'Scratch' locative audio drama - report to BBC executives on trial at BBC FreeThinking 2008

‘Scratch’ investigates the use of physical space as a representation of narrative and dramatic structure. An audio-drama, it is a world-first in being location-sensitive without being tied to any particular place (preceding attempts by others have emphasised location-specific aspects of the genre). Developed in collaboration with and part-funded by BBC Radio Drama, it builds on research undertaken for ‘Dragons’ (output 4). It uses pre-recorded audio on GPS-enabled mobile devices allowing sounds to be virtually attached to locations in an outdoor space. As participants move, they encounter scenes forming a coherent drama which behave differently if the same place is visited more than once. This translocational approach opens novel artistic possibilities exploited through team expertise in narrative, sound design and advanced interaction. It is also significant in the economics of broadcast media as a more viable proposition than the many experimental locative experiences which have been site-specific: this was of great interest to the BBC. The public performance selected for BBC FreeThinking, 1-2 September 2008 in Liverpool as part of European Capital of Culture was reported in a co-authored 2009 conference presentation at ISEA, Belfast, 26-29 August 2009 and in a co-authored short chapter in Spierling and Szilas (eds.) Interactive Storytelling, Springer 2008. Boyd Davis directed the project and devised and undertook the evaluation with 40 trial listeners, reporting to BBC executives (http://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/1000/) for whom a second trial was also run in London in 2009. The evaluation used interview, video observation and a questionnaire combining an open question at the beginning with more specific questions later, avoiding channelling respondents' reactions immediately after the experience into issues which might not be uppermost in their minds, while also yielding data capable of rigorous analysis. The evaluation was to provide feedback to the makers of the drama and to guide policy at the BBC. [287] Participants were recruited principally through the publicity for FreeThinking 2008 – mainly via the festival website. The average age of participants was 40. The gender of participants was 20 males, 17 females and 3 null returns. The evaluation strategy was to combine an open question at the beginning with more specific questions later. In this way we avoided channeling respondents' initial opinions immediately after the experience into issues which might not be uppermost in their minds, while also yielding data capable of rigorous analysis. The purpose of the evaluation was to provide guidance for ourselves as the makers of the drama and to guide policy at the BBC on locative and other interactive media. The responses are analysed in the report.

Reducing Social Isolation in a Rural Community Through Participation in Creative Arts Projects

This article reports the initial findings from the evaluation of four creative arts projects involving groups of older people living in a rural community. The purpose of the projects was to reduce social isolation among participants through providing direct access to arts and social activities. The view was that these activities would improve life skills and independence, increase levels of activity and improve the health, wellbeing and quality of life of participants. Evaluation of these projects demonstrated increased levels of self-worth and self-esteem among participants, and many of the older people involved agreed that they had made new friends while having the opportunity to try out a new activity.

A clinical trial for uniform multidrug therapy for leprosy patients in Brazil: rationale and design

Leprosy will continue to be a public health problem for several decades. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that, for treatment purposes, leprosy cases be classified as either paucibacillary or multibacillary (MB). A uniform leprosy treatment regimen would simplify treatment and halve the treatment duration for MB patients. The clinical trial for uniform multidrug therapy (U-MDT) for leprosy patients (LPs) in Brazil is a randomised, open-label clinical trial to evaluate if the effectiveness of U-MDT for leprosy equals the regular regimen, to determine the acceptability of the U-MDT regimen and to identify the prognostic factors. This paper details the clinical trial methodology and patient enrolment data. The study enrolled 858 patients at two centres and 78.4% of participants were classified as MB according to the WHO criteria. The main difficulty in evaluating a new leprosy treatment regimen is that no reliable data are available for the current treatment regimen. Relapse, reaction and impaired nerve function rates have never been systematically determined, although reaction and impaired nerve function are the two major causes of nerve damage that lead to impairments and disabilities in LPs. Our study was designed to overcome the need for reliable data about the current treatment and to compare its efficacy with that of a uniform regimen.

RES 012. Research methods in the arts and humanities. First edition

A training course that forms part of Epigeum's Research Skills Master Programme.

The library of home economics : a complete home-study coursr on the new profession of home-making and art of right living : the practical application of athe most recent advances in the arts and sciences to home and health /

v.1. The house, its plan, decoration and care / by Isabel Bevier. -- v.2. Household bacteriology / by S. Maria Elliott. -- v.3. Household hygiene / by S. Maria Elliott. -- v.4. Chemistry of the household / by Margaret E. Dodd. -- v.5. Principles of cookery / by Anna Barrows. -- v.6. Food and dietetics / by Alice P. Norton. -- v.7. Household management by Bertha M. Terrill. -- v.8. Personal hygiene / ed. by M. Le Bosquet. -- v.9. Home care of the sick / by Amy E. Pope. -- v.10. Textiles and clothing / by Kate H. Watson. -- v.11. Study of child life / by Marion F. Washburne. -- v.12. Care of children / by A.C. Cotton.

The Mirror of literature, amusement, and instruction: containing original essays; historical narratives; biographical memoirs; manners and customs; topographical descriptions; sketches and tales; anecdotes; select extracts from new and expensive works; poetry, and original and selected; the spirit of the public journals; discoveries in the arts and sciences; new facts in natural history, &c.

Editors: 1822-26, Thomas Byerley.--1827-38, John Timbs.

An encyclopædia of plants; comprising the description, specific character, culture, history, application in the arts, and every other desirable particular respecting all the plants indigenous, cultivated in, or introduced to Britain, combining all the advantages of a Linnean and Jussieuean species plantarum, an historia plantarum, a grammar of botany, and a dictionary of botany and vegetable culture. The whole in English; with the synonymes of the commoner plants in the different European and other languages ...

"Names of books referred to": p. [vii]-xiii.

The Columbian orator : containing a variety of original and selected pieces, together with rules, calculated to improve youth and others in the ornamental and useful art of eloquence /

"Designed for a second part to the American preceptor."--Pref.

The North American sylva, or, A description of the forest trees, of the United States, Canada and Nova Scotia : considered particularly with respect to their use in the arts and their introduction into commerce; to which is added a description of the most useful of the European forest trees /

Paged continuously by volumes: v. 1, 136 p.; v. 1a, 137-268.; v. 2, 116 [1] p.; v. 2a, 117-250 p.; v. 3, 82 [1] p.; v. 3a, 83-194 [1] p.; v. 3b, 195-286 p.

Plantæ utiliores : or illustrations of useful plants, employed in the arts and medicine /

"Text chiefly by Gilbert Burnett." -- Dict. of nat. biog., vol.7, p.412.

Plantae utiliores: or illustrations of useful plants, employed in the arts and medicine /

Plates by Miss M. A. Burnett, text chiefly by G. T. Burnett.

First additional supplement to Loudon's encyclopaedia of plants : comprising the specific character, description, culture, history, application in the arts, and every other desirable particular respecting all the plants originated in, or introduced into Britain, between the first publication of the work in 1829, and January, 1840 /

Includes bibliographical references and a new general index to the whole work.