scholarly journals Accessible paratext: actively engaging (with) D/deaf audiences

2020 ◽  
Vol 06 (01) ◽  
pp. 203-219
Author(s):  
Pierre Alexis Mével

This article examines the importance of paratext – theoretically and practically – in getting D/deaf audiences to engage with theatrical performances. Our notion of ‘accessible paratext’ necessarily involves multimodal forms of translation, and intersemiotic interactions, to provide a crucial point of access for D/deaf members of the public who often feel that theatrical performances are ‘not for them.’ The article focuses on intersemiotic multimedial translation in the form of creative captions for the theatre and, more specifically, for paratextual video material created as part of a project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (United Kingdom) to showcase integrated captions in live performances. The widespread perception that the theatre is not for D/deaf audiences appears to be driven by several factors, including the fact that many members of the D/deaf community have neither heard of nor seen integrated theatre and because access to integrated performances is not forthcoming. Information about such performances, in the form of what we here define as paratext, either does not exist or is not communicated in a way that makes the accessible nature of the performances tangible to members of the D/deaf audience. We demonstrate the extent to which several semiotic systems (sign language, spoken words, and written captions) interacting on the stage or a screen can provide a much-needed gateway to theatrical performances, bringing marginalized audiences back to the theatre and improving the shows’ accessibility.

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (36) ◽  
pp. 25-28
Author(s):  
Edith Hall ◽  
Arlene Holmes-Henderson

The ‘Advocating Classics Education’ (ACE) project is an initiative led by Professor Edith Hall and Dr Arlene Holmes-Henderson, based at King's College London. The project seeks to extend the availability of Classical Civilisation and Ancient History (CC/AH) qualifications to learners in non-fee-paying schools across the United Kingdom. To do so, Professor Hall has been awarded a Leadership Fellowship of £250,000 from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The project's full title is ‘Studying Classical Civilisation in Britain: recording the past and fostering the future’ and it runs from 1st May 2017 to 31st August 2018.


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (8) ◽  
pp. 1257-1267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ranjana Das

In this essay, I examine the 10 years between 2004 and 2014 as a transformative, if uncertain, decade for audience analysis, faced with rapidly fragmenting media environments. Next, reflecting on the research done by a 14 country network I direct – Consortium on Emerging Directions in Audience Research (CEDAR), funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, United Kingdom – I examine the features of this decade of transformation, paying attention to the intellectual markers that punctuate this decade and make it stand out in the history of audience studies. I focus on four pivotal axes of transformations which emerge out of the analysis conducted by the CEDAR network and argue that these four represent significant ways in which audience analysis has lived through an uncertain but exciting decade. These axes are audiences’ changing coping strategies with hyper-connected and intrusive media, audience interruptions of media content flows, the co-option of audience labour, and the micro–macro politics of audience action. I conclude by locating this transformative decade 2004–2014 against a longer backdrop of uncertain moments and periods of flux in the field, arguing, that not unlike those points in time, now too, audience analysis has reached a newer, more unknown, but very significant phase.


2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (2 (9)) ◽  
pp. 154-162
Author(s):  
Maxim Fomin

The present article examines the folklore genre of maritime memorates of Irish and Scottish origin. It describes the maritime traditions of Gauls when various supernatural creatures and inanimate objects appeared from the sea, as well as the spells and magic tricks producing winds. The article studies contemporary legends which tell about omens and visions bewitching a storm. * This contribution is based upon the findings of the research project ‘Stories of the Sea: A Typological Study of Maritime Memorates in Modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic Folklore Traditions’ supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC, UK).


2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (6) ◽  
pp. 1865-1869 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Skorton

The nature of work is changing rapidly in the digital age, increasing the demand for skills in specific disciplines. Across the United States and beyond, this evolution has led to an increased emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at every level. Meanwhile, at US institutions of higher education, the proportion of undergraduate students who earn a degree in the humanities is declining. However, while the public discussion often pits the disciplines against one another, the sciences, arts, and humanities are—as Albert Einstein once wrote—“branches of the same tree” [(2006)The Einstein Reader]. They are mutually reinforcing. Therefore, the best way to prepare the next generation for the future of work, life, and citizenship is to provide broad, holistic educational experiences that integrate the STEM disciplines with the arts and humanities. A new study from the Board on Higher Education and Workforce of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine bolsters the case for such an approach, finding considerable evidence that the mutual integration of disciplines leads to improved educational and career outcomes for undergraduate and graduate students.


2011 ◽  
Vol 35 (110) ◽  
pp. 43-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hazel Hall ◽  
Stephanie Kenna ◽  
Charles Oppenheim

The article describes the background to the development of the DREaM project, which is aimed at expanding the range of skills of UK-based researchers in the LIS field, and at developing a network of active researchers, both in academia and amongst LIS practitioners. The project, which is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council involves two major conferences and a number of workshops throughout the UK starting in July 2011. Details of the events, and how the project will be evaluated, are provided.


Author(s):  
James Herbert

This chapter discusses deliberations and predispositions that were made before the final approval of the establishment of the Arts and Humanities Research Council/Board. After the second reading of the Higher Education Bill, the AHRB and the Bill was subjected to a more detailed review. Between February and March, fifteen sittings of the Standing Committee H were conducted to examine the proposal and the legislation clause by clause. Whilst the head of the committee, Alan Johnson declared a seemingly unanimous support for the Bill as no demonstrations against the arts and humanities aspect of the Bill occurred. Many of the members of the committee averted that they needed time to consider and scrutinize every aspect of the bill. In the House of Lords the Bill was warmly welcomed. However, as with the House of Commons and the Standing Committee, some of the aspects of the Bill were met by antagonism. The most serious opposition against the Bill was against Part 1 of the Higher Education Bill which expressed that devolved administrations can perform arts and humanities research on their own. After much deliberation and considerations, on the evening of July 1, 2004, the Higher Education Bill received Royal Assent and was considered as the Higher Education Act.


Author(s):  
James Herbert

This chapter discusses the reintegration of the need for Humanities Research Council back onto the public agenda and into the policy stream of the UK government. The issue of the Research Council for the humanities came into public and governmental attention when it was fastened to the dilemmas of financing higher education, which itself was tied to the uncertainty of the UK economy. In May 1996, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment together with Secretaries of State for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland appointed Chairman Ron Dearing to create a body that would inquire into the higher education system of the UK. In 1997, the committee produced a report, Higher Education in a Learning Society, or the Dearing Report. The report charted a course for higher education in the UK for the next twenty years. This so-called intellectual capital called for a higher quality of teaching and the need for researchers and research facilities. It offered 93 specific recommendations, among which was a recommendation advocating the immediate establishment of a new Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). In 1998, the government recognized the need for the establishment of a research council for humanities and announced the provision of £8M in 1998–1999 for arts and humanities research, albeit after lengthy considerations.


2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Adamson ◽  
Margaret Holloway

This article considers the role that music plays in contemporary UK funerals and the meaning that the funeral music has for bereaved families. It is based on findings from a recently completed study of 46 funerals funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. Music contributes to the public ceremony and the personal existential quest of the bereaved. It is important to both the content and process of the contemporary funeral, an event of deep cultural significance in our response as individuals and communities to death and the loss of a significant relationship. There is evidence that for many people, the music chosen and used also evokes and conveys their spirituality. Spirituality may not be intrinsic to the music but spiritual experience may result from the meaning that the music has for that particular person.


LOGOS ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 80-90
Author(s):  
Samantha Rayner

This paper explores the contexts in which the academic books of the future in the arts and humanities (A&H) are being shaped, with the aim of demonstrating how crucial it is that the communities of practice that produce those books continue to work together to build better bridges of understanding and collaboration. There is particular reference to the Arts and Humanities Research Council/ British Library Academic Book of the Future Project (2014–2017) and to a case study of Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur.


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