Previous research largely supports the notion that mediated contact and engagement with minority characters can improve viewers’ real-life minority attitudes. However, it is unclear to what extent different forms of media engagement such as parasocial friendship and wishful identification are linked to attitudes, and whether deep-level similarities affect engagement with minority characters. Deep-level similarities refer to viewers’ perception of shared personality traits, attitudes, and social experiences with characters. In a cross-sectional survey, we examine (1) to what extent parasocial friendship and wishful identification with an LGBTQ character are each associated with viewers’ prejudicial attitudes toward the LGBTQ community, and (2) to what extent perceived deep-level similarities of an LGBTQ character are related to viewers’ parasocial friendship and wishful identification felt for the LGBTQ character. Based on a structural equation model using a sample of U.S. residents (n = 247), it may be concluded that the deep-level similarities of LGBTQ characters have both direct and indirect associations with LGTBQ prejudice, mediated by wishful identification.
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This paper proposes a new framework for the production and development of immersive and playful technologies in cultural heritage in which different stakeholders such as users and local communities are involved early on in the product development chain. We believe that an early stage of co-creation in the design process produces a clear understanding of what users struggle with, facilitates the creation of community ownership and helps in better defining the design challenge at hand. We show that adopting such a framework has several direct and indirect benefits, including a deeper sense of site and product ownership as direct benefits to the individual, and the creation and growth of tangential economies to the community.
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Single-Use Plastics (SUPs) are at the centre of European Union Agenda aiming at reducing the plastic soup with the EU Directive 2019/904. SUPs reduction is pivotal also in the Dutch Government Agenda for the transition to a Circular Economy by 2050. Worldwide the data on SUPs use and disposal are impressive: humans use around 1.2 million plastic bottles per minute; approximately 91% of plastic is not recycled (www.earthday.org/fact-sheet-single-use-plastics/). While centralised processes of waste collection, disposal, and recycling strive to cope with such intense use of SUPs, the opportunities and constraints of establishing a networked grid of facilities enacting processes of SUPs collection and recycling with the active involvement of local community has remained unexplored. The hospitality sector is characterised by a widespread capillary network of small hospitality firms nested in neighbourhoods and rural communities. Our research group works with small hospitality firms, different stakeholders, and other research groups to prompt the transition of the hospitality sector towards a Circular Economy embracing not only the environmental and economic dimensions but also the social dimension. Hence, this project explores the knowledge and network needed to build an innovative pilot allowing to close the plastic loop within a hospitality facility by combining a 3D printing process with social inclusiveness. This will mean generating key technical and legal knowledge as well as a network of strategic experts and stakeholders to be involved in an innovative pilot setting a 3D printing process in a hospitality facility and establishing an active involvement of the local community. Such active involvement of the local inhabitants will be explored as SUPs collectors and end-users of upcycled plastics items realised with the 3D printer, as well as through opportunities of vocational training and job opportunities for citizens distant from the job market.
There is increasing interest for the use of Virtual Reality (VR) in the field of sustainable transportation and urban development. Even though much has been said about the opportunities of using VR technology to enhance design and involve stakeholders in the process, implementations of VR technology are still limited. To bridge this gap, the urban intelligence team of NHTV Breda University of Applied Sciences developed CycleSPEX, a Virtual Reality (VR) simulator for cycling. CycleSpex enables researchers, planners and policy makers to shape a variety of scenarios around knowledge- and design questions and test their impact on users experiences and behaviour, in this case (potential) cyclists. The impact of infrastructure enhancements as well as changes in the surrounding built environment can be tested, analysed an evaluated. The main advantage for planners and policy makers is that the VR environment enables them to test scenarios ex-ante in a safe and controlled setting.“The key to a smart, healthy and safe urban environment lies in engaging mobility. Healthy cities are often characterized by high quality facilities for the active modes. But what contributes to a pleasant cycling experience? CycleSPEX helps us to understand the relations between cyclists on the move and (designed) urban environments”
