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The paper introduces the mobile presentation of Bulgarian bells as the newest developments in the GUIDE@HAND mobile application family. The integration of the Web based archive on the Bulgarian bells (Multimedia Fund “BellKnow”) and the mobile application family made it possible that information on bells can be presented on mobile devices. A standalone offline mobile application (BOOK@HAND Bells) was created providing multimedia information on bells including textual description (history, creator, material, height, location, description, etc.), audio files containing the sounds of the bells, photos, videos presenting the bells while being tolled and diagrams representing the acoustic characteristics of the bells.
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This article explores how Soviet television engaged in “authoritative discourse” and brought it to the screen. It asks how television helped to shape the Soviet consumer by negotiating consumer issues and generating previously unheard-of publicity. Focusing on Rostov, Leningrad, and Moscow Central Television, it explores how these TV stations were a site of communication between viewers, letter writers, staff, factories, retail services, and party and state institutions responsible for consumer issues. It shows that television played a significant part in normalizing consumer issues by entangling home, consumption, and leisure in a public and private continuum staged on screen. Reproducing the genre of consumer advice and information, it interlaced authoritative discourse with tangible questions of lifestyle and consumer taste, with personal experiences and local events in a more interactive perhaps even intrusive—way compared to print media and radio. Thus, we observe that the space opened by televisual reproductions of authoritative discourse established emotional bonds between Soviet citizens and Soviet material and media culture.
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The article discusses the importance of the implementation of educational programs for pre-school children to study the basics of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM-knowledge), as the scientific basis of development in today’s world of technological transition. Overview of the current situation in preschool education shows that STEM-knowledge gives preschoolers great potential for further development in primary and secondary schools. Studies also show that boys are more likely to acquire a better knowledge of mathematics and engineering sciences, which — to a certain extent — is determined by the teachers and pupils gender stereotypes concerning pre-school education. The article deals with the subject of STEM-knowledge for preschool children and the gender dimensions of its successful teaching. The two important parts of education policy should be implemented: development of pre-service activities or teacher training on gender analysis in STEM-programs and wider spreading of STEM-knowledge in the municipal kindergartens. Knowledge of gender differences should not lead to the development of gender dichotomy in education; on the contrary, it should lead to equal access of children to knowledge by developing motivation and positive attitudes of boys and girls to STEM-knowledge. The high importance of STEM-education is based on the fact that new information technologies and scientific approach encompass any professional activity and even everyday life of modern man.
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This study draws on fashion and culture theories to explore the influence of visual sharing culture on social media in fashion. The objective is to interpret the perceived creative values and the meanings of such cultural phenomenon from the perspective of fashion media industry in Hong Kong. In-depth interviews, in the exploratory semi-structured format, were adopted in which 20 fashion image producers in Hong Kong were interviewed regarding their increasing involvement in professional fashion image making and blogging. Among the 20 respondents, 12 respondents were younger generation of image producers with experience around 3 years, while 8 respondents have been in the industry for 15 years in average. The findings of this research indicated that the nature of visual oriented social media platform supports a new communication model between the new generation of fashion image producers and image audience. It is evident that there is a new trend for young fashion lovers to become successfully engaged in the industry as career bloggers who can create their styles and express their ideas through fashion imaging and sharing. On the other side, the professionalism and authenticity of the young generation of fashion bloggers are sometimes in questions. The finding is significant to further academic studies on the value of fashion visual communication on social media, and to business sectors, in which this study provides insight for young fashion lovers for career development.
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The formation and development of higher engineering education of women from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century are considered on the basis of historiography, statistics and Internet resources analysis. The article demonstrates the most common gender stereotypes in higher education and labour relations. The examples of organization of learning on Women’s polytechnic courses (St. Petersburg, 1906) are provided, the author follows the fortunes of their first graduates. On the basis of statistics the dynamics of growth in the number of girls in higher engineering colleges is analyzed. It is suggested that the increase in the number of women in the universities of this profile is largely linked with the socio-economic development of the USSR: industrialization, the Great Patriotic War. The fate of women engineers is considered. On the basis of the analysis of periodicals and Internet resources the author concludes that traditional views of a woman’s inability to study at a technical university and work as an engineer are but a myth. The author expresses her opinion on current trends in higher engineering and technical education of women. On the one hand, traditional gender stereotypes in higher engineering and technical education and industrial relations still reside in public opinion of Russian people. Public authorities, administration of universities, scientific and industrial organizations, the media do little to create a positive image of a woman engineer as well as to inform girls about the professional growth of graduates of the higher technical school. On the other hand, the number of girls seeking to pursue engineering as a profession is growing steadily. In the field of higher education and workplace relations, there is a tendency towards leveling of gender differences.
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The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibilities offered by local e-commerce solutions to increase the competitiveness of local bakery stores. This study follows an inductive qualitative research guided by grounded theory approach. The web-based questionnaires were used to get opinions of bakery goods consumers and the management board of a bakery goods firm participated in this study, which was geographically limited to the bakery sector in Germany. The value of this study is in initiating the development of theory on benefits of local e-commerce. It introduces consumers as well as companies to a new dimension of distributing or purchasing products and therefore, should encourage both parties to make use of local e-commerce solutions.
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The article focuses on the functioning of the notion of privacy among internet users between 15 and 19 years of age. The authors cite the results of preliminary empirical research indicating that the internet has changed the perception of privacy. In exchange for information access and personalized searches, the web collects an increasing amount of information about the users. Further, social activities increasingly replace real and personal interactions. Each of such activities leaves an online trace. The current generation of 15 – 19 year olds treats the internet as a natural space of expression. The authors ask if the age group in question views privacy differently than their older friends, investigating whether privacy has already become an anachronistic concept soon to become completely irrelevant, as the fax machine did. A pilot study conducted on a sample of young internet users reveals their attitude to online privacy.
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The article investigates whether MA pedagogy students are prepared for teaching in the world of digital narratives that comprises of diversified media. The article presents a theoretical outline of the problem of digital natives and digital immigrants. The authors also present the results of research conducted in the spring of 2013 at one of Poznań’s institutions of higher education. The research reveals that future teachers frequently use media, especially computers and the web, but have incomplete knowledge as to the possible uses of those media in their work.
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Communication technologies solidify cultural practices and generate new ones, thanks to which new forms of education appear, such as e‑ education. A child can acquire visual skills, develop imagination and creativity, and obtain knowledge on e.g. life in a large city. Such opportunities are offered by the internet educational platform KULA.gov.pl, created with a view to demonstrate to children the social and historical context of the development of selected Polish cities. The article is an attempt at ex‑post evaluation of functions of an internet website dedicated to children. Accordingly, the aim of the analysis is to identify what cognitive, social, cultural and media competence can be acquired by a child thanks to the internet website KULA.gov.pl.
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In my article I present results of my research that has been done within the “pioneers with a camera” project, financed by the National Science Centre. The main goal of the article is to show women’s involvement in the film culture of Lviv in 1930s, embodied in the Film Club “Awangarda”. As active members of the “film society” consisted of film critics and researchers, but also artists and filmmakers, women were authors of numerous articles published in the “Awangarda” magazine on – as the title explained – the issue of cinema, radio and theatre”. The combination of research perspectives, including women’s studies and film studies, allowed me to examine archival press materials in terms of women’s creativity and emancipation, understood as openness for new technologies, and participation in visual culture, both as consumers and creators. What makes the Galician context important is the fact that that was the part of Poland where the first Polish cinematoscopes arrived and then developed at the highest rate, especially in Cracow and Lviv. My article and the project as a whole are particularly focused on women’s participation in the development of Polish cinema from the perspectives of film studies, history, culture and anthropology.
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The article investigates the issue concerning determinants of professionalism in movie e‑reviews in the context of theoretical reflection on genre determinants of a journalistic review and practices of past and modern online reviews. Referring to online reviews of the movie by Shyamalan, there was indicated that the presence of their elements and aspects (title, presence of information about the work, discussion on the work, ranking of the movie, review’s language, and usage of the specific nature of mass media) is building the press e‑review professionalism. First of all, the attention was paid to substantive competences of e‑reviewer, which in particular translates into the ability of interpreting the movie‑work and to discuss its different issues, and they were considered to be crucial when issuing expert review. Referring to Signs, the sphere of professional reviews would cover, among others, recognition of „double coding" and intertextuality of the movie, or even the play with conventions of genre and the range of expectations of the audience, being performed by Shyamalan simultaneously.
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Contemporary cinema screen seems to be losing the status of the dominant interface for the viewer of the movie. Digitalization and computerization have contributed to the transfer of a film text in precinct other “media generation” and cultural codes. Susan Sontag predicting the collapse of the movies this process was associated with the disappearance cinephil in its current form. The purpose of this article is to answer the question of whether today we can talk about the experience cinephil. Experience film gains its specificity by the fact that there is a network of different types of discourses. The article aims to present contemporary model cinephily. Its specificity is associated with the activities of network users. Since everything today is changing, it becomes logical to introduce them also in the traditional meaning of the concepts cinema and cinephile. Interesting also seems to question whether the experiences of modern cinephiles enter the canon of human customs and practices of the XXI century, and if so, what will take place. The conclusions of the issues raised will be used to answer questions about the shape of modern cinephily, its implications for changes in the perception of film content and specific to redefine the relationship between reality and media representation.
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The introduction and employment of new, advanced technology solutions create new possibilities for a variety of media texts. Furthermore, new technologies allow for blending of not only genres and media forms, but also art forms and industries. Such processes can be observed in the case of film industry and the video game industry. The interactive drama Beyond: Two Souls, directed by David Cage and published by QuanticDream, is an excellent example of such fusion; due to traits characteristic of both cinema texts and video game texts, such as cast that includes actors famous both in film industry and video game industry, complex plot, incredible graphics and the seamlessly integrated interactivity, Beyond: Two Souls illustrates very well the gradual dissolution of the barrier between films and games.
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Computer games are widespread today but they arouse quite divergent feelings – from very positive on account of one’s educational advantages, to extremely negative, as the potential cause of addictions and personality disorders, especially at children and teenagers. The „truth about computer games”, especially with reference to children and teenagers, is located probably between these two extremes and it isn’t possible to settle this matter in a few sentences. General however behavioural observation young, of especially their preferred interests, is leaving no doubt that computer games are essential position in their budget of the time and are a significant form of their practical activity. These issues will be a subject of our interests in hereby drawing up.
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Text is trying to give a definition of performance studies as a new research perspective in context of new media. For author important is relation between artistic performance and everyday performance. Main goal of the text is showing a relation between develop of performance studies and dispute about using new media by theater and performance artists. At the same time this text is showing, how conflict between theoretics from Silicon Valley had an influence in performance studies. New media as a cultural phenomenon are crucial for performance art, because it based on physical presence of sender and receiver the communicate. Author is focused on new media role in culture and their influence on performance art. Therefore, the author compares and tries to and similarity between the two performers that use new media in their works, Steve Kardinal and Merce Cunningham, whose activities are located at the two poles of performance art.
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In recent years, the US has been escalating sanctions on China’s semiconductor industry, attributing these measures to national security concerns in official statements. This study employs a realism theory framework to analyse these sanctions, emphasizing their connection to US national security. US national security aims to achieve global influence in both military and non-military domains, with the semiconductor industry playing a crucial role in US national security and economic stability. The emerging capabilities of China’s semiconductor industry pose potential challenges to these critical aspects. In the military domain, China has deployed artificial intelligence and 5G technologies for military purposes, attaining capabilities comparable to the US. These technologies heavily rely on semiconductor chips as hardware support. In response, the US targets China’s semiconductor industry, aiming to indirectly impede China’s military competition. Additionally, the US position in the global semiconductor manufacturing value chain renders it relatively vulnerable. Given the US dependence on key products manufactured in China, concerns about the security of the semiconductor value chain arise. Therefore, motivated by national security considerations, the US has implemented significant sanctions on China’s semiconductor industry to address the military and economic threats posed by China.
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The automated classification of historical document scripts holds profound implications for historians, providing unprecedented insights into the contexts of ancient manuscripts. This study introduces a robust deep learning system integrating an intelligent feature selection method, elevating the script classification process. Our methodology, applied to the CLaMM dataset, involves preprocessing steps such as advanced denoising through non-local means and binarization using Canny edge detection. These steps, pivotal for image cleaning and segmentation, set the stage for subsequent in-depth analysis. To enhance feature detection, we employ the Harris corner detector, followed by a k-means clustering process to eliminate redundancy and outliers. This process facilitates the extraction of consistently sized patches, capturing distinctive features of various scripts in historical manuscripts. The dataset undergoes rigorous training using precise convolutional neural network (CNN) models, empowering our system to discern intricate patterns and features for informed decision-making during the classification process. Ultimately, for the definitive script classification of an entire document, we employ a majority voting mechanism on the patches. The results highlight the effectiveness of this comprehensive approach, with the system achieving an impressive accuracy rate of 89.2%. This underscores the system proficiency in accurately classifying historical document scripts, offering a reliable and efficient solution for historians and researchers. The robustness of our methodology positions it as a compelling tool for meticulous analysis of historical manuscripts, contributing significantly to the field of historical document research and preservation.
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The integration of digital technologies into political processes represents a pivotal shift in the operational dynamics of political parties, highlighting an evolution from traditional to digital platforms. This transformation offers greater member engagement and decision-making transparency while also introducing new challenges in terms of security and control. This study presents an analytical overview of the Helios voting system as implemented by the Czech Pirate Party, used not only for primary elections, offering a critical examination of its operational framework, security measures, verification processes, and implications for intra-party democracy and member engagement. The Czech Pirate Party's engagement with Helios exemplifies a broader trend toward digitalization within political organizations, reflecting both the potential benefits and inherent challenges of such technological adoption. Drawing on theoretical insights from the literature on political party transformation in the digital age, this article assesses how i-voting systems like Helios can potentially enhance or detract from internal democracy. The discourse around digital platforms is nuanced, revealing opportunities for increased democratic engagement alongside risks of enhanced centralization and control. Empirical data from a survey of the Czech Pirate Party's membership base provides insights into perceptions of the Helios system's usability, security, and its impact on democratic processes within the party. The study further investigates Helios's technical aspects, focusing on its security protocols, verification mechanisms, and governance structures related to data and platform ownership, to understand its implications for electoral integrity and party governance. The research aims to contribute to the dialogue on e-voting platforms, highlighting the need for a careful balance between embracing technological advancements and upholding democratic principles.
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