Into darkness: A study of deviance in Star Trek

Purpose The purpose of this chapter is to analyse the deviant behaviour of individuals in organisations. Deviants are those who depart from organisational norms. A typology of perceived deviant behaviour is developed from the deviance literature, and subsequently tested. Methodology/approach Star Trek: Into Darkness text is qualitatively analysed as a data source. Three different character arcs are analysed in relation to organisational deviance. Starfleet is the specific, fictional, organisational context. Findings We found that the typology of deviance is conceptually robust, and facilitates categorisation of different types of deviant behaviour, over time. Research limitations/implications Deviance is socially ascribed; so better categorisation of such behaviour improves our understanding of how specific behaviour might deviate from organisational norms, and how different behaviours can mean individuals can be viewed positively or negatively over time. Further research might determine management responses to the different forms of deviance, and unpack the processes where individuals eschew ‘averageness’ and become deviants. Practical implications The typology advanced has descriptive validity to describe deviant behaviour. Social implications Social institutions such as organisations ascribe individual deviants, both negatively and positively. Originality/value This chapter extends our understanding of positive and negative deviance in organisations by developing a new typology of deviant behaviour. This typology has descriptive validity in understanding deviant behaviour. Our understanding of both positive and negative deviance in organisational contexts is enhanced, as well as the utility of science fiction literature in ethical analysis.

Queering cyberspace : fan fiction communities as spaces for expressing and exploring sexuality

The social construction of sexuality over the past one hundred and fifty years has created a dichotomy between heterosexual and non-heterosexual identities that essentially positions the former as “normal” and the latter as deviant. Even Kinsey’s and others’ work on the continuum of sexualities did little to alter the predominantly heterosexist perception of the non-heterosexual as “other” (Kinsey, Pomeroy and Martin 2007; Esterberg 2006; Franceour and Noonan 2007). Some political action and academic work is beginning to challenge such perceptions. Even some avenues of social interaction, such as the recent proliferation of online communities, may also challenge such views, or at least contribute to their being rethought in some ways. This chapter explores a specific kind of online community devoted to fan fiction, specifically homoerotic – or what is known colloquially as “slash” – fan fiction. Fan fiction is fiction, published on the internet, and written by fans of well-known books and television shows, using the characters to create new and varied plots. “Slash” refers to the pairing of two of the male characters in a romantic relationship, and the term comes from the punctuation mark dividing the named pair as, for example, Spock/Kirk from the Star Trek television series. Although there are some slash fan-fiction stories devoted to female-female relationships – called “femmeslash” – the term “slash” generally refers to male-male relationships, and will be utilized throughout this chapter, given that the research discussed focuses on communities centered around one such male pairing.

Television’s greatest hits : compiling a television studies canon

You’ve got a thirteen week course to take students through the most important programs in television history. The programs should be the most popular, the most successful, the most important, giving students a sense of what audiences like, what is possible in the medium, and what counts more generally as a successful television program. The course is based around screenings of the programs. Which programs are you going to choose?

How to tell the difference between production and consumption : a case study in Doctor Who fandom

A television series is tagged with the label "cult" by the media, advertisers, and network executives when it is considered edgy or offbeat, when it appeals to nostalgia, or when it is considered emblematic of a particular subculture. By these criteria, almost any series could be described as cult. Yet certain programs exert an uncanny power over their fans, encouraging them to immerse themselves within a fictional world.In Cult Television leading scholars examine such shows as The X-Files; The Avengers; Doctor Who, Babylon Five; Star Trek; Xena, Warrior Princess; and Buffy the Vampire Slayer to determine the defining characteristics of cult television and map the contours of this phenomenon within the larger scope of popular culture.Contributors: Karen Backstein; David A. Black, Seton Hall U; Mary Hammond, Open U; Nathan Hunt, U of Nottingham; Mark Jancovich; Petra Kuppers, Bryant College; Philippe Le Guern, U of Angers, France; Alan McKee; Toby Miller, New York U; Jeffrey Sconce, Northwestern U; Eva ViethSara Gwenllian-Jones is a lecturer in television and digital media at Cardiff University and co-editor of Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media.Roberta E. Pearson is a reader in media and cultural studies at Cardiff University. She is the author of the forthcoming book Small Screen, Big Universe: Star Trek and Television.

Second Skin 2012 Workshop

The Second Skin 2012 Workshop Program consisted of a full-day intensive design immersion workshop run on Saturday 14 July 2012, at the QUT Faculty of Creative Industries Fashion Studios at Kelvin Grove Brisbane, Australia, for 30? self-selected high-achieving junior and middle school (year 5-9) students, as part of the Queensland Academies ‘Young Scholars’ Program. Inspired by a scientist researching the impact of sun on skin, and mentored by tertiary fashion design and interior design educators, and six tertiary fashion design and interior design students, the workshop explored science and design-inspired prototype solutions for sun-safety. This action research study aimed to facilitate an acute awareness in young people of the sun safety message (alternative to a scare campaign), the role of design in society and the value of design thinking skills in solving complex challenges, and to inspire the generation of strategies to address a systemic health issue. It also aimed to investigate the value of collaboration between junior and middle school students, tertiary design educators and students and industry professionals in targeting youth sun safety, and inspiring post-secondary pathways and idea generation for education. During the workshop, students developed sketching, making, communication, presentation and collaboration skills to improve their design process, while considering social, cultural and environmental opportunities. Through a series of hands-on collaborative design experiments, participants explored in teams of five, ways in which a ‘second skin’ can mirror elements of our skin – the ability to protect, divide, enclose, stretch, scar, pattern, peel and reveal – inspiring both functional and aesthetic design solutions. Underpinned by the State Library of Queensland Design Minds Website ‘inquire, ideate and implement’ model of design thinking, the experiments culminated in the development of a detailed client brief, the design and fabrication of a fashionable sun safe clothing range and then a team presentation and modelling of prototypes in a fashion parade, viewed also by parents. The final collections were judged by three prominent judges: Louise Baldwin - Executive Manager Public Health QLD Cancer Council, Shane Thompson - Architect and 2012 Queensland Smart Design Fellow, and Leigh Buchanan – Fashion designer and Project Runway Australia finalist. The workshop was filmed for Queensland television program ‘Totally Wild’ for dissemination of the value of design, the Design Minds model and the sun safety message to a wider target youth audience.

Design Pressure Test 2013 Workshop

Design Pressure Test 2013 was a full-day intensive design immersion creative event run on Saturday 3 August 2013, at the QUT Faculty of Creative Industries J Block Design Lab Workshop in Brisbane, Australia, for 25 self-selected high-achieving junior and middle school (year 5-9) students, as part of the Queensland Academies ‘Young Scholars’ Program. Facilitated by tertiary interior design, fashion design and industrial design educators, technicians and six tertiary interior design and fashion design students, the workshop explored design process, environmental impact, the material properties and structural integrity of cardboard, construction techniques, and the production and evaluation of furniture design prototypes. This action research study aimed to facilitate an awareness in young people, of the role and scope of design within our society, the environmental ramifications of design decisions, and the value of design thinking skills in generating strategies to solve basic to complex challenges. It also aimed to investigate the value of collaboration between junior and middle school students, tertiary design educators and students and industry professionals in design awareness, and inspiring post-secondary pathways and idea generation for education. During the creative event, students utilised mathematics skills and developed sketching, making, communication, presentation and collaboration skills to improve their design process, while considering social, cultural and environmental opportunities. Through a series of hands-on collaborative design experiments, participants explored in teams of five, the opportunities available using cardboard as a material – inspiring both functional and aesthetic design solutions. Underpinned by the State Library of Queensland Design Minds Website ‘inquire, ideate and implement’ model of design thinking, the experiments culminated in the development of a detailed client brief, the design and fabrication of a furniture item for seating, and then a team presentation of prototypes to a panel of judges from the professions of architecture, interior design and industrial design, viewed also by parents. The final test for structural integrity was measured by the hoisting down of an adult body weight onto the fabricated seat. The workshop was filmed for the television program ‘Totally Wild’ for dissemination nationally (over 200,000 viewing audience) of the value of design and the Design Minds model to a wider target youth audience.

Conditions of Compromise and Failure (The Dickensian Aspect)

‘Conditions of Compromise and Failure (The Dickensian Aspect)' acts as a re-enactment of the common trope of television detective dramas. A result of the artist’s repeated immersions in the television program ‘The Wire’, the work forms a node-map of all the named characters featured on the show. While each coloured thread represents and connects together the Byzantine narrative between all of the characters, the sheer mass of connections obfuscates any clear reading at all.

Domestic violence on #qanda: The “Man” question in live Twitter discussion on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Q&A

Domestic violence is currently undergoing a period of heightened visibility in Australia. This article uses social media to analyze public discussions about this violence with respect to a specific theoretical frame, which Adrian Howe has called the “Man” question: where and how are men visible or invisible in narratives about their violence against women? The article presents a qualitative study of the Twitter conversation surrounding a special episode of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television program Q&A, themed around family violence, which aired in February 2015. We found that the place of men in this conversation was contested. Some tweets privileged men's voices and concerns, as did the organization and production of the program. However, feminist voices were also highly visible via presenting facts, legitimating survivor voices, and recuperating anti-feminist memes to challenge hegemonic patriarchal discourses on men's violence against women. La violence conjugale connait actuellement une visibilité accrue en Australie. Les auteures du présent article utilisent les réseaux sociaux pour analyser les débats publics sur cette violence selon un cadre théorique précis, qu'Adrian Howe a appelé la question de « l'homme » : où et comment les hommes sont-ils visibles ou invisibles dans les récits de leur violence envers les femmes? L'article présente une étude qualitative d'une conversation sur Twitter au sujet d'un épisode axé sur la famille diffusé en février 2015 dans le cadre de l'émission Q & A, à la télévision nationale d'Australie. Nous avons remarqué que dans cette conversation la place des hommes était remise en question. Certains tweets privilégiaient les voix et les craintes des hommes, comme l'ont fait les organisateurs et les producteurs de l'émission. Cependant, il y avait une forte présence de voix féministes dans la présentation des faits, légitimant le point de vue des survivantes et relevant des éléments culturels antiféministes afin de défier les discours hégémoniques et patriarcaux sur la violence des hommes envers les femmes.

Reconciling Nicci Lane : the 'unspeakable' significance of Australia's first indigenous porn star

This article will explore X-rated representations of Aboriginality in Australian-produced pornographic videos, particularly the image of Australia's first Indigenous porn-star, Nicci Lane. It investigates how pornographic narratives involving 'Aboriginal' characters or motifs are connected to broader embodiments of Aboriginality in popular culture. Drawing a parallel with Australian television drama and mainstream films, the article highlights how contemporary sexualized images of Aboriginal people are intimately tied to a politics of reconciliation. By surveying recent literature on pornography, which describe how certain pornographic narratives engage 'unspoken' community desires, my argument will discuss Nicci Lane's career as a unique development in the history of representations of Aboriginality. Through analysis of Lane’s Arigato Baby (1991), these ‘unspoken’ desires relate to showing Indigenous people in everyday sexual contexts, as romantic partners, friends and lovers. My argument will go on to suggest that, through Nicci Lane's performance and profile, the image of Australia’s first Indigenous porn-star offers the possibility for imagining new kinds of interracial intimacy within the Australian public sphere.

Independent television production, TV formats and media diversity in China

Beginning around 2003, television studies has seen the growth of interest in the genre of reality shows. However, concentrating on this genre has tended to sideline the even more significant emergence of the program format as a central mode of business and culture in the new television landscape. "Localizing Global TV" redresses this balance, and heralds the emergence of an important, exciting and challenging area of television studies. Topics explored include reality TV, makeover programs, sitcoms, talent shows and fiction serials, as well as broadcaster management policies, production decision chains and audience participation processes. This seminal work will be of considerable interest to media scholars internationally.

New strength of competition and innovation : China’s independent television production

The state-owned media system in China has evolved considerably since 1994 when the first independent TV production company was officially registered. Today, there are thousands of independent TV production companies looking for market opportunities in China. Independent production companies have facilitated the circulation of program trade and investment, and in the process have encouraged innovation and professionalization. This paper focuses on the evolution of independents and the changing face of the television market. It discusses the ecology of independent television companies in China and how government regulations are impacting on the TV production market. It argues that independent TV is providing a new strength for China‟s TV market, one often suspected of being imitative, propagandistic and lacking colour.

Pro-Am curators of Australian television history : how is their practice different from that of professional television historians?

Eleven Pro-Am curators of Australian television history were interviewed about their practice. The data helps us to understand the relationship between professional and Pro-Am approaches to Australian television history. There is no simple binary – the lines are blurred – but there are some differences. Pro-Am curators of Australian television history are not paid for their work and present other motivations for practice – particularly being that ‘weird child’ who was obsessed with gathering information and objects related to television. They have freedom to curate only programs and genres that interest them, and they tend to collect merchandise as much as program texts themselves. And they have less interest in formally cataloguing their material than do professional curators of Australian television history.

Everyone’s watching it : the role of hype in television engagement through social media

Social media is playing an ever-increasing role in both viewers engagement with television and in the television industries evaluation of programming, in Australia – which is the focus of our study - and beyond. Twitter hashtags and viewer comments are increasingly incorporated into broadcasts, while Facebook fan pages provide a means of marketing upcoming shows and television personalities directly into the social media feed of millions of users. Additionally, bespoke applications such as FanGo and ZeeBox, which interact with the mainstream social networks, are increasingly being utilized by broadcasters for interactive elements of programming (c.f. Harrington, Highfield and Bruns, 2012). However, both the academic and industry study of these platforms has focused on the measure of content during the specific broadcast of the show, or a period surrounding it (e.g. 3 hours before until 3 am the next day, in the case of 2013 Nielsen SocialGuide reports). In this paper, we argue that this focus ignores a significant period for both television producers and advertisers; the lead-up to the program. If, as we argue elsewhere (Bruns, Woodford, Highfield & Prowd, forthcoming), users are persuaded to engage with content both by advertising of the Twitter hash-tag or Facebook page and by observing their network connections engaging with such content, the period before and between shows may have a significant impact on a viewers likelihood to watch a show. The significance of this period for broadcasters is clearly highlighted by the efforts they afford to advertising forthcoming shows through several channels, including television and social media, but also more widely. Biltereyst (2004, p.123) has argued that reality television generates controversy to receive media attention, and our previous small-scale work on reality shows during 2013 and 2014 supports the theory that promoting controversial behavior is likely to lead to increased viewing (Woodford & Prowd, 2014a). It remains unclear, however, to what extent this applies to other television genres. Similarly, while networks use of social media has been increasing, best practices remain unclear. Thus, by applying our telemetrics, that is social media metrics for television based on sabermetric approaches (Woodford, Prowd & Bruns, forthcoming; c.f. Woodford & Prowd, 2014b), to the period between shows, we are able to better understand the period when key viewing decisions may be made, to establish the significance of observing discussions within your network during the period between shows, and identify best practice examples of promoting a show using social media.

Book Review: "Below the Line: Producers and Production Studies in the New Television Economy by Vicki Mayer", Duke University Press, 2012

Vicki Mayer’s book is unusual in that, despite its title, it is not about television producers at all, or at least not in the sense that scholars and the television industry itself have traditionally understood the role. Rather than referring to those in creative, managerial or financial control, or those with substantial intellectual input into a program, Mayer uses the term in a deliberately broad sense to mean, essentially, anyone ‘whose labor, however small, contributes to [television] production’ (179).

Maintaining our rage: Inside Australia's longest-running music video program

This research presents an insider's account of rage, Australia's longest-running music video program. The research's significance is that there has been scarce scholarly analysis of this idiosyncratic ABC program, despite its longevity and uniqueness. The thesis takes a reflective and reflexive narrative journey across rage's decades, presenting the accounts of the program makers, aided by the perspective of an embedded researcher, the program's former Series Producer. This work addresses the rage research gap and contributes to the scholarly discussion on music video and its contexts, the ABC, public service broadcasting, creative labour, and the cultural sense-making of television producers.