STORRE Community: This community contains the ePrints and eTheses produced by Communications, Media and Culture staff and students.
http://hdl.handle.net/1893/8
This community contains the ePrints and eTheses produced by Communications, Media and Culture staff and students.2024-03-29T14:22:54ZSouth African Media and Politics: Is the Three Models Approach Still Valid After Two Decades?
http://hdl.handle.net/1893/35901
Title: South African Media and Politics: Is the Three Models Approach Still Valid After Two Decades?
Author(s): Jones, Bernadine; Hadland, Adrian
Abstract: When Hallin and Mancini (2004) produced their watershed Three Models theory, South Africa was a new democracy barely a decade old. Even then, along with other countries of the Global South, the experience of a young democracy posed certain critical challenges to Hallin and Mancini's understanding of the way that media and politics interrelate. Two decades later, South Africa has continued to change. There has been increased diversity in media ownership, rapid growth in community and social media, digital disruption, and significant challenges to media freedom. How does the Three Models theory stack up now? This paper reviews scholarly critiques of Hallin and Mancini's model, including their follow-up work, Beyond the Western World (2012), and assesses to what extent the Three Models is still a valid approach to understanding the connection between media and politics in the Global South. The paper concludes by evaluating Hadland’s (2012) Africanisation of the model in light of the complex postcolonial trajectories of South Africa, suggesting that this, along with Hallin, Mellado, and Mancini’s (2021) expanded hybridisation model, still offers a better set of variables with which to understand how the media and political systems intertwine in the postcolony.2024-03-11T00:00:00ZGenerating Older Active Lives Digitally (GOALD) Through Sport-Based Reminiscence
http://hdl.handle.net/1893/35797
Title: Generating Older Active Lives Digitally (GOALD) Through Sport-Based Reminiscence
Author(s): Haynes, Richard; Ritchie, John; Tomaz, Simone
Abstract: How do digitally-delivered meaningful activities, such as sport-based reminiscence, influence older people’s health and well-being and intergenerational relationships? Developing and strengthening older people’s ’connectivities’ through their links with community, resources and meaningful activities is a key aspect of supporting healthy ageing and reducing health inequalities in later life. Sport-based reminiscence has become an established activity to facilitate social connectivity and increasingly, digital connectivity, which can support an individual’s sense of health and well-being. This paper reports on research undertaken within a three-year research programme on ’Connectivity and Digital Design for Promoting Health and Well-being Across Generations, Places and Spaces’ focusing on research conducted with four community-based co-production groups in Scotland. The qualitative research was developed with a stakeholder advisory group and co-production groups in care homes and in community. Data was gathered from recording of meetings and researcher observations thematically analysed to document shared experiences of digitally enabled sport reminiscence over a ten month period. We report on the efficacy of live-streamed and digital sport heritage experiences for triggering reminiscence in a hybrid context. We emphasise the need for structured facilitation of hybrid online/in-person reminiscence, which can clearly produce meaningful and enjoyable experiences for older people, and building connectivity.2023-12-01T00:00:00ZHey, You! The importance of pragmatics in localisations of Mass Effect in French and Spanish
http://hdl.handle.net/1893/35662
Title: Hey, You! The importance of pragmatics in localisations of Mass Effect in French and Spanish
Author(s): Stainton, Alexander; Roberts, Seán G; Rennick, Stephanie
Abstract: The localisation of video game dialogue for diverse audiences is challenging because of differences in linguistic features between languages and pragmatic norms between cultures. For example, localisers must decide how to translate the English second person singular pronoun 'you' into languages that have a pragmatic distinction between formal and informal pronouns (e.g. "vous" and "tu" in French). These distinctions are used in social interaction to signal politeness, respect, and social distance, which are important elements that shape player experience in role-playing games. We analyse the dialogue from French and Spanish localisations of Mass Effect and show they have strikingly different strategies for translating pronouns. French mostly uses formal pronouns while Spanish mostly uses informal pronouns. We explain how these differences affect player experience and argue that effective localisation requires a clear strategy for dealing with pragmatics. We conclude by making practical suggestions for how game creators can better support localisation.2023-12-12T00:00:00ZImproving video game conversations with trope-informed design
http://hdl.handle.net/1893/35551
Title: Improving video game conversations with trope-informed design
Author(s): Rennick, Stephanie; Roberts, Seán
Abstract: This paper examines tropes in video games pertaining to conversations between player characters and Non-Player Characters (NPCs). Drawing from the fields of pragmatics and Conversation Analysis we show how these tropes differ from real, face-to-face conversations. We demonstrate how politeness theory (how to avoid unsociable, face-threatening behaviour) can help us understand when and why conversations with NPCs disrupt player immersion. Based on these insights we propose alternative designs to improve immersion. We call this approach Trope-Informed Design: tropes are tools that can make or break a player’s experience. Considering how and when to perpetuate, subvert, or transcend tropes can help guide designers in improving their game mechanics.2021-09-01T00:00:00Z