Scipedia: Documents published in 2011

Information professionals in 2010

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 11:08:08 +0200

Some key reports that have appeared in 2010 related to professional development are commented. Topics include public libraries, university libraries, new profiles and labour market in the information and documentation area.

Innovation and adaptation of training needs to business demand

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 11:08:02 +0200

The results of the 2010 Cotec report on the culture of innovation among Spanish young people on the European scene are not very optimistic. There is a socioeconomic and cultural environment that is not ideal to promote an innovation culture. Therefore, analyzing the situation and taking the results into account can help to improve the skills of young people. The interactions between academia and industry and the factors affecting employability are discussed. Also crucial to increase innovation is to have a stable job market. Success stories of European institutions in which there is a direct relationship between companies and universities are described.

Teaching for the profession or for science, a false choice?

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 11:07:54 +0200

The impact on library and information science (LIS) education of a recent study by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa (2011) about the acquisition of some basic competencies (critical thinking, complex reasoning, advanced writing) is discussed. Such competencies, which are very important to get the best paid jobs, must be developed through proper learning strategies: reading abundant material of the highest quality, comparing and integrating this material, applying it to new situations and problems, and appropriate written communication of ideas and findings.

Training of librarians as information literacy trainers

Scipedia content — Mon, 01 Apr 2019 11:07:47 +0200

It is expected that one of the topics that will have a greater impact in this 21st century will be the training of graduate students, information professionals and users in general on information skills. This will underscore the value that universities and libraries offer to citizens. According to recent scientific literature the main trends that currently affect and will affect information trainers and professionals in the near future include: learning based on competencies and multi-literacy; pedagogic and didactic changes; technological developments; and all the aspects related to education, information, economic and technology policies and movements. Training in these matters and awareness of the theoretical and practical advances in information literacy are needed so that information professionals can achieve better information literacy and consequently be better information literacy trainers.

Continuum damage model for orthotropic materials: Application to masonry

María Jesús Samper — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 13:18:48 +0100

This paper contributes to the formulation of continuum damage models for orthotropic materials under plane stress conditions. Two stress transformation tensors, related to tensile and compressive stress states, respectively, are used to establish a one-to-one mapping relationship between the orthotropic behaviour and an auxiliary model. This allows the consideration of two individual damage criteria, according to different failure mechanisms, i.e. cracking and crushing. The constitutive model adopted in the mapped space makes use of two scalar variables which monitor the local damage under tension and compression, respectively. The model affords the simulation of orthotropic induced damage, while also accounting for unilateral effects, thanks to a stress tensor split into tensile and compressive contributions. The fundamentals of the method are presented together with the procedure utilized to adjust the model in order to study the mechanical behaviour of masonry material. The validation of the model is carried out by means of comparisons with experimental results on different types of orthotropic masonry at the material level.

Reviews

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:03:00 +0100

Visual stories: Memoirs of a lecturer

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:02:51 +0100

Structures and Archetypal Content in Advertising Communication

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:02:41 +0100

The aim of this investigation is the study of publicity from the point of view of the archetypes, following a hermeneutic model of analysis of the content; through this we have studied the presence of the Greek mythological figures in comparison with the characters that appear in the advertising messages of perfumes, which at first allows us to observe the analogy of the gods of the old Greek Mythology with real human archetypes; secondly, it allows us to dig deeper into these advertising contents to know if these stories are purely commercial or if they could be interpreted with other meanings. The results of this analysis show a high participation of the female archetype of the woman as a wife, related to the goddess Hera, and followed by the archetype of the sensuality represented by the Aphrodite goddess and that of the goddess Artemisia or goddess of liberty; in perfume commercials aimed at men, the biggest frequency in the myth of Zeus and of Narcissus is emphasized, as archetypes of power and success, continued by the presence of the myth of Odysseus, the hero’s archetype, known as a model of strategist and intelligence; in commercials aimed at both sexes the myth of Dionysus as archetype of the party and transformation is the most relevant, followed by the myth of the brothers Hera-Zeus that become husbands and fathers of the Greek Panteon of Mithological Gods.

The Musical Offers of Children’s Programming on «Televisión Española» as its Hearing Universe

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:02:28 +0100

The music that children are exposed to in their everyday lives plays an important role in shaping the way they interpret the world around them, and television soundtracks are, together with their direct experience of reality, one of the most significant sources of such input. This work is part of a broader research project that looks at what kind of music children listen to in a sample of Latin American and Spanish TV programmes. More specifically, this study focuses on children’s programmes in Spain, and was addressed using a semiotic theoretical framework with a quantitative and musical approach. The programme «Los Lunnis» was chosen as the subject of a preliminary study, which consisted in applying 90 templates and then analysing them in terms of the musical content. The results show that the programme uses music both as the leading figure and as a background element. The most common texture is the accompanied monody and the use of voice, and there is a predominance of electronic instrumental sounds, binary stress and major modes with modulations. Musical pieces are sometimes truncated and rhythmically the music is quite poor; the style used is predominantly that of foreign popular music, with a few allusions to the classical style and to incidental music. The data reveal the presence of music in cultural and patrimonial aspects, as well as in cognitive construction, which were not taken into account in studies on the influence of TV in Spain. Such aspects do emerge, however, when they are reviewed from the perspective of semiotics, musical representation, formal analysis and restructuring theories.

Classroom 2.0 Experiences and Building on the Use of ICT in Teaching

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:02:16 +0100

Recognising the importance of new technology in the classroom, our aim is to promote the integration of information and communication technology (ICT) in teaching practice from a collaborative research in which action research style methods are applied involving 21 primary and secondary schools in Spain. In these research seminars, the participating teachers receive a progressive educational and technological training orientated towards the experiment and reflect on the possibilities of using a computer per student in the classroom and a digital whiteboard or interactive whiteboard (IWB). After the first period of research, we bring to the table significant ideas that have guided the training and put forward findings on the testing of teachers in their classrooms denoted classrooms 2.0 for being equipped with an IWB and computers with Internet access. In specific, from this experiment, we provide relevant results on the intensity of use of IWBs and computers, the usual activities conducted with these technological resources, their advantages and disadvantages found from use and their impact on student learnings. In the conclusions, the results are analysed and assessed, noting possible criteria for taking action in order to move twenty-first century teaching practices forward and promote the inclusion of ICT in classrooms.

The Risk of Emergence of Boomerang Effect in Communication against Violence

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:02:02 +0100

Violent behaviors cause concern among people, policy makers, politicians, educators, social workers, parents associations, etc. From different fields and perspectives, measures are taken to try to solve the problem of violence. Institutional communication campaigns against violence and the publication of news related to violent events are often some of the actions used by policy makers. But some of the literature and data have shown that its effectiveness is not always exactly as expected. And even some anti-violence messages, can have the opposite effect and reinforce the attitudes of those who thought that violence is necessary. The hypothesis is that most people assume with no problem the core message of anti-violence campaigns. But, and this is the key issue and most problematic, individuals who are more likely to be violent (precisely those who should address such communications) could react to anti-violence message in a violent way. There is a tragic paradox: the anti-violence message could increase the predisposition to violent behavior. This would be a case of what some literature called boomerang effect. This article highlights the need for detailed empirical studies on certain effects of media (desensitization, imitation, accessibility and reactance), which could help explain the emergence of the boomerang effect.

Bibliometric and Social Network Analysis Applied to Television Dissertations Presented in Spain (1976/2007)

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:01:47 +0100

This paper analyses the productive structure in Spanish television research. Data from theses about Spanish television which had been defended in this country over the period 1976/2007 was extracted. Two methodologies are used within this analysis: a bibliometric analysis and Social Network Analysis (SNA). Results show the production of theses by time period, university, these advisors and examination board members. The use of social networks leads us in the identification of notable academic groups operating in the present period as well as tendencies in the composition of the board in terms of university of origin and thesis advisor. There are 404 theses on television written in this period. The results indicate a general and constant increase in the number of theses, especially noticeable over the last 15 years. Regarding scientific production, the Complutense University of Madrid stands out as the most productive. The structural analysis shows that only the Complutense University of Madrid, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, University of Navarre and the University of La Laguna generate their own research groups. Professors shaping the Spanish research system for television are found through the analysis of social networks. Leading positions within the network structure are held by professors of communication from the Complutense University of Madrid and the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Spaniards’ Perspective of Immigration. The Role of the Media

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:01:28 +0100

With the transformation of Spain into an immigration country, society has become a major change by setting up a social space characterized, increasingly, by cultural, ethnic and religious diversity. In this new frame is interesting to investigate the overall value of diversity into the Spanish society. The two aims for of this paper are, on one hand, to process feedback on Spanish opinion on immigration between 1996 and 2007, and, on the other hand, to find out the role of the media in the construction of that opinion. For the first aim, an index of anti-foreigner sentiments was constructed using data provided by the national survey on opinions and attitudes on immigration, published annually by ASEP. For the second, an analysis, using the Agenda-Setting Theory, of articles published on immigration that appeared in the newspapers, «El País» and «El Mundo». The results show that a negative sentiment towards the outgroup has increased over time. The main variables explaining these trends are a sense of threat, to the population and to identity, and competition for resources and political decisions in integration – legalisation. The media analysis has six dimensions, the main ones refer to the illegality of the phenomenon, linking immigration to crime, and the social integration policies, highlighting the role of the media in creating public opinion.

Television Fiction Series Targeted at Young Audience: Plots and Conflicts Portrayed in a Teen Series

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:01:12 +0100

This paper presents the main findings of a research project on teen series, which are television fiction series featuring teenagers and specifically targeted at a young audience. The analysis of the portrayal of young people in television fictional series specifically targeted at a young audience has a meaningful value both for television production and for audience reception. In fact, the potential consumers of the teen series –the teenagers– find themselves at a key moment in the construction of their identities. First, the article presents a review of the background literature on young people’s portrayal in television fiction series. Secondly, it discusses the concept of teen series and their relationship with youth consumption. Finally, the article presents a case study that consisted of a content analysis of the North American teen drama Dawson’s Creek. Content analysis was conducted on a representative sample of three seasons of the show, in order to analyse two groups of variables: the variables of the characters’ personalities and those of plot and story characteristics. The article discusses the results of the second group of variables, focusing on the main characteristics of the plots and on the characters’ roles in the development and resolution of the conflicts. Acceptance of one’s personal identity, love and friendship have been identified as the most highly recurring themes. In addition, the importance of social relationships among the characters in the development of plots and conflicts has been highlighted.

The Cyber Media in Latin America and Web 2.0

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:00:56 +0100

Technologies 2.0 are changing the spaces dedicated to interaction and participation in cyber media. The goal of this research is to determine the adoption of cyber journalism features and web 2.0 in media in Latin America. To achieve this objective this paper analyses 19 digital media in the region, based on two studies held in 2010 and framed on the project «Cyber media in Colombia and Latin America», which is supported by the Universidad del Norte (Colombia) and recently by the Universidad de los Andes (Venezuela). The study uses the method proposed by Rodríguez-Martínez, Codina & Pedraza-Jiménez (2010), which has been tested in previous research by the authors of this paper. According to the results, a good part of digital media in Latin America are incorporating web 2.0 tools, but there still exists notable quality differences in the ranking proposed between the best rated media (Colombia and Mexico) and the worst rated (Chile and Bolivia). This ranking allows, for example, to clearly identify how digital media in Latin America have important weaknesses in their general indicators, like accessibility mistakes, popularity and visibility levels; and in their specific indicators, in special those related to available resources for information deepening and interaction tools. As authors state in the article, showing these evidences of inequality can orientate future plans of Latin-American cyber media, especially if indicators related to users’ active participation are considered.

Values Perceived in Television by Adolescents in Different Cross-cultural Contexts

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:00:38 +0100

This study was carried out on a sample group of 1,238 adolescents from eight different cultural contexts, and aimed to determine the values perceived by subjects in their favorite television characters. It also aimed to identify any possible differences between cultural contexts. The basic hypothesis for the study was that television conveys values and constitutes one of the forces for socialization at play during adolescence. The total sample group was made up by: three Spanish sub-groups, four Latin American sub-groups and one Irish sub-group. The instrument used for exploring perceived values was the Val.Tv 0.2, which is an adaptation of Schwartz’s scale. The data were collected both by means of an on-line platform and in person. In relation to the results, in general, the values most commonly perceived by adolescents are self-management and benevolence. As regards contextual differences, although significant differences were observed in all values, in no case were they particularly notable. The only exceptions were hedonism and achievement, for which no significant differences were found at all between the different contexts. The most relevant differences were found in the values of conformity, tradition, benevolence and universalism. From an educational perspective, we can conclude that the measurement instrument used may constitute an adequate tool for decoding the values perceived by adolescents in their favorite television characters.

Consumption Patterns and Uses of Photography in Digital Era among Communication Students

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:00:21 +0100

This paper presents the results of a research study exploring consumer behaviour and uses of photography among first-year students of the Degrees in Journalism, Audiovisual Communication, and Advertising and Public Relations in four Spanish universities (University of Malaga, University of Santiago de Compostela, University of the Basque Country and Universitat Jaume I in Castellón). As it is well known, the emergence of digital technologies has caused far-reaching transformations in the field of photography. These changes have affected production, distribution and circulation processes. However, digital technology has particularly changed the concept of photography itself as a means of expression and communication, above all among young people. Changes in how photography is perceived nowadays, brought about by the onset of digitalization, in turn raises a series of questions that merit reflection. To this end, a survey was designed and administered to a total of 467 communication sciences students in Spain. The results of this research reveal, on the one hand, how these communication students relate to the use of photography today; on the other hand, and more importantly, the results throw some light on how to approach the teaching of digital photography in a higher education context.

Children and New Media: Youth Media Participation. A Case Study of Egypt and Finland

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 12:00:11 +0100

This article focuses on a single case study; the first findings of a qualitative part of the Youth Media Participation (YMP) project in Argentina, Egypt, Finland and India (2009-11) on 10-18 year-old children’s participation through media. Youth Media Participation is funded by the Academy of Finland (2009-11). It collects and analyses three kinds of data from children and young adults; 1) focused interviews collected in Egypt, India and Finland (24 in each country), 2) a questionnaire for statistical data collected from Argentina, Egypt, India and Finland (1,200 in each country, N: 4,800) and 3) media diaries for a separate publication about «One Day of Media» (100 collected in Argentina, Egypt, India, Finland and Kenya, N: 500). The purpose was to undertake an exploratory study to find new ways to approach research questions on children’s participation through media in different countries. The YMP project was launched with focused interviews in Finland and Egypt. This paper focuses on the qualitative, explorative part of the project: the focused interviews that were used to test the original research questions, to explore the many forms of media participation, and to create the questionnaire needed in further research. The project aims at enhancing our understanding of media literacy and its connections to media participation and civic activity.

University Senior Students on the Web

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:59:59 +0100

The Internet is increasingly prominent in all walks of life, and Web connection is a key factor in social integration. The rise in life expectancy and quality of life mean that our active seniors now represent a growing sector in society. This study analyses what senior citizens use the Internet for and why, as well as the main benefits of its usage and the perceived obstacles of those who are non-users. The results derive from a questionnaire completed by senior citizens enrolled on university courses for older people, and they show that university seniors frequently connect to the Internet –daily or 2 or 3 times per week–, and use it mainly to look up facts, contact family and friends, for course work and to read the press. They consider the Internet easy to use but they could survive without it. For those who do not have access to the Internet, lack of knowledge about how to use it is the main barrier; yet they do not consider themselves incapable of learning how to use the Internet if they wished to do so. The data gathered from the survey challenge negative stereotypes of older people, and encourage us to modify our view of active seniors as disconnected from and incapable of using the Web and instead see their progress and motivation to learn as something highly positive.

Digital Divide in Universities: Internet Use in Ecuadorian Universities

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:59:43 +0100

New technologies have transformed higher education whose application has implied changes at all levels. These changes have been assimilated by the university community in various ways. Subtle differences among university students have emerged; these differences determine that the resources the network offers have been used in different ways, thus creating gaps in the university population. This study seeks to determine the level of incidence of the variable of university students’ incomes on the uses and intensity of use of the Internet tools and resources. Students were classified using factor analysis complemented through cluster analysis in order to obtain user profiles; these profiles were verified by means of discriminant analysis. Finally, chi-square was applied to determine the relationship between income level and user profiles. As a result, three profiles were identified with different levels of use and intensity of use of the Internet tools and resources, and statistically the incidence of income in the creation of those profiles was proved. To conclude, we can say that the income level falls mainly on the variables that define the access possibilities; gender has a special behavior; however, since the profile of the highest level has a double proportion for men, though women have better performance in general terms.

Students' Perspective on On-line College Education in the Field of Journalism

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:59:28 +0100

The advance in new technologies has changed the educational model considerably. On-line education has arrived with a bang at university and those degree courses linked to the field of communication have adopted this type of technologies. In just a few years, the number of courses available in the communication field that include on-line subjects has multiplied. It seems that this tendency of proliferation will continue due to a high demand for degrees in the communication field as well as the possibility of completing these degrees on-line. This paper shows the perspective that on-line journalism students at the Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid have on their studies. The results of a survey of students of the different courses that include the qualification allow us to gain a perspective of their experiences at the beginning and end of the studies. The questionnaire asks about socio-demographic traits from which we draw a sociological profile of on-line journalism student. It also delves into the motivations and expectations surrounding the decision to enrol in this mode and in its assessment both in terms of learning and the relationship between peers and teachers. Some of the conclusions point to the positive attitude of students and a satisfactory evaluation by the students.

Interaction Analysis in Hybrid Learning Environment

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:59:12 +0100

Interaction analysis in virtual and hybrid learning environments is a complex issue, since it is necessary to go beyond a quantitative approach (number of messages) and obtain information about interaction dynamics in the context of educational activities. This article presents a set of interaction analysis strategies, which were designed during the development of a doctoral thesis in response to the two challenges identified: First, how can interaction be observed? And second, how can interaction be related to academic performance? The strategies designed provide elements for the analysis of educational activities, of asynchronous on-line discussions, of interaction representation and of the relationship between interaction and academic performance. For the analysis of educational activities, elements of sociocultural activity theory were used. For asynchronous on-line discussions, a content analysis of discussion transcripts was performed using a group of categories reflecting the knowledge construction process. Interaction was represented using the forograma technique, which is an alternative strategy for evaluating on-line discussion forums. The relationship between interaction and academic performance was established by comparing interaction dynamics and the academic performance results of the groups selected. Finally, an example is given to show how the strategies are applied.

Learning Networks, Networked Learning

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:58:53 +0100

Learning Networks are on-line social networks through which users share knowledge with each other and jointly develop new knowledge. This way, Learning Networks may enrich the experience of formal, school-based learning and form a viable setting for professional development. Although networked learning enjoys an increasing interest, many questions remain on how exactly learning in such networked contexts can contribute to successful education and training. Put differently, how should networked learning be designed best to facilitate education and training? Taking this as its point of departure, the chapter addresses such issues as the dynamic evolution of Learning Networks, trust formation and profiling in Learning Networks, and peer-support among Learning Network participants. This discussion will be interspersed with implementation guidelines for Learning Networks and with a discussion of the more extended case of a Learning Network for Higher Education. Taking into consideration research currently carried out at our own centre and elsewhere, the chapter will close off with a look into the future of Learning Networks.

Apprenticeship Students Learning On-line: Opportunities and Challenges for Polytechnic Institutions

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:58:41 +0100

This paper presents the ongoing research on the challenges and opportunities of delivering on-line and virtual content to apprentices in a Polytechnic institution. Due to the current financial recession, apprentices are going back to academia in order to update their skills, but these potential students are not willing to leave their workplace or their personal lives behind to study. In this context on-line delivery represents an opportunity to provide access to content without leaving the work environment. However, in order to be successful in providing on-line materials for apprentices, polytechnics around the world are facing two challenges: How to transform hands-on Learning skills to online Learning material, and how to provide a rich-engaging environment for this group of learners. But not only the learner expectations should be taken when designing on-line learning. Instructors play also a crucial role in this endeavor, as Web 2.0 technologies offer the instructor an entirely new role in teaching: that of a facilitator. In order to analyze apprenticeship students’ on-line learning, 57 on-line surveys were distributed among a group of students registered for on-line apprenticeship programs. The paper presents research findings and a comparison of these with a what the literature states regarding the new generation of learners and their use of technologies, and the behavior (learning preferences, learning styles, use of IT) presented by the research sample. Innovative opportunities for learning at the workplace (such as recommendations and future areas of research) are suggested.

«Alacena», An Open Learning Design Repository for University Teaching

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:58:22 +0100

Being a teacher means being involved in the design of learning activities. The teaching profession has become a «profession of knowledge», not because knowledge was or is the legitimate component of the profession, but because the teacher is the designer of learning environments and has the ability to design the spaces where knowledge is being produced. But these learning environments have long been regulated to the privacy of the classroom environment with student complicity. One positive aspect of the launch of the European Higher Education Area has been to bring greater transparency to the process of designing teaching and student learning. Our objective in this study was to identify, represent and document a wide variety of learning designs made by experienced and innovative teachers. We hope this repository will be available and accessible to every teacher through the Internet. The participants in this study were 58 teachers mainly from universities in Andalusia and the five branches of knowledge. From interviews we proceeded to represent all the learning sequences, available in the repository of sequences that we named «Ala cena». This repository is accessible on our research group’s website (http://prometeo.us.es/idea). The conclusions of our study were that there are innovative learning designs aimed at promoting a greater understanding of what students learn through their involvement in processes of inquiry and/or collaboration, and they are representative of good teaching practices in universities.

Building Creative Competence in Globally Distributed Courses through Design Thinking

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:58:03 +0100

Helping students think creatively is consistently cited as one of the key goals of education. Yet, across universities around the world, alarms have been sounding off suggesting that students are not prepared for a world where they are expected to solve messy, unstructured problems that don't have easy answers. This paper introduces design thinking, a human-centered innovation methodology that has been implemented in a design innovation program at Stanford University as well as at one of the most successful design consultancies. After a brief overview of design thinking, the author illustrates the key elements of this innovation pedagogy through its implementation at a university in Colombia. Realizing the potential of this methodology for building creative competence and confidence among students from all disciplines, and recognizing the power of the next generation of information and collaboration technologies and social media, the author proposes new research and development projects that will bring more creativity to traditional distance and blended learning programs through an infusion of design thinking.

Flexibility in Higher Education: Revisiting Expectations

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:57:49 +0100

We have studied the construct of flexibility in higher education for many years, as researchers and practitioners. In this context we define flexibility as offering the student choices in how, what, where, when and with whom he or she participates in learning-related activities while enrolled in a higher education institution. In a textbook we wrote on the topic in 2001 we identified options that could be available to students in higher education to increase the flexibility of their participation. We studied these from the perspective not only of the student but also in terms of their implications for instructors and for higher-education institutions and examined the key roles that pedagogical change and technology play in increasing flexibility. Now is it nearly a decade later. We will revisit key issues relating to flexibility in higher education, identify in broad terms the extent to which increased flexibility has become established, is still developing, or has developed in ways we did not anticipate directly a decade earlier. We will also review our scenarios for change in higher education related to flexibility and contrast these with a more-recent set from the UK. Our major conclusion is that flexibility is still as pertinent a theme for higher education in 2011 as it was in 2001.

The Net on Teaching Processes at the University

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:57:41 +0100

Media education: an international unstoppable phenomenon UN, Europe and Spain support for edu-communication

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:57:32 +0100

Reviews

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:57:25 +0100

Historias Gráficas

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:57:17 +0100

Visual stories: History of theatre

Learning from Television Fiction. The Reception and Socialization Effects from Watching «Loving in Troubled Times»

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:57:08 +0100

Television fiction is often understood as a cultural product whose aim is entertainment and escapism. However, its functions are not merely commercial. In fact, this article aims to improve understanding of the socializing and educational effects of television’s fictional messages. It also reflects on the active role of the audience in the process of reception, and on its capacity to define and interpret messages according to the viewer’s personal and social characteristics. This work examines the informational usefulness and significance for personal identity of a specific television genre, the telenovela, a fictional product which, despite focusing its narrative on romantic events and personal conflicts, can also provide the viewer with explanations and interpretations of society’s past and present. In particular, this analysis of the melodramatic format sets out to establish the meanings and representations in «Amar en tiempos revueltos» («Loving in Troubled Times») for its female viewers. Based on the analysis of in-depth interviews, the article will explore the female audience’s reception processes through variables such as age and education. This study concludes that the majority of female viewers use fiction in an explanatory sense, and that the telenovela is a genre in which women identify themselves individually and as a group.

People with Intellectual Disability and ICTs

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:56:56 +0100

New technologies have dramatically changed our daily lives and the way we are connected to other people. Television, cellular telephony and the Internet have opened up new opportunities in communication, leisure and training, and yet barriers prevent certain social groups from accessing these new technologies. People with intellectual disability (ID), for instance, are often «invisible» to communication and new technology researchers. An exploratory study was made of 156 adults with ID (workers and users of the Carmen Pardo-Valcarce Foundation sheltered employment programs and workshops in Madrid, Spain) to show their patterns of new technology (cell phones, Internet and television) use. The study confirms that these patterns are similar to those expected of the general public but spe cific differences were found. Some could be attributed to the direct effects of intellectual disability, but others could result from the hypothetical stigma effect on the attitude of those close to the person with intellectual disability, which might lead to discriminatory behaviors.

Digital Competence and Literacy: Developing New Narrative Formats. The «Dragon Age: Origins» Videogame

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:56:41 +0100

The approach of this article is centered on the concepts of digital competence and new narrative formats. We aim to apply these dimensions to the videogame «Dragon Age Origins», winner of the 2009 videogame of the year award. Its features - plot, characters and interactivity – make it ideal reading material in other formats and are highly motivational for young people. The development of digital competence signifies new literacy, and it is necessary to find new stimulating resources that combine the fun and formative dimensions. Equally relevant are multimodal texts (Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2001), especially new narrative formats that imply social progress, as the ways of reading are different. The texts have acquired new formats with the same quality as books but they sometimes motivate users more. This is the case of «Dragon Age Origins», a dark heroic fantasy role-playing game set in a unique world containing a story to be read and experienced. Our analysis of the videogame discusses whether it should be considered a form of reading or not.

Report about the Media Literacy Situation in the Basque School Community

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:56:26 +0100

This article gathers together the results of a quantitative and qualitative piece of research conducted between 2007 and 2010 by the HGH «Hedabideak, Gizartea eta Hezkuntza» (Media, Society and Education) research team at the University of the Basque Country. The main aim of the research was to examine the situation of Media Literacy in the Basque Country’s school community. One of the newest aspects of this research was the study of the school community as a whole, at a specific moment and in a specific field; in other words, the students, teachers and parents of the same community. The results of the quantitative study have been taken from a survey done among 598 young people between 14 and 18 years old enrolled in Secondary or Further Education, or in Vocational Training courses. The qualitative study took into account the information extracted from ten focus groups and six in-depth interviews. Young people between the ages of 14 and 18, parents between 40 and 55, and eight experts of different ages took part in the discussions. Through the in-depth interviews the research team observed the opinions of eight educators who teach Education in Media. According to the results, the education system should include media education among its priorities.

From Cultural Industries to Entertainment and Creative Industries. The Boundaries of the Cultural Field

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:56:13 +0100

This article analyzes the current trend towards dilution of the concept of «cultural industries» and the increasing usage of terms such as «entertainment industries», «leisure industries» or even «creative industries». We review recent specialized literature, identify overlapping between the above terms and conclude that this change is a new turning point in the concept of culture, closely associated with new spaces and times for its enjoyment, with the technological evolution of cultural products, changes in the ownership of their suppliers as well as with the shifting roles of author, actor and spectator. To understand this change, we identify and explain three factors: 1) from the strong, closed materiality and textuality of the classic cultural product to the malleability and convertibility permitted by new technologies; 2) from an essentially contemplative, reverent cultural experience to participant experimentation and play; 3) from a desire for permanence and intensity to constitutive contingency and superficiality. We conclude by suggesting wider implications that go beyond the scope of this work: the melting pot that blurs the boundaries between culture and entertainment, which undermines the autonomy of the disputed cultural «field» situated between work and leisure (more pleasant than the first, more demanding than the second), and which also erases the boundaries between cultural entertainment and work (a merged environment of «otium and negotium», «homo ludens» and «homo laborans»).

Software for Teaching Emotions to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:55:53 +0100

This paper reports the results of a research project in which educational software was used to teach social and emotional skills to primary and secondary school students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The participants with difficulties in recognizing emotional states were nine male and female students aged between 8 and 18, with a mental age range of between 5 and 7 years. A single group design with pre-test/post-test was used. The students were assessed before teaching in relation to their levels of social and emotional skills. This assessment was intended to set the starting level of the teaching process for each student. The educational intervention consisted of two 45-minute weekly sessions for 20 weeks over two academic years (2006/2008). Following the intervention, each student was again assessed. Results indicate that the pupils improved their performance in tasks that evaluate the ability to recognize and understand emotional expressions. These results confirmed that the use of educational software for teaching social and emotional skills helps students with ASD to improve their ability to perform tasks aimed at the understanding of emotional skills. In addition, the participants improved their social skills significantly, a fact that was noticed by both teachers and families.

Education for Democratic Citizenship in a Digital Culture

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:55:30 +0100

Given the importance of new technologies in the classroom, especially in today’s information and communication societies, and following European Union recommendations to promote media literacy, this article reflects the need to educate not only in technical and efficient applications of communication technologies but also in their civic and responsible use, thus promoting participatory and deliberative processes which are the lifeline of a functioning democracy. The Greek dream of «isegoria», everyone’s right to speak, can become a reality in a digital culture, yet the highly selective use of communication technology can have the opposite effect: new forms of socialization can contribute to the expansion of «echo chambers» or «digital niches», shrinking communication spaces in which the right to speak dissociates itself from the responsibility to listen critically to what arises from a more open, plural and public sphere. One of the goals of education in a digital culture is precisely to diminish this trend that authors such as Sunstein, Wolton and Cortina have detected in recent years. This article proposes educational guidelines to avoid this bias by using communication technology to promote digital citizenship and the ethical values sustained by democratic societies.

Audiovisual Riddles to Stimulate Children’s Creative Thinking

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:55:17 +0100

Solving riddles involves association of ideas, analysis of metaphors, and discovery of analogies. Therefore, promoting this type of children’s entertainment is a way to develop creative thinking. However, there is a problem: traditional riddles are literary forms that correspond to a pre-digital era. How can we increase its acceptance among the digital natives? One way might be creating audiovisual riddles specially designed for YouTube. In this research we made five prototypes of audiovisual riddles with different creative characteristics and validated them among 8-12 years old students. The validation results helped us to identify the attitudes, reactions, interpretations and ways of thinking of children when they try to solve such riddles. We also identified the resources of language and creative formats that fit best in audio-visual riddles. The outcome of this research emphasizes the need to correctly formulate the audiovisual riddle statements and their «clues» for children; this way we assure an intellectual and emotional satisfaction when solving them. It also concludes that reading or listening to traditional riddles are cognitive and sensory experiences that are very different from interacting with the same riddle in a multimedia language. Finally, we discuss and analyze the mediating role of the teacher and the importance of collaborative learning in educational projects using digital technologies.

Teenagers and Motherhood in the Cinema: «Juno», «Precious» and «The Greatest»

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:55:02 +0100

Today in Spain there are many teenagers who suffer unwanted pregnancies. The extension of the abortion law and the approval of the sale of morning-after pill without a prescription have focused attention on girls under 18. The possibilities of motherhood, an unwanted pregnancy and the alternatives are variables that young women face in the real world, and upon which the discourses of films are constructed, some of which coincide with reality and some of which do not. On the big screen we can see movies like Juno, Precious and The Greatest which express different points of view about the topic of teenage pregnancy. These audiovisual texts have a direct impact on the creation and proliferation of models, attitudes and values. Their influence upon young people is evident and they form a reference alongside family and school for adopting certain patterns of behavior and assimilating socially accepted archetypes. This paper analyzes these films from a gender perspective, using the tools of both audiovisual language and textual analysis. Through this analysis, we establish that visions of motherhood and adolescent sex are constructed and identify the strategies used for the production of meaning in these films. The results show how the models and stereotypes survive under the appearance of renewed and alternative audiovisual discourse.

Teaching Skills in Virtual and Blended Learning Environments

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:54:52 +0100

Universities are currently immersed in what is known as the process of European convergence to create the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The aim is to establish a standardized, compatible and flexible European university system that enables graduates and undergraduates to move easily from one institution to another within Europe. As a result of evaluation mechanisms, the system will be transparent and of high quality, which will make it attractive and competitive internationally in a globalized world. In this paper, we focus on two distance learning modes that will become more important as a result of this change in universities: e-learning and b-learning. These basically involve the virtualization of learning processes through the use of computer equipment. We carried out a qualitative study using the case study method. The results indicate that teaching staff use information and communication technology (ICT) to improve student learning. Similarly, a high percentage (78%) of lecturers use some form of digital platform as a support for teaching. In conclusion, training policies should strengthen university teachers’ skills in the use of ICT equipment, tools and resources related to blended and virtual learning.

Emotions Elicited by Television Violence

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:54:39 +0100

The effects of TV violence have been widely studied from an experimental perspective, which, to a certain extent, neglects the interaction between broadcaster and recipient. This study proposes a complementary approach, which takes into account viewers’ interpretation and construction of TV messages. Social dimensions influencing emotional experiences to TV violence will be identified and analyzed, as well as the way these emotions are construed in discourse, how they are linked to attitudes, ethical dimensions and courses of action. Eight focus groups (segmented by age, gender and educational level) were the basis of a discourse analysis that reconstructed the way audiences experience TV violence. Results show the importance of a first immediate emotional mobilisation, with references to complex emotions, and a second emotional articulation of experiences regarding repetition of scenes (type, classification and assessment of broadcasts), legitimacy (or lack thereof) of violent acts, and identification (or lack thereof) with main characters. In conclusion, the double impact (immediate and deferred) of emotions generates complex narratives that lead to a single course of action characterised by responsibility and guilt, which can only be taken into account by assuming the active role of viewer.

The Transformation of Public TV Companies into Digital Services at the BBC and RTVE

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:54:26 +0100

Some authors question the existence of public television companies in the new environment of digitalization, Internet proliferation, growing competition and audience segmentation. However, others believe they should act as a driving force in the process of convergence and even that the new media present an opportunity to redefine the public broadcasting service (PBS) remit. The current challenge for the public media companies is to deliver their content through the maximum number of devices, not only via television sets but also broadband and mobile devices. Over the years, the BBC has adapted to new market situations and has implemented solutions that have been adopted by other public and private broadcasters around the world. The objective of this article is to show how the BBC has taken up the leadership of transforming public TV companies into online services in order to maintain market share; and how it has influenced Spain’s public TV broadcaster, RTVE. The methodology is based on internal and external documents of both corporations, and the findings are complemented by interviews with online service managers at RTVE. We conclude that these public companies have adapted their activities to the new technologies and have developed interactive services to reinforce their public service mission.

Young People’s Attitudes towards and Evaluations of Mobile TV

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:54:09 +0100

Mobile communication systems are responsible for the significant changes that are taking place in cultural practices. The mobile phone has established itself as a portable, multi-use, interactive device that individuals use to enable them to manage important aspects of their work and leisure time. This article is based on research that aims to understand the phenomenon of mobile TV, the related trends (in terms of experiences, ideas, and models), and the type of user that operates this device. This article also analyses the values and perceptions of users as well as the benefits and drawbacks they encounter when using mobile TV. The study develops a mobile TV content test by using a viewing experience among 100 students from the universities of Malaga and Seville, in Spain. Structured questionnaires with closed questions are used with qualitative techniques that promote virtual discussion in forums that focuses on face-to-face groups. Altogether, the study has enabled the development of a theoretical model of the phenomenon of mobile TV, and has classified user preferences in terms of ergonomic technology, delivery dynamics, the economic value of services, and consumption patterns and scenarios. The main results focus on participants’ evaluations of mobile media narrative and the cross-platform experience.

The Intervention of TV in the Chilean Earthquake

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:53:53 +0100

This paper has two purposes: one conceptual and the other practical. On a conceptual level, it outlines a model for understanding how TV operates as a social mediator in the event of natural disasters, and at the practical level, it recommends measures that can be used to optimize the role of TV and its ideal social function in contexts of crisis. This model views TV intervention as both «self-centered», that is, driven by its reproduction as a media consumption company; and «socially-centered», designed to respond swiftly and accurately to the social requirements that emerge in crisis situations. The suggested model is to be contrasted with the results of a research study conducted by the National TV Council of Chile that explored the role of TV broadcasting after the earthquake in February 2010. According to the results of the study, audiences value the amount of information broadcasted by TV networks but perceive that the predominance of its «self-centered» function creates a problem: the logic of the 'spectacle' is prevalent and exacerbates the audience’s emotions. The primary purpose of this paper is to develop a strategy to recommend how TV and its associate services can respond to a crisis situation while respecting the tragedy of natural disasters.

Communicative Empowerment: Narrative Skills of the Subjects

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:53:33 +0100

This paper analyzes the educommunicational consequences of the transformations of mediated communication in the process of digitization. We present qualitative empirical evidence on the use of mass media and digital technologies from the digital convergence of media, the industry and the resulting complementary formats. Television, in particular, has experienced a process of changing its formats and expressive content by delivering interactivity, facilitating the expression of subjects by means of different technological devices. So from the perspective of the subject, it is observed that the new technological devices and their new grammars are utilized provided they contribute with meaning to his daily practice and biographical trajectory. Nevertheless, digital inclusion policies have focused only on maximizing access to equipment and digital literacy associated to technology applications and not to the narrative skills of the subjects. It is therefore necessary to generate new concepts that allow new methodological guidelines, in communication and education academic processes, to promote the use of new emerging digital spaces for communicational empowered citizens, that is, from competent to tell (expressive skills) to more specifically, tell oneself (as an individual) and tell us (collectively). Finally, these will be the expressive spaces of the new television with citizen´s expressions, fostered by converging elements of digital technology.

Structure, Concentration and Changes of the Media System in the Southern Cone of Latin America

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:53:19 +0100

The present text analyzes the changes in the structure of the media system in four South American countries during the first decade of the 21st century: Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay. The general premise is that the current levels of concentration in media markets have accelerated during the first decade of the 21st century as a consequence of the historical processes which have taken place in these countries, although each has different origins and effects in each of these national cases. Increased concentration, the media convergence with telecommunications and the Internet, the growing financial dependence of the sector, the foreign acquisition of a significant amount of their property at the hands of multinational firms and the crisis of the current regulatory frameworks are the main frameworks for understanding the transformation of the media in the Southern Cone of Latin America. The processes of change identified to describe and analyze the evolution of Brazilian, Argentine, Chilean and Uruguayan media in recent years could not have been achieved without the collaboration of different governments and the radical transformations in the management and ownership patterns of these media.

New Television Narratives: Entertainment, Telling, Citizenship, Experimental

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:52:41 +0100

Broadcasting and industrial television is a trip back to the past, to a space devoid of meaning, and to the boredom resulting from its moral conservatism, lack of creativity, thought and entertainment. But television’s monopoly over public screening is over; now, anyone can be a producer, an audiovisual narrator with his or her own screen. New television and other screens are daring to change the way stories are told: a more subjective, testimonial and imagebased journalism; a hyperrealist soap opera that dares to bring melodrama to comedy, documentary and local cultures; a bottom-up media with people in charge of breaking with the thematic and political homogeneity of the media, market and development machines. This essay will argue in favor of television as a space for expression by unstable identities, narrative experiments and unknown possibilities for audiovisual creation…only if «it takes the form» of women, indigenous peoples, African races, the environment, other sexualities…and plays on YouTube and new screens that are community-based and cellular. The most important thing is for television to move away from an obsession with content towards aesthetic and narrative explorations of other identities and into narratives that are more «collaboractive», with the possibility that they become the stories we want them to be.

Television: Seen, Heard and Read by Peruvian Adolescents

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:51:54 +0100

This paper analyzes the current relationship between Peruvian teenagers and television. The information accessed from various sources concluded that adolescents are consuming television extensively, especially the poorer within the country. Teens appreciate the cable television as a source of learning, and its variety and ability to relate it with the world. The interest in cartoons, movies and series –fiction genre in general– affirms the value of this media in society as well as the possibility to make them more familiar with their environment. Information about what happens beyond their localities is a source of reference in their perception of the country. Beyond the cultural conflict from which is generally assessed from the effects that television may have on the rural world, television has a positive sign for the visual deterritorialization, which dissolves the natural relationship between culture and territory. In rural areas, parents and teenagers evaluate television positively because it offers more than just the school itself. In the midst of academic and professional criticism on television, adolescents do not distinguish between traditional media and new media, they are all integrated into their daily lives.

Communicating Culture: An Evolutionary Explanation

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:50:17 +0100

Whether gathering around bonfires, watching TV, or sitting in front of computer screens, the pressures of Darwinian natural selection have forced individuals into tight patterns of interdependency, welded together by communication links. Can the information-sharing behavior of our species ever be brought into broader perspective and eventually foster greater harmony for all humankind? The authors argue that the answer to this question is «yes». Culture provides the necessary space for social negotiation and change. Advanced communication ability is the means by which this necessary cultural work is perpetually accomplished. A non-deterministic understanding of culture must be acknowledged from the outset. Cultural life differs greatly from biological conditions. Even under repressive conditions, culture is not determined the same way viral infections ravage biological bodies or computers. Technological advances in communication do not simply reinforce and intensify top-down, dominant cultural messages as theories of imperialism, memetic transmission, or social contagion contend. The pace of cultural development over the past 10,000 years has been particularly fast compared to any other time since hominids split from our common ancestor with chimpanzees millions of years ago. Our species’ unique skill as communicators in the dynamic technological and cultural environment of today offers real hope for retrieving the primordial affinities that unite us all.

A New Meaning of Educational Television: from School to Audience’s Everyday Life

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:49:57 +0100

When analyzing the reception of different Latin American television genres, it can be seen how education is conceptualized –from the point of view of subjects inserted in their daily social practices– as more greatly linked to affectivity than to cognition, thus distinguishing it from knowledge generated through formal schooling. In this sense, television programming has come to be redefined as educational, based on the audiences’ needs in each of their different home environments. Reception studies show that various programs are frequently classified as «educational programs », including news/journalistic programs, entertainment and fictional shows. This presents an opportunity for organizations and professionals of television to contribute to the improvement in the quality of life of their audience members, especially children and adolescents. With regards to the specific challenges that Latin American public television face, it is necessary to shift the axis from propaganda/situational to audiovisual programs that take into account the verbalized needs of various research projects in the region, especially for social groups that suffer not only financial disadvantages, but also those dealing with insecurity and ethnic exclusion.

Television and its New Expressions

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:48:40 +0100

Children and young people: the new interactive generations

Scipedia content — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 11:45:53 +0100

Mesh objective modeling of cracks using continuous linear strain and displacement interpolations

María Jesús Samper — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 10:56:36 +0100

The paper addresses the problem of tensile and mixed‐mode cracking within the so‐called smeared crack approach. Because lack of point‐wise convergence on stresses is deemed as the main difficulty to be overcome in the discrete problem, a (stabilized) mixed formulation with continuous linear strain and displacement interpolations is used. The necessary convergence rate can be proved for such a formulation, at least in the linear problem. Two standard local isotropic Rankine damage models with strain‐softening, differing in the definition of the damage criteria, are used as discrete constitutive model. Numerical examples demonstrate the application of the proposed formulation using linear triangular P1P1 and bilinear quadrilateral Q1Q1 mixed elements. The results obtained do not suffer from spurious mesh‐bias dependence without the use of auxiliary tracking techniques.

Reviews Caplletra 50

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:59:56 +0100

Reviews Caplletra 50 (Spring, 2011) Jaume Corbera, ressenya de Joan Veny, Estudis lingüístics valencians. Edició acàrrec d'EMili Casanova i Antoni Ferrando, València, Universitat de València («Col·lecció Honoris Causa»), 2009, 340 pp.Pura Santacreu Berenguer, ressenya de Joaquim Espinós Felipe, Història d'un entusiasme. Nietzsche i la literatura catalana, Lleida, Pagés, 2009.Josep Solervicens, ressenya de Marco Antonio Coronel Ramos (introd., ed., trad. i notes), Pasiones irracionales en la época de la razon. El «Tratado de las pasiones» de Manuel Martí, deán de Alicante (1663-1737), València, Institució Alfons el Magnànim, 2009, 391 pp.Pere Comellas, ressenya de Derek Bickerton, Bastard tongues: a trailblazing linguist finds clues to our common humanity in the world's lowliest languages, New York, Hill and Wang, 2008, 270 pp.Maite Monar van Vliet, ressenya d'Enric Cassany, Gènere i modalitat a la literatura catalana contemporània, Lleida, Punctum & GELCC, 2009, 141 pp.Verònica Zaragoza, ressenya de La poètica barroca a Europa. Un nou sistema epistemològic i estètic, a cura d'Antoni L. Moll & Josep Solervicens, Barcelona, Punctum & Mimesi, 2009, 184 pp.Rubén Luzón Díaz, ressenya de Joan Curbet, Els trobadors i la croada de Ricard Cor de Lleó, traduccions de Joan Curbet i Antoni Rossell, Santa Coloma de Queralt, Obrador Edènum / Publicacions Universitat Rovira i Virgili , 2008, 197 pp.Ana Muñoz Miquel, ressenya de Jordi Marrugat, Marià Manent i la traducció, Lleida, Punctum & Trilcat, 2009, 176 pp.Jeroni Méndez, ressenya de Mercè Picornell i Margalida Pons (ed.), Literatura i cultura: aproximacions comparatistes, Palma de Mallorca, Lleonard Muntaner, 2009, 215 pp.Biel Sansano, ressenya de Joaquim Martí Mestre, Josep Bernat i Baldoví. La tradició popular i burlesca, Catarroja/Barcelona, Afers, 2009, 393 pp.Josep-Àngel Mas Castells, ressenya de Johannes Kabatek i Claus D. Pusch (ed.), Variació, poliglòssia i estàndard. Processos de convergència i divergència lingüístiques en català, occità i basc, Aquisgrà, Shaker Verlag, 2009, 330 pp.Julia Sanmartín Sáez, ressenya de Termacat. Centre de Terminologia (coord. F. Xavier Gargas Valero; redacció Joan Rebagliato Nadal), La definició terminològica, Barcelona, Eumo, 250 pp.Carles Cortés Orts, ressenya de Magí Sunyer, La ciutat nova. Literatura sobre llibertat, igualtat i catalanisme, Benicarló, Onada Edicions, 2010, 149 pp.Gonçal López-Pampló, ressenya de Carreras, Carles & Moreno, Sergio (ed.), Llegint pedres, escrivint ciutats. Unes visions literàries de la ciutat, LLeida, Pagès Editors, 2009, 315 pp.Júlia Benavent, ressenya de Guittone d'Arezzo, Sonets d'amor, ed. d'Eduard Vilella Morató, Santa Coloma de Queralt, Obrador Edèndum, Publicacions Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 2008, 129 pp.Núria León Mercader, ressenya de Francesc Fontanella, Panegíric a la mort de Pau Claris, a cura de Montserrat Clarassó i Maria-Mercè Miró, Barcelona, Fundació Pere Coromines / Curial Edicions, 2008, 195 pp.Carles Segura Llopes, ressenya de Josep Martines, L'anomenat «lo neutre». L'expressió de l'abstracció en català: una aproximació diacrònica, Alacant/Barcelona, Institut Interuniversitari de Filologia Valenciana / Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat («Biblioteca Sanchis Guarner»), 2010, 401 pp.

Reviews Caplletra 51

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:59:50 +0100

Reviews Caplletra 51 (Autumn, 2011) David Garrido Valls, ressenya de Pere Tomic, Històries e conquestes del realme d'Aragó e principat de Catalunya, introducció, notes i índex a cura de Joan Iborra, pròleg d'Albert Hauf, Catarroja, Editorial Afers («Textos Clàssics», 2), 2009, 351 pp.Júlia Butinyà, ressenya de Poesies. Ausiàs March, estudi introductori, edició i glossari acàrrec de Vicent J. Escartí, València, Institució d'Alfons el Magnànim, 2010, 525 pp.Marinela Garcia Sempere, ressenya d'El costumari del monestir de Sant Cugat del Vallés. Estudi introductori i transcripció a cura d'Efrem E. Compte. Prefaci d'Anscari M. Mundó, Institut d'Estudis Catalans («Memòries de la Secció Històrico-Arqueològica», LXXXII), Barcelona, 2009, 433 pp.Agnès Toda i Bonet, ressenya de M. Àngels Francés Díez, Literatura i feminisme. L'hora violeta, de Montserrat Roig, Tarragona, Arola Editors, 2010, 318 pp.Pelegrí Sancho Cremades, ressenya de Margarida Bassols & Mila Segarra (ed.), El col·loquial dels mitjans de comunicació, Vic, Eumo, 2009, 271 pp.Anna Esteve, ressenya de Concepcions i discursos sobre la modernitat en la literatura catalana dels segles XIX i XX, Lleida, Punctum & Grup d'Estudis de la literatura catalana contemporània, 2010, 283 pp.Dari Escandell, ressenya de Marcel Ortín i Dídac Pujol (coord.), LLengua literària i traducció (1890-1939), Lleida, Punctum & TRILCAT, 2009, 191 pp.Conxita Domènech, ressenya de Gabriel Sansano i Pep Valsalobre (ed.), Fontanellana. Estudis sobre lèpoca i l'obra de Francesc Fontanella (1622-1683/85), Girona, Documenta Universitaria, 2009, 367 pp.Llúcia Martín, ressenya de Lluís de Requesens, Bernat Miquel, Martí Garcia, Rodrigo Dies, Lluís de Vila-Rasa i Francesc Sunyer, Sis poestes de la cort d'Alfons el Magnànim, edició crítica de Jaume Torró Torrent, Barcelona, Barcino («Els Nostres Clàssics»), 2009, 303 pp.David Guixeras Olivet, ressenya de L'edat mitjana en le cinema i en la novel·la històrica, ed. de Josep Lluís Martos i Marinela Garcia Sempere, Alacant, Institut Interuniversitari de Filologia Valenciana, 2009 («Symposia Philologica», 18), 589 pp.Isabel Marcillas Piquer, ressenya de M. Àngels Herrero Herrero, Àngel o dimoni: la dona valenciana moderna escriu. Lletraferides modernes. Catàleg de les escriptores valencianes dels segles XVI-XVII, Centre d'Estudis sobre la Dona, Universitat d'Alacant, 2009, 127 pp.Isabel Marcillas Piquer, ressenya de La revolució teatral dels setanta. II Jornades de debat sobre el repertori teatral català a cura de Francesc Foguet i Núria Santamaria, Lleida, Punctum & GELCC, 2010, 241 pp.Brauli Montoya Abat, ressenya de Joan Veny i Àngels Massip, Scripta eivissenca, Barcelona, Institut d'Estudis Catalans, 2009, 361 pp.Josep Ysern, ressenya de Francesc Eiximenis (2009), Art de predicació al poble, edició, traducció i pròleg de Xavier Renedo, Vic, Eumo Editorial («Textos Pedagògics», LXVIII), 82 pp.Heike van Lawick, ressenya de Jenny Brumme (ed.), La oralidad fingida: descripción y traducción. Teatro, cómic y medios audiovisuales, Madrid / Frankfut a M., Iberoamericana / Vervuert, 180 pp.Heike van Lawick, ressenya de Jenny Brumme & Hildegard Resinger (ed.), La oralidad fingida: obras literarias. Descripción y traducción, Madrid / Frankfut a M., Iberoamericana / Vervuert, 173 pp.

La pàtria somniada dels poetes de la renaixença valenciana

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:14:31 +0100

Anàlisi de vuit poemaris dels principals autors de la Renaixença valenciana, a fi de comprovar quina imatge oferiren del País Valencià. Una visió que està unida a la descripció del paisatge, entès aquest com aquell que pot oferir una descripció més
tangible del país. Aquesta visió fou duta a terme des d’una perspectiva sentimental i econòmica, fonamentalment, i amb una clara voluntat ideològica; es concretava en la bellesa i riquesa de tres indrets geogràfics ben delimitats i sovint complementaris: el
mar, l’àrea de regadiu i la muntanya. Una imatge fonamentalment idíl·lica, somniada i que, encara que elaborada a partir d’una base real, amb el pas del temps acabaria com a lloc comú, continua sent vàlida, en bona mesura, en els nostres temps.

Visions de Mallorca a la literatura del segle XIX

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:14:20 +0100

L’article és una aproximació al tractament de Mallorca com a tema literari en la literatura feta per autors mallorquins del xix, en un període comprès entre l’aparició de La Palma el 1840 i, més o menys, la dècada dels vuitanta, cosa que implica tractar
de l’obra de tres grups generacionals. Més que una síntesi general, s’ha optat per mostrar algunes de les diferents opcions triades a l’hora de convertir Mallorca en literatura, unes opcions, unes mirades, que canvien al llarg del temps i que poden estar mediatitzades tant per l’adscripció a un corrent literari –romanticisme–, a una situació personal –l’allunyament de l’illa–, o per unes motivacions literàries diferents –voluntat regeneracionista i social, creació del mite Mallorca terra d’or, etc. Encara, en cada apartat, hi ha hagut una selecció dels autors que podien servir per exemplificar cada una de les visions, amb una especial atenció a aquells d’obra menys coneguda (Tomàs Aguiló i la seva obra castellana; Pere d’A. Penya, Josep Tarongí, Miquel V. Amer i Victòria Penya, entre altres).

El mite de la terra alta

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:14:09 +0100

La identificació del camp amb la genuïnitat no és exclusiva de la cultura catalana. L’article analitza la construcció d’aquest mite en la literatura catalana del segle xix, prestant particular atenció a la derivació patriòtica que uneix paisatge, habitants i tradicions rurals amb la Catalunya real que lentament anava desapareixent com a resultat de les revolucions polítiques i industrials. El mite de la terra alta ha proporcionat símbols tan freqüentment utilitzats com ara el de la barretina (un tipus de capell) i la muntanya, així com alguns debats ben interessants sobre l’organització tradicional
de la família i els contrastos entre camp-ciutat i tradició-revolució.

Barcelona vista pels narradors del vuit-cents

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:14:00 +0100

L’article s’ocupa de les representacions o imatges de la ciutat de Barcelona en la prosa literària catalana del segle xix, especialment en el quadre de costums i la novel·la, que s’examinen com a expressions de cultura urbana. Aquesta literatura, associada a un cert concepte de modernitat, avança flanquejada per l’historicisme i el ruralisme mitificadors dels escriptors lligats als ideals conservadors de la Renaixença. L’article dibuixa la trama de motius o de trets idiosincràtics urbans en la prosa destil·lada pels escriptors del vuit-cents, primer en llengua castellana i, a partir dels anys 60, en llengua
catalana. Així, fa un recorregut per la Barcelona vella i la Barcelona nova, abans i després de l’enderrocament de les muralles que encerclaven la ciutat, des de l’època de les
bullangues fins a l’assentament burgès de la Restauració, i examina els autors que en fixen més poderosament la imatge (Robert Robert, Emili Vilanova, NarcísOller...), bé oferint diverses versions de crònica o descripció externa de la ciutat, bé fonent, com en el cas d’Oller, aquest aspecte extern amb la interiorització de la condició urbana com a tret constitutiu d’una vida humana.

El teatre català del segle XIX i la realitat catalana de l'època

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:13:45 +0100

El meu propòsit en escriure aquest article era plantejar com el teatre català del segle xix configurava un model de realitat fruit de les complexes relacions entre les necessitats d’un auditori sociològicament delimitat i la voluntat d’alguns autors com Frederic Soler d’articular una imatge del país en què aquestes classes es veiessin representades.
Al llarg del segle, doncs, l’horitzó d’expectatives de pÚblic Català s’anà configurant a través d’una oferta que responia a una demanda més o menys explícita d’obres que servissin per a les funcions cohesionadores del grup social majoritari a les platees del país: les classes menestrals. Si els autors acabaven definint un sistema simbòlic que podia representar la realitat era bàsicament perquè el teatre en català estava molt lligat
a la realitat contemporània immediata, bé a través del reflex directe com en les obres d’actualitat de Jaume Piquet, bé amb el recurs a la distanciació històrica o de clixés costumistes com en el cas de Soler. A la llarga, el model de realitat iteraturitzable consolidat s’hagué d’enfrontar a les demandes del realisme literari de configurar una altra convenció del real.

La imatge del país en la literatura del segle XIX: realitat i mite (introducció monogràfic)

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:13:31 +0100

Paraula i cultura de la salut: indagacions de lingüística mèdica

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:13:23 +0100

La importància del discurs verbal en les pràctiques sanitàries és indiscutible i mereix l’atenció d’un programa de recerca interdisciplinari. Des del punt de vista de la lingüística mèdica o de la salut i l’anàlisi del discurs, aquest article explora el tema en dues directrius principals: la divulgació dels coneixements en l’àmbit de la salut i l’entrevista clínica com a gènere discursiu. Alguns del tòpics centrals tractats a l’article són: la relació entre el discurs i l’acció no verbal, i els conceptes d’empatia/confirmació,
humor, responsabilitat compartida, argumentació/persuasió, "ethos" i autopresentació.

Problemes d'intel·lecció en el "Curial e Güelfa". La traducció com a eina per a la millora del coneixement dels clàssics medievals

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:13:14 +0100

En aquest treball fem palesa la utilitat dels contrastos traductològics com a eina fonamental en la interpretació del sentit o significat d’una obra i un lèxic allunyat cronològicament de l’actualitat, com és el cas del "Curial e Güelfa", ja que les perspectives diverses dels traductorsd’una mateixa obra literària, així com els estudis ben fonamentats sobre el text en qüestió, contribueixen de manera eficaç a la consecució de l’objectiu
de tot traductor: trobar les millors solucions lèxiques a fi de poder transmetre de la manera més fidel possible la intencionalitat i el sentit d’una obra del passat.

Els verbs de canvi d'estat en català: la participació en l'alternança causativa

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:13:05 +0100

L’article analitza, en primer lloc, la participació dels diferents tipus de verbs de canvi d’estat del català en l’alternança causativa: la possibilitat d’un verb de tenir un oes transitiu i un d’intransitiu, amb la particularitat que l’argument objecte en el
primer alternant passa a ser subjecte en el segon (v. (i) En Joan va rompre la finestra, (ii) La finestra es va rompre). L’anàlisi ens permetrà comprovar que la generalització que fa Alexiadou (2006) respecte del funcionament dels verbs de causa externa no se segueix en català. Pel que fa als verbs de canvi de causa interna, els quals no havien estat estudiats en català, veiem que el seu comportament és poc uniforme i que n’hi ha que permeten l’alternança, contra el que s’ha indicat tradicionalment. Finalment, respecte dels verbs de causa inespecificada comprovem que presenten restriccions semàntiques pel que fa als elements que poden aparèixer com a subjecte en la variant intransitiva.També mostrem que el test usat tradicionalment per mostrar que els verbs de canvi d’estat tenen un component de causa en la seva estructura lexicosemàntica (l’acceptabilitat d’un adjunt per si sol) no funciona en català. Finalment, analitzem la incorporació del clític "se" en la variant intransitiva de l’alternança. Com ocorre
també en altres llengües, hi ha verbs que l’incorporen obligatòriament, d’altres que no l’incorporen mai i d’altres encara que l’incorporen optativament.

Una proposta d'anàlisi de la formalitat disfàsica a partir d'un capítol del "Flos sanctorum"

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:12:57 +0100

Aquest treball proposa una metodologia per a poder discriminar els graus de formalitat d’un text en confrontació amb uns altres. L’anàlisi es basa en dues parts. En la primera, estudiem característiques lingüístiques que es mostren més sensibles
per a assenyalar el grau de formalitat del text, com són el passat simple, l’anàfora, els relatius, els connectors i locucions conjuntives, el subjuntiu o la formació de paraules amb tres classes de sufixos cultes: -ment, -able/-ible, i -tat, -edat, -etat, -itat. En la segona part, ens ocupem de l’anàlisi formal a partir de l’estudi de recursos com les veus d’autoritat, l’estructura i la temàtica. El corpus en què es basa el nostre estudi és el capítol de la Nativitat de Jesucrist de la "Legenda Aurea" de 1494 i l’hem comparat amb altres tres textos: el mateix capítol de la Nativitat a la "Vida de sants rosselloneses", els capítols cclxxv al cclxxix de la "Vita Christi" de sor Isabel de Villena i els quatre
primers capítols de la "Vida de sant Vicent Ferrer" de Miquel Peres. Com que es tracta d’una traducció al català i d’una obra religiosa, sempre s’havia considerat que era un text de formalitat baixa. Però la nostra anàlisi, tant lingüística com formal, contradiu plenament aquesta suposició, ja que segons els nostres resultats es tracta d’una obra d’una elevada formalitat diafàsica tot i tractar-se d’una traducció del llatí.

Els pseudomossarabismes

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:12:49 +0100

L’origen de l’ictiònim català «alatxa» i els seus congèneres romànics s’ha atribuït al tractament mossàrab de «ce» del mot llatí «hallece», traspassat a l’àrab. Tanmateix, segons Joan Veny, la distribució geogràfica d’aquest tipus lèxic per les costes de la Mediterrània occidental, on dialectes centromeridionals italoromànics practiquen el canvi «ce» " «tx», convida a replantejar el seu origen geogràfic que seria el litoral de Toscana i Nàpols d’on la isoglossa hauria passat a Ligúria que, per la seva força expansiva, hauria propagat el mot cap a les costes occitanes i d’aquí a les catalanovalencianes fins arribar a Andalusia: seria un exemple més de l’expansió lingüística genovesa que va afectar mots de l’àmbit nàutic i de la pesca.
L’estudi de l’origen de «punxar, punxa i punxó» és una mostra de la necessitat de revisar críticament el concepte de romandalusí o mossàrab. Per a Josep Martines, són mots corrents i antics en català i en aragonès, i coneguts en varietats del castellà oriental; no segueixen l’evolució fonètica esperable en aquestes llengües. Per explicar-los, s’havia recorregut a propostes ad hoc o al mossàrab. La documentació i la fonètica històriques i la geografia lingüística mostren que són vocables coneguts i propis de l’occità, fins i tot allà on «kt» llatí evoluciona vers «it» i no vers la palatal africada. Ens trobem, doncs, davant manlleus antics, potser transmesos inicialment com a termes d’ofici des d’Occitània vers el sud.

La toponímia com a eina d'aproximació al romanç andalusí: el cas de Mallorca i Menorca

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:12:41 +0100

Després de fer un repàs a les obres que s’han ocupat del tema, s’intenta, a partir de la toponímia conservada en la documentació i dels noms de lloc subsistents, classificar els fenòmens fonètics que semblen caracteritzar el parlar romànic anterior a la conquista catalana en el marc geogràfic de les Balears estrictes.

El mossarabisme, encara: la instrumentalització ideològica del romanç andalusí

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:12:34 +0100

El concepte de «mossàrab» pertany a la litúrgia i a la història de l’art, però des de començament del segle passat alguns lingüistes se n’emparen per indicar la llengua dels cristians de la Hispània romana sotmesos als musulmans. Pel que es refereix a València, cal dir que a l’arribada de Jaume I (1238) no hi devia romandre ni un sol parlant d’aqueixa llengua. La majoria d’historiadors són d’acord amb aquesta afirmació, però alguns escassos estudiosos encara s’entesten a parlar de la llengua dels mossàrabs valencians, sobretot L. Peñarroja. Ací s’han estudiat les seves idees i examinat alguns dels apel·latius adduïts (per exemple, «llomello» o «regomello»), suposadament mossàrabs, i demostrat llur inconsistència.

Pere Calders entre la ironia i la sàtira: «La ciutat cansada»

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:12:27 +0100

«La ciutat cansada» és una novel·la inacabada, encara que deixada en un estat molt avançat d’escriptura (onze capítols i l’esquema d’un epíleg), de Pere Calders, publicada pòstumament l’any 2008. Va començar a ser escrita l’any 1944 i va ser abandonada definitivament l’any 1952, tot just dos anys abans de l’inici de la redacció de «Ronda naval sota la boira», enllestida l’any següent, encara que publicada més tard, l’any 1967. El present article analitza «La ciutat cansada» centrant sobretot l’interès en la relació conflictiva amb la poètica realista —tractament específic del narrador, dels
personatges, de l’espai i del temps— i en la importància de la ironia, de la paròdia i de la sàtira. Els resultats mostren una obra plenament arrelada en la personal poètica caldersiana i alhora singular pel que afecta a l’ús de la sàtira, no tan habitual en la resta de la seua producció, i a la ironia narratològica, precedent immediat del virtuós joc metaficcional plantejat a «Ronda naval sota la boira».

La producció impresa en català dels ss. XV i XVI: observacions sobre la història de la impremta a través de l'estudi dels catàlegs

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:12:20 +0100

El final del segle XV és una època de canvis profunds per a la societat i per a la cultura catalana. Entre els darrers anys d’aquest segle i els primers del XVI s’ha situat la transició entre l’època daurada de les lletres catalanes i un període que s’ha anomenat durant molt de temps Decadència, i que recentment es tendeix a designar amb el nom més neutre d’edat moderna. Alguns esdeveniments importants hi confluïren, entre els quals l’aparició de la impremta, que es considera com un dels elements que va contribuir al canvi de llengua, a la progressiva substitució lingüística. L’objectiu d’aquest article és dur a terme una visió global del desenvolupament de les publicacions en català en termes quantitatius i qualitatius abans de 1601, amb l’ajuda de treballs previs i amb el nou catàleg de llibres breus «Iberian Books (IB) - Libros ibéricos. Books Published in Spanish or Portuguese or on the Iberian Peninsula before 1601. Libros publicados en español o portugués o en la Península Ibérica antes de 1601» (Wilkinson 2010), que ofereix un catàleg d’al voltant de 19.800 ítems bibliogràfics, amb referència a més de 104.000 testimonis conservats en 1.320 biblioteques de tot el món.

«Ciència. Revista catalana de Ciència i Tecnologia»

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:12:13 +0100

Des del punt de vista de la història de la ciència, ens permet resseguir quins eren els temes que preocupaven la comunitat científica de l’època, els desfasaments respecte a altres països i quin paper jugava la transmissió i la divulgació de la ciència en l’imaginari col·lectiu català d’aleshores.
«Ciència» va ser una revista mensual editada a Barcelona des de l’any 1926 fins a 1933. Amb el subtítol de «Revista Catalana de Ciència i Tecnologia», des del primer moment es va marcar com a objectiu crear un espai editorial vehiculat en català que
potenciara la transmissió i divulgació del coneixement cientificotècnic. Naix per a ocupar el buit que havia deixat l’Institut d’Estudis Catalans, clausurat per la Dictadura de Primo de Rivera.
En aquest article, ens proposem analitzar les característiques més significatives d’aquesta publicació periòdica, un dels productes editorials més reeixits pel que fa a la divulgació científica en català. En primer lloc, resumirem breument el context històric previ a la seua aparició; en segon lloc abordarem els trets distintius de la publicació (col·laboradors, temàtica, estructura, etc.); seguidament tractarem els aspectes lingüístics més significatius de la publicació; un quart apartat estarà dedicat als objectius que la publicació es va marcar quant al públic. Finalment, tancarem amb unes conclusions que volen ser, sobretot, una proposta per a estudis futurs.

La neologia per sufixació: anàlisi contrastiva entre varietats diatòpiques de la llengua catalana

Scipedia content — Fri, 15 Mar 2019 09:12:05 +0100

La sufixació és un dels processos de formació de paraules més genuí i més recursiu de les llengües romàniques. En català és, tradicionalment i juntament amb la prefixació, el mecanisme és recurrent de construcció de neologismes. Aquest article analitza els neologismes sufixats recollits en la premsa editada en diferents punts geogràfics dels territoris de parla catalana, amb l’objectiu d’oferir una primera panoràmica contrastiva de la creació lèxica mitjançant la sufixació en les varietats geolectals d’una mateixa llengua. Aquesta anàlisi ens permet observar quins són els sufixos emprats en cada una de les varietats estudiades, així com apuntar les principals diferències i coincidències tant pel que fa als sufixos com a les bases lèxiques i a les categories resultants. El treball contribueix a l’estudi de la variació dialectal neològica en la llengua catalana.

Dels límits de concepte lingüístic de mossàrab. A propòsit del romanç andalusí de la Catalunya Nova

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 16:28:18 +0100

A partir de l’aportació de 1953 de Samuel Gili i Gaya sobre el mossàrab de Lleida, ha estat acceptat com un lloc comú de la filologia catalana que el romanç andalusí lleidatà coetani de la conquesta comtal (1149) tenia característiques afins al català
nouvingut. Tant la poca consistència de la documentació aportada com les dades fornides pels historiadors rebaixen aquest lloc comú a mera hipòtesi de treball sobre la filiació d’una varietat lingüística amb tota probabilitat extinta abans del segle XII.

Mossàrabs en temps de conquesta. Observacions historiogràfiques

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 16:27:36 +0100

En els darrers anys la crítica historiogràfica envers la representació dels mossàrabs com a factors de continuïtat identitària, religiosa i lingüística ha estat objecte d’un canvi important. L’atenció ja no es dirigeix tant a la capacitat de pervivència de les estructures eclesiàstiques i les comunitats locals, com a l’abast de l’arabització i la pèrdua dels referents culturals llatins. La rapidesa i la intensitat de l’assimilació lingüística dels cristians d’al-Andalus són tan notables que permeten plantejar la qüestió de la convergència de les seues formes d’organització social amb les dels musulmans i, per tant, el distanciament respecte a aquelles pròpies dels cristians del nord. El fet que l’expansió dels regnes cristians s’efectués en un ambient eclesiàstic de recel i pressió ideològica gens favorable a la conservació de les formes de cristianisme estranyes a l’ortodòxia llatina atorgaria als mossàrabs incorporats una alteritat essencial que els menaria a la marginació i l’extinció social.

Bibliografía calderoniana 2008-2010

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:42:24 +0100

Ochenta y una representaciones de autos sacramentales de Calderón de la Barca en los últimos años. La poesía, la teología y el misterio en iglesias, teatros y plazas públicas en el siglo XXI

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:39:16 +0100

Varios autores, «Anuario Calderoniano», vol. 2, Madrid/Frankfurt, Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2009.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:39:09 +0100

Mónica Roig (ed.), Pedro Calderón de la Barca, «La universal redención», Kassel, Reichenberger, 2009.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:39:02 +0100

Gerhard Poppenberg, «Psique y alegoría. Estudios del auto sacramental español desde sus comienzos hasta Calderón», trad. E. Gómez Hernández, Kassel, Reichenberger, 2009.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:38:55 +0100

Jesús Pérez-Magallón, «Calderón. Icono cultural e identitario del conservadurismo político», Madrid, Cátedra, 2010.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:38:49 +0100

Felipe B. Pedraza y Rafael González Cañal (eds.), Francisco Rojas Zorrilla, Antonio Coello Ochoa, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, «El jardín de Falerina», Madrid, Octaedro, 2010.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:38:42 +0100

Beata Baczynska (ed.), Pedro Calderón de la Barca, «La iglesia sitiada», Kassel, Reichenberger, 2009.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:38:36 +0100

Ignacio Arellano, Judith Farré y Edith Mendoza, «Una lectura en imágenes de El gran teatro del mundo de Calderón: los diseños de Remedios Varo», Pamplona, Universidad de Navarra, 2009.

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:38:30 +0100

«El primer blasón católico de España»

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:38:23 +0100

The present work gives a possible explanation for the disappearance of El primer blasón católico de España, a sacramental play of Calderón that was performed in 1662 and of which not a single trace is left. Parting from the title, and supposedly in contrast to similar works,we propose the story of Hermenegildo y Recaredo as the main theme, and we are making out the conflict provoked by the uncertain death of Felipe IV as related to the supposed political and dynastic conflict of the play. It is the author’s opinion that the struggle between queen Mariana and the bastard don Juan José de Austria and especially the untimely death of Prince Felipe Próspero have provoked the proscription of a text that, in a veiled way, referred to these persons.

Surprising Textual Varieties in Calderón’s Comedies of the Sexta parte

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:38:06 +0100

Textual critique is based on errors of copying. This article deals with various types of errors that indicate surprising changes in the Sexta parte of Calderón's comedies. In fact, a whole typology of frequently accidental varieties, resulting from circumstances within and without the text, can be established.

The Merchant’s Maritime Voyage in Calderón’s Sacramental Plays

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:37:59 +0100

The playwright used the possibilities that offered the merchant of precious stones and species in order to create pieces of a great value concerning symbolism and stage design. In that way, as he did with other motives, he unified a quotidian reality with a literary and a religious tradition. In the case of the ship, the motive had a biblical precedent and it was related to the literary and religious as well as to the Senecean and Jesuitical tradition. Moreover, it evoked the exaltation of shipping resulting from the battle of Lepanto which, at the same time, had developed different literary, plastic and iconographic ways of representation. In this work a chronological study of the religious texts is carried out in order to show how the playwright creates a dramatic text, intensifying certain effects and establishing progressively complex symmetrical games, oppositions and references.

Calderón’s Segismundo and the Second Nature

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:37:51 +0100

Through practical experience, virtues can be turned into second nature. While intellectual knowledge can be acquired through instruction, moral virtues can not be gained without practical experience. Philosophically, this is proven by Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Ignatius Loyola and Vives. Further examples for this can be found in the Bible, as well as in Montaigne, Pascal, Gracián and Mateo Alemán. In Calderon’s La vida es sueño, the lack of practical experience initially leads Segismundo to inappropriate behaviour, which can only be changed by making experiences at court.

Musical Notes and Italian Sources for El árbol del mejor fruto, Concerning a Recent Critical Edition (Ignacio Arellano, Kassel, Reichenberger, 2009)

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:37:45 +0100

Ignacio Arellano's critical edition of El arból de mejor fruto offers a philologically secure text as well as fundamental contributions concerning the cultural context of the play's production. Moreover, several investigations about diverse topics of the play are included: the popularity of Solomon within the theatre of the Golden Age Period, the consolidation of the legend of the cross-tree and the public interest in the queen of Saba. This edition will be the indispensable starting point of further investigations dealing with El árbol de major fruto or La sibila del Oriente and, moreover, a useful tool of orientation within the texts that have spread the tales of Solomon and the legend of the cross-tree from antiquity to the Golden Age Period.

Political Readings of Comedies Performed in Commercial Theatres of the Golden Age Period

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:37:39 +0100

This paper challenges certain modern readings of Golden Age plays about kings and rulers. Placed in their historical, ideological, social and theatrical contexts, that is, imperial policy, censorship, social status of both playwrights and actors, the reality of playhouses —is it possible to conclude that some of these plays were a sort of drama à clef designed to criticise and denounce the regime of the Spanish Habsburgs?

“Política del amor”. Affections and Power in Some of Calderón’s Dramas

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:37:32 +0100

The present work analyzes some of Calderón’s dramas that deal with the problem of politics and the role of the king. The analysis is focused on both the affects of the king and the affects in general. In addition to that, the dramas are related to a series of political treatises of the same era that also emphasize the function of affects in the field of politics. It is argued that the emphasis on the role of affects in the conception of politics is not a medieval and anti-modern remainder, but a pre-modern attitude that prepares certain figures of political thinking —such as the conception of a general will—, that were to be developed throughout the following centuries.

The Use of Letters in the Comedies of Calderón

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:37:26 +0100

Within the dramatic action and beside its techniques of representation (dialogue, monologue, visual, acoustic and mimetic means), the letter is an important way of communication, be it between protagonists that are not present on stage, be it in order to inform the public of inaccessible details required by the action. By integrating letters read aloud, Calderón creates additional dramatic elements, depending on how the letters are charged with informations, how they are formulated and how they are transmitted. The letter is a very effective means of reinforcing the aesthetic and psychological impact of the drama. Critics should investigate this phenomenon in a very more detailed manner.

Metric Aspects of Calderón’s La siembra del Señor

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:37:19 +0100

This paper provides an analysis of the main metric and rhetorical aspects of Calderon’s sacramental play La siembra del Señor. I study the metric aspects related to the textual setting, the application of a metric scheme that is used in order to establish the segmentation of the play into «blocks of action», and, finally, the use of some metric forms that contribute to the literary and rhetorical ornament of the text.

La conquista del alma and El vencimiento de turno: Two Comedies Attributed, but not Attributable, to Calderón

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:36:16 +0100

The present work shows that La conquista del alma, a comedy attributed to Calderón, is a «contrafactum» of El vencimiento de Turno, a comedy also attributed to Calderón and strictly rejected by himself. Moreover, unknown testimonies of the two comedies are invested and everything is ascertained to uncover the comedies true chronological order and authorship.

The Divine Farmer and Other Types of Farmers within Calderón’s Sacramental Plays

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:35:55 +0100

This article analyzes the image of the Divine Farmer (represented as the sower, the farm manager or the pater familias) and other figures who assume the role of farmers that are at service of the first one (the «obreros del Señor» or «jornaleros de la vida») in four allegorical plays of Calderón: La semilla y la cizaña, La siembra del Señor, La viña del Señor and El día mayor de los días.

The Theatrical Trajectory of Bien vengas mal and the Manuscript 15633 of the BNE

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:34:21 +0100

This article focuses on the study of a partial manuscript copy of Calderón’s play Bien vengas mal, found in the BNE under the call number Ms. 15633.We specifically pay attention to the information that this manuscript contains regarding the theatrical trajectory of this play during the 17th century. On the one hand, we analyze the cast of actors that appears at the beginning of the manuscript, identifying each and every one of its members in order to show how this cast belongs to the company of the theatrical director Pedro de la Rosa; at the same time, we establish the possible date of this cast. On the other hand, we examine the origin of the manuscript, how it fits with the information we have related to the performance of Bien vengas mal and its relation to Antonio de Escamilla, who helped copy the manuscript and owned it.

Exterior and Interior War: The Fundament of Allegory in Calderón

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:34:15 +0100

This paper proposes an analysis of the semantic structure of the calderonian auto La serpiente de metal, combining the concepts of allegory and typology (taken from Biblical exegesis), those of symbol and sign (as defined by Niklas Luhmann), and those of meaning, fulfillment and evidence (according to Edmund Husserl’s Phenomenology). The structure of the auto is shown to be paradoxical, the reality of historical events being based on the evidence of things unseen, the spiritual meaning of salvation.

The Allegory of Dreaming in Calderón’s Sacramental Plays

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:34:08 +0100

In Calderón’s sacramental plays, we frequently find stage effects of dreaming, in which the characters sleep or dream different actions. The author of this article divides these effects in two types: dreamers and sleepers. We can not consider this theatrical operation as a simple aesthetic ornament, but it constitutes a way of joining two levels of allegory: to dream with celestial or infernal visions constitutes the place where the opposing forces can fight, and this confrontation is important to develop the plot and anticipate the resolution of conflicts. In the case of characters sleeping on stage, this activity is always loaded with further meanings that help to clarify the plot according to the scheme accurately outlined by allegory.

Political Aspects of Calderón’s Comedies: The Case of El mayor encanto, amor

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:33:09 +0100

This essay reviews the controversy over the political interpretations of Calderón’s mythological play, El mayor encanto, amor. While a number of scholars perceive a critique of the Count-Duke of Olivares through the characterization of the witch Circe, others deny such an interpretation noting that it would infringe upon the decorum needed for palace performances. This essay then offers three levels of interpretation, noting that there could be at least three kinds of audiences watching the play. El mayor encanto, amor can be interpreted as a laudatory work since it includes the figure of Astraea. She is the goddess of justice, truth and chastity who signals the return of the mythical Golden Age during the times of Philip IV and his minister the Count-Duke of Olivares. However, a more critical yet prudent audience regards the play, although laudatory in nature, as presenting a useful piece of advice in a decorous manner: the king ought not to forget his governing duties while enjoying the pleasures of his new palace. Finally those that were discontented with the minister, such as the queen and her ladies, could perceive other designs in the work. Here, the minister would be metamorphosed into Circe who controlled the king/Ulysses through her power and magic.

Some Landmarks of the Evolution of the Comical in Calderón

Scipedia content — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 09:32:55 +0100

At first sight, Calderón is a much less «autobiographical» writer than Lope: for example, he has no character like Lope’s Belardo to give us the author’s point of view. It is clear, however, that he refers in some works to his own situation and to that of members of his family. It is also clear that he was very interested in intelligent and determined female characters, although we cannot identify his non-historical models for these, if there were any. Nor is it easy to know why he began to experiment with dark comedies in the late 1630s, although his critical attitude towards men who ill-treat women is still found in late works such as Fieras afemina amor (1671) and Las armas de la hermosura (1676).