Poster Session
(Asynchronous Session - Online)
Clothing Style and Culture: Re-conceiving How We Teach Clothing History View Digital Media
Poster Session Angela Bacarisse
We explore pedagogy for the study of fashion history. There is a need to diversify and move away from the traditional way of presenting the history of clothing as linear and European. This method defines five shapes of clothing, connecting climate with the development of technology. We then connect the dots of how styles are cross cultural, and how decorating the human body is a social construct no matter what culture or time period you are studying or researching.
Arts and Artificial Intelligence: Reading Literature Through IBM Statistical Package Modeler and Watson Studio View Digital Media
Poster Session Kay Li
This paper examines the ways IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Modeler and Watson Studio can be used to uncover the hidden structures behind literary texts, and open up new levels of interpretation. In particular, I will look at how they can decipher the plays of Bernard Shaw and reveal hidden intentions of the playwright. Shaw’s plays are meant more to be read than performed. Not only are there detailed stage directions, long prefaces and dialogues have much exacerbated the reading process. The readers or audience have the daunting tasks to plough through the lengthy texts to uncover meanings and discern word patterns. These are complicated by the volumes of non-dramatic writings written alongside the plays, in response to contemporary topical issues. Taken together, this is the sort of big data suitable for text mining by the artificial intelligence functionalities on IBM Cloud. Through analysis by IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Modeler and Watson Studio, I will show how the textual and contextual materials have underlying patterns of interrelated concepts and categories that open up new levels of interpretation. These patterns have heretofore escaped attention as the corpus is too large for analysis by the human mind. A trained textual modeler powered by machine learning can conduct meaningful literary analysis. Artificial intelligence can be an invaluable asset to the arts, with the machine learning designed and modelled by literary experts.
The Voice - a New Soft Skill View Digital Media
Poster Session Philippe Eberhard
This study considers becoming aware of the voice as a new soft skill. Becoming aware that we are in the voice is a pathway to less tribalism and less partisanship inflamed by fake news. The voice is a concept based on Hans-Georg Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics and the grammatical notion of the middle voice. Beyond the static and exclusive active/passive polarity, the voice nurtures a dynamic and inclusive way of thinking that avoids the pitfalls of either/or and opens itself to both-and-more. It promotes dialogue as a process we participate in and of. Rather than seeking to dominate the conversation in fear of the other and of change, in the voice we are open to the other and to change in the service of the ideas that come to language. The voice brings to the fore what it means to be human. Greek anthropeuomai (to be human) is middle-voiced. As humans we are not as free as the gods yet, unlike other animals, we are less confined to a particular niche. The expression, “The sky is the limit,” says it well. It tells us that there is no limit to what we can do precisely by setting a limit. That limit is what the voice conceptualizes.
