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Organized Representations Forming a Computationally Useful Processing Structure
Full text linkPeter Godfrey-Smith recently introduced the idea of representational ‘organization’. When a collection of representations form an organized family, similar representational vehicles carry similar contents. For example, where neural firing rate represents numerosity (an analogue magnitude representation), similar firing rates represent similar numbers of items. Organization has been elided with structural representation, but the two are in fact distinct. An under-appreciated merit of representational organization is the way it facilitates computational processing. Representations from different organized families can interact, for example to perform addition. Their being organized allows them to implement a useful computation. Many of the cases where organization has seemed significant, but which fall short of structural representation, are cases where representational organization underpins a computationally useful processing structure
Sacred squares? A non-representational study of James Smetham's (1821-1889) everyday artistic experiences of religion, faith, and spirituality
Full text linkThis paper develops new ways of approaching representations to understand individuals' everyday experiences of religion, faith, and spirituality in the past. Drawing on non-representational theories' emphasis on practice and affect, it focuses on processes of making representations within religious, faithful, and spiritual practices. Contributing to ongoing dialogues between art history and geography, it explores the material spaces such representations were made in and the spiritual spaces they created, arguing that this approach overcomes the difficulties faced by historical geographers trying to explore embodied and out of body experiences of religion, faith, and spirituality in the past. To demonstrate the potential of this approach, this paper focuses on miniature squares made by the Methodist and Pre- Raphaelite associate James Smetham between 1848 and the late 1870s. Approaching them as spaces that Smetham made and inhabited, it explores where and when he made them and how making and inhabiting them affected his body, mind, and spirit. By taking this approach, this paper simultaneously gains specific insights into Smetham's embodied experiences of religion, faith, and spirituality and out of body experiences of the spiritual realm. It also reveals his complicated relationship with the Wesleyan Church, particularly its impact on his mental health
Ornithology Podcast interview with former Cheltenham Town Football Club Chairman Paul Baker.
No full textWelcome to the first episode of Ornithology, a podcast from the Robins Trust lifting the lid on how Cheltenham Town Football Club operates.
Since publishing this episode, Paul Baker has negotiated as deal to transfer a significant portion of his shares to the Robins Trust, although he still owns 10% of the Club. This transfer means the Trust now holds 16% and is the third largest owner.
In this first episode, Trust board member Jaimie speaks to Paul Baker, one of the three largest shareholders and a significant owner of the club, to discuss how the owners work together and how they interact with the Club board
Language, Culture and Citizenship Among Amharic Speaking Eritreans and Changing Conditions for Eritreans in Ethiopia
Full text linkMission littéraire en Angleterre: Paul Meyer and the Quest for Medieval French Manuscripts at the Ashburnham-Barrois Sale (1901)
Full text linkIn this article, I explore the medieval manuscripts pursued for the Bibliothèque nationale at the Ashburnham-Barrois sale at Sotheby's auction house, London, in 1901, and the influential role of Paul Meyer, romance philologist and Director of the École des chartes, alongside the librarians Léopold Delisle and Henri Omont. Meyer knew the contents of the Barrois collection better than most, having visited the library at Ashburnham Place on multiple occasions since 1865. His early trips to England form my starting point for analysing the manuscripts prioritised at the sale. The London dealer Bernard Quaritch acted on behalf of the French national library in the auction room and their commission book reveals all the items pursued as well as the maximum bids allotted. By considering the choice of lots and values attributed to them, along with the scholarly assessments of the texts and manuscripts, the potential motivations behind their pursuit emerge. Finally, I turn to the Barrois manuscripts acquired after the sale and the perceptions of those lost. Through this analysis, I demonstrate how Meyer not only influenced scholarship on French-language manuscripts, but also the contents of the Bibliothèque nationale. This case study thus foregrounds the symbiotic relationships between scholarship on medieval French literary heritage and the history of manuscript ownership, by engaging with the trade in and values attributed to medieval manuscripts in the early twentieth century
The European Union Databases User Group (EUDUG)
Full text linkOutline of the history of the European Union Databases User Group (EUDUG), a special interest group for information professionals and others
A Monumental Price Tag: The Cost of Furnishing a Family Chapel in the Second Half of the Fifteenth Century
Full text linkThe artistic decoration of family chapels in the churches and private palaces of Renaissance Italy has received much scholarly attention over the years. Fresco cycles, altarpieces, and sculpted tomb monuments have been studied in great detail. What is lacking, however, is an overview of the complete ensemble of investments and commissions of which these art works were once a part, including the purchase of chapel rights, stained glass windows, vestments and liturgical array for the mass, and provisions to keep the chapel in operation in the long term. The present essay seeks to make a start at recreating this wider context of the surviving artwork by looking at the cost (absolute and relative) of the different elements involved in three prominent Florentine chapel projects of the second half of the fifteenth century: the Strozzi, Gianfigliazzi, and Tornabuoni chapels. There is a wealth of published documentation for each of these projects, which will be compared systematically to give an impression of the scope and scale of the enterprise of furnishing a family chapel in the upper echelons of mercantile society at a time of increasing public projection of social prestige
Changing minds about climate change: a pervasive role for domain-general metacognition
Full text linkUpdating one’s beliefs about the causes and effects of climate change is crucial for altering attitudes and behaviours. Importantly, metacognitive abilities - insight into the (in)correctness of one’s beliefs- play a key role in the formation of polarised beliefs. We here aimed at investigated the role of metacognition in changing beliefs about climate change. To that end, we focused on the role of domain-general and domain-specific metacognition in updating prior beliefs about climate change across the spectrum of climate change scepticism. We also considered the role of how climate science is communicated in the form of textual or visuo-textual presentations. We asked two large US samples to perform a perceptual decision-making task (to assess domain-general decision-making and metacognitive abilities. They next performed a belief-updating task, where they were exposed to good and bad news about climate change and we asked them about their beliefs and their updating. Lastly, they completed a series of questionnaires probing their attitudes to climate change. We show that climate change scepticism is associated with differences in domain-general as well as domain-specific metacognitive abilities. Moreover, domain-general metacognitive sensitivity influenced belief updating in an asymmetric way: lower domain-general metacognition decreased the updating of prior beliefs, especially in the face of negative evidence. Our findings highlight the role of metacognitive failures in revising erroneous beliefs about climate change and point to their adverse social effects
Re-cognizing the new self: The neurocognitive plasticity of self-processing following facial transplantation
Full text linkThe face is a defining feature of our individuality, crucial for our social interactions. But what happens when the face connected to the self is radically altered or replaced? We address the plasticity of self-face recognition in the context of facial transplantation.
While the acquisition of a new face following facial transplantation is a medical fact, the experience of a new identity is an unexplored psychological outcome. We traced the changes in self-face recognition before and after facial transplantation to understand if
and how the transplanted face gradually comes to be perceived and recognized as the recipient’s own new face. Neurobehavioral evidence documents a strong representation of the pre-injury appearance pre-operatively, while following the transplantation, the recipient incorporates the new face into his self-identity. The acquisition of this new facial identity is supported by neural activity in medial frontal regions that are considered to integrate psychological and perceptual aspects of the self
Léopold Delisle, Henri Omont, and The Price of National Collecting: The Medieval Manuscript Acquisitions of the Bibliothèque nationale ca. 1900–1910
Full text linkThe Bibliothèque nationale was one of the most important national libraries active in the manuscript trade in the early twentieth century. Using the archives from the Département des manuscrits, this chapter examines the Bibliothèque nationale’s purchases of pre-modern manuscripts in “European” languages between 1900 and 1910. It focuses on the three principal sources of purchased items (private individuals, auction sales, and professional book dealers) to ascertain the ways in which the contexts of acquisition affected the prices paid, the influence of the buyer–seller relationship, and the impact of the changes in personnel. Analysis of this previously untapped dataset offers new insights into the position of the Bibliothèque nationale within the manuscript trade and the roles of the individuals who shaped the national collection