1,720,974 research outputs found
(Meta)morphosis. The giant “bug” in the fashion system
No full textIn recent years, especially after the pandemic period, many fashion brands have experimented with forays into the world of video games. This is an interesting phenomenon in many respects, which becomes even more so when one looks at the possibility that users have, on various platforms, to customise their avatars. Not only avatars are customisable, but also their clothes, their accessories, in short, their outfit. These productions are often shared on various other platforms, especially on social media, especially of a visual nature, where these digital \u27outfits\u27 are shared, reworked, processed. Another sign of this \u27cross-fertilisation\u27 can be found in fashion shows hosted in digital environments, from gaming platforms themselves to meta-verticals. An interesting case for the above-mentioned aspects is Animal Crossing, a game platform developed by Nintendo for Switch, a \u27hybrid\u27 console. The game is a life simulatorwhere users act in a media context with customised avatars and accessories. Both aspects mentioned above are present in Animal Crossing, i.e. the production by users, bottom up, of fashion accessories, and the presence of brands, which over the years have organised digital shops and fashion shows on the video game. The paradigms of consumption and production underlying fashion objects seem to be moving away from the trajectories traditionally followed and studied by the industry and into an as yet unexplored area. What are the drivers of fashion consumption in this new context? Do the answers traditionally provided by the sociology of fashion remain valid tools for interpreting the phenomenon? To try to answer these questions, it was decided to adopt a mixed methodological approach: a netnography and a visual ethnography of these media productions could aim to reconstruct a visual imaginary of this phenomenon, starting to provide some elements for reflection, with regard to media contexts similar to that of a \u27metaverse\u27.Ces dernières années, surtout après la période pandémique, de nombreuses marques de mode ont expérimenté des incursions dans l\u27univers des jeux vidéo. Il s\u27agit d\u27un phénomène intéressant à bien des égards, qui le devient encore plus lorsqu\u27on regarde la possibilité qu\u27ont les utilisateurs, sur différentes plateformes, de personnaliser leurs avatars. Ce ne sont pas seulement les avatars qui sont personnalisables, mais aussi leurs vêtements, leurs accessoires, bref, leur tenue. Ces productions sont souvent partagées sur diverses autres plateformes, notamment sur les médias sociaux, surtout de nature visuelle, où ces "tenues" numériques sont partagées, retravaillées, traitées. Un autre signe de cette "fertilisation croisée" peut être trouvé dans les défilés de mode organisés dans des environnements numériques, depuis les plateformes de jeux elles-mêmes jusqu\u27aux métavaleurs. Un cas intéressant pour les aspects susmentionnés est Animal Crossing, une plateforme de jeu développée par Nintendo pour la Switch, une console "hybride". Le jeu est un simulateur de vie où les utilisateurs agissent dans un contexte médiatique avec des avatars et des accessoires personnalisés. Les deux aspects mentionnés ci-dessus sont présents dans Animal Crossing, à savoir la production par les utilisateurs, de manière ascendante, d\u27accessoires de mode, et la présence de marques qui, au fil des ans, ont organisé des boutiques numériques et des défilés de mode sur le jeu vidéo. Les paradigmes de consommation et de production qui sous-tendent les objets de mode semblent s\u27éloigner des trajectoires traditionnellement suivies et étudiées par l\u27industrie pour entrer dans un domaine encore inexploré. Quels sont les moteurs de la consommation de mode dans ce nouveau contexte ? Les réponses traditionnellement apportées par la sociologie de la mode restent-elles des outils valables pour interpréter le phénomène ? Pour tenter de répondre à ces questions, il a été décidé d\u27adopter une approche méthodologique mixte : une netnographie et une ethnographie visuelle de ces productions médiatiques pourraient viser à reconstruire un imaginaire visuel de ce phénomène, en commençant à fournir des éléments de réflexion, en ce qui concerne les contextes médiatiques similaires à celui d\u27un "métavers".Negli ultimi anni, soprattutto dopo il periodo pandemico, molti marchi di moda hanno sperimentato incursioni nel mondo dei videogiochi. Si tratta di un fenomeno interessante sotto molti punti di vista, che lo diventa ancora di più se si guarda alla possibilità che gli utenti hanno, su varie piattaforme, di personalizzare il proprio avatar. Non solo gli avatar sono personalizzabili, ma anche i loro vestiti, i loro accessori, in breve, il loro outfit. Queste produzioni sono spesso condivise su varie altre piattaforme, soprattutto sui social media, soprattutto di natura visiva, dove questi "outfit" digitali vengono condivisi, rielaborati, elaborati. Un altro segno di questa "fertilizzazione incrociata" si trova nelle sfilate di moda ospitate in ambienti digitali, dalle stesse piattaforme di gioco ai meta-verticali. Un caso interessante per i suddetti aspetti è Animal Crossing, una piattaforma di gioco sviluppata da Nintendo per Switch, una console "ibrida". Il gioco è un simulatore di vita in cui gli utenti agiscono in un contesto mediatico con avatar e accessori personalizzati. In Animal Crossing sono presenti entrambi gli aspetti sopra citati: la produzione di accessori di moda da parte degli utenti, dal basso verso l\u27alto, e la presenza di marchi, che nel corso degli anni hanno organizzato negozi digitali e sfilate di moda sul videogioco. I paradigmi di consumo e produzione alla base degli oggetti di moda sembrano allontanarsi dalle traiettorie tradizionalmente seguite e studiate dall\u27industria per entrare in un\u27area ancora inesplorata. Quali sono i driver del consumo di moda in questo nuovo contesto? Le risposte tradizionalmente fornite dalla sociologia della moda rimangono strumenti validi per interpretare il fenomeno? Per cercare di rispondere a queste domande, si è deciso di adottare un approccio metodologico misto: una netnografia e un\u27etnografia visiva di queste produzioni mediatiche potrebbero mirare a ricostruire un immaginario visivo di questo fenomeno, iniziando a fornire alcuni elementi di riflessione, rispetto a contesti mediatici simili a quelli di un "metaverso".En los últimos años, sobre todo después de la pandemia, muchas marcas de moda han experimentado con incursiones en el mundo de los videojuegos. Se trata de un fenómeno interesante en muchos aspectos, que lo es aún más cuando se observa la posibilidad que tienen los usuarios, en diversas plataformas, de personalizar sus avatares. No sólo los avatares son personalizables, sino también su ropa, sus accesorios, en definitiva, su atuendo. Estas producciones se comparten a menudo en otras plataformas, especialmente en las redes sociales, sobre todo de carácter visual, donde estos "conjuntos" digitales se comparten, se reelaboran, se procesan. Otra muestra de esta "fertilización cruzada" la encontramos en los desfiles de moda alojados en entornos digitales, desde las propias plataformas de juego hasta los meta-verticales. Un caso interesante para los aspectos mencionados es Animal Crossing, una plataforma de juego desarrollada por Nintendo para Switch, una consola \u27híbrida\u27. El juego es un simulador de vidaen el que los usuarios actúan en un contexto mediático con avatares y accesorios personalizados. Los dos aspectos mencionados anteriormente están presentes en Animal Crossing, es decir, la producción por parte de los usuarios, de abajo arriba, de accesorios de moda, y la presencia de marcas, que a lo largo de los años han organizado tiendas digitales y desfiles de moda en el videojuego. Los paradigmas de consumo y producción subyacentes a los objetos de moda parecen alejarse de las trayectorias tradicionalmente seguidas y estudiadas por la industria y adentrarse en un terreno aún inexplorado. ¿Cuáles son los motores del consumo de moda en este nuevo contexto? ¿Siguen siendo válidas las respuestas aportadas tradicionalmente por la sociología de la moda para interpretar el fenómeno? Para intentar responder a estas preguntas, se decidió adoptar un enfoque metodológico mixto: una netnografía y una etnografía visual de estas producciones mediáticas podrían tener como objetivo reconstruir un imaginario visual de este fenómeno, empezando a aportar algunos elementos de reflexión, en relación con contextos mediáticos similares al de un "metaverso"
Tyranny of (AI)Thought. Artificial intelligence in music composition: a case study on Krallice “Diotima”
Get PDFIn questo articolo intendiamo discutere la crescente influenza dell’intelligenza artificiale (IA) nei campi dell’arte. Il fenomeno, già da tempo familiare nel settore delle arti visive, sta oggi acquistando rilevanza anche in quello della musica. L’impatto dell’IA sulla musica, in particolare sui sottogeneri più avanguardisti e sperimentali, sta generando dibattiti che spaziano dai copyright, all’autenticità e, soprattutto, alla creatività. Il caso specifico discusso in questa ricerca è l’album Diotimadella band newyorkese Krallice, uscito nel 2011, e la sua "controparte" generata da Dadabots, un collettivo che sperimenta con le IA, Coditany of Timeness, creata utilizzando una rete neurale addestrata su Diotima. Pubblicato al NeurIPS 2017, Coditany of Timeness esemplifica come l’IA possa reinterpretare stili musicali, permettendo di avviare una riflessione sulla creatività "macchinica". Entrambi gli album sono stati sottoposti ad analisi per quanto riguarda la struttura delle canzoni, la melodia e il linguaggio armonico. La dimensione creativa retrostante il progetto è stata approfondita attraverso un’analisi testuale di articoli e interviste online, per un totale di 37 documenti. Questo insieme di risultati sono poi stati discussi con i membri dei Krallice attraverso un’intervista semi strutturata. L’intento è quello di esplorare il modo in cui l’IA interagisce con il processo creativo umano, ponendo domande su come la macchina interpreti questi processi, e su come questi risultati siano percepiti dagli artisti stessi.In this article, we intend to discuss the growing influence of artificial intelligence (AI) in the fields of art. The phenomenon, which has long been familiar in the visual arts sector, is now also gaining relevance in the mu-sic sector. The impact of AI on music, particularly on the more avant-garde and experimental sub-genres, is generating debates ranging from copyright, authenticity and, above all, creativity. The specific case dis-cussed in this one is the album Diotima by New York band Krallice, released in 2011, and its ‘counterpart’, Coditany of Timeness, generated by Dadabots, a collective experimenting with AI, created using a neural network trained on Diotima. Released at NeurIPS 2017, Coditany of Timeness exemplifies how AI can reinterpret musical styles, enabling a reflection on ‘machinic’ creativity. Both albums were subjected to analysis with regard to song structure, melody and harmonic language. The creative dimension behind the project was deepened through a textual analysis of articles and online interviews, a total of 37 documents. This set of results was then discussed with members of the Krallice through a semi-structured interview. The intention is to explore how AI interacts with the human creative process, asking questions about how the machine interprets these processes, and how these results are perceived by the artists themselves
Underground resistance: Resilience and evolutions of analogue competitive videogaming: the case study of “Street Fighter 3” and the Italian Community.
Get PDFI videogiochi sono stati, e lo sono sempre di più, una componente della cultura popolare. Con la loro crescente popolarità, la loro capacità di generare mitopoiesi, stereotipi e linguaggio sta diventando sempre più evidente, così come la loro rilevanza economica e la dimensione della loro base di fan. La pandemia e il conseguente aumento dell'uso dei media digitali hanno ulteriormente rafforzato questo fenomeno, rendendolo una parte sempre più importante della vita di molte persone, non più solo giovani o giovanissimi, ma sempre più esteso ad altri gruppi socio-demografici, come dimostra anche il crescente fenomeno della nostalgia e del “retro gaming”. La nota saga di Street Fighter, nel suo complesso, ha avuto un impatto mediatico, artistico e immaginativo molto forte, basti pensare al fatto che il franchise in questione si è espanso fino a includere fumetti, anime, film in modo trans e crossmediale. Oggi le comunità di giocatori, siano essi fedeli alla piattaforma, nostalgici o early adopters, sono un terreno fertile per studiare il ruolo che Street Fighter 3 ha avuto e continua ad avere nel plasmare immaginari, comunità, luoghi e pratiche dedicati a questa attività, infatti, a quasi 20 anni dalla sua uscita, il titolo è ancora giocato, anche a livello competitivo, da comunità specifiche del settore, nonostante il suo apparente fallimento commerciale. Questo videogioco ha le caratteristiche tipiche dei giochi di combattimento degli anni '90, ma il fatto che sia ancora giocato ha portato interessanti innovazioni e sviluppi, aggiornamenti che corrono paralleli al gioco stesso: streaming, nuove periferiche di gioco e nuove comunità. Le periferiche di gioco, necessarie per i tornei, non solo sono ingombranti, ma anche vintage, e richiedono uno spazio dedicato, competenze e conoscenze tecniche che i giocatori spesso acquisiscono da soli familiarizzando con lo strumento in questione. Date queste premesse, la ricerca intende strutturarsi in un'indagine etnografica volta ad esplorare i membri di una comunità di giocatori italiani, appassionati accaniti, numericamente esigui ed eterogenei in termini di età e background socio-economico. Questa comunità ha dimostrato resilienza in termini di continuità, sfidando i processi evolutivi del gaming, ma realizzando una trasformazione evolutiva personalizzata, adattandosi in parte alle modalità contemporanee di “gioco”. Nonostante sia una comunità eterogenea, i luoghi dedicati ai tornei e agli incontri sono per la maggior parte situati nella città di Milano, luogo prescelto per lo svolgimento della ricerca, consistita in interviste semi-strutturate con individui selezionati. Con rare eccezioni, questi giocatori hanno alimentato l'esistenza della comunità per oltre dieci anni, interagendo anche al di fuori del suo spazio fisico e arricchendo la sua conoscenza diretta e indiretta del gioco in questione.Video games have been, and increasingly are, a component of popular culture. With their growing popularity, their ability to generate mythopoiesis, stereotypes and language is becoming increasingly evident, as is their economic relevance and the size of their fan bases. The pandemic and the consequent increase in the use of digital media has further made this phenomenon a more and more important part of many people's lives, no longer just young or very young, increasingly extending to other socio-demographic groups, as is also evident in the growing phenomenon of nostalgia and 'retro gaming'. The well-known Street Fighter saga, as a whole, has had a very strong media, artistic and imaginative impact, just think of the fact that the franchise in question has expanded to include comics, anime, films in a trans and cross media manner. Today, communities of gamers, be they platform loyalists, nostalgic or early adopters, are a fertile field to study the role that Street Fighter 3 has had and still has in shaping imaginaries, communities, places and practices dedicated to this activity, in fact, almost 20 years after its release, the title is still played, even competitively, by specific communities in the sector, despite its apparent commercial failure. This videogame has the typical characteristics of 1990s fighting games, but the fact that it is still played has brought interesting innovations and developments, updates that run parallel to the game itself: streaming, new gaming peripherals and new communities. Gaming peripherals, necessary for tournaments, are not only space-consuming but also vintage, requiring dedicated space, skills and technical knowledge that players often learn on their own by domesticating the tool in question. Given these premises, the research intends to structure itself in an ethnographic investigation aimed at exploring the members of a community of Italian players, avid enthusiasts, numerically meagre and heterogeneous in terms of age and socio-economic background. This community has demonstrated resilience in terms of continuity, challenging the evolutionary processes of gaming, but making its own customised evolutionary transformation, partially adapting to contemporary modes of 'play'. Despite being a heterogeneous community, the places dedicated to tournaments and gatherings are for the most part located in the city of Milan, the place of choice for conducting the research, consisting of semi-structured interviews with selected individuals. With rare exceptions, these players have nurtured the existence of the community for over ten years, interacting even outside its physical space and enriching its direct and indirect knowledge of the game in question
Fashion through the looking glass – The new circle of production of imaginaries within the Digital world
No full textNew paradigms of digital consumption and production have been affecting the fashion industry for several years. Within this complex current various fashion brands have experimented with forays into the world of gaming. An interesting case in point is Animal Crossing, a life simulator where users act in a media context with personalized avatars. A relevant phenomenon, given the ability to customize avatars, is the production by users of customized “outfits”. Methodologically a netnographic type of investigation was chosen. A visual ethnography will aim to find recurrences/dissonances with respect to mainstream fashion imagery
Diversity on Display: Visual Narratives of Fashionable Bodies in Vogue Italia
Get PDFThis article explores how fashion, as a cultural system, constructs and circulates dominant imaginaries of the body, focusing on the visual narratives presented on the covers of Vogue Italia. Moving beyond a purely esthetic or biological notion of beauty, this study adopts an embodiment perspective to analyze how socio-cultural contexts shape representations of bodies, identities, and subjectivities within fashion media. Through a qualitative longitudinal analysis of Vogue Italia covers spanning over sixty years, this study explores how visible diversity is mediated through the visual and symbolic codes of fashion, revealing significant changes in esthetic sensibility and editorial strategies throughout the course of time. Rather than interpreting these representations as a straightforward response to growing demands for inclusion, we argue that fashion’s engagement with diversity operates through a mimetic logic that simultaneously displays alterity while reasserting existing hierarchies of power, desirability, and visibility. The results suggest that editorial choices have been decisive in determining the visual trajectory of the magazine, sometimes anticipating broader cultural debates on gender, race, and identity. We contend that Vogue Italia does not simply reflect social transformations, but actively contributes to shaping a cultural script in which inclusion becomes both commodified and contained. Ultimately, this study highlights the ambivalent role of fashion media in negotiating inclusion and exclusion through the visual construction of bodies emphasizing how the language of diversity can either challenge or reproduce hegemonic visual imaginaries
It’s a Kind of Magic (or not)? Ai’s technological imaginary and the symbolic structures of fashion narration.
Get PDFThis paper delves into the dynamic relationship between imaginary and technology in the era of Artificial Intelligence, illustrating how AI’s technological imaginary is not an independent entity but rather a product of the creative process inherent in the social imaginary. Additionally, it explores how the symbolic structures of socio-cultural imaginary contribute to shaping the imaginary realms of AI. The widespread integration of generative AI in fashion has introduced visual AI, offering new avenues for creative expression while challenging the construction of the sector’s imaginary landscape (Banerjee et al. 2022). This prompts critical inquiries: to which extent fashion narratives have become the nourishment of AI? What innovative narrations does AI introduce? How is AI influencing traditional perceptions of the body and beauty? Comparing 882 covers from Vogue Italia Digital Archive (1964-2024) with visuals from the AI-produced fashion magazine Copy (August 2023 onwards), this research analyzes representations and narratives to determine if AI perpetuates or subverts beauty and gender stereotypes, and how the normativity of fashion influences AI's visual output
Il testimone. Mattia Ceccotti
No full textIl contributo approfondisce il caso di studi di Mattia Ceccotti e la sua carriera, iniziata con la posizione di junior consultant fino ad arrivare alla situazione attuale, che lo vede impegnato nella gestione e acquisizione clienti
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
- …
