Toronto Metropolitan University Open Journals
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Open, Complex, Messy…: Knowledge-Making in Interactive Documentary
No full textThe production practices of interactive documentaries are very diverse and depend on the software one is using as well as the narrative structure they are trying to produce. Looking at the software Korsakow specific practices can be identified. Some of which are probably afforded by the softwares design and functions – but also by some of the hopes that are built around this software. The hopes for ‘true narration’ and to create stories that let us see ‘more clearly’, as the software’s website itself states. In my research I am aiming to identify and deeply describe the production practices that are enacted with softwares such as Korsakow. Questions like what hopes these practices are directed to, what the promises of the software (and the interactive film in general) is and how they are ultimately enacted are central to this. As well as the question: What does this allow us to find out about visual knowledge-making? And what are the new or more clear ways to represent knowledge in the interactive documentary – and are they even so new and different
Immersive Storytelling in Creative Media, Smart Manufacturing and Healthcare
No full textThe paper explores interactive storytelling in Augmented and Virtual Reality. It is based on the project ANONYMIZED that bridges the gap between technological developments and their application and aims to combine art, economy and science. Five use cases employ an interdisciplinary research design in the areas of Creative Media, Smart Manufacturing and Healthcare. They all develop prototypical applications but also attend to their contextualization with focus on narrative elements: Each use case defines a ”story” in its own context, the purpose of its narration, and its media specificity.
Due to their increased availability, virtual and immersive technologies have not only led to a resurgence of their popularity but also to intriguing new perspectives regarding their use in different contexts. Our research project employs state-of-the art AR and VR technology in five use cases about VR Interaction, Motion Tracking in Artistic VR, Auditory AR for Industry, AR Interfaces for Industry and AR Education for Patients. All of them inquire prototypical applications but relate to the central concept of interactive storytelling. The project addresses three distinct dimensions of storytelling in each use case: the production of a coherent story, the collection and transfer of knowledge, and the specificity of the used technology. Those dimensions are widely known and employed. However, they are seldomly intertwined in one interdisciplinary project focusing on immersive media. Furthermore, the notions of interactivity and immersion play significant roles in the study of storytelling in conjunction with VR an AR. Following papers about immersive storytelling are significant: John Bucher (2017) e. g. examines the timeless principles of storytelling and how they are applied, transformed, and transcended in VR. Marie-Laure Ryan (2015) combines the concepts of immersion and interactive storytelling into a Poetics of Immersion including spatial, temporal and emotional categories. She highlights underlying interactive structures such as the Complete Graph, the Network, the Flowchart. Moya Baldry (2018) discusses the role of the author in complex narratives of immersive environments.
Covering the areas of Creative Media, Smart Manufacturing and Healthcare leads to a very specific research design, as each area is connected to different research contexts. Therefore, the paper focuses on the above-mentioned dimensions of storytelling and addresses the following questions: How is the “story” defined in each context and what is its purpose? Which methods and technologies are used to convey it? Which narrative elements show potential and how can they be developed further for future applications? The paper reflects on the outcome of the use cases and potential future applications of interactive storytelling in immersive media
New Narratives and Social Engagement: The Proceedings of the #IFM2021 Virtual Conference
No full textThese published proceedings draw from the various and impressive contributions to the III Interactive Film and Media Conference in August 2021. They are organized into five sections according to themes. In the first two sections, the papers concentrate on social engagement. The first set of papers focuses on racism in the time of COVID-19, indigenous identity and incarceration. The second involves interactive responses to social issues such as migration, sexual harassment, and refugees. Sections three and four foreground debates about the levels of interactivity experienced in films and games. In the third set of papers, the authors focus on the medium’s capacities to involve the player or the user in interactivity, while papers comprising the fourth set question the process of immersion and explore levels of interactivity more fully. Finally, in the fifth and final section, the papers focus on the environment of digital art, literature, and media, challenging our understanding of what is an “art” in a digital world. Here we invite you to explore the second set of the published papers in the proceedings of the #IFM2021 Virtual Conference
Between Physical and Virtual Territories: A Research-Creation Around Socio-Environmental Conflicts
No full textThe article presents the initial steps of a research-creation project that has been developed within the scope of the Federal University of Espírito Santo in Brazil and whose main objective is to give visibility to socio-environmental conflicts in the metropolitan region of Grande Vitória, the capital of Espírito Santo, from the development of interactive and immersive audiovisual works. At first, field research was carried out in a specific territory of the capital – the Jesus de Nazareth neighborhood – in order to identify some of these local conflicts and the community\u27s ways of acting in an attempt to solve the problems. The problem proposed by the ongoing research can be summarized as follows: using research-creation as a methodology and work process, how to develop interactive, immersive and collaborative multimedia works that make it possible to increase the visibility of socio-environmental conflicts existing in a given territory – in this case, the metropolitan region of Greater Vitória – and, in parallel, promote scientific dissemination and the popularization of science? The research has a multidisciplinary character and brings together the following fields of study: i) research-creation and digital humanities; ii) new communication technologies, immersive (augmented/virtual reality) and interactive media; iii) socio-environmental conflicts in the metropolitan region of Greater Vitória (ES) and their impacts on the population; and iv) scientific dissemination. In addition to the objectives and expected results – to increase the visibility of socio-environmental conflicts and social injustices, research data on these issues and disseminate possible solutions –the research is also justified by the possibilities of learning and experimenting with technological resources on the part of professors and students at a public university in Brazil. The article brings data about the main conflicts already mapped in the Greater Vitória region, information about the visited community and theoretical notes on the concept of socio-environmental conflict, understood broadly but which includes the articulation between the environment and social relations. The text also presents the principles of creation as research and its use as a methodological process. The current stage of the study consists of collecting and selecting data from scientific research banks and reviewing the literature
“Because I don’t come from the culture:” Examining dietitian’s experience promoting healthy dietary behaviors among Hispanic Caribbean clients in New York City
No full textDietitians are key in addressing existing diet-related health inequities, yet, research is lacking concerning how dietitians’ experiences working within culturally diverse communities. Addressing this gap, we interviewed fifteen dietitians working with Hispanic Caribbean (HC) communities in New York City, an understudied community with high incidence of diet-related conditions, to assess the best practices and experienced barriers when working with these communities. The best practices identified included building rapport, incorporating cultural values, and addressing food access. However, the interviews revealed important barriers that prevented successful implementation of these best practices. These included personal factors (language, food culture knowledge, food preferences), lack of culturally-relevant resources, cultural challenges that prevented engaging clients in participatory decision making, and institution-related constraints (time scarcity and funding). The findings underscore the need for improved training for dietitians to be better equipped to work with communities with different cultural and economic backgrounds from their own, for more culturally-relevant resources and funding to address underlying causes of diet-related health disparities in minority populations, and for increased diversity in the profession. Furthermore, our focus on Hispanic Caribbean communities expands existing research promoting cultural competence in the profession, presenting experiences working in with this large segment of the Hispanic community in the United States
Examining the quality of life of patients living with breast cancer in Southern Sri Lanka: A descriptive cross-sectional study
No full textIntroduction: Globally breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women and Sri Lanka is not an exception. Cancer influences the quality of life (QoL) of cancer patients. The survival rates and the QoL of BC patients have improved significantly over the last few decades. However, factors associated with the QoL of patients with BC have not been well studied in Sri Lanka. The aim of the study was to assess the QoL and its correlates among patients with BC treated at a tertiary care hospital in Southern Sri Lanka. Methods: Ninety-seven BC patients were investigated using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. The World Health Organization- Quality of Life- Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) was used to measure QoL. The WHOQOL-BREF measure QoL in four domains: physical, psychological, social, and environmental. Scores range from 0 to 100, and higher scores indicate a greater QoL. Results: The mean age of the sample subjects was 52 years (SD = 8.7), and the majority were married (78%). Physical (60.97±11.56), psychological (63.52±11.63), and environmental (69.05 ±8.79) domains of QoL were at a satisfactory level whereas QoL score related to social relationships was found to be low (47.86±13.89) in this sample. Physical QoL was higher in young participants and psychological QoL was higher among those with a fewer number of comorbidities and disabilities and those with no body image changes. Social QoL was higher among married and environmental QoL was higher among those who reported having no disabilities. Conclusion: Social support in the form of family support and emotional support seems to play a major role in lowering the QoL of BC patients. Psycho-social support services should target patients experiencing physical disabilities, a higher number of comorbidities, and those who were subjected to changes in their body image
Examining the mental health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on international postsecondary students in Canada: A cross sectional analysis
No full textGlobally, the mental health challenges of university and college students are a considerable public health challenge that has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Across Canada, international postsecondary students have reported experiencing increase financial stress, lack of social support, racist aggression, and travel restrictions. This cross-sectional study aimed to assess the mental health impacts of COVID-19 on international postsecondary students in Canada. Data from 177 international students attending universities and colleges in Canada was collected over a 2-month period. Results suggest 36.2% of all students reported a high level of perceived stress, with moderate to severe anxiety and depression symptoms reported by 64.4% of the sample. Stress (p = 0.015) along with anxiety and depression (p = 0.019) were significantly higher in female study participants. Coping strategies related to engaging in activities of daily living were identified. Strategies to support international students\u27 mental health and well-being during the pandemic and beyond have been put forward
The Forking Paths\u27 Interactive Films: From Basic Interaction Models to Full Interactive Experience
No full textThe Forking Paths, a project developed by the Research Center for Arts and Communication (CIAC), focuses on different types and models of interactive films, both from a theoretical and a practical perspective. The platform includes the films produced for the project: Cadavre Exquis (2019), Valsa (2016), The Book of the Dead (2015) and Haze (2014). The aim of this project is to conduct original research targeting the discovery of potential new knowledge, namely through practice and through the results of this practice. Having The Forking Paths project as a starting point, this paper endeavours to analyze the different models and levels of film interactivity. Through this analysis, we seek to trace possible evolutionary paths for audiovisual language and, simultaneously, we look for answers to an ultimate question: is there a true interaction between film and spectator
Video-Island: Performing Environmental Imaginaries and Agency in Ilha do Mel
No full textThis practice-based research focuses on the film Ínsula (Insular in English) to explore ways of conducting, intertwining, and assembling performing bodies with audio-visual performance, through the creation of original dispositifs. It expands relations between different types of performance with cinematographic methodology and unique approaches to editing, to suggest a new term, “cine-performance,” centered on the action and modification of the performing body by the cinematographic apparatus. Performance is an embodied intervention in the world, an instrument for assembling / disassembling territories and languages, a visual and sound composition of the cinematic apparatus. Cine-performance is an expressive potential of the multiple compositions between bodily and audio-visual performance. Through it, live performance is embodied in image through audio-visual capture and the camera eye’s and the editing process’s reconfiguration of the human body.
Performances can be reassembled on a single screen, or through multiple arrangements on a variety of screens. I therefore propose the construction of cinematic montage in spatial and temporal layers, which combines poetic potentialities between bodily and audio-visual performances. Cine-performance uses the language of cinema to expose and investigate the relationship between performance and its specific context (site, environment, historicity) in order to materialize in sound and image the most ephemeral and immaterial aspects of any action involving the body. And this relationship depends on a performing body that assembles and conceives of a cinematic enunciation within the performance itself, which activates and calls upon cinematic genres to transduce performance into an audio-visual work