM). The genetic algorithm, which was implemented in Python, was used to find unknown sorption curve parameters. The algorithm was tested using the experiment described in the literature. The inverse method allowed to find the sorption curve with satisfactory accuracy in the 0.4-0.7 relative humidity range
Analysis of Scientific Publications Based on the Integration of Polymer Composite Materials into Solar Thermal Devices
No full textThe incorporation of polymer composite materials (PCMs) into solar thermal systems has gained significant interest due to their beneficial properties, such as lightweight design, superior thermal insulation, and resistance to corrosion. This research offers a detailed examination of scientific studies concerning the use of PCMs in solar thermal applications, with a focus on their thermal efficiency, mechanical resilience, and economic viability. The review underscores notable progress in the advancement of PCM-based solar collectors, highlighting their role in enhancing energy efficiency and minimizing operational expenses. Additionally, the environmental advantages of PCMs, including their recyclability and reduced carbon footprint, are explored in the context of sustainable energy development. The findings shed light on emerging research directions and technological breakthroughs, aiding in the refinement of solar thermal system design and functionality. This study serves as a valuable resource for scientists and engineers aiming to enhance the performance and sustainability of solar energy technologies through the application of polymer composite materials
Experimental Studies of Characteristics of Springs with Composite Section on Models from Polymer Materials
No full textПредложена методология модельного эксперимента по исследованию винтовых цилиндрических пружин на моделях из полимерных материалов и критериальные уравнения для обоснования значений, характеризующих физико-механические свойства материалов натурной конструкции (сталь 60С2) и модельного образца (органическое стекло – метилметакрилат) пружин. При фиксированном прогибе пружин получены экспериментальные значения силовых параметров нагружения модели реплики и натурной пружины, а также определены критерии подобия (константы) для них. Модельные исследования с целью обоснования упруго-диссипативных и прочностных свойств различных вариантов винтовых цилиндрических пружин композиционного сечения из полимерных материалов в сравнении с натурными образцами этих пружин проведены с использованием тензометрического метода измерения деформаций экспериментально в лабораторных условиях. Результаты модельного эксперимента были получены в виде графических зависимостей, анализ данных которых позволил обосновать рациональные геометрические параметры и выбрать модельный вариант конструкции винтовой цилиндрической пружины композитного сечения с наилучшими прочностными и упругими свойствами. Рекомендуется изготовить натурные образцы таких пружин и продолжить их дальнейшие исследования в реальных условиях эксплуатаци
Investigation of Critical Heat Flux (CHF) in Annulus and Tubes for Subcooled Flow Boiling of Water, R12, and R134a
No full textThis study investigates the geometric effects of tubes and annular channels on Critical Heat Flux (CHF) during subcooled flow boiling of water, R12, and R134a. CHF, a key limit in boiling heat transfer, dictates the heat removal capacity before thermal failure. While CHF in tube geometries has been extensively studied, annular configurations remain underexplored despite their relevance in high-performance heat exchangers. This work addresses this gap by developing improved predictive CHF correlations based on geometry. Under local condition hypothesis, we propose a geometrical equivalence factor and a fluid-to-fluid scaling approach using the Residual Entropy Scaling (RES) approach. The tube dataset comprises 2,181 points, and the annulus dataset 875 points, covering wide operational ranges. The proposed correlation shows good predictive accuracy, with an overall mean error (ME) of -2.62% and root mean square error (RMSE) of 15.05% across all 3,056 data points. This study refines CHF modeling, enhancing predictive capabilities for diverse fluids and geometries. The findings support the design of efficient heat transfer systems, particularly in the transition to environmentally friendly refrigerants