Bakhtin

"The realities of new technological and social conditions since the 1990s demand a new approach to literacy teaching. Looking onward from the original statement of aims of the multiliteracies movement in 1996, this volume brings together top-quality scholarship and research that has embraced the notion and features new contributions by many of the originators of this approach to literacy.

Drawing on large research projects and empirical evidence, the authors explore practical and educational issues that relate to multiliteracies, such as assessment, pedagogy and curriculum. The viewpoint taken is that multiliteracies is a complementary socio-cultural approach to the new literacies that includes pedagogy and learning. The differences are addressed from a multiliteracies perspective – one that does not discount or undermine the new literacies, but shows new ways in which they are complementary.

Computers and the internet are transforming the way we work and communicate and the very notion of literacy itself. This volume offers frontline information and a vital update for those wishing to understand the evolution of multiliteracies and the current state of literacy theory in relation to it."

The essays in this volume give the reader an inquiry into the problem of the Nation with, and sometimes surpassing, the help of Bakhtin. The substantial introduction and ten essays work with and beyond the communication theory of Bakhtin and approach Nation in terms both literary and political. The book is equally a contribution to Nation Studies and Bakhtin Studies, with extensive argumentation and current bibliographies on both elements of the title.

"CALL FOR BOOK CHAPTERS: "MAPPING THE ALTERNATIVE MEDIA IN TURKEY"

Editors: Barış Çoban & Bora Ataman

Extended Deadline for abstracts:
January 1st 2013

http://alternativemediamap.net/

We aim to map the alternative media in Turkey, which is varied in form, structure and working styles such as “cracks”, “rhizomes” and “fronts”. Similarly to what has occurred with the mainstream media, both large and small examples of the alternative media, alongside their widespread prevalence inside the country, have also already transcended the national borders. We argue that mapping the alternative media, embracing newspapers, radio and television channels, cinemas, blogs, forums and platforms, essentially the full range of conventional and new media organs and vehicles, is one of the most useful research approaches to comprehending the nature of alternative politics in Turkey.

The alternative media works as a source of memory and an archive helping to understand the historical and current structure of alternative politics in Turkey. IT also gives voice to alternative ideologies and politics and makes their political activities visible. In addition, the alternative media, which mainly represents the “otherised”, oppressed and marginalised groups, forms the vanguard of struggle against the hegemony and barbarism of the oppressive, globalized neo-liberal society.

Alternative media, as an umbrella term, applies to those media organs which are typically bottom up organisations. In principle, their organizational structures and decision making processes are democratic, participatory, polyphonic and dialogic. Their opposition to the mainstream media finds its roots, in its form and content, in social and political struggles and is based in radical ideologies such as anarchism, radical democracy and Marxism. The existence of alternative media indicates the struggle to construct a truly democratic and free sphere of communication from a number of broad perspectives, varying from the idea of simply being independent from either the state or capital, to being completely opposed to them. In this context, it is also possible to claim that every organ of the alternative media, as a centre of subaltern resistance, is part of a greater alternative communication network.

This so-called alternative network (or networks) is/are the voice of different political or social groups, communities, minorities or even individuals at the grassroots level. Thus, they open the way for these groups to actively participate in political and social life, as either real “agents” or as “spectacles” in the field of symbolic struggle. Therefore, individuals or groups can find opportunities to get involved in both real and symbolic struggles for hegemony, not only as consumers, but also as producers; as active agents.

Therefore, alternative media institutions either on the micro- or macro-scale cannot be considered as combatants solely at the informational level. In addition to their struggle to gather, record and spread news and ideas concerning local, national and transnational problems, they also provide a response to the establishment through real political actions. It is not unusual to see their active participation in protests, or even note that they hold the leadership positions in the organisation of some of these dissident political actions. Therefore, their active struggle with the hegemonic powers can also be considered as an effort to create alternative political forms. More commonly however, alternative media operate as the symbolic production centre of alternative politics and as an incubation ground for the intellectual and ideological constructs of social movements.

Alternative media, along with other dissident institutions, are seen as paving the way for a brighter and more just future by being the voice of the voiceless and contributing to the imagining of a different world. Threatening so-called representative democracy by supporting participatory social, cultural and political activities is also deemed useful to this end. By engaging in such activities, they may be able to cause the transformation of political culture in general. More importantly, however, the ways in which subordinate constituents of the society interpret politics and their own means of participation could change in a positive manner. Moreover, such efforts may also lead to the construction of efficient counter-public spheres alongside the more common examples of alternative spaces.
Diverse anti-systemic, reformist and revolutionary ideological orientations, varied political discourses and different modes of action constituting the alternative media landscape mostly open up an opportunity for the “oppressed” to actively participate in these alternative political spaces that are, to a certain extent, diverse, colourful, vivid and, most importantly, innately dialogic.
In this context, we argue that the “duty” of academia should be to understand these alternatives without stigmatizing them as the source of conflicts within the prevailing social system. After all, we as editors, would like to study these initiatives since the imagining of an alternative world may only be possible by embracing the oppressed and their voice, even though the world around us is not particularly welcoming.

Abstracts of papers are sought on topics such as:
• Radical- militant media (affiliated with revolutionary organizations)
• Radical media (Struggling within legal parameters to push the limits of the existing system
• Identity and rights-based media (Human rights, labour and trade-union rights, gender, environment, ethnicity, struggles based on faith or denomination
• Transnational and diaspora-based alternative media
• Independent, objective, opposition media
• Dissident voices, “cracks” in the mainstream media

However, it should be noted that the categories above do not refer to independent categories with clear differences. It is possible to say that; most examples of the alternative media operating in Turkey can be included under more than one of the rubrics mentioned above. Nevertheless, the alternative media organs in Turkey, despite a degree of permeability in the boundaries that separate them, may be seen as belonging more to one or another of the above-mentioned classifications, therefore, these categories will constitute the book’s chapters.

Furthermore, we are mainly interested in the case studies (comparative if possible) and empirical research possessing theoretical and methodological clarity, and focusing on at least one of three basic dimensions of media studies; such as “Production”, “Text”, or “Audience”, without missing the multi-layered and intertwined relationships between these dimensions.

Abstracts of a maximum of 250 words in Turkish and English outlining the topic, theoretical and methodological approach as well as the research question, should be submitted to either Barış Çoban (bcoban@dogus.edu.tr) or Bora Ataman (bataman@dogus.edu.tr) until January1st 2013.

Announcement of the abstracts selected will be made by February 1 2013.

The deadline for full paper submissions is August 1, 2013

The editors are planning to publish book in Turkish and English and have made an agreement with Yordam, to publish in January 2014.

After the evaluation of the abstracts, negotiations with foreign publishing houses will begin for the English version.
Barış Çoban & Bora Ataman (Eds.)
Extended Deadline for Research Proposals: January 1st, 2013"

This work deals with the use of self-player pianos - Class of automatic musical instruments - and their technical evolution and the acquis in perforated rolls of paper that containings the digital records for the instrument. Also evaluates the dimension of its use by composers and performers at the beginning of modernity and points to the musical preferences of pianists interpreters who can be seen from the cataloging of rolls for these instruments. Reinforces the conviction of relational intimacy between music and technology. [Text in Portuguese]

This paper is written as part of a project called ‘Makers in the Lowlands’ to analyse the Dutch amateur culture and media production with the help of digital media and specifically aims at Machinima, the creation of media productions with the use of a game or 3D engine. We chose this subject because of our own personal interest in the matter. The team was and are all involved in creating this exciting new art form, varying from actually making the ‘pure’ form of video Machinima to uploading screenshots of game situations to blogs and forums. By analyzing Machinima through a discourse and literature study we hope to find indications how amateur culture and media production are constructed, offering insights that help in a better understanding of the Dutch amateur culture and how this can be used to create new communities.

" The internet has empowered a large number of users to blog on whatever subject they like through remarks, articles, ideas, dialogues and interactive comments supported by other content. Web pages have granted people access to a private sphere where they can publish or share with others their opinions, news and comments in a sort of journal that has come to be known as a blog.Blogs started to emerge in their current form in 1996,when American software developer Dave Winer launched his site dedicated to writing news and posting relevant reactions and comments on a wide range of issues

Numerous similar web sites were developed and continue to multiply, no longer restricted to a certain country but rather becoming global. As blogs have proliferated, they have grown diverse and become a phenomenon that attracts a large number of youth. At the same time, they provide a rich arena where knowledge and news are shared and public opinion is formed.In Egypt there was limited interest in blogs until 2001, when the number of Egyptian blogs started to grow each year, providing youth with a refuge where they could easily express themselves and their beliefs without restrictions. Blogs proved an effective means for digital communication among a large number of segments of the public who were not acquainted with each other outside the cyber world. Thus, blogging attracted the new generation of politicians, authors and journalists interested in collaborating either as readers or writers. In this regard, blogs evolved into an outlet for the expression of opinion, talents and interests, for venting feelings and desires and for sharing knowledge. It was to be expected that the Egyptian blogging movement would interact with current events in the Egyptian and Arab public spheres from 2005 to the present time. From 2006 to 2008, a number of demonstrations and expressions of real political protest were associated in one way or another with cyber-protests on the internet, tapping into the massive public mobilization of youth on political blogs. There followed a degree of confusion between blogging and rumors both on the part of  bloggers and readers. Thus, in recent years, Egyptian blogs have grown on a wider scale, creating anew virtual community that enjoys quite strong social, cultural and political impact on the real society.

In the absence of relevant, accurate data about blogging, there arose simplistic conceptions that dismissed the phenomenon as a way to spend leisure time and circulate rumors. Such perceptions found an audience among governmental agencies and a large segment of the public. For that reason ,IDSC initiated a study on this phenomenon as part of the project titled "The Blogosphere in Egypt"implemented within IDSC’s work plan in January 2008. The project aims to study the Egyptian blogosphere in terms of its importance in strengthening democracy and the information society.

This report stands as the first output of the project. It was designed to provide the reader with a general framework of basic knowledge about blogs, their importance, the scope of their spread, their characteristics and their contents on one hand, and bloggers' characteristics and interests on the other. For this purpose, the report is divided into four sections: 1. the significance of blogs and the appearance of the blogosphere on the global level; 2. main features of Egyptian blogs; 3.a content analysis of these blogs; and  4. discerning the special characteristics of Egyptian bloggers."

In this paper, we describe the narrative ontological model encompassed in the Labyrinth system. The aim of the system is to allow users to explore a digital archive by following the narrative relations among the resources contained in it. Targeted at cultural heritage applications, the Labyrinth project relies on the notion of “cultural archetype”, i.e., a core representation encompassing archetypical stories and characters, exploited as a conceptual framework for the access to archives of heterogeneous media objects. In particular, we describe how the system leverages various types of ontological reasoning to let narrative relations emerge between artworks, and exemplify how these relations are exploited by the system to provide the user with a narrative conceptual framework she or he is familiar with in the exploration of the archive.

Mikhail Bakhtin, Russian literary critic, semiotician, and philosopher is widely recognized as one of the central figures in social theory, with an influence that has been felt in fields as diverse as anthropology, history, psychology, sociology, communications, rhetoric, comparative literature, and the philosophy of language. In looking closely at the social foundations of language, Bakhtin identified a short list of major of philosophical principles that are now standard in the social sciences and humanities, including dialogism, voice, heteroglossia, ideology, speech genres, the utterance, polyphony, double-voiced discourse, intertextuality, the chronotope, and the carnival. A central image that recurs throughout Bakhtin’s work is that of the simple act of engaging in face-to-face dialog. Staying close to the interactive source of discourse, the utterance occupied a place of central importance in social theory for Bakhtin—as an instantiation of language use, or a given person’s word, as it is embedded in a particular context, including the submerged ideologies used by the actors to interpret those words. Just as recognizable ideologies and voices permeate spoken discourse, the utterance is composed of familiar speech genres, based on expectations for the structure and style of the utterance.

"A case study of a ‘blogwar’ centred on a short-lived ‘hateblog’ that occurred mostly in the Singaporean blogosphere, with some input from Malaysia. In this case, the renown of the protagonists, and the viciousness of the attack, combined to make the hateblog a ‘productive’ temporary locus of online discursive activity.

Theoretically, the approach taken shall draw upon Bourdieu’s concepts of field, social capital and practice; Bakhtin’s concept of dialogics; Appadurai’s concept of “commodity candidacy”, and discussions of value and authenticity. Miller & Slater, as well as Latour, are important in shaping the ethnographic approach to the internet, rooting online practices in offline contexts.

It is argued that through the posts and comments of those who condemn, support, or merely wish to be entertained by, the blogwar, it is possible to explore the underlying practices and norms of blogging.

Methodologically, the short timeframe enabled the gathering of most – possibly all – related blog posts and comments. These were subjected to content analysis, and the results analysed statistically and with social network analysis tools.

Keywords: blogs, social network analysis, content analysis, authenticity"

El texto expone y problematiza la noción de artes vivas en el marco de la cultura digital y expansión tecnológica, analizando algunos factores clave para comprender un cambio paradigmático que pone en crisis el tema del cuerpo, la escena, y otros  factores que involucran la creación de una obra de arte viva. El artículo  desarrolla los principales puntos expuestos en la Mesa de Trabajo "Artes vivas y nuevas tecnologías: alterando los modos de creación", LabSurLab, Medellín 2011.

""A) La problématique générale traitée dans cette conférence: la (ré-)utilisation de corpus multimédias (documents audiovisuels, textuels, sonores, …) numériques pour des utilisateurs et des contextes d’usage spécifiques mais souvent fort variés.

B) Les problématiques spécifiques:
1) la sémiotique du document multimédia numérique;
2) une méthodologie d’écriture/réécriture (« authoring ») de corpus multimédia;
3) discussion des notions « genre de publication », « scénario de publication »;
4) l'instrumentation du processus de l’écriture/réécriture d’un corpus multimédia.

C) L’exemple: Guanacache. Les eaux de la soif. Un corpus multimédia enligne consacré au monde de vie des derniers descendants huarpe vivant dans la région de Mendoza en Argentine
""

"A participatory experimental digital media workshop event.

The Project will make use of GPS, non-linear digital sound and visual technology and firmly puts the participants as the originators of the days digital media outputs

The project 'Tracing Spaces' is triggered by people's movements around a space. It explores notions of perceived freedom of space, time and boundaries. It is a non linear narrative and as more people participate the art builds in complexity. Similarly the art changes and diminishes as less people interact."

"Chris Priestley’s 2011 young adult novel, Mister Creecher, promises to show us ‘the making of a monster…’ Set in 1818, the novel is a meta-fictional reworking of Frankenstein, imagining the monster’s journey as he tracks Frankenstein to Scotland, with the aid of London pickpocket, Billy. However, it is Billy, rather than Creecher, that is the focus of the novel and to whom the novel’s tagline refers. After Shelley, then, the most important inter-texts for Creecher are Dickens’ Great Expectations and Oliver Twist. Billy is a specifically Dickensian character, reconfigured by Priestly amid a hybrid patchwork of literary and popular texts.
Through Billy, Creecher reimagines the Dickensian bildungsroman, reconfiguring the positions of innocent and villain it offers. The two protagonists of Creecher occupy both positions at various points. Ultimately, though, neither the monster nor Billy’s innocence are retrieved. The closing pages of Creecher present the reader with an act of violence that reminds us of Billy’s ultimate narrative destination. As Bill Sykes’ murder of Nancy haunted Dickens to his death, so it haunts this novel. This paper will argue that Creecher not only disrupts and problematizes the categories of villain and innocent, but that in doing so, it ultimately corrupts any future encounter with Dickens’ works. Indeed, rather than establishing a dialogue between Dickens and Shelley, the introduction of Shelley’s monster into Dickens’ landscape is an act of literary contagion, one akin to that imagined by Frankenstein himself in his fear that he has loosed ‘a race of devils … upon the earth, who might make the very existence of the species of man a condition precarious and full of terror.’ "