Into the Furby-verse: The narrative production of electronic companions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Catherine Barbara Caudwell
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Production ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Interdisciplinary Studies ◽  
Fan Fiction ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Textual Production ◽  
Narrative Studies

<p>Since the mid 1990s, electronic objects designed for the sole purpose of providing human companionship have been widely available to consumers. Effectively, such objects offer a relationship, requiring interaction from a caregiver to “survive” and “evolve”. By offering an opportunity for human–nonhuman attachment, electronic companions raise questions regarding the value of relationships and what it is that makes something artificial or real. Following the success of Bandai Electronics’ Tamagotchi, Hasbro’s Electronic Furby became commercially available in 1998, and has since become a primary actor in marketing, design, media, and research narratives that raise hopeful, satirical, and fearful discussions surrounding our potential future with sociable and companionable technologies. All of these stories construct relationships with electronic companions that are generally human-centred and hierarchical, meaning that they look at electronic companionship in terms of how it will affect people. During this time there has also been a growth in online communities that engage in cultural production through fan fiction responses to existing cultural artefacts, including Hasbro’s Furby. In these stories, the notion of electronic companionship has been explored from diverse perspectives, including a non-hierarchical, animal-centred viewpoint that offers an unfamiliar view of interacting with nonhumans by bringing in aspects of the fantastic. By exploring these consumermade narratives there is an opportunity to understand how people articulate the boundaries of their relationships with technology. Through a combination of textual analysis, cultural studies and design research, this project aims to explore the role that storytelling plays in communicating and exploring the cultural and social impact of emerging companion technologies. An empirical analysis of seventy-two online fan fictions compares and contrasts popular themes and motifs in Furby narratives in terms of whether they render relationships with, and among Furbys as positive or negative. When positive, this analysis highlights that Furbys are treated in a similar way to animals in fantasy, as the story’s protagonist. Through these positively framed relationships we also learn what it means to be an ideal companion and caregiver to nonhumans, as the characters are empathic, compassionate, and selfless. My analysis of negative relationships with Furbys in fan fictions highlights a disconnection between the Furby characters as marketed by Hasbro, and what they become after entering the lives of their caregivers. Despite being sold as friendly and in need of care, Furbys often conjure monstrous and gothic associations that can be read as symptomatic of real anxieties surrounding technological innovation. Building on this preliminary analysis, eighteen still and moving image scenarios were designed to elicit stories, and sixty-four online responses were received. Analysis of these responses found that overwhelmingly fantasy-driven storytelling was used to explore the role of Furbys in the visual scenarios, and they were often written as biologically alive and equal to humans. Combined, my fan fiction and response analyses highlight the interplay between observational and imaginative storytelling to articulate the boundaries around human and nonhuman relationships. My thesis therefore suggests that design and marketing cannot set the boundaries of electronic companionship because they will always be redefined by the users, and designers could benefit from exploring the use of their designs once out in the world. My PhD research project offers: 1) a theoretical contribution by positing fantastic storytelling as a space for critical reflection and engagement with material objects, where the potential of electronic companionship can be explored beyond the imperatives of design and marketing; 2) an empirical case study of Furby fan fiction that expands the understanding of fan fiction to include consumer objects as source material for textual production; 3) a methodological contribution to interdisciplinary studies by combining narrative studies and design to explore our relationships with emerging technology, and 4) a design research contribution that explores user stories to support meaning making practices of storytelling about electronic companionship, and equally value the place of the nonhuman in design issues.</p>

scholarly journals Into the Furby-verse: The narrative production of electronic companions

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Catherine Barbara Caudwell
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Production ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Interdisciplinary Studies ◽  
Fan Fiction ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Textual Production ◽  
Narrative Studies

<p>Since the mid 1990s, electronic objects designed for the sole purpose of providing human companionship have been widely available to consumers. Effectively, such objects offer a relationship, requiring interaction from a caregiver to “survive” and “evolve”. By offering an opportunity for human–nonhuman attachment, electronic companions raise questions regarding the value of relationships and what it is that makes something artificial or real. Following the success of Bandai Electronics’ Tamagotchi, Hasbro’s Electronic Furby became commercially available in 1998, and has since become a primary actor in marketing, design, media, and research narratives that raise hopeful, satirical, and fearful discussions surrounding our potential future with sociable and companionable technologies. All of these stories construct relationships with electronic companions that are generally human-centred and hierarchical, meaning that they look at electronic companionship in terms of how it will affect people. During this time there has also been a growth in online communities that engage in cultural production through fan fiction responses to existing cultural artefacts, including Hasbro’s Furby. In these stories, the notion of electronic companionship has been explored from diverse perspectives, including a non-hierarchical, animal-centred viewpoint that offers an unfamiliar view of interacting with nonhumans by bringing in aspects of the fantastic. By exploring these consumermade narratives there is an opportunity to understand how people articulate the boundaries of their relationships with technology. Through a combination of textual analysis, cultural studies and design research, this project aims to explore the role that storytelling plays in communicating and exploring the cultural and social impact of emerging companion technologies. An empirical analysis of seventy-two online fan fictions compares and contrasts popular themes and motifs in Furby narratives in terms of whether they render relationships with, and among Furbys as positive or negative. When positive, this analysis highlights that Furbys are treated in a similar way to animals in fantasy, as the story’s protagonist. Through these positively framed relationships we also learn what it means to be an ideal companion and caregiver to nonhumans, as the characters are empathic, compassionate, and selfless. My analysis of negative relationships with Furbys in fan fictions highlights a disconnection between the Furby characters as marketed by Hasbro, and what they become after entering the lives of their caregivers. Despite being sold as friendly and in need of care, Furbys often conjure monstrous and gothic associations that can be read as symptomatic of real anxieties surrounding technological innovation. Building on this preliminary analysis, eighteen still and moving image scenarios were designed to elicit stories, and sixty-four online responses were received. Analysis of these responses found that overwhelmingly fantasy-driven storytelling was used to explore the role of Furbys in the visual scenarios, and they were often written as biologically alive and equal to humans. Combined, my fan fiction and response analyses highlight the interplay between observational and imaginative storytelling to articulate the boundaries around human and nonhuman relationships. My thesis therefore suggests that design and marketing cannot set the boundaries of electronic companionship because they will always be redefined by the users, and designers could benefit from exploring the use of their designs once out in the world. My PhD research project offers: 1) a theoretical contribution by positing fantastic storytelling as a space for critical reflection and engagement with material objects, where the potential of electronic companionship can be explored beyond the imperatives of design and marketing; 2) an empirical case study of Furby fan fiction that expands the understanding of fan fiction to include consumer objects as source material for textual production; 3) a methodological contribution to interdisciplinary studies by combining narrative studies and design to explore our relationships with emerging technology, and 4) a design research contribution that explores user stories to support meaning making practices of storytelling about electronic companionship, and equally value the place of the nonhuman in design issues.</p>

scholarly journals COMMUNICATION IN SOCIAL NETWORKS AS A FACTOR OF IMPACT ON THE SATISFACTION OF CONSUMERS OF TOURIST SERVICES

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (34) ◽  
Author(s):  
N.V RUBTSOVA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Support ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Self Development ◽  
Tourism Services ◽  
The Impact

According to forecasts, by the end of 2020, the number of users of social networks will reach more than 3 billion people. The growing popularity of social networks is due to the acquisition by their members of certain social and emotional benefits: the possibility of interacting with other people in real time, receiving support, approval, admiration, self-education and self-development. The purpose of the article is to study the impact of communication in social networks on the satisfaction of consumers of tourism services based on the theory of social impact and the theory of positive emotions. The author defines the meaning of the concept of “social support”. Based on an analysis of the results of a number of studies, the hypothesis that social support in social networks has a significant impact on the experience of travel and the satisfaction of consumers of tourism services is confirmed. The study makes a theoretical contribution to deepening knowledge about the role of social support and positive emotions received by users on social networks on their satisfaction with travel experience. Understanding the relationship between the use of social networks and the satisfaction of consumers of tourism services is of practical value for marketing in tourism and advertising in social networks.

Culture and Economic Life

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lyn Spillman
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Production ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Cultural Theory ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Market Society ◽  
Economic Discourse ◽  
Economic Action ◽  
Economic Culture ◽  
Cultural Explanation

This article examines the role of culture in economic life. Research about economic meaning-making challenges economists’ universalistic assumptions about the microinteractional and motivational meaning of economic action. It also improves on vague sociological stereotypes of “market society,” especially by emphasizing meaningful market action in firms and industries. However, the proliferation of so many different conceptual languages and lines of inquiry that now address “economic culture” threatens to undermine the promise of cultural explanation of economic life. This article first discusses the various “cultural production” accounts of meaning in economic action before outlining three different dimensions of meaning-making in economic sociology. It then considers some proposals and models for putting economic discourse at the center of analysis, arguing that proliferation and eclecticism reflect the need for a more comprehensive and explicit engagement with cultural theory.

The role of collective identifications in family processes of post-trauma reconstruction: An exploratory study with Kurdish refugee families and their diasporic community

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Kevers ◽  
Peter Rober ◽  
Lucia De Haene
Keyword(s):  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Family Processes ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Refugee Families ◽  
Family Contexts ◽  
Diasporic Community ◽  
And Coping

While collective identifications of diasporic Kurds have attracted considerable scholarly interest, their possible role in familial processes of post-trauma reconstruction has hardly been studied. The aim of this article is therefore to develop an explorative understanding of the deployment and meaning of collective identifications in intimate family contexts by examining the interconnectedness between the transmission of cultural and political belonging and post-trauma meaning-making and coping in Kurdish refugee families. After contextualising diasporic Kurds’ collective identifications through an ethnographic depiction of the Kurdish diasporic community in Belgium, this article reports on findings from a small-scale, exploratory study with five Kurdish refugee families in Belgium. Thematic analysis of family and parent interviews indicates how cultural and political identifications may operate as sources of (1) dealing with cultural bereavement and loss; (2) commemorating trauma; and (3) reversing versus reiterating trauma. Overall, this study’s findings support an explorative understanding of collective identifications as meaningful resources in families’ post-trauma reconstruction.ABSTRACT IN KURMANJIRola nasnameyên komelî di pêvajoyên malbatî yên vesazkirina paş-trawmayê de: Xebateke raveker li ser malbatên kurd ên penaber û civakên wan ên dîasporayêTevî ku nasnameyên komelî yên kurdên dîasporayê ta radeyeke baș bûye mijara lêkolînan, rola wan a muhtemel di pêvajoyên malbatî yên vesazkirina (selihandin) paş-trawmayê qet nehatine vekolîn. Lewma armanca vê gotarê ew e têgihiştineke raveker pêş bixe li ser rol û wateya nasnameyên komelî yên di çarçoveya mehremiya malbatê de, ku vê yekê jî dê bi rêya vekolîna wê têkiliya rijd bike ya di navbera neqlkirina aidiyetên çandî-siyasî û rêyên sazkirina wateyê û serederîkirina li dû trawmayê di nav malbatên kurd ên penaber de. Piştî diyarkirina çarçoveya nasnameya komelî ya Kurdên diasporayê bi rêya teswîreke etnografîk a cemaeta diasporaya Kurd li Belçîkayê, ev gotar encamên ji xebateke biçûk a bi pênc malbatên kurd ên penaber ên li Belçîkayê pêşkêş dike. Tehlîla babetî ya hevpeyvînên ligel malbatan û dayik û bavan nîşan dide ka çawa nasnameyên çandî û siyasî dikarin bibin çavkanî ji bo (1) serederîkirina bi mehrûmiyeta çandî û windahiyên xwe; (2) bibîranîna trawmayê; û (3) kêmrengkirin an, beramber vê yekê, dubarekirina trawmayê. Bi giştî, encamên vê xebatê wê têgihiştineke raveker tesdîq dikin ku nasnameyên kolektîf çavkaniyên kêrhatî ne di vesazkirina paş-trawmayê ya malbatan de. ABSTRACT IN SORANIDewrî nasname bekomellekan le prose binemalleyîyekanî sazkirdinewey paş-trawmayîda: lêkollîneweyekî şirovekarî binemalle penabere kurdekan û civatî ewan le diyasporaLe katêkda nasname bekomellekanî kurdekanî diyaspora le layen şarezakanewe giringîyekî berçawî pê drawe û serincî ewanî bo lay xoyî rakêşawe, bellam sebaret be egerî dewrî prose binemalleyîyekanî sazkirdinewey paş-tirawma be degmen lêkollîneweyek encam drawe. Ke wate, amancî em wutare perepêdan be têgeyîştinêkî şirovekarane lemerr bekarhênan û manay nasname bekomellekan le bestênekanî têkellawîy binemalleyîdaye, ke le rêgey peywendîy nêwan rewtî gwastineweyî grêdraweyî kultûrî û siyasî, sazbûnî mana û herweha rahatin legell kêşekanî qonaẍî paş tirawma le binemalle kurde penaberekanda taqî krawetewe. Dway awirrdanewe le civakî diyasporay kurd le Belcîka, nasname bekomellekanî kurdekanî diyaspora le bestênî xoyda xwêndinewey bo krawe û bem gêreye lem wutareda lêkollîneweyekî şirovekarane bo qebareyekî biçûk le pênc binemalley kurdî penaber le Belcîka dekrê û encamekanî billaw dekrêtewe. Şîkarîyekî babetiyaney wutuwêj legell binemalle û dayk û bawkekan nîşanî dedat ke çon dekrê nasname kultûrî û siyasîyekan wek serçaweyek bo em sê mijare derbikewn: (1) gîrodebûn be ledestçûn û bizirbûnî kultûr; (2) webîrhênanewey tirawma; û (3) pêçewanebûnî tirawma leberamber dûbarebûneweyda. Beşêweyekî giştî, encamekanî em lêkollîneweye piştgîrî le têgeyîştinêkî şirovekarane le nasname bekomellekan dekat ke wekû serçaweyekî giring bo sazkirdinewey binemallekan le dway qonaẍî paş-tirawma seyr dekrêt.

Researching the factors influencing the satisfaction of master students at VNU School of Interdisciplinary Studies

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Do Huy Thuong ◽  
Nguyen Thi Phuong Hong
Keyword(s):  
Service Industry ◽  
Interdisciplinary Studies ◽  
Number Of Solutions ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Training Institutions ◽  
Market Needs ◽  
Market Strategies ◽  
Students Satisfaction ◽  
Training Service

Improving the quality in order to keep up with the trend in the world is the vital task of training institutions today. Training institutions need to grasp market needs and satisfy the requirements of customers - learners. Nadiri, H., Kandampully, J & Hussain, K. (2009) argue that the managers in education need to apply market strategies that are being used by manufacturing and business enterprises and need to be aware that the role of training institutions is a service industry which is responsible for satisfying learner needs (Elliott & Shin, 2002). Currently, there have been many researches on students’ satisfaction. However, each research has its own objectives and is conducted on different scales. This study is implemented to provide information about the factors affecting master students’ satisfaction with the training service at VNU School of Interdisciplinary Studies (VNU SIS). Through it, the research offers a number of solutions to improving the satisfaction level of the master students at VNU SIS in the coming time.

Improving the questions we ask, with Psychology and Cognitive Conflict.

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett Buttliere
Keyword(s):  
Problem Solving ◽  
Scientific Method ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Cognitive Conflict ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Scientific Papers ◽  
Science In Society

Over the last decade, there have been many suggestions to improve how scientists answer their questions, but far fewer attempt to improve the questions scientists are asking in the first place. The goal of the paper is then to examine and summarize synthesize the evidence on how to ask the best questions possible. First is a brief review of the philosophical and empirical literature on how the best science is done, which implicitly but not explicitly mentions the role of psychology and especially cognitive conflict. Then we more closely focus on the psychology of the scientist, finding that they are humans, engaged in a meaning making process, and that cognitive conflict is a necessary input for any learning or change in the system. The scientific method is, of course, a specialized meaning making process. We present evidence for this central role of cognitive conflict in science by examining the most discussed scientific papers between 2013 and 2017, which are, in general, controversial and about big problems (e.g., whether vaccines cause autism, how often doctors kill us with their mistakes). Toward the end we discuss the role of science in society, suggesting science itself is an uncertainty reducing and problem solving enterprise. From this basis we encourage scientists to take riskier stances on bigger topics, for the good of themselves and society generally.

Epilogue

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila Murnaghan ◽  
Deborah H. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Fan Fiction ◽  
Fantasy Literature ◽  
Childhood Experiences ◽  
Pleasure Reading ◽  
Classical Mythology ◽  
Children And Young Adults

The preceding work is summed up as a study of adults’ attempts over a century-long period to make sense of their own childhood experiences of antiquity and to recreate those experiences for new generations through the medium of absorbing pleasure reading. Such experiences are valued for their capacity to stimulate the imagination, to expand moral understanding, to pave the way for further education, and to bring renewal or redemption to the disturbed modern world. The chapter ends with a brief survey of developments in classical mythology and historical fiction for children and young adults from the mid-1960s until the present, including the emergence of new forms of fantasy literature and the role of new media such as video games and fan fiction.

scholarly journals Up to No Good? Gender, Social Impact Work, and Employee Promotions

2021 ◽  
pp. 000183922110206
Author(s):  
Christiane Bode ◽  
Michelle Rogan ◽  
Jasjit Singh
Keyword(s):  
Panel Data ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Male Gender ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Gender Beliefs ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Male Gender Role ◽  
Promotion Rates ◽  
Vignette Experiment

Firms increasingly offer employees the opportunity to participate in firm-sponsored social impact initiatives expected to benefit the firm and employees. We argue that participation in such initiatives hinders employees’ advancement in their firms by reducing others’ perceptions of their fit and commitment. Because social impact work is more congruent with female than male gender role stereotypes, promotion rates will be lower for participating men, and male evaluators will be less likely than female evaluators to recommend promotion for male participants. Using panel data on 1,379 employees of a consulting firm, we find significantly lower promotion rates for male participants relative to female participants, female non-participants, and male non-participants. A vignette experiment involving 893 managers shows that lower promotion rates are due to lower perceptions of fit, but not commitment, and greater bias against male participants by male evaluators. Taken together, the results of the two studies suggest that the negative effect of participation on promotion is conditional upon participant and evaluator gender, underscoring the role of gender in evaluation of social impact work. In settings in which decision makers are predominately male, gender beliefs may limit male employees’ latitude to contribute to the firm’s social impact agenda.

The semiotics of movement and mobility

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-118
Author(s):  
Theo van Leeuwen
Keyword(s):  
Product Design ◽  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Feature Analysis ◽  
Movement Direction ◽  
Dance Music ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Live Action ◽  
Film And Video

The paper presents a framework for the distinctive feature analysis of movement and mobility in texts, performances and semiotic artefacts, showing its applicability to the analysis of meaning-making in dance, music, animated and live action film and video, and product design. Emphasis is placed on the role of movement and mobility in identity design. Identity design is realized by the style in which movements are performed and can be analysed in terms of the gradable distinctive features present in any movement – direction, expansiveness, velocity, force, angularity, fluidity, directedness and regularity. The paper includes a historical dimension, focusing on the development of movement and mobility as semiotic resources, and argues for the pioneering role of modernist artists in this development.

scholarly journals Being Peer Gynt: How students collaboratively make meaning of a digital game about a literature classic

2021 ◽  
pp. 204275302110229
Author(s):  
Magnus H Sandberg ◽  
Kenneth Silseth
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Computer Game ◽  
Digital Game ◽  
Virtual Self ◽  
Dialogic Approach

Henrik Ibsen’s play Peer Gynt digs deep into the question of what it means to be oneself. An upcoming computer game version invites players to take on the role of Peer and thereby raises new questions about identity and identification. By recording dyads of students who play an early version of the game and analysing their interaction during gameplay, we examine how students collaboratively make meaning of the computer game. This study employs a sociocultural and dialogic approach to meaning making. In the analysis, we draw on Gee’s theory on multiple player identities and see the dyads playing together as two real-world selves negotiating on creating one virtual self through a co-authorship of situated meaning in what Gee calls the projective stance. To better understand their cooperation in this undertaking, we also apply Goffman’s term activity frames. The analysis shows how the dyads approach the game in different ways by establishing frames in which they interpret, impersonate or recreate Peer, in order to make meaning of their gameplay.

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