School of Culture and Communication - Research Publications

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Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    Cybernetic Funeral Systems
    Arnold, M ; Gould, H ; Kohn, T ; Nansen, B ; Allison, F ; Love, H ; Adamson, G ; Gopal, TV (IEEE, 2021)
    Using Postphenomenology (one of many methods informed by Wiener's cybernetics) as an analytical approach, this paper examines three examples of robot participation in, and mediation of, funerals. The analysis of robot mediation of funerals challenges the idea that death rituals are exclusively human performances and experiences, and instead repositions them as cybernetic systems of entanglement and impact. The paper begins with an introduction to the relevance of postphenomenological theory, then moves to the case of CARL, a robot that enables remote participation in funeral ceremonies. We argue that the [Human-Robot-Funeral] relation and its variants are both engaging and alienating, through revealing-concealing, magnification-reduction and a more generalised enabling-constraining. Technological mediation is also evident in the case of Pepper, a robot that has officiated at funerals as a Buddhist monk. We describe similarities and differences in the way CARL and Pepper manifest the [Human-Robot-Funeral] relation. The final example is AIBO, a companion robot that becomes the locus of a funeral ritual. This offers a radical case that directly challenges humans' self-proclaimed exceptional ontology.
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    Making Sense of Emotion-Sensing: Workshop on Quantifying Human Emotions
    Tag, B ; Webber, S ; Wadley, G ; Bartlett, V ; Goncalves, J ; Koval, P ; Slovak, P ; Smith, W ; Hollenstein, T ; Cox, AL ; Kostakos, V (ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY, 2021)
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    The Philosopher’s Stone: Art and Nature in Eighteenth-century European Porcelain Production
    Martin, M ; Faietti, M ; WOLF, G (Bononia University Press, 2021)
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    Beyond a binary of (non)racist tweets: A four-dimensional categorical detection and analysis of racist and xenophobic opinions on Twitter in early Covid-19
    Pei, X ; Mehta, D ; Chen, Y ; Ludwig, H ; Tu, Y ; Fayyad, U ; Zhu, X ; Hu, X ; Byna, S ; Liu, X ; Zhang, J ; Pan, S ; Papalexakis, V ; Wang, J ; Cuzzocrea, A ; Ordonez, C (IEEE, 2021-12-15)
    Transcending the binary categorization of racist and xenophobic texts, this research takes cues from social science theories to develop a four-dimensional category for racism and xenophobia detection, namely stigmatization, offensiveness, blame, and exclusion. With the aid of deep learning techniques, this categorical detection enables insights into the nuances of emergent topics reflected in racist and xenophobic expression on Twitter. Moreover, a stage wise analysis is applied to capture the dynamic changes of the topics across the stages of early development of Covid-19 from a domestic epidemic to an international public health emergency, and later to a global pandemic. The main contributions of this research include, first the methodological advancement. By bridging the state-of-the-art computational methods with social science perspective, this research provides a meaningful approach for future research to gain insight into the underlying subtlety of racist and xenophobic discussion on digital platforms. Second, by enabling a more accurate comprehension and even prediction of public opinions and actions, this research paves the way for the enactment of effective intervention policies to combat racist crimes and social exclusion under Covid-19.
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    False Face Must Hide What the False Heart Doth Know: The Literary Face in the Age of AI
    Sumner, TD (ASSOC COMPUTING MACHINERY, 2021)
    This position paper examines a range of technological and algorithmic issues through the lens of literary and cultural theory about the face, in particular the ways in which emotion, expression and gesture are conveyed in literary texts. In doing this, it canvasses some of the primary aims and theoretical contexts of a new ARC project, Literature and the Face: A Critical History, which draws on literary, philosophical and visual traditions to generate comprehensive new knowledge about changing textual discourse about the face.
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    Dining 'on and off': Good, wellbeing and WeChat use among older Chinese migrants in Australia
    Wang, WY ; Yang, YJ (Association of Internet Researchers, 2020)
    This study examines how WeChat, one of the most popular Chinese messenger applications installed on smartphone, facilitates the formation of an older Chinese diasporic space that is centered around the self-nurturing diet (yinshi yangsheng) cultural discourse in Australia. Media has traditionally played a crucial role in disseminating yangsheng-related information and knowledge in China (Sun 2016). However, currently literature in older Chinese people’s media consumption mainly focuses on experience and processes within China few have paid attention to surging number of older Chinese who are ageing in a transnational context. Through analysing data collected from eight focused group (12 people each) conducted at a Chinese restaurant in Brisbane, Australia, and examining OCM participants’ WeChat use,it is found that WeChat not only facilitates the formation of an older Chinese social space in Australia but the platform has acted as a self- and mutual-reliance mechanism for OCMs to negotiate and make sense of their biological change of ageing and biographic change of transnational migration.