A Cartography of Philosophy’s Engagement with Society

Minerva - Should philosophy help address the problems of non-philosophers or should it be something isolated both from other disciplines and from the lay public? This question became more than...     

Modeling the appeal of movie features to demographic segments of theatrical demand

Various studies have built models, using aggregate box-office data, to predict the contribution of a motion picture’s features to its theatrical demand. But such an approach fails to represent the heterogeneous influence of movie features on demographic groups and is unable to assist market-segmentation decisions. We propose and illustrate a new approach for modeling the appeal of movie features to market segments via the use of appropriate individual-specific data and canonical correlation analysis. Specifically, through demographically detailed movie-attendance data available in Spain, we build a model of how movie features influence the demographic composition of audiences. Via a canonical correlation analysis, we identify four dimensions underlying the relationships between several movie features (country of origin, genre, objectionable content, stars, promotional effort, and critical evaluations) and audience demographics (gender, age range, presence of children, education, social class, and size of municipality). These dimensions represent the strong pairings between four moviegoer demographic profiles and four movie-feature profiles. Our approach can potentially aid in segmentation and green-lighting decisions by matching movie features with the most relevant segment-specific preferences.     

Art versus commerce in the movie industry: a Two-Path Model of Motion-Picture Success

Previous studies of the movie industry have raised questions concerning the problematic relationship between the success-related aspects of artistic excellence and commercial appeal. The present article proposes that—when the former is measured by industry recognition (Oscars and other awards) and the latter by market performance (box office and video rentals) and when the former hinges on the evaluative judgments of reviewers and consumers (ratings of excellence) and the latter on the level of buzz among these audience members (amount of attention, word of mouth, or click of mouse)—the two phenomena are essentially separable as independent paths to conceptually distinct and empirically uncorrelated aspects of motion-picture success. An analysis of data for 190 movies from the year 2003 shows that reviewer-and-consumer evaluations and buzz respond differently to a film’s marketing clout (production budget, opening screens, and opening box office) and that these audience responses contribute independently to a film’s industry recognition and market performance along two separable paths. These findings suggest various implications for movie marketers, film producers, actors or actresses, and other members of the motion-picture industry.

Simulating scientific thinking online: an example of research‐led teaching

In the contemporary higher education system there is growing interest in, and debate about, the need to strengthen and sustain the relationships between teaching and research. While there are multiple and varied explanations about these relationships, most acknowledge the importance of designing learning activities that explicitly develop the research–teaching nexus: a methodology known as research‐led teaching. The paper illustrates the integration of a research‐led teaching approach in an online context, using an ocean (climate) model simulation activity in two undergraduate units as a case study. The modelling activity draws on disciplinary research as the underpinning content and stimulus for learning, and incorporates tasks designed to simulate scientific thinking as well as facilitate understanding of abstract concepts about the ocean (and atmosphere) climate system. It also demonstrates a research‐led teaching activity that has been successfully applied in different disciplinary contexts, physical geography (atmospheric science sub‐discipline) and physics.     

(Re)Storying Obama: An Examination of Recently Published Informational Texts

American publishers have published numerous children’s books about Barack Obama over the past several years; most take the form of informational biographies. This article reports on a research project aimed at how these books incorporate sociohistorical narratives, particularly those related to the civil rights movement. Though the features of the books might cause the reader to presume political neutrality, the books link readers to distinct Discourses (Gee, 1996), suggesting particular ideologies. In this article, we identified the following differences: (1) specific happenings from Obama’s life were included in some texts while omitted in others; (2) when the events were included, how they were framed differed; and (3) the narrative constructions of the events varied. We use the differences amongst these texts to argue for the importance of critical literacy in elementary classrooms.