In recent decades, black American political scholars have addressed the absence of trans formative societal change in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement. The civil rights initiatives of the 1960s and 1970s pledged racial equality and economic redistribution resulting from equitable, formal, political participation. For many, this promise remains unfulfilled. This thesis asserts that part of the problematic relates to a lack oftheorisation regarding differentiation within the black 'community.' Specifically, it is concerned with a group of black activists in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania called MOVE, and the manner in which its emergence complicated a unitary conception of black community in the 1980s. Formed on the cusp of the Reagan revolution, which signalled a retrenchment of civil rights initiatives nationally, combined with the election of a new cadre of black politicians at the municipallevel-incIuding Philadelphia, MOVE signifies the tenuous position in which these politicians found themselves during the Reagan era. Thus, Philadelphia's first black American mayor, W. Wilson Goode, occupies a central role in understanding the conflicting demands with which this new crop of municipal officials had to contend during this politically volatile time period. Disabled from the task of simply performing their required duties, these men and women were the most accessible representatives of America's 'black community,' and thus embodied the most positive as well as the most negative aspects of the black American population. Therefore, their job description implicitly referenced their capacity to juggle the demands of being black in America. This thesis will also investigate MOVE's representation in the print news media, as it received extensive coverage in the Philadelphia press. Through an analysis of three separate, local newspapers, this study attends to the racialised discourses characterising the group, thereby revealing a state of general anxiety regarding the place of blacks in American society. In this, a consideration of the media's impact upon Mayor Wilson Goode's career becomes a necessity, as the public's perception of his political suitability became inextricably linked with the fate of the MOVE members. Therefore, I attempt to determine how MOVE became 'news,' and in tum, how the group and officials in Philadelphia's city administration succeeded in mobilising the media as a resource for their own ends. Considering MOVE's informal political strategies in tandem with the bureaucracy of formal municipal politics presents an opportunity to address the limitations of both electoral and cultural politics for the black population generally, as well as the persistent problem of political 'representation' within this context. This thesis contributes to knowledge in black American cultural and electoral politics; social movements; the 'Sociology of the Negro' sub-discipline; the media and its role in conceptualising and coping with racial difference; and theories of blackness, liberalism and multiculturalism.

The first half of this commentary/thesis will explore changing perceptions of the musical work and the creative process. Ultimately, it will seek to identify and expose the myth of what we might call the ‘tyrannical composer’. That is to say, a suspicion of what is implied hierarchically by the figure of the composer and the consequences this has on critical thought, scholarship, performance and the public perception of music, new and old. By drawing upon recent research in, among other things, semiotics and mediation theory, I seek to reimagine the traditional composer-performer-audience relationship as something far more democratic and linear than is often given credit. Discussions typically reserved for overtly challenging and ‘experimental’ genres of music can here be reframed and proposed as a defence of related but contrasting styles of acoustic avant-garde composition. The above argument will be supported in the second chapter by a selection of case studies drawing upon my own portfolio of compositions. Analysis of some of these works will ask questions about composer authority and agency and draw upon my practical experience as composer of the works in question. The composer will ultimately be understood not as a dictator-like figure and privileged arbiter of the ‘musical work’, but as a democratically motivated creative agent, dialectically and collaboratively involved in the mediation and reception of the performed work.

This thesis explores the relationship between the online and offline presence and activity of contemporary indie rock bands in Liverpool. It addresses two main questions: firstly, how should the relationship of music, place, and social groups be described and understood in the age of the Internet; and secondly, what can research on local music making suggest about the relationship between online and offline worlds. These questions are addressed through ethnographic research conducted between 2007-2009. The research involved qualitative analysis of online content, discourse, and connections related to Liverpool indie bands and music events, as well as first-hand observation of offline events and interviews with musicians. On the basis of this, the thesis proposes two main arguments: Firstly, online presentation and interaction surrounding bands and events are closely connected to offline events, places, and personal relationships. Local music ‘scenes’ must therefore be understood as both online and offline, and their temporal and spatial (self-)positioning in online space can only be understood with reference to offline places and temporal dynamics. Secondly, the ‘network’ is a useful concept for describing and analysing the relationship of online and offline worlds. It is conceptualised in the thesis as the dynamic set of active, enacted, and negotiated connections among those participating in music making. This conceptualisation enables the description of the social world of participants in music making within a particular local environment, which at the same time branches out globally through the active collective online presence of these participants. The analysis of a band’s network structures enables the identification of both its individual characteristics and collective-oriented ties along such lines as genre and style, career stage and success, and aims and strategies. The network complements the notion of the ‘scene,’ which is defined by an expressed and represented coherence with regard to the aspects of genre aesthetics and ethics; locality; discursive participation and identification; and personal relationships. Moreover, the analysis shows that online technology has provided new means for music networks to function as cultural resource and form part of identities related to music making and place.

Popular music is immensely important to the construction of identity and regulation of agency for teenagers in films and in the real world. Throughout this thesis, I shall argue that music, specifically pre-existing songs, constructs identity in a manner that is complex, fluid, and unfixed. This is especially true for teenagers, who are in such a transitional period of their lives. Film music draws on ideas circulating in popular culture to construct identity, and connotations connected with discourse around certain genres of music are of particular importance. Throughout three case study chapters, I shall discuss the cultural context of various songs and genres to suggest possible elements of identity that are available for perceivers to understand. I will be grouping films together in case study chapters based on three narrative threads: teenage girls who play guitars, white characters who use African American music to express identity and improve agency, and non-white characters whose ethnic identity is musically constructed in contradictory ways. Identity and agency are tightly entwined in filmic narratives, and music plays a key role in the construction of both. Musical agency is related to narrative agency, but it also involves characters’ access to musical performance, as well as their musical representation through source music, source score, and dramatic score. The characters with the most musical agency are those who use music to their own benefit or benefit from music in the soundtrack. Finally, I shall argue that musical agency is affected by a film’s internal contradictions – by which I mean the areas of tension between music, identity, and storyline. Characters tend to have the greatest musical agency in films where musical connotations align with other elements of character identity and the character’s treatment in the storyline. Thus, musical agency tends to be less when there are contradictions between characters’ musical performance, the music they listen to, music on the soundtrack (source music, source score, or dramatic score) that they do not choose, other elements of their identity, and their narrative behaviour unrelated to music.

The questions I set out to address in the thesis originate at the point where film music scholarship on identifications via popular songs and film scholarship on the necessity to look beyond national identity in cinema, intersect. By analysing the processes through which popular songs bring meaning into films, and focussing on how their meaning and other textual factors intersect in the film, I argue that soundtracks construct identities that are not uncovered through considerations of films as visual texts. To explore these processes, I chose to focus on films from three European national cinemas – British, Spanish, and Italian – and show how considering popular songs can reveal the paths audiences tread when they not only see but also hear the differences soundtracks construct in films. After situating my study in relation to the literature on film music studies and film studies, I discuss the concept of cultural identities used in the thesis and highlight its relevance to the study of films as audiovisual texts. In the nine case studies presented in the three central chapters, I illustrate how songs participate in the construction and positioning of cultural identities in films. Via connections between different musical groupings and the cultural identities these articulate, songs can acquire further meaning, which often changes during the course of the films and can situate cultural identities in relation to the cinematic representations of a dominant national culture. The possibilities for identifications offered through popular music in films are being explored in interesting ways in the field of film music studies. By applying these theorists’ ideas to British, Spanish, and Italian films, I propose to show the readings that a consideration of films as visual texts alone does not account for. In addition to illustrating how an audiovisual approach to films can inform other neighbouring disciplines, I build on existing ideas in film music studies and propose a basic model for understanding how songs can map cultural identities in the cinematic representation of nations as well as be influenced by their textual voyages through films. In this project, I ultimately aim to argue for the necessity to listen beyond national identity in order to understand where these narratives allow audiences to situate themselves in relation to the nations they inhabit.

Authorised narratives of British popular music history have been deployed as representations of national identity by a range of institutions and individuals. The London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony, for example, presented a range of musical artists and songs that had been selected to represent aspects of British cultural identity to an international audience. The following year, a speech delivered by British Prime Minister David Cameron cited examples of British popular music in order to demonstrate British cultural successes in an international field. This thesis argues that authorised narratives such as these have failed to reflect the diversity of music cultures in the UK, drawing upon literature that highlights the concerns of ethnic minority groups who are frequently faced with exclusion from mainstream heritage narratives, and on a case study on British Bhangra music. British Bhangra is a musical genre closely associated with the BrAsian community, and in this thesis it is used to explore the relationship between popular music heritage and multiculturalism and address the following research questions: How have individuals involved with the British Bhangra music industry and audience groups responded to authorised narratives (Smith, 2006) of British popular music? How has British Bhangra been constructed as heritage – whether authorised, un-authorised or self-authorised – and where is this taking place and by whom? In order to address these questions, the thesis adopts two methodological approaches: qualitative research in the form of ethnographic fieldwork, and the analysis of particular musical works produced by British Bhangra artists and promoted as heritage – such as songs featuring in audience-constructed online charts attempting to define the ‘50 Best British Bhangra albums’. The ethnographic fieldwork was conducted in three areas in England: Bradford and Leeds in the North-East of England, Birmingham, and Tower Hamlets in East London, and enabled an exploration of British Bhangra heritage sites and practices in each location. Face-to-face and email interviews were also conducted with artists, music promoters and archivists involved with the British Bhangra music industry as well as with Bhangra audiences, and published interviews from print and online sources were consulted. This helped to examine British Bhangra heritage from the perspective of the artist, audience and music industry workers involved. At the same time specific British Bhangra songs were analysed in order to explore musical constructions of national identity and cultural memory and related concepts, such as ‘homeland’ or ‘authenticity’, both of which emerged as highly valued by British Bhangra audiences and artists. Attempts by artists and music journalists to construct a ‘canon’ of British Bhangra music frequently involve efforts to evaluate these musical works in terms of their perceived ability to express authenticity, or to evoke connections with a rural Punjab. The music is analysed in relation to such debates, and the way in which particular artists and songs have become enshrined within British Bhangra music heritage practices is explored.

Smartphones são dispositivos móveis ricos em recursos de interação que permitem a usuários realizar inúmeras tarefas. À medida que são adotados por grande parte da população, eles se tornam ferramentas para que profissionais ou pesquisadores realizem intervenções junto a seus usuários-alvo, inclusive remotamente, por exemplo por meio de coleta de dados em ambiente natural. No entanto, para conduzir pesquisas com aplicativos móveis, profissionais de áreas como Saúde e Educação usualmente dependem de ferramentas que demandam adaptação severa de seus planejamentos, ou dependem de desenvolvedores de software para criar aplicativos de acordo com suas necessidades. Trabalhos relacionados contribuem com soluções fundamentadas em métodos como o Método de Amostragem de Experiências (Experience Sampling Method, ESM), o qual foi proposto para coleta de dados no ambiente natural dos usuários-alvo. Entretanto, intervenções demandam, além da coleta de dados, a programação individualizada de tarefas a serem realizadas pelos usuários e acompanhadas pelos especialistas. Uma solução para esse problema demanda mecanismos explícitos para o planejamento e a aplicação de intervenções individualizadas, como proposto na literatura, por exemplo, por meio da Instrução Programada (Programmed Instruction, PI). Considerando a ausência de modelos que integrem métodos para coleta de dados e para programação de intervenções, este trabalho tem por objetivo definir um método que permita a programação de intervenções aplicadas em ambiente natural, método esse denominado Experience Sampling and Programmed Intervention Method (ESPIM). O ESPIM é formalizado por um modelo computacional descrito por meio de diagramas recomendados para a sua representação. O modelo propõe um padrão para o desenvolvimento de sistemas e para o intercâmbio de informações de programas de intervenção. A partir do modelo, foram desenvolvidas provas de conceito para autoria e reprodução de intervenções e para visualização de seus resultados, as quais compõem o sistema ESPIM. O sistema foi utilizado empiricamente por oito especialistas que acompanharam cerca de 340 usuários-alvo em nove estudos de caso reais nas áreas da Saúde e da Educação. Essas experiências foram analisadas a fim de avaliar qualitativamente o modelo em sua capacidade de representação dos estudos de caso. Foi possível concluir que, para os especialistas entrevistados, o modelo e o sistema correspondente capacitaram o planejamento dos estudos sem limitar seus delineamentos originais. / Smartphones are mobile devices with rich interaction features that allow users to accomplish myriad tasks. As these devices are adopted by a large part of population, they become tools for professionals or researchers to carry out interventions with their target users, including remotely, through data collection in natural settings for instance. This being said, to conduct research making use of mobile apps, professionals in areas such as Health and Education usually rely on available apps that require severe adaptations of their design or depend on software developers to build apps according to their needs. Related works provide solutions based on methods such as the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), which was proposed for data collection in the natural settings of the subjects. However, in addition to data collection, interventions require the individualized programming of tasks to be carried out by the users and tracked by the specialists. A solution to this problem demands employing explicit mechanisms for planning and applying individualized interventions, as proposed in the literature, for example, through Programmed Instruction (PI). Given the absence of models that integrate methods for data collection and for programming interventions, this work aims to define a method that allows the programming of interventions implemented in natural settings, entitled Experience Sampling and Programmed Intervention Method (ESPIM). The ESPIM method is formalized by a computational model described by means of diagrams recommended for its representation. The model proposes a standard for the development of systems and for the exchange of data of intervention programs. From the model, we developed tools as a proof of concept for authoring and reproducing intervention programs and for visualizing its results, which compose the ESPIM system. The system was empirically used by eight specialists who accompanied about 340 target users in nine case studies in the areas of Health and Education. These experiments were analyzed in order to qualitatively evaluate the model in its capacity to represent the case studies. It was possible to conclude that, for these interviewed specialists, the model and its corresponding system enabled the planning of the studies without limiting their original designs.

Nollywood is the branded name of Nigeria’s unique and globally recognised film industry. For over two decades (since 1992), the products of mainstream Nollywood film and music practitioners have been continually presented as a reflection and representation of the Nigerian society. Yet those creative and cultural underpinnings in Nollywood film music––processes, approach, symbology, commerce, and identity––have remained undocumented. This ethnomusicological research aims to establish verifiable evidence of Nigerian musical culture in the actions and inactions, assertions, and subversions within Nollywood film music practice. To do so, the study considers the industry from 1994 (the year of its first English-language film production) to 2016. Relying on an ethnographic study, this period provides the latitude for understanding Nigerian musical culture, and how the industry’s musicians have transported, transformed, and re- or de-contextualised it in film. The methodology for this material is based, in part, on an approach akin to grounded theory wherein the data drives the theoretical outcomes. This is achieved through a critical examination of the socio-cultural, economic, and technological determinants of Nollywood soundtracks with emphasis on three Nollywood films, a text-tune correlation analysis of a transcribed videofilm song, publications on the subject, as well as data from studio observations and interviews/conversations with practitioners. Findings validate the argument that there are three Nollywood film music schools of thought; that identity is performed through three mutually exclusive contexts labelled ‘Blocking’, ‘Blurring’, and ‘Acquiescing’; that there exists a Nollywood film music identity system (NoPIS); and that identity is a subtly packaged commodity that exists in ‘shades’ and is regulated by various elements including, but not limited to, politics, power, music and film genres, language, money, as well as localisation and deterritorialisation. To be clear, Nollywood film music draws heavily from Nigerian musical culture. And this is why the entire process (of film music production and the notion of identity) remains a socio-cultural construction that is plural––always in the process of becoming, and to some degree susceptible to re-signification.

Through a series of creative projects this doctorate set out to research how computer-assisted composition (CAC) of music affects decision-making in my compositional practice. By reporting on the creative research journey, this doctorate is a contribution towards a better understanding of the implications of CAC by offering new insights into the composing process. It is also a contribution to the composition discipline as new techniques were devised, together with new applications of existing techniques. Using OpenMusic as the sole programming environment, the manual/machine interface was explored through different balances between manual and algorithmic composition and through aesthetic reflection guiding the composing process. This helped clarify the purpose, adequacy and nature of each method as decisions were constantly being taken towards completing the artistic projects. The most suitable use of algorithms was as an environment for developing, testing, refining and assessing compositional techniques and the music materials they generate: a kind of musical laboratory. As far as a technique can be described by a set of rules, algorithms can help formulate and refine it. Also capable of incorporating indeterminism, they can act as powerful devices in discovering unforeseen musical implications and results. Algorithms alone were found to be insufficient to simulate human creative thought because aspects such as (but not limited to) imagination, judgement and personal bias could only, and hypothetically, be properly simulated by the most sophisticated forms of artificial intelligence. Furthermore, important aspects of composition such as instrumentation, articulation and orchestration were not subjected to algorithmic treatment because, not being sufficiently integrated in OpenMusic currently, they would involve a great deal of knowledge to be specified and adapted to computer language. These shortcomings of algorithms, therefore, implied varying degrees of manual interventions to be carried out on raw materials coming out of their evaluations. A combination of manual and algorithmic composition was frequently employed so as to properly handle musical aspects such as cadence, discourse, monotony, mechanicalness, surprise, and layering, among others. The following commentary illustrates this varying dialogue between automation and intervention, placing it in the wider context of other explorations at automating aspects of musical composition.

Alcohol abuse causes 1 in 10 deaths among adults in the United States aged 20-64 years [11]. An effort to motivate health-related behavioral changes in e-health industry could be seen before, but it was never done in mobile (m-health) context. Technologically, current applications in smartphone domain, emphasize on a manual way of measuring intoxication levels for users such as logging BAC values, taking cognitive tests; but none of them passively infer user’s intoxication level [1]. ‘Alcogait’ is a smartphone app that infers a smartphone user’s intoxication level from their gait by classifying motion data gathered from the smartphone’s accelerometer and gyroscope by Aiello et al [1]. This study is part of a Master’s thesis to build an intervention system around Alcogait’s functionality and explore the effects of gamification and avatar (for feedback) using Alcogait’s inferred intoxication level. Creation of user engagement is examined, in order to continue future study using gamification along with Alcogait’s functionality. The Alcogait system is not intended to either encourage or discourage abstinence. Its goal is to incentivize responsible transportation choices made by a person or their peers after that person is detected to be intoxicated in order to potentially mitigate DUI situations.