For German-speaking tourists, an Oriental market (in Arabic: souq) is an exotic place representing the ‘Otherness’. Referring to this Oriental context, the article aims to answer the following questions: What are the tourists’ imaginaries and social narratives and what is the role that cultural brokers play? Gaining insight into the imaginaries and on-site performances of German-speaking tourists of a mega-cruise liner will contribute to the discussion of imaginaries and embodied performances in general as well as the mediation and the construction of space. The research reported upon in the article is part of a larger field study (2012–2014) in Souq Muttrah, the oldest and formerly main market in Oman. Participant observation, photography and in-depth interviews with different types of tourists, local customers, cultural brokers and on-board employees were conducted and marketing material was analysed. Results indicate that in the marketing material, the tourists are already beginning to travel backwards in time. During their visit to the souq, the multi-sensory performances and embodied imaginaries are enhanced by stories of the Arabian Nights. Cultural brokers play an essential role in ‘localizing’ the tourist experience. They adjust their own identities and direct the tourists’ performances at different stages, similar to an Oriental theme park, for example, they stop at a frankincense shop.
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Extended Reality technologies, such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (AR), have been increasingly used in the domains of leisure and events. The rapid integration of these technologies raises questions on their use for enhancing staged performances. In this study, employing a between-participants experimental design, we measured the impact of AR on the experience of watching a live dance performance at a staged performance venue, and its recorded version viewed in a home-like environment. Two professional dancers choreographed and performed a 9-minute contemporary dance piece, which was subsequently augmented with computer-generated AR content. We measured participants’ emotions using physiological (skin conductance) signals, and self-reports assessing overall evaluation and willingness to recommend the performance. Results indicate that the live performance was experienced more positively than the at-home experience, regardless of AR. Physiological data showed a subtle yet positive impact of AR on participants’ emotional engagement during the live performances, but not in the at-home setting. Surprisingly, self-report data revealed that watching the performance without AR was evaluated more positively than watching it with AR. This study suggests that AR has the potential to positively impact staged performance experiences, but only when its content is coherently integrated with the performance.
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This paper examines the (collective) performance of identities in an event context. During events, the participants not only engage in face-to-face performances, but also in the collective performances of crowds and audiences. This study analyses collective performance using Collins’ framework of Interaction Ritual Chains, which combines Goffman’s performance metaphor with Durkheim’s work on rituals and collective effervescence. This provides a more complete analysis of the ways identities are performed and (re)constructed during an event. This qualitative study presents the case of the Redhead Days, the world’s largest gathering of redheads. Visitor interviews and participant observation over four editions of the event show how a temporary majority of redheads is created, which greatly impacts both face-to-face and collective performance. Social practices that facilitate performance include photographing and storytelling. The data reveal that collective performance is inherently different from face-to-face performance, and that the combination of the two contributes to a change in narrative identities of the event attendees
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Grounded in self-determination theory, the present study examines the explanatory role of students' perceived need satisfaction and need frustration in the relationship between performance grading (versus non-grading) and students' motivation and fear in a real-life educational physical education setting. Grading consisted of teacher judgments of students' performances through observations, based on pre-defined assessment criteria. Thirty-one classes with 409 students (Mage = 14.7) from twenty-seven Flemish (Belgian) secondary schools completed questionnaires measuring students' perceived motivation, fear and psychological need satisfaction and frustration, after two lessons: one with and one without performance grading. After lessons including performance grading, students reported less intrinsic motivation and identified regulation, and more external regulation, amotivation and fear. As expected, less need satisfaction accounted for (i.e., mediated) the relationship between performance grading and self-determined motivational outcomes. Need frustration explained the relationship between performance grading and intrinsic motivation, as well as less self-determined motivational outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
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Learning by Design (LBD) is a project-based inquiry approach for interdisciplinary teaching that uses design contexts to learn skills and conceptual knowledge. Research around the year 2000 showed that LBD students achieved high skill performances but disappointing conceptual learning gains. A series of exploratory studies, previous to the study in this paper, indicated how to enhance concept learning. Small-scale tested modifications, based on explicit teaching and scaffolding, were promising and revealed improved conceptual learning gains. The pretest-posttest design study discussed in this paper confirms this improvement quantitatively by comparing the conceptual learning gains for students exposed to the modified approach (n = 110) and traditional approach (n = 77). Further modifications, which resulted in a remodified approach tested with 127 students, show a further improvement through reduced fragmentation of the task and addressed science. Overall, the remodified approach (FITS model: Focus - Investigation - Technological design - Synergy) enriches technology education by stimulating an empirical and conceptual way of creating design solutions.
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The huge number of images shared on the Web makes effective cataloguing methods for efficient storage and retrieval procedures specifically tailored on the end-user needs a very demanding and crucial issue. In this paper, we investigate the applicability of Automatic Image Annotation (AIA) for image tagging with a focus on the needs of database expansion for a news broadcasting company. First, we determine the feasibility of using AIA in such a context with the aim of minimizing an extensive retraining whenever a new tag needs to be incorporated in the tag set population. Then, an image annotation tool integrating a Convolutional Neural Network model (AlexNet) for feature extraction and a K-Nearest-Neighbours classifier for tag assignment to images is introduced and tested. The obtained performances are very promising addressing the proposed approach as valuable to tackle the problem of image tagging in the framework of a broadcasting company, whilst not yet optimal for integration in the business process.
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The design of healthcare facilities is a complex and dynamic process, which involves many stakeholders each with their own set of needs. In the context of healthcare facilities, this complexity exists at the intersection of technology and society because the very design of these buildings forces us to consider the technology–human interface directly in terms of living-space, ethics and social priorities. In order to grasp this complexity, current healthcare design models need mechanisms to help prioritize the needs of the stakeholders. Assistance in this process can be derived by incorporating elements of technology philosophy into existing design models. In this article, we develop and examine the Inclusive and Integrated Health Facilities Design model (In2Health Design model) and its foundations. This model brings together three existing approaches: (i) the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, (ii) the Model of Integrated Building Design, and (iii) the ontology by Dooyeweerd. The model can be used to analyze the needs of the various stakeholders, in relationship to the required performances of a building as delivered by various building systems. The applicability of the In2Health Design model is illustrated by two case studies concerning (i) the evaluation of the indoor environment for older people with dementia and (ii) the design process of the redevelopment of an existing hospital for psychiatric patients.
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