Mobility and sociality in proximity-sensitive digital urban ecologies: ‘Timid encounters’ and ‘seam-sensitive walks’

This paper is a case study of the use of a proximity-sensitive game played on mobile gaming terminals, in Japan and in France, Dragon Quest 9, and of distinctive forms of mobility and urban encounters which emerge around it. We show how players, when assembled together, walk the ‘connected walk,’ that is they adopt a particular gait, slower than the usual walking pace, with repeated pauses which appears as a tentative and exploratory kind of mobility oriented towards the random occurrence of proximity-based screen-mediated events, and therefore both adjusted to and constitutive of the proximity-sensitive hybrid ecology as a serendipitous place, to be experienced as such. With respect to urban encounters, we have identified a characteristic tension, relevant to locative media in general, in which concerns with potential identification and recognition ‘in the game’ contrasts with the interaction order of urban traffic encounters, characterized by ‘civil inattention.’ This gives rise to the phenomenon of ‘timid encounters,’ in which players strive to experience game encounters with other players a few meters away, while trying to elude visual or verbal recognition.     

Process evaluation of an environmental walking and healthy eating pilot in small rural worksites

Small Steps are Easier Together (SS) was a pilot environmental intervention in small rural worksites in Upstate New York in collaboration with Extension educators. Worksite leaders teamed with co-workers to select and implement environmental changes to increase walking steps over individual baseline and to choose healthy eating options over 10 weeks. Participants were 226 primarily white, women employees in 5 sites. A mixed methods process evaluation, conducted to identify determinants of intervention effectiveness and to explain differences in outcomes across worksites, included surveys, self-reports of walking and eating, interviews, focus groups, and an intervention log. The evaluation assessed reach, characteristics of recruited participants, dose delivered, dose received, and context and compared sites on walking and eating outcomes. Emergent elements of participant-reported dose received included: active leadership, visible environmental changes, critical mass of participants, public display of accomplishments, accountability to co-workers, and group decision making. Participants at sites with high reach and dose were significantly more likely than sites with low reach and dose to achieve intervention goals. Although this small pilot needs replication, these findings describe how these evaluation methods can be applied and analyzed in an environmental intervention and provide information on trends in the data.     

生命中不能承受之秋——论金学泉的诗集《世纪之交的独行》

金学泉的诗集《世纪之交的独行》有着鲜明的创作个性:1.意象的跳跃性,以体验-感觉模式构筑意象世界;2.情感的内趋性及抒情个性上的中年写作特征,使诗的格调呈示出一种“忧郁的平静”;3.克服异化与回归精神原乡的哲学趋向。     

克莱尔·吉根短篇小说的多重互文书写——以《南极》《走在蓝色的田野上》为例

克莱尔·吉根的短篇小说存在很多人物、故事情节和主题意象的反复呈现。借助互文性理论,发现吉根的小说存在三种互文叙述模式：一是聚焦于女性的孤独和人际关系困境的自涉互文书写;二是爱尔兰乡村故事里基于宗教虔诚情感基调的历时性互文书写;三是充分调动色彩与声音等感官叙述的跨界互文书写。正是其小说运用多重互文的书写策略,吉根创造出一个具有爱尔兰乡村传统的现代生活世界,凝聚对当代女性的孤独个体与婚姻家庭双重困境的哲学性展示,并尝试得出自己独特的思考结论。     

艺术传承与诗意传达——评少鸿的长篇小说《抱月行》

少鸿的长篇小说《抱月行》,用文学的形式表达了对“非遗”保护特别是民族民间艺术传承的思考。小说借“月琴”这一演唱形式构思立意,在人物命运的演绎中完成对艺术传承的智性思考和诗意表达。其思想意义和审美意蕴已超越单一的艺术形式和具象描写,上升到对生活方式、人格心志和艺术精神的洞察与观照。     

When urban environments meet pedestrian’s thoughts: implications for pedestrian affect

ABSTRACT

This UK-based study explores the ways in which urban environments and pedestrians’ thoughts interact. Such interactions have implications for hedonic well-being and affect. Analysis of innovative interviews with pedestrians highlights different orientations of thought while walking in the urban environment: the pedestrian can ignore surroundings in order to reflect, solve problems, daydream or think creatively, although this process can be interrupted by features within the urban environment, particularly motor traffic. Alternatively, thoughts, positive or negative, can be provoked or inspired by urban surroundings. Thus, the paper presents evidence that interactions between urban environment and thinking are an important pathway in understanding urban walking’s influence on well-being, one that is neglected in much walking policy.     

步行机器人缩放式腿机构参数的选择法

本文从机构传动性能的角度出发,对步行机(亦称步行机器人)缩放式腿机构与足的运动空间进行了分析,给出了当足的实用运动空间为最大时,机构参数的确定方法。     

直觉与逻辑的统一:宗白华"散步美学"方法论

宗白华的美学研究具有雍容、灵动与洒脱的学术风格,这种风格被称为"散步美学";散步美学的主要方法论特征是直觉与逻辑的统一,在对中国艺术意境的描述与阐释中,宗白华具体而娴熟地运用了这一方法;这一方法之所以出现在宗白华的美学研究中,主要是因为宗白华不仅有丰富的东西方艺术体验与修养,而且还有将东西方文化与艺术"渗合融化"的理想、视野与实践.让人怅惘的是,散步美学的方法虽令人向往却无从摹仿.     

Walking,feeling, talking: the experience of public space in the historical center of Athens

Abstract

This article examines walking as a spatial-temporal practice as well as a transformative practice within public space. The historical center of Athens has recently undergone a major transformation of its public spaces, produced mostly by major pedestrianization projects within the context of a reworking of the archaeological touristic profile of the capital. This article aims to explore the plural facets of experiencing the city while walking, which have been neglected by Greek planning authorities. Temporality, rhythmicity and presence make walking a meaningful practice that goes beyond the objective perception of the trail. Drawing on the narratives of six citizens while walking, this article seeks to develop a vocabulary capable of informing public space design. The author, who takes a geographical, ethnographic perspective, aims to contribute through developing fieldwork methods and deepening the debate on public space planning by revealing walking as a place-anchored experience.