Zoekresultaten

Dissonance in heritage and tourism management at World Heritage Sites in Ghana

Assessing urbanization dynamics in Turkey’s Marmara region using CORINE Data between 2006 and 2018

This study investigated the urban growth dynamics of urban regions. The study area was the Marmara Region, one of the most densely populated and ecologically diverse areas in Turkey. Using CORINE land cover data for 2006, 2012, and 2018, the study utilized multiple correspondence analyses and cluster analyses, to analyze land cover changes. The resulting maps, visualized in GIS, revealed the rapid urban transformation of the regional structure, formerly comprised of four distinct areas, into a more complex structure, in which densification and sprawl occur simultaneously. Our findings demonstrated a dissonance between the spatial dynamics of the Marmara Region during the study period, and the capacity and scope of the simultaneously initiated regional policies and mega‐projects. This uncoordinated approach has endangered the region’s sustainable development. The paper, therefore, discusses the importance of land use planning and transboundary collaboration for sustainable regional development. Beyond the local case, the results contribute to critical theories in regional planning by linking theory and practice.

The destruction of Buddhas: dissonant heritage, religious or political iconoclasm?

This article attempts to explore the main impulses that might have led to the destruction of Buddha statues by Taliban in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan. Drawing on existing literature, and anecdotal evidence, this article suggests that the main impulses that have led to destruction are rather linked to the overall political context of that time (i.e., political iconoclasm) rather than to pure Islamic iconoclasm or an explicit condition of disharmony in heritage (i.e., dissonant heritage). First, the Taliban did not consider the statues as "their" cultural heritage. The act of destruction, therefore, cannot be subscribed to the Afghan cultural dynamics but rather to the political-religious ideology imported by Taliban from outside of the country. Secondly, it seemed that Mullah Omar was viewing the statues as a revenue source at the beginning and as a political bargain chip at the end. In both circumstances, religion seems not to have played the main role. Lastly, the destruction seems a political iconoclasm-that is, a political exploitation, if not a direct political act. The Taliban and especially their external allies were very well aware of the consequences of the act of destruction. It seems implausible to suggest that there were no religion and/or culture in play when ordering the destruction of the statues. The latter is the least what this article aims for. However, to conclude that the destruction was solely triggered by theological and cultural factors might also be improbable. The author does not, in any way, attempt to rationalize the act of destruction, let alone justify the barbaric act.

Perceptions of community care and placement preferences in first-year nursing students

Background: Despite increasing shortages of highly educated community nurses, far too few nursing students choose community care. This means that a strong societal problem is emerging that desperately needs resolution.Objectives: To acquire a solid understanding of the causes for the low popularity of community care by exploring first-year baccalaureate nursing students' perceptions of community care, their placement preferences, and theassumptions underlying these preferences.Design: A quantitative cross-sectional design.Settings: Six universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands.Participants: Nursing students in the first semester of their 4-year programme (n =1058).Methods: Data were collected in September–December 2014. The students completed the ‘Scale on Community Care Perceptions’ (SCOPE), consisting of demographic data and three subscales measuring the affective componentof community care perception, perceptions of a placement and a profession in community care, and students' current placement preferences. Descriptive statistics were used.Results: For a practice placement, 71.2% of first-year students prefer the general hospital and 5.4% community care, whereas 23.4% opt for another healthcare area. Students consider opportunities for advancement and enjoyable relationships with patients as most important for choosing a placement. Community care is perceived as a ‘low-status-field’ with many elderly patients, where students expect to find little variety in caregiving and few opportunities for advancement. Students' perceptions of the field are at odds with things they believe to be important for their placement.Conclusion: Due to misconceptions, students perceive community care as offering them few challenges. Strategies to positively influence students' perceptions of community nursing are urgently required to halt thedissonance between students' preference for the hospital and society's need for highly educated community nurses.

The effect of story on player experience

This research is about the effect of story on player experience; it aimed to explore the difference between gameplay and story in a player’s experience and strived to measure it. The main problem for this research was one of knowledge; does story affect the player experience? Game creators often wonder if putting a story in a game is worth the time, money and effort. Does it affect the player experience in a positive way? Players wonder as well, if story even has a positive effect on player experience, putting gameplay and story up against each other. That is what this research is for, collecting information about the effect of story on player experience. The problem concerning the necessity of stories in games can be traced back to the long standing debate among the gaming community with two parties facing each other, one on the gameplay side and one on the story side. This also brings forth Clint Hocking’s problem, ludonarrative dissonance, the unharmonious state of a game’s gameplay and story, which, as he describes in his criticism piece Ludonarrative Dissonance in Bioshock (2007), can be experience breaking. Providing more information will hopefully make people think about the harmony that might exist between gameplay and story.

Shared stories and creative dissonances

In publications addressing literary reflections on Europe, little attention has been paid to emerging cultural networks, the role of EU subsidies, or literary organisations engaging writers in initiatives aimed at contemplating the challenges that the European Union faces. This dissertation aims to explain the role of new initiatives by presenting four recent, transnational literary projects as case studies: the “Literatur Express Europa 2000”; “The European Constitution in Verse”; “Narratives for Europe”; and “The Return of Europe”. The projects were analysed through an examination of three fundamental aspects: the expectations held by the cultural organisations regarding their initiatives; the cultural artefacts resulting from the projects; and the effects of the projects in the public sphere. By selecting literary projects about Europe as case studies, rather than individual authors or texts, this research allows for an interdisciplinary approach that reveals the interaction between EU politics, civil society, cultural networks, and individual authors.