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Signs of Life: A Process Philosophy of Audible Semiotics
No full textThis essay advances an audible semiotics (hearing and listening) by challenging James Williams’ concept of signs in his book A Process Philosophy of Signs (2016). In it, Williams proposes that a sign exists due to, and as, its own intensive life. That is, he decouples consciousness from the semiotic relation in order to advance a materialist ontology. Through this thesis, Williams aims to move semiotic relations outside the limits of visual and linguistic thinking. In doing so, however, he has conflated two distinct activities—life and signs. This positions the sign on material grounds and thereby strips away the creative and interpretive element of ambiguity, which is vital to any theory of signs.
This essay shares Williams’ interest in loosening semiotics from its adherence to language and visual thinking. But it challenges his arguments by addressing the topic from an audible rather than material standpoint. Without experience and interpretation—human, animal, plant or otherwise—a sound is only a sound, a process of life, and not a sign. An audible semiotics retains the sensory to seek out other avenues of discovery and thought beyond language and vision. In audibility, a sign returns to its relational element of sensation—its processes of gathering and interpretation. A process philosophy of audible signs thereby affirms two propositions: (1) that “life” and “sign” are not the same; and (2) that the value of semiotics is not a concern over what is, but about how any form of life responds to and interprets a situation.
More than review or criticism, the essay advances a positive theory of audible signs. To this end, it narratively deconstructs a “scene” that Williams offers in his own account: a deer’s footsteps on a snowy hillside. By critiquing these accounts cinematically and narratively, we can see how an audible semiotics reinvigorates the vital necessity of ambiguity in hearing and listening, which also points toward the possibilities of audible design in filmmaking. The methodology is discursive and analytical but non-dialectical. That is, situating audibility in a narrative framework offers an other way into the value of signs and semiotic studies across a wide range of disciplines. The central thesis argued, contra Williams, is that signs are not reducible to “life” (and vice-versa), and that only an audible regard for signs can reveal this fact.
To situate its arguments, this essay incorporates key aspects of semiotics, psychology, and epistemology. Thinkers engaged, other than Williams, include William James, Wittgenstein, Saussure, Peirce, Barthes and Deleuze. Philosophical in approach, this essay will have resonance as a starting point for considering the possibilities of creative hearing and listening in audiovisual arts and epistemology
Paintings Alive: Interactive Films and Video Installations for Young Museum Visitors
No full textTo reach younger audiences, museums worldwide have incorporated interactive and hands-on activities, while some venues specialise in children as their main audience. Videos, in particular, can be easily integrated in the museum space and provide a variety of application possibilities. Their use creates a hybrid experience for the visitor in which the interaction between physical and digital elements transforms and enriches their experience of the exhibits. Furthermore, the use of interactive technologies has been proven to increase visitor numbers and interactions on- and off-site. In this context, our research focuses on the use of interactive video technologies, and factors that can lead into the design of engaging and user-friendly museum experiences for children. To achieve this, a museum was chosen as a case study and a survey was conducted. The results indicated that the creation of an interactive video could benefit the areas that were visited less; the preferable length is rather short; while hands-on and video installations promote and prolong the engagement of young visitors, and are favoured by both younger and older children. Additionally, fictional or dramatised stories are attractive to children compared to documentaries; and it would be preferrable to access the interactive content on their mobile devices. These have led to the production of Paintings Alive, an interactive film for children, based on the museum’s art gallery, and accessible on the visitors’ mobile devices. Our paper also discusses the findings of the project, alongside the challenges and limitations imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and offers recommendations for future work
The Abstract Machine: A Framework for Creative Film Editing
No full textThe last three decades have been a time of changes in filmmaking. Film editing as a part of it it’s not immune to this set of transformations. The driving force is the digital revolution, but the level of changes comes in different dimensions. The filmmaking process brought a change in technology and equipment that impacted technical and creative procedures. The emergence of the internet, social networks, streaming platforms, altered the relationship between the spectator and the medium. Film language acquired the capacity to absorb styles originated in television and in other media and keeps evolving. Access to the tools is democratized. Any young adult can use a phone or a computer to edit video content that feeds social networks. The next step will be artificial intelligence and this whole transformative process is far from ending.
Throughout this evolutionary process, the montage theories have remained relatively stable because they are very robust, but the scale of contextual changes requires an update to this different technological and cultural setting. This paper aims to answer this question by proposing a conceptual framework for creative film editing.
The framework design is based on the theory of assemblage (Deleuze, Guattari; DeLanda), it identifies the two minimal essential elements of the process: filmic elements and relations. Filmic elements are concrete, relations are abstract. Editing is creating relations between filmic elements and shaping those relations to produce meaning and aesthetics.
In assemblage theory all assemblages share three characteristics, they all have concrete elements, an abstract machine, and agents. The abstract machine is a space of possibilities determined by the concrete elements in which all relations are possible. The editor is an agent acting on an abstract machine.
From this perspective, we can identify two processes of interaction between concrete elements and relations and they occur along different dimensions. One dimension defines the variable roles that an assemblage component may play, from a purely material role to a purely expressive role. These roles are variable and may occur in mixtures. The other dimension defines variable processes in which these components become involved and are referred to as processes of territorialization or deterritorialization.
These two specialized expressive media are viewed as the basis for a second synthetic process called coding. Coding supplies a second articulation, consolidating the effects of the first and stabilizing the identity of an assemblage. For coding methods, we use models from the theory of editing that define “rules” on how to connect shots together. Continuity editing, for instance, is a set of rules that can be viewed as a specific code.
This framework includes a model for grid analysis to grasp how the relations being crafted can affect the film experience from different perspectives, namely narrative, aesthetic, and discursive.
With this framework we provide a conceptual model to understand the film editing process from its most basic components, allowing the editor to have a clear understanding of how he can affect the cinematic experience, thus providing tools and methods for critical analysis
How the Focus on Food Literacy in Ontario’s Food Charter Toolkits Detracts from Meaningful Food (In)Security Action
No full textThis article examines the uneasy relationship between the values of food security and food literacy in the context of Ontario’s local food charter discourse. It extends prior research on the competing values and incongruous community identities that food charters constitute by exploring the emerging genre of the food charter toolkit which is intended to help community members implement food charter visions. Situating our analysis within a critical review of recent work on food literacy and its association with food (in)security, we argue that toolkits articulate a superficial and ineffective approach to achieving the food charter goal of “food security for all” because they recommend mainly food literacy initiatives as the primary means for building food-secure communities. Addressed to a privileged audience of citizen-consumers who possess the socio-economic capacity to engage in the toolkits’ recommended actions at both personal and community levels, this genre problematically excludes food-insecure community members as an agentic audience. Despite the ostensible social equity goal to ensure food security for all community members, the prevalence of a neoliberal-communitarian food literacy discourse in the food charter toolkits obscures the systemic-economic causes of, and possible solutions to, food insecurity
The impact of COVID-19 on nursing education in Sri Lanka: A reflective analysis
No full textIn the wake of COVID-19, nursing education has shifted to eLearning from traditional methods. This reflective analysis addresses the impact of COVID-19 on the development of competencies among nursing students in Sri Lanka. Four themes were identified: the direct impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on nursing education; the role of eLearning in nursing education during the COVID-19 pandemic; the acquisition of nursing skills and competencies; and implications for education, research, and policy. Virtual online learning has replaced traditional teaching and learning. Acquiring clinical skills and competencies and completing the practicum are challenging. Since nurses are in high demand; nursing education needs to be accelerated and modified. A change in policies related to education and research is essential for developing countries. Blended learning, which includes more simulation teaching, is recommended
An exploration of Francophone and Francophile men’s representation of prostate cancer: An ethnographic study
No full textBackground. Worldwide, men’s health and wellness promotion employ various models and conceptions of masculinity. Masculinities are subjectively experienced and influenced by social differences such as race, class, and sexual orientation. Largely because it threatens men’s gender identity and sexuality, prostate cancer is a prominent and sensitive health issue. How men think, speak about, and represent prostate cancer is affected by their cultural, social, moral, and religious values and beliefs. Methods. Based on data from a larger ethnographic study, this article reports on Francophone and Francophile immigrant men’s experiences and representations of prostate cancer. Data were collected from interviews with 19 men in the cities of Gonesse and Paris, France, using a tool inspired by (core) social representation theory, and submitted to content analysis. Results. Similar views between the two groups of men suggest that the representation of prostate cancer prevalent in French society held more sway over the men’s attitudes and thoughts than any alternative cultural views from the immigrants’ particular ethnic backgrounds. Conclusions. The confirmed view of prostate cancer as a disease with neither a positive nor a negative meaning offered opportunities for the men to re-evaluate their lives and plan their future with realistic expectations
The need for clarification of terminology and labels in interprofessional care: A commentary
No full textBackground: The current healthcare environment is filled with numerous team caring models, which are often used interchangeably, but ultimately mean different levels of collaboration among HCPs, and between HCPs and patients: multiprofessional collaboration, transprofessional collaboration, and interprofessional patient-centered collaborative (IPCC) care. Furthermore, the labels for these care models are not patient-friendly, portraying that only HCP ‘professionals’ comprise the team membership. Clarity is required around the terminology and labeling of these caring models to ensure enhanced patient involvement within interprofessional teams. Discussion: The definitions of the three team care models are provided with an explanation of how these models of care connect to the 55-year-old patient’s case and impact on the relationship between HCPs and patient. Conclusion: While IPCC care is considered as the gold standard for the collaboration between a variety of HCP professional groups and the patient, work needs to be done on the label applied to this caring model. Future research should explore, from patients’ perspectives, the labels used in IPCC care and propose an alternative title that is more inclusive of patients as team members
Exploring health care for transgender people in the Brazilian health system: Qualitative descriptive-interpretative study
No full textThe guarantee of rights in Brazil is legitimized through its Constitution of the Republic and its national health system needs to follow a list of prerogatives that include, also, transgender people. Currently there are situations in which the expectation of rights is broken and the free exercise of life of this population is prevented. This article analyzes access to health services by trans people in the health system in Brazil. The investigation was carried out in cities in the metropolitan region of a municipality in southeastern Brazil, through qualitative, exploratory and descriptive-interpretive research. The trans population faces many difficulties in accessing the services that make up the Brazilian Health System, such as the lack of qualification of health professionals, barriers to the use of the social name and structural prejudices in society
Interactive Documentary as Form of Public Narrative in Digital Age: Migration Crises in Borderland and Roxham
No full textThis paper examines how migration crises in North America are represented in two award-winning interactive documentary projects—Borderland and Roxham. Through various combinations of images, texts, video, surface designs and visual presentation, those two both portray detailed stories and imply critical point of views. Based on reflection on interactivity, hypertextuality, multimediality that afforded by digital technology, this project is guided by the main research question: how do features of interactive documentary enable this non-linear storytelling structure to be a new form of public narrative? With the analysis of Borderland and Roxham as case studies, remixes of multimedia visual elements, narrative structures, contributions from users and variation in user’s narrative routes are also discussed within sub-questions: how does the story of individual open emotional dialogue in those two projects? In what way users can experience the shared values through emotion that may lead to moral choice?
Two projects are analyzed by Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis to evaluate the structure of stories and interactivity constructed by moving images, perspectives, and storytelling. By tapping into the interlocking plots and the power of narrative, I argue that interactive documentary forms a unique public narrative when tackling social issues, allowing self-experience to intertwine with collective experience, and let individuals meet in this temporal public sphere through authorial expressivity, narrative routes and interactive participatory
From Animality to Immortality: The Conquest of the Human in The City and the Stars
No full textIn the light of the novel The City and the Stars (Arthur C. Clarke, 1956), this paper discusses the impacts of new technologies—namely, cybernetics, computer networks, and Artificial Intelligence advent—on representations of corporeality, its limits, and transmutations. At first, it will briefly highlight how techniques of the body are mostly concerned with enhancing human biology (until getting rid of it) to circumvent vulnerabilities of the flesh, especially death. Then, Clarke’s novel will be used as an analytical lens, as it anticipates philosophical implications arising from “technological immortality,” expressed in the mind-upload theory and its ideal body transcendence—a singular junction between metaphysics and computer sciences