This paper defends the claim that videogame playing interaction (VGI) is a distinctive kind of interaction compared with other interactive practices. This claim is not grounded in the fact that videogame playing is a digital experience, nor the claim that videogame playing is a video example of gameplay, but rather in two unique characteristics of videogame playing experiences: the controlled identity of players and the temporal continuity. In my view, both Aaron Smuts (2009) and Dominic Lopes (2001)’s theories on interactivity have omitted to discuss these issues sufficiently. By distinguishing between three kinds of interactions according to involved participants and ranking them in the order from weakest to strongest we find: i) interactions between humans and interactive objects, ii) interactions between humans, iii) videogame playing interactions (VGI). In this paper I reflect on the theoretical framework of interactivity and forecast that the strongest form of interaction should be the interaction between human and artificial intelligence supported by technical devices in which human interactors lose overall authority of the continuous interaction.

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine how I can facilitate experiences with art that promote "productive ambiguity," or the ability to transform tensions that disrupt our current understandings into opportunities for personal growth. Ambiguity becomes productive when our encounters with difference stimulate curiosity, imagination, and consideration of new possibilities and perspectives. While employing a multi-methods practitioner inquiry that combined elements of action research, autoethnography and arts based research, I addressed the following questions with a voluntary group of fifth grade research participants: How can I facilitate experiences with art that promote productive ambiguity? How do my students interact with the various visual content and instructional strategies that I develop and implement? How might these interactions inform my future teaching practice, and how does my own reflective visual journaling process inform my research? In addition to employing reflective sketching to document and analyze data, I also presented research findings in the form of a visual research narrative. My analysis of research findings produced the following teaching strategies for facilitating meaningful experiences with art that promote productive ambiguity: (a) Use an inquiry approach to instruction as much as possible in order to position students to actively navigate the space between the known and unknown while seeking fresh understandings rather than passively accepting new information. (b) Explore how new concepts or themes relate to students' lives in order to situate unknowns in relation to their present knowns. (c) Aim to balance structure, flexibility and accountability while developing and implementing curricula. This promotes productive ambiguity as both teachers and students negotiate their pre-conceived ideas or plans and push themselves to respond to challenges encountered within their immediate environment. (d) In order to avoid unnecessary confusion, explicitly state that students should takes risks while generating new ideas rather than identifying a pre-existing solution. (e) Finally, ask students to identify why skills and knowledge generated during these activities are valuable in order to promote meta-cognition of how this ambiguous space can become more productive. In addition to these practical findings, research participants agreed that sharing their interpretations of visual phenomena with one another enabled them to understand each other better. I also discovered the ways in which productive ambiguity emerged in the spaces in between my teacher/researcher/artist roles when I perceived challenges as prospects for personal transformation. As a whole, this dissertation exhibited how relational aesthetics and arts based research theories translated into my elementary art classroom practice while simultaneously integrating these concepts into the research study design and presentation.

Este estudo propõe uma investigação sobre a importância e a necessidade da presença de um narrador de estórias tradicionais no cotidiano escolar, por meio da apresentação de um relato de experiência, desenvolvida em duas escolas públicas na favela da Maré, no Rio de Janeiro, em 2007. A partir de uma abordagem teórica e estética, a pesquisa trata das estórias tradicionais como obras de arte de tempos muito antigos, que podem redimensionar o desejo e o autoconhecimento de alunos e professores, promovendo situações no cotidiano escolar que propiciam a aprendizagem significativa. A utilização de uma visão sistêmica, em que os diversos elementos de estudo formam um sistema de sistemas, foi a base da construção do trabalho de observação e reflexão sobre as experiências empreendidas e os diversos conceitos articulados a elas, propiciando um olhar cíclico, circular, onde cada elemento é pensado em si e em relação aos outros sistemas. Esses elementos, além das estórias, são o narrador, as escolas, os professores, os alunos, a sala de aula e a Maré. Outros elementos que entram na construção do trabalho são o próprio conceito de aprendizagem significativa, a caracterização das estórias tradicionais e de experiência estética, este último, um conceito fundamental para o entendimento e proposição do trabalho com arte, dentro ou fora da escola. / This study aims to investigate the importance and necessity of a narrator in traditional stories in the school routine. It is going to be presented reports of real experiences developed in two public schools located in Favela da Maré, Rio de Janeiro. From the theoretical and aesthetic approach, the research relates traditional stories, such as works of art dated from ancient times which may draw the wish and self knowing of students and teachers, promoting daily school experiences that provide a significant learning. The use of a systemic vision in which the different elements of studies form a system of systems was the base of construction of the observation and reflection work of the undertaken experiences and the distinct concepts articulated to it, providing a cyclical look, where each element is interpreted related to the others. These elements, beyond the stories, are the narrator, the schools, the teachers, the classrooms and Favela da Maré itself. Other elements present in quest are the concept of significantly learning, the characterization of traditional stories and experience aesthetics, the latter, a key concept for understanding and proposition of working with art, inside or outside the school.

Este estudo propõe uma investigação sobre a importância e a necessidade da presença de um narrador de estórias tradicionais no cotidiano escolar, por meio da apresentação de um relato de experiência, desenvolvida em duas escolas públicas na favela da Maré, no Rio de Janeiro, em 2007. A partir de uma abordagem teórica e estética, a pesquisa trata das estórias tradicionais como obras de arte de tempos muito antigos, que podem redimensionar o desejo e o autoconhecimento de alunos e professores, promovendo situações no cotidiano escolar que propiciam a aprendizagem significativa. A utilização de uma visão sistêmica, em que os diversos elementos de estudo formam um sistema de sistemas, foi a base da construção do trabalho de observação e reflexão sobre as experiências empreendidas e os diversos conceitos articulados a elas, propiciando um olhar cíclico, circular, onde cada elemento é pensado em si e em relação aos outros sistemas. Esses elementos, além das estórias, são o narrador, as escolas, os professores, os alunos, a sala de aula e a Maré. Outros elementos que entram na construção do trabalho são o próprio conceito de aprendizagem significativa, a caracterização das estórias tradicionais e de experiência estética, este último, um conceito fundamental para o entendimento e proposição do trabalho com arte, dentro ou fora da escola. / This study aims to investigate the importance and necessity of a narrator in traditional stories in the school routine. It is going to be presented reports of real experiences developed in two public schools located in Favela da Maré, Rio de Janeiro. From the theoretical and aesthetic approach, the research relates traditional stories, such as works of art dated from ancient times which may draw the wish and self knowing of students and teachers, promoting daily school experiences that provide a significant learning. The use of a systemic vision in which the different elements of studies form a system of systems was the base of construction of the observation and reflection work of the undertaken experiences and the distinct concepts articulated to it, providing a cyclical look, where each element is interpreted related to the others. These elements, beyond the stories, are the narrator, the schools, the teachers, the classrooms and Favela da Maré itself. Other elements present in quest are the concept of significantly learning, the characterization of traditional stories and experience aesthetics, the latter, a key concept for understanding and proposition of working with art, inside or outside the school.

I mitt examensarbete 2023 på 15hp för programmet Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap: Medieaktivism, strategi och entreprenörskap analyserade jag kopplingarna mellan unga aspirerande musikskapares syn på artificiell intelligens (AI) och musikindustrin och deras estetiska upplevelser. Detta utfördes genom att hålla en fokusgrupp där deltagarna blev introducerade till AI-generad musik och AI-programmet Soundraw samt fick diskutera om deras åsikter om AI, estetiska upplevelser och musikindustrin. Materialet från studien analyserades sedan utifrån Actor Network teorin. Utifrån min studie uttryckte deltagarna att de hade svårare att skapa estetiska upplevelser av den AI-generade musiken. Det fanns tecken på att detta kan kopplas till att musiken enligt dem hade en låg estetisk och emotionell kvalitet, men även att detta kan vara kopplat till den erkända partiskheten emot AI inom industrin. Studien visade också på att ingen av deltagarna var mot AI:s utveckling inom industrin, något som blev intressant då AI var kritiserat under studien. Däremot är detta något som kommer behöva fortsättas studeras för att få en djupare förståelse över hur dessa aktörer är kopplade till varandra, samt vilka andra aktörer och egenskaper som går att koppla. / In my final exam project 2023 for 15hp in the Media and Communication Studies I studied the connections between young aspiring music creators’ view of artificial intelligence (AI) and the music industry and their aesthetic experience. This study was based on a focus group where the participants were introduced to AI-generated music and the AI-program Soundraw, along with being able to discuss their opinions of AI, aesthetic experiences, and the music industry. This focus group was later analyzed through the Actor Network Theory. Through my study participants voiced that they have a harder time creating aesthetic experiences through AI-generated music. There were signs that this was connected to what the participants saw as low aesthetic and emotional quality of the music, but it can also be connected to the admitted bias against AI in the music industry. The study also showed that no of the participants had much against AI’s involvement in the industry, which was interesting given that AI was still criticized through out the study. But this is something that still needs to continue to be studied to gain a lager understanding of how these actors are connected to each other and what other actors and factors are connected.

Syftet med denna studie är att få ökad kunskap om hur verksamma förskollärare och lärarutbildare ser på ämnesintegrerad undervisning av teknikoch estetiska ämnen i förskolans verksamhet. Därav fokuserar studien på att undersöka hur verksamma förskollärare och lärarutbildare motiverar integration av teknik med de estetiska ämnena, hur de ser att teknik tillsammans med de estetiska ämnena kan gestaltas, samt vilka utmaningar och möjligheter de ser med denna typ av ämnesintegrering. Studien genomfördes med semistrukturerade intervjuer av fem lärarutbildare från universitet och två verksamma förskollärare från två svenska förskolor. Data kategoriserades med en tematisk analys och utgick från ett socialkonstruktivistiskt perspektiv på barns lärande. Det teoretiska ramverket består av estetiska erfarenheter, multidisciplinaritet och transdisciplinaritet som begrepp för att analysera olika tillvägagångssätt för ämnesintegrering samt för att lyfta barns upplevelser och lärande. Resultaten indikerar både utmaningar och möjligheter relaterade till integrerade undervisningsmetoder. Lärarutbildare identifierar tid och tillgång till resurser som utmaningar för att noggrant kunna planera och genomföra integrerad undervisning. Dessutom lyfter lärarutbildarna att det krävs ett nära samarbete och effektiv kommunikation mellan lärare från olika ämnesområden. Trots dessa utmaningar finns det också betydande möjligheter gällande integrerade undervisningsmetoder, vilket kan skapa mer meningsfulla och engagerande lärandeupplevelser för både förskollärarstudenter och barn. Tvärvetenskaplig förståelse och förmågan att se samband mellan olika ämnen främjas, vilket kan bidra till en djupare förståelse. Genom att applicera kunskap från olika ämnesområden i verkliga och relaterbara situationer kan förskollärarstudenter och förskolepedagoger få förståelse för hur en ämnesintegrerad teknikundervisning med estetiska ämnen kan påverka barns kreativitet och problemlösningsförmåga. / The aim of this study is to gain increased knowledge of how preschool teachers and teacher educators perceive integrated teaching of technology and aesthetic subjects in preschool settings. The study focuses on examining how preschool educators and teacher educators motivate the integration of technology with aesthetic subjects, how they envision that technology together with aesthetic subjects can be portrayed, and what challenges and opportunities they see with this type of subject integration. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five teacher educators from universities and two preschool teachers from two Swedish preschools. The data was categorized using thematic analysis and was based on a social constructivist perspective on children's learning. The theoretical framework consists of aesthetic experiences, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary as concepts to analyze different approaches to subject integration and to highlight children's experiences and learning. The results indicate both challenges and opportunities related to integrated teaching methods. Teacher educators identify time and access to resources as challenges for being able to carefully plan and implement integrated teaching. They also emphasize the need for close collaboration and effective communication between teachers from different subject areas. Despite these challenges, significant opportunities exist regarding integrated teaching methods, which can create more meaningful and engaging learning experiences for both preschool teacher students and children. Interdisciplinary understanding and the ability to see connections between different subjects are promoted, contributing to a deeper understanding. By applying knowledge from different subject areas in real situations that are relatable, preschool teacher students and preschool educators can gain an understanding of how subject-integrated technology teaching with aesthetic subjects can affect children's creativity and problem-solving skills.