In this week, I have reviewed an online article talking about the ability of children anthropomorphise obejects when they were younger and how they identify things are weather alive:
And here are my noes:
P4 • baillargeon scott, & Bian, 2016: infants treat any non-human agent that displays animate motion patterns as human-like but gradually understand what is alive and what is not • How children anthropomorphise inanimate objects: -infants can categorise animates and inanimate by the end of the first year (Rakison & Poulin-Dubois,2001) -infants can categorise animals and vehicles through dynamic information rather than morphology or color (Caramazza & Shelton, 1998l Leslie, 1994; Mandler, 1992; Premack, 1990)
P8 Young children tend to accurately categorise animals as animate and artifacts as inanimate but struggle to classify plants as living.
P13 • there are a number of cues that have been shown to trigger anthropomorphism and animate judgments toward non-human agents. (Based on how children anthropomorphise, and treat agents as depictions of social agents.) • 1. Gaze following: following the gaze of an agent is in itself low-level anthropomorphising. -p15: 2. Goals and intentions: -p19: Mental States -p23: Morphology plays an important role in children’s judgements of animacy. -p23: Learning: A prior research examined weather children can learn from non-human social partners. -children can recall the non-verbal behaviours such as eye gaze, body positioning and vocal intonation presented by robots. Therefore it’s an essential part of the design. –robots can trigger the ability of children to improve the language ability through emulating themselves, children can attribute their perceptual abilities to robots to learn novel information. -p25, imitation: both human and non-human agents can lead to over-imitation in children. -p26; children are more likely to treat a robot as knowledgeable if it behaves contingently by engaging and looking at them through the communication. -p27 conclusion: people react to inanimate objects as how they react to people in the same situation. There are a lot of ways to trigger anthropomorphic behavior in infants such as emulating, studying and following their eye-gazing. -children anthropomorphise robots is dependent upon both the robot’s behaviours and whether the robot has human-like morphology.
“Anthropomorphic behaviors in infants”（婴儿的拟人化行为）是指婴儿在与非人类的对象（如毛绒玩具、动物、物体）互动时，会赋予它们人类的属性或意图的行为。 简而言之，这种行为体现在婴儿把非人类对象当作有生命、有意图的伙伴来看待。比如：
In this week, I have focused on reading an online journey about the anthropomorphic characters in pre-war and computer animations, and I have made some notes for my thesis proposal:
P247: 6th century Greece, anyhropos=human, morphē=shape or form, -anthropomorphic personification = animated aesthetics [Patrick Power (2008: 37)] –animation is evolving, while the frequency of anthropomorphism never had been destabilised. Especially there used to be a strong anthropomorphic approach to test out the matching functions and visual possibilities. -computer animation helped the anthropomorphism to reach an extraordinary level. -these characters function as narrative agents to deliver informations in the digital worlds, creating ‘fullness’ through their existence and residency. -contemporary consumer-brand culture –main stream computer animated film are more broader than the pre-war era animation on the anthropomorphic side. Where audiences can identify human traits in animal figures directly with a mix of fantasy and reality. -the connection between the digital constructs of anthropomorphism and diegetic world.
P248 -article argues how computer animated film exploited the non-human morphe elements of its character. -aesthetic exploration, dilution, exaggeration, satirising of the machinations of the human condition through devices of allegory and analogy, symbolism and signification. -‘pragmatic’ solutions, ‘anthropocentric’ explanatory concept. To show how humans are able to make sense of the deeply enigmatic and often hostile world in which they inhabit through the ascription of human connotation.
–>political animation films -anthropomorphism adds attribution of human like qualities to non-human characters, and so they move seamlessly in an animated space to connotate implicit meanings. Animators kept reviving them to evoke audiences empathy and compassion. 与动画中拟人化的能力（作为视觉现象或拟像）相关的，是赋予非人类（通常是动物）角色以人类特质的含义集合。这种特质的赋予让这些角色能够有意地行动，并在动画空间中无缝地融入其中，一直被理论化为角色设计的一个基本要求。拟人化是一种再现策略，不断被动画师复兴以激发观众的认同、兴趣、同理心与同情心，从而更好地观察所看到的动画形象。 这段话的意思是：
Cognitivist Torben Grodal (1997:89), for example, argues that: When watching a visual representation of phenomena without any centring anthropomorphic actants (characters), we often ‘lose interest’ owing to lack of emotional motivation or the cognitive 感知的 analysis of the perceived, a fact which many makers of experimental films have discovered when presenting their films to a mass audience
Anthropomorphic actants help to build emotional motivation, cognitive analysis of the perceived. Especially this had been proved by experimental film makers. –>the build up of gags
251: -the assumption of human activity is the blueprint of non-human objects are being altered by computer animated film, as the latter focused into the morphe as an essential for, It takes the centre stage, and formed the magnetism of the morphe itself. (Beyond traditional performance styles) -examples: cars 2 -anatomical coherency/ projection of emotion, personality, charm -support our emotional investment over the course of a feature film
in computer animation, the anthropomorphic character tend to build up their authentic form of the non-human, but also shed any acquired human like characteristics or identity, which embraces their true morphe.
252 –Therianthropic comes from the Greek “thēríon” (wild animal or beast) and “anthrōpos” (human being). It refers to the blending or transformation between human and animal forms.
255 -animated film unravels the tensions and connections between anthroposophy and morphe, the animate and inanimate, subjects and objects. -focalization describes the angle of vision ‘from which the life or the action is looked at’. -it helps to create a world that is aesthetically and stylistically anecdotal, a virtual reality emphasises the anthropomorphic individual’s activities, movements and viewpoints. -the anthropomorphism in the computer animated film era enfolded in a wider discourse of fictional world creation, transmission and representation. -its diegetic consciousness is inflected by it’s morphe, which is as a non-human to build up the world.
256 “…function of the anthropomorph as a focalizer of the action in soliciting such narrational modes.” –>翻译： “因此，每个片段的视觉体验源自于事件在叙事层面上的即时性，并通过拟人角色作为行动的聚焦者的功能，激发了这种叙事模式。” 解析： 这里强调，拟人角色不仅是故事的参与者，也是推动叙事的焦点，让观众更深入地体验故事。 –morphe eyes central to how the scene is transmitted, their own specific focalizes angle of vision is animated to be the spectator;s own viewing position as a privilege. –virtual camera in computer animation: it can be operated in anywhere it chooses, an intangible and abstracted presence (Jones, 2007:236). Due to its status as physical apparatus, it permits the relocation of subjectivity onto the anthropomorphis ‘eye’ in the direst instance, it brings an animated self-consciousness to a non-human character. Also, it could define time and space, or ethereally beyond it.
257 –the point of view (eye) of anthropomorphic characters created through virtual camera becomes a navigator of the virtual space. –breaking with the normal conditions of human subjective experience allows the audience to achieve an open flow of ‘hallucinogenic 引起幻觉的’ perception that can be said to be experienced by objects that are situated in their position of uncontaminated objectivity . -a pure vision from the object without being distorted by the human objectivity. • Giuliana Bruno (20o2:56) virtual tour ‘cine city’ the spectator is shifted from a contemplative to a mobilized anthropomorphic state in a virtual space
-Ratatouille & Bee movie -involving multiple sequences -spetacles derives from a boundless shifting composition and the connections between multiple diegetic points. -William brown (2012:268): the gaseous movies focus on the unsold perspectives, escaping from human perceptions, emphasising the momentum of subjectivity as both de-centring force and chaotic impact.
259 “With human characters and their perspective featuring as merely a component of the image, the attraction of computer-animated film anthropomorphism, then, involves the spectators’ ability to momentarily reject their own ánthrōpos, cross species, and take an embodied (rat’s-eye or bee’s eye) tour of the virtual world in the skin of another kind.” • 在动画中，人类角色和视角往往只是画面的一部分，因此计算机动画中的拟人化吸引观众的地方在于：观众可以暂时放下自己的“人类身份”，跨越物种，像老鼠或者蜜蜂那样“代入”，以“非人类的皮肤”去体验虚拟世界。
“Through the animator’s exploitation of non-human morphē over that of the figure’s human connotation of ánthrōpos, the anthropomorph of computer-animated films ultimately becomes the pinnacle of putting ‘perception into things’ into ‘matter’, the pure vision of a non-human eye (Deleuze, 1986: 83).“ • 通过动画创作者将“非人类形态（morphē）”置于“人类特征（ánthrōpos）”之上，动画中的拟人化角色最终成为了“把感知放进事物中”的巅峰，即转化为“物质”，成就了一种“非人类之眼”的纯粹视角。
260 The passage highlights how computer-animated films use “plasmatiness”—a term rooted in Eisenstein’s ideas of fluidity—to emphasize the dynamic interplay between anthropomorphic characters and their fictional worlds. This allows human and non-human elements to merge, shift, and constantly reconfigure, creating new power relations and fresh storytelling possibilities. (Eisenstein, 1988: 21)
-it allows film makers to express the digital world without impediment, in a range of proximities and observation points, by letting the spectator to see things differently through the inhabiting and embodiment of space and place. -the fictional world is turned into an open, multi dimensional state of omni-directionality in which no angle is privileged. -Eisenstein’s notion ‘plasnaricness’. Anthropos and morphe can intersect and collide to form new power relations and anthropomorphic constructs. -dynamic digital space has been included by the anthropomophism
-the “plasmatiness” of digital animation (where boundaries between human and non-human, animate and inanimate, can constantly shift) allows the spectator to experience the virtual world as fluid and constantly changing.
Rather than passively watching, the spectator actively navigates the space, shaped by the anthropomorph’s shifting viewpoint.
In this week I have finished an online article focusing on the anthropomorphic characters and their influence to children, and I have made some notes for my thesis proposal:
Animated Movies with Animals as Major Characters: A study of Its Impact on Children Aged 5-8 Years
P378: children may learn less accurate information about real animals when exposed to unrealistic or anthropomorphized portrayals of animals in media.
-Anthropomorphism may not be suitable for educating children but useful for helping children with social and moral lessons (Mierek, 2010). -The use of animal characters instead of humans help to make tough themes less intimidating (Burke & Copenhaver, 2004,2002) and avoid any kind of identification of gender or ethnicity that may leave any kind of impact on the minds of children • ‘The movies are interesting because of their features which have been created with cheerful and colorful nuance, uncanny animation and interesting story’ (hasanah,2019) • Anthropomorphic animals help children in learning the social and cultural patterns but also help them in acquiring the language. • Children unknowingly picking up language and sound system presented by animated movies.
• P379: research significance: focusing on the impact of both factual films and anthropomorphism in animated films on children, and the good and bad effects. • P380 majority of the subject chooses animal character comparing to human character in the animation film.
• P382 most evident reason of anthropomorphic characters in animation is due to their relationship to the fantasy foundation, as animation allows for a level of flexibility that is not achievable in real life.
• p383 animals provide a level of flexibility that strict humanism cannot. • Children’s stories normally represent contentious issues at the heart of our culture. So children take the, seriously through anthropomorphise characters and learning from them. • Children’s movie help to develop empathy for others and become less egocentric. They help to foster emotional intelligence and moral growth through the storytelling. They include teaching cultural heritage and other people’s traditions, where they can establish a positive attitude toward diverse cultures. • It helps to develop children’s imagination and experience.
• P383-p384: the history of animal story can be traced back to the seventeenth century, they gain importance from teaching children language system and understanding the world. o Peter the rabbit (1902): consequence of disobedience. Potentially leading the right behaviour of children. • Anthropomorphic stories can challenge children’s capacity to discriminate between fact and fiction. • Children can learn about love, forgiveness, patience, trust, and acceptance from the Winnie the Pooh books. • Even if the anthropomorphic characters contain discreetly mental health or undiscovered disorders, children normalise them and dispel the stigmas that today’s society has imposed.
• P385: several episodes of Tom and Jerry eared academy awards for best animated short project, such as Yankee Doodle Mouse (1942), The cat Concerto (1946), Johann Mouse (1952). • ‘From their sweet conflicts, it is understood that happiness is in sharing happiness.
• P386-p387: research in the last two decades show direct effect on aggressive behaviour (Paik & Comstock, 1994; Wood et al, 1991) due to televisions:
the negative impact on children when they watch animated movies featuring animals, especially those with violent content. Research shows that exposure to violence in cartoons can increase aggressive behavior in children, making them more likely to display aggressive attitudes or behaviors.This aggression can also extend to real-life interactions with animals, distorting children’s understanding and causing them to view animals through unrealistic, male-centered perspectives.
The American Academy of Pediatrics reports that children who watch violent cartoons or movies often become tense, angry, and disobedient. Other negative effects include insensitivity to the pain and grief of others, increased susceptibility to violent behavior, health problems, and a lack of empathy. Therefore, the text recommends that parents should be cautious in selecting cartoons for their children to avoid negative impacts on their behavior.
To understand more of how anthropomorphic animals help children to understand the world and meanings behind the story, here is what I have read:
Here are a few of my notes:
P205: “Books that use animals as people can add emotional distancefor the reader when the story message is powerful or painful.”
As Anthropomorphic animal characters provide emotional distance, allowing readers (including children) to engage with complex or painful topics in a more approachable way.
P206: foundation of literature: powerful enough text ( as anthropomorphism can be used as a catalyst) no matter between which kinds of characters. Forming issues and solutions in an alternative life…
P207: The Process of Anthropomorphism -Transmogrification • anthropomorphism permeates the adult world. • When we are standing close to the metaphoric fire, the use of animals has long provided intellectual and psychological distance and allowed us to critically explore that which we would not be comfortable exploring directly.
In the free time of this week, I have mainly read the online article journal: Becoming the Animal: Political Discourse in Animation through Anthropomorphic Characters, and made some notes for my thesis proposal with my own review:
P6: anthropomorphic animal is a tool used by animators to define a character effectively (Jardim, 2013) P9: Pakistani animated movie in which political issues are discussed through anthropomorphic characterisation P12-13: animated films have used animal representation to allude to particular issues relating to politics and society by means of ‘political carnivalesque’ which depicts how animated films are representing animals as a catalyst to address political issues and challenge authority in an indirect manner.
政治狂欢化（political carnivalesque） “政治狂欢化”是文学理论中常用的一个术语，最早由米哈伊尔·巴赫金（Mikhail Bakhtin）提出，用于描述通过幽默、夸张和颠覆等方式，临时性地推翻或挑战既有的社会秩序和权威。 “政治狂欢化”指的是动画电影通过拟人化的动物角色，利用幽默、夸张、象征手法，间接地去揭示政治问题并挑战权威。 • animals as a catalyst（动物作为催化剂）：通过动物形象引导观众思考政治议题。 • indirect manner（间接的方式）：通过幽默或荒诞手法，而不是直接攻击。
Allude 暗指 -p13: the animal is ingrained in the meaning. Humankind is in an eternal struggle to gain knowledge about the animal and through animation, humans give animals meaning. –animals = catalysts for conveying social and political messages through iconography. -p14: “Animators exploit the animal form in such a way that it weakens the true identity of the animal culturally, rendering it a mere ‘brand’.” –> 动画创作者通过某种方式利用动物的形象，从文化层面削弱了动物的真实身份，把它变成了“品牌”或符号。 （这里意思是：动物形象在动画中被符号化了，不再是真正的“动物”。）
P15: -The technique of “intertextuality” in animation is quite a useful term to study if one is finding the relation between satire and animation. -animation is a way to infuse life in drawings and make them move –anthropomorphism might be helpful to study the social and psychological aspects that have been assigned to a particular animal or object and their reflection on humanity. –Walt Disney was the first person to incorporate political messages in children’s animation within the backdrop of the cold war between USA and Russia in the 1950’s.
P16: the use of fantasy in animation decrease the level of severity of social and political situation. -stereotype is basically one of the ideologies in the American animated films. In real life, they are rather binary and consist of an amalgamation (mixture) of many stereotypes. -the American society is very adamant in keeping these stereotypes alive by broadcasting them onto the minds of children and they want them to grow up watching and relating to them in their practical life as well. (Through repetition)
“false hope” in animated movies Animated movies often depict a narrative where a disadvantaged, impoverished protagonist unexpectedly gains power and becomes a societal hero. While this storyline may be especially appealing to children, it can also foster feelings of inferiority among those who are poor, as it suggests that they can transcend poverty through personal effort alone. However, in reality, capitalist societies tend to maintain social hierarchies that keep the poor in their disadvantaged positions. Consequently, this message of hope can be misleading and ineffective when applied to real life (Booker, 2010).
inferiority 劣等
P17: humor and political messages in animation Political messages embedded in animated movies can sometimes lose their impact because the fantasy and humor elements may overshadow the intended message. Satire and humor can operate on both explicit and implicit levels, but an excessive focus on humor might dilute the political content and reduce its seriousness (LaMarre, Landreville, Young & Gilkerson, 2014). Therefore, creators must be cautious in selecting the type of humor used, especially when dealing with sensitive topics such as religion and ethnicity, as humor in these areas can sometimes backfire and create unintended negative consequences. P27: Adueinces could get offended for the purpose of satire is to mock and challenge society and authority (Murphy, 2011).
subsides：减弱
P17: humor is a “multilayered enigma” which can be explored in two ways: firstly it depends on the skill of the person who is incorporating humor to deliver a serious message in form of rhetoric and secondly it is subjected to the wits of the viewer and how clever they are to understand its deeper meaning.
Humor possesses the power to grab the attention of the viewer in the most receptive way as compared to other forms of rhetoric 花言巧语, particularly in conveying a serious message (Podlas, 2011).
humour in animation makes strict and harsh reality more digestible and acceptable. The fantasy elements make the matter hypocritical 伪善的and pretentious虚夸的. ‘If someone is not familiar with the social issues of America, their interpretation of American animation would be different from someone who is familiar with these issues of gender and ethnic bias.(p18)’
The relationship between comedy and satire is strengthened when issues related to political correctness are presented in a humorous way through exaggeration and criticism, they disclose the incompatibility 不协调 within our social system. The intention of the animation, oftenly is to offend by means of political correctness (Dejean, 2016).
动画的意图往往是借助政治正确的外衣来冒犯或挑衅
– P20 Qualities research based on the study of literature based on the theoretical frameworks of Anthropomorphism in Animation, Social and Political Issues in Animation and The Role of Audience in Animated Movies.
-comparative case-study of two animated movies, from local and western context • interviews included
P23 result of the study -table 1 findings from literature review -table 2: interviews -table 3: comparative case study
TABLE 1 Literature P24 Human explain the animalism of anthropomorphic characters through giving them meanings by using metaphors. Each of them is being presented based on the relationship with humans. They reflect our social structure (holiday, 2016).
P25 –humour is to easily describe the strict reality, satire is to mocking the hidden authority and social hierarchy -political issue has been delivered through the help of symbolism
P26 targeting audiences -audiences need to understand humour in the artwork, and be aware of the relating cultures. -serious issues communicated through the use of humour may also backfire. Audiences could get offended for the purpose of satire is to mock and challenge society and authority (Murphy,2011) • media regulation has altered the amount of humour and satire can be added into the film. • Adult centered humor can expand its viewership. Male characters are always the one to deliver the adult humor (Akers, 2013)
TABLE 2 Interviews -p28: animator: animal symbols can enhance the entertainment and fantasy Film Professor: each animal tends to be associating with a particular attribute of humans. They can be a safe allegory of political references. Example: snowball the pig in animal farm, it’s based on a Russian political figure but nothing has been said directly. -p30 (animal characters are being deployed as a tool)： animator: avoid the harsh way of depicting truth like how the political issues have been reported in news, documentaries and so on. Also the use of anthropomorphic characters can help to pass the censorship.
Film professor: the targeted cultural group by the animation might be hurt through a negative connotation. For example, the cartoons created visual depictions of prophet Muhammad in 2025 has hurt the culture and religion of Muslim community.
P32 (Strategies to target audiences) Animator: it’s been settled down in the stage of pre-production. Film professor: implications should be merged into a successful film.
TABLE 3 P33 3a: comparing tables (the donkey king & zootopia) • underdog for donkeys and rabbits as they have dream to break their stereotypes. • Mangu the donkey has been selected to rule the land which he found it’s difficult through his foolish self. As the same, judy has been selected to become the first rabbit police officer in the metropolis zootopia, but only been assigned to do the least important work comparing to the other predators. • Animals are then being mysteriously kidnapped in the town. • Both protagonist fix the issue by rescuing those animals are being kidnapped. Those negative stereotypes relate to dangers and troublemakers have been attributed to the violent predators in the film. -These films have tried to reflect issue in the society, such as gender bias, Pakistani political situation. By giving characters a good ending by covering the satirical side of the narrative, to express through a light way for audiences to deeply think about.
P37 3b: contrasting tables (the donkey king & zootopia) • doneky king is focusing on the Pakistani culture and different groups of people in the society to reflect the hierarchy and unfairness. The fox character has been attributed the crafty and cunning stereotypes in the movie, and been portrayed as a villain. The story shows the external influences impact the Pakistani politics in the end through villain controls most of the energy through the ring. • Zootopia using animal symbols to reflect the gender and ethnic bias globally. The fox in this film is challenging the stereotype by turning in to a hero with judy in the ending. As the apparently polite mayor has been exposed to be the true villain, it alludes to the corruption of power in the city.
P40 –‘it is important that the image have more than one meaning and is open to interpretation of the viewer.’ -cartoon evolved into animation, as so more symbols are used to allude the real issues, and animals are become the most popular one in the animation industry.
The animated animal has become a universal symbol (Wells, 2008).
-The satire has built up controversy and violent cases such as :
Jyllands-Posten Prophet Muhammad Cartoons (2005) • In 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 editorial cartoons that included depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. • This deeply offended many Muslims because Islam generally prohibits images of the Prophet Muhammad, considering it blasphemous. • The publication led to widespread protests, diplomatic tensions, and in some cases, violent riots in several Muslim-majority countries. • Note: Denmark as a country didn’t go to war with Muslims, but the controversy created a serious international diplomatic crisis.
Iran-e-Jomee Cockroach Cartoon (2006) • This is another example of a controversial cartoon in the Iranian newspaper, created by Mana Neyestani. It didn’t depict a human subject but rather used a cockroach to make a point—apparently representing someone speaking in Azerbaijani. • This was also perceived as offensive and sparked protests. • It demonstrates that even symbolic or non-human representations can be considered insulting depending on cultural and political contexts.
Carrying on with developing the rest of the proposal Here is today’s feedback: -thinking of the other subtitles like ‘creativity and exploitation’ -no need to put page numbers for article journal in my citation
-check italics again (of the citation) -check how anthropomorphism developed for children’s animation under the cultural influences -I can use other parts in the animation as counter arguments in my topic, not only anthropomorphism is used to develop the comedy or genre of the film -start my research design/ abstract
In this session, we have went through different topics and videos, here are my notes:
To read things more efficiently, there are no short ways; the more we read, the quicker we would become, and the more familiar we will be with the chosen topics.
Check paper topics, abstract, refined information
using Mendeley desktop
reading introduction, checking the beginning of each paragraph.
Always reading supporting papers after reading key papers.
Research Design:
It is the method of organization and data collection that a researcher applies to a project or study.
It can provide instructions for collecting, analyzing and measuring data effectively.
I can choose an effective research design by considering my research problem, which is the specific topic or knowledge gap that my research aims to address.
We could include my research question and research design selection in the introduction of my paper.
I can choose a research design by reviewing the methods other research papers used and learning about different types of research designs.
20 Types of Research Design:
Exploratory research design:
don’t have a clearly defined problem to study
is less structured
a guide to uncover your research problem
Observational research design *
emphasizes observing my research topic without altering any variables
observing behaviors or phenomena and record them rather than conducting an experiment
Descriptive research design *
to describe a research topic
useful when I need more information about my topic
understand the “what,” “where,” “when” and “how” of my research topic, excluding ‘why’
Case study *
analyses of real-world situations to understand and evaluate past problems and solutions
test how an idea applies to real life
Action research design
involves initial exploratory analysis and the development of an action strategy
focuses on finding solutions, making it practical for many research topics
Experimental research design
to test how different factors affect a situation
very versatile
uses the scientific method
elements included: Hypothesis/ Independent variable/ Dependent variable/ Control variable
Causal research design
to identify and understand relationships between variables
involves at at least two variables and explore many possible reasons for a relationship between variables
Correlational research design
identifies relationships between variables like casual research design
measures variables but do not alter them
Diagnostic research design
attempts to find the underlying factors that cause events or phenomena to occur
to understand what’s causing problems so I can find solutions
Cross-sectional research design
another type of observational research design
observing multiple individuals at the same point in time
does not alter variables
Sequential research design *
divides research into stages
complete sequential research at multiple points in time, study phenomena that occur over periods
Cohort research design
commonly used in medicine
examining research subjects who have already been exposed to a research topic, making it especially effective for conducting ethical research on medical topics or risk factors
Historical research design
use past data to test your hypothesis
relies on historical data like archives, maps, diaries and logs
useful for completing trend analysis or gathering context for a research problem
Field research design
observe subjects in natural environments
collect data directly from real-world situations
Systematic review
involves reviewing existing evidence and analyzing data from existing studies
use previous research to come up with new conclusions
Survey
use surveys to gather information directly from your sample population
including interviews, online forms, focus groups, and questionnaires.
Meta-analysis research design
uses a variety of populations from different existing studies
use previous research to form new conclusions
Mixed-method research design *
combine multiple research methods to create the best path for a specific research project
include both qualitative and quantitative research methods
Longitudinal research design
involves observing the same sample repeatedly over a period of time
Philosophical research design
analyze and understand your research problem
builds on philosophical argumentation techniques
In a research proposal, the author demonstrates how and why their research is relevant to their field. They demonstrate that the work is necessary to achieve the following: • Filling a gap in the existing body of research on their subject • Underscoring existing research on their subject, and/or • Adding new, original knowledge to the academic community’s existing understanding of their subject Your research proposal also must explain the following • The research methodology you plan to use. The tools and procedures you will use to collect, analyse, and interpret the data you collect • Limitations or constraints that =are come with conducting it through your institution, department, or academic program
Golden Thread: (How I’m tying my thesis together to answer my research questions and addressing the research problems)
part 1: Concepts
What is the central argument in my research
Be reasonable with the ‘so what’ question
Take the reader from problem to solution, by aligning chapters with each other and tying it all back to our research problem.
Part 2: How to practically apply the golden thread
Place my title on the footer of my dissertation or thesis, it helps me to study with my topic when I write things.
Perform Alignment
Create a criterion by having a very clear title
Highlighting important parts in my title, using them as my checklist and keywords
Creating primary and secondary research questions (Chapters) based on the research problems
check primary and secondary research questions with my checklist, if anything we didn’t address, we need to add another chapter.
Literature Review: including points to resolve the research questions.
Check topics in the Lit Review match with my checklist main titles and my previews primary and secondary research questions.
Add points in Lit Review if there is lack of allignment to our previous checklist and topics.
Part 3: How to weave the golden thread in my research design
Research Design and Method chapter:
Having title, problem statement and research questions, points in literature review in prepared
Checklist main topics, key concepts in primary/ secondary question problems/ Literature Review Points
Think how would I be able to approach my written topics/ concepts (check 20 ways of doing research designs)? —> collecting data through methods/ research designs and then explain them in this chapter to align with topics I previously choose.
Part 4: ‘So What’ Question
Research Discussion Chapter:
Starting my key findings
This chapter must be aligned with previous questions and titles
Compare my findings to literature review, my study can contradict with the notion, and result a different conclusion
Add new findings as research discussion topics
Conclusion topic:
Answer the ‘So What’ Question based on our data.
Research Objectives:
outcomes that you aim to achieve by conducting research, research projects contain more than one research objective
Research objectives help me narrow in on the focus of my research and key variables, guiding me through the research process. They also drive the research project, including data collection, analysis and conclusions
research objectives appear early in a research proposal, often between the introduction and the research question
can place the research objectives in the introduction
researchers also list their objectives in the abstract of their proposal
can break research focus down into smaller steps and separate objectives, use the specific objectives to describe how you can achieve your general goal
Measurable: Making your objectives measurable is essential to achieving them. You can create metrics to measure your progress toward achieving your objectives.
Achievable: Be sure to create objectives that you can realistically achieve to help you avoid getting overwhelmed by unrealistic expectations. Make sure you have the resources and budget to accomplish your objectives.
Relevant: Make your objectives relevant to your research and your overall goals. This can help you stay motivated and on track throughout your research project.
Time-based: You can establish deadlines to help you keep your research process on track. You can set a major deadline for your entire project as well as smaller deadlines for each objective.
In this lesson, our lecturer talked about how a framework could help us to structure our study in thesis writing.
And we have mainly watched some videos on the YouTube:
This one talks about how the frame can be used and seen in daily life, and it can distort how people identify and conclude things from their perspective. similarly, the framework in my writing can effect how audiences responses to my writing, especially with a meaningful conclusion.
This one talks about a few steps on finding the ‘real’ framework which can be used by our study:
practical tips on how to find one: (I need to get to know my project first)
Title
The problem I would like to solve
The research questions I would like to answer
Knowledge of existing literature —> start finding my framework.
EXAMPLE: – researching a new topic, like: ‘Defining a Digital Business Strategy (DBS)’
—->>>> do my literature review
——>>>> understanding Description 1, 2, 3.
2. Highlight the keywords
We see a lot of them in our literature review.
write keywords of this topic somewhere ——> they can help the research for my framework of the study.
3. Google.com
research by using ‘keyword + framework’ —-> image checking in google to see any old studies include the model of it.
check each key word from the list.
4. Check if this is a ‘real’ framework.
our research needs to be supported by reliable resources.
Type the name of the model/frame in Google Scholar.
Download the paper to see if its related writing is based on this ‘real’ framework picture.
5. Does it really speak to what I want?
Find the ORIGINAL work relating to the image of the model.
6. Find if there is any paper related videos online.
7. Any later version of this framework.
paper word: extension *
8. I might need to combine framework models into one conceptual model that is designed for my study.
This video talks about how to do with the framework we found, or the conceptual model I created in my study.
Explain the model.
Conceptualise the Framework —–> refining the key part I will be using in the model.
Shape data collection plan.
Main influences of the framework in our plan:
Hypothesis —> which can test out our study.
Data collection instruments.
Data analysis.
To conclude, the framework influences my whole study; it could help us to understand the problem, shape our data collection, and interpret it.
This week I focused on re-organising my notes gathered from different readings I have done and paraphrasing the important text, which I think is a key for me to write the draft literature review.
Topic 1:
<How anthropomorphism is changing the social context of modern wildlife conservation>
Anthropomorphism is a concept of humans start adding their own characteristics into non-human entities, such as animals. As people’s social value and style of their personal life had been entirely changed by the modernisation after the Second World War, the need of their seek of belongingness as human beings were getting stronger due to the growth of urbanisation, the loneliness and the lower life happiness. Thus, by putting emotions into non-human things and building up relationships with them, such as pet-keeping, it fulfils the connections while also bringing up a few issues.
<animation and America>
In the same period, the text also points out the influence of how people view their physical and material world differently had encouraged the art practice to challenge traditional orthodoxies. With constant change, they had achieved the revolution and the renovation of modernism. It is a culture to critique the contrast between the modernisation of technology and dehumanisation as a representation of ambivalence.
<Towards a Definition of American Modernism>
The text has pointed out that Modernism arised early from symbolism and impressionism, which were built up through different art forms such as symbolist and paintings they emphasise on what they have been effected emotionally through the object instead focusing on the real thing. They explore beyond world structure under the positivism while sharing more unpredictable experience from human perception.
<animation and America>
Correspondingly, the pervasive anthropomorphic characters in variety of media support audiences to explore different scenarios through changing identities, metamorphosis, dehumanising and restructuring themselves in the story; without bounding into any industrial orthodoxies, they are living in an uncertain reality and working for the need of gags to structure more possibilities and values.
Talk about how the abstractions inspire the appearance of anthropomorphic characters. Animation and American, p20, the animator pioneers under the time experiment the limits of graphic space, ‘playing out narration of perception and memory in rapid metamorphosis.’ They play ‘lines, shapes, forms in the enunciation of time, space, weight and flow.’
Topic 2:
Anthropomorphic characters which created to expose the political issues are as an important example to show the sprit of modernism in different work.
<Animation and American: p22, >the abstraction of anthropomorphism in early American animation achieved through developing technologies in the industry, which explores the relationship between humanity and animality and the expression of humans after being challenged. It reflect the possible lack of humanity in society, philosophy and mechanisation.
<Symbols, metaphors and similes in literature: A case study of “Animal Farm”: p23>
The characters in Animal Farm were created by the author as metaphors for the Soviet Union leaders, of the Russian revolution in beginning of the 20 century. Based on the analysis of characters in the story, the text found the resemblances of characters of the government’s leaders at the time to the animals found in the story. Such as the boar napoleon represents ruthless and authoritarian Joseph Stalin between 1920s to 1950s, the old Major from the first chapter represents the revolutionary and idealistic Vladimir Lenin between late 1910s and early 1920s.
<Character Metaphors in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, p84-86>:
Similarly, the text here also points out the metaphors of the anthropomorphic animals in the original novel. Such as the most prestigious boars in the farm, Snowball and Napoleon, which are always arguing on their ideas are representing the confrontation between Stalin and Trotsky within the soviet power to fight for the president position. Though, napoleon was more successful by expelling Snowball in the story with the help of nine enormous dog and crafty squealer, in response to the committee for State Security and the Soviet official party paper.
<Revolution on Animal Farm: Orwell’s Neglected Commentary>:
Overall the story emphasis on the difficulties and dangers of the socialist revolution. In the story when pigs brought the apples into their harness room by assuming themselves are the most important brainworker in the farm while slowly formed up their own dictatorship in chapter 3 (p38-39), the failure of any other animal’s protest with their pessimistic attitude became an abandon to the spirit of their animalism in the book. Quoting the text ‘if people outside still thought that that particular form of revolution could succeed without betraying its goals, nothing new could be accomplished (p137)’, the idealisation originally structured by the old Major had completely be destroyed by pigs and their Stalinism from the seven commandments had eventually turned into one to permit the hierarchy of animals in their farm. The text also summarises the author’s idea that in the face revolutionary change toward socialism, true success can only be achieved only when everyone contributes their effort for themselves and protect their initial resolutions. Otherwise the power-hunger group could easily disrupt the equilibrium, like how the apples had been unfairly taken away by pigs in the story.
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As Orwell mentioned, he was keen to write a story which could be easily translated into other languages and being understood by a wide range of readers (p131). In its animated form, the animals build up connections with audiences through their performances, and with no explicit political references under the sensitive topics, their behaviour becomes a core internal sources to be focused and reviewed. The film highlights their foibles and flaws, allowing viewers to interpret deeper meanings through the lens of animal characteristics.
Topic 3:
Towards the end of the last century, animation companies started embedding the concept of anthropomorphism into the creation of their hyper-realistic and cartoon characters, influenced by the background of modernism. A few well known examples include the beast from the beauty and the beast, samba from the lion king and the Micky Mouse from its series.
<Animation and American: p23, >Scholars Patrick D. Murphy and Richard Schickel argued these characters hide their natural terrors or wildness through cuteness, joke and musical cues in the performance, which can be way more ideal for the story-telling.
Whereas, their figures blended with ‘sentimental modernism’, a term pointed out by Steven Watt <p24.>, a way where characters mix their complex emotions and human-like trait together work well for gags in films.
<Understanding Animation: p129,> In the early ‘trick’ films, audiences were mostly unallied with characters which create random humours as gags in a story with a lack of continuity and empathy. However, the added human personalities and emotional depth of anthropomorphic characters allow audiences to be emotionally attached by the way how stories are being told sentimentally and how their characteristics are being expressed freely.
A few examples can be found in the early short films created by Windsor McCay,by combining with key elements of building up personalised characters in films mentioning in <Understanding Animation: p129-130,>:
Eye contact between characters and audiences to break up the 4th wall.
Facial expressions to deliver emotions and expressions.
Recognised physical poses in the set.
Clear motivation set and acted by the anthropomorphic character itself within narrations.
Physical rhythms indicate the attitude of the character.
The character is taking responsibility of the film as an actor.
Here are my studies:
1: Mosquito in ‘How a mosquito operates (1912)’
This surreal short animation features an anthropomorphic mosquito dressed in a business suit, sneaking into a chubby man’s room, obsessively sucking his blood in an addictive way while he is in a deep sleep, and eventually bursting himself due to its overindulgence.
Through the whole story, we can easily identify the mosquito’s body language such as observing the lock with his eyes carefully, and rubbing his hands in a manner of diligence. When he is lightly patting his hat, he also turns its face into the audiences and then showing his playful excitement and pride of catching such a human prey.
His physical rhythm can be easily followed up by seeing the beat of his needle-like proboscis. His determination has been emphasised through multiple attempts of piercing its needle into the man’s skin in a persistent way.
When he is full with an exaggerated grotesque tummy, audiences could easily sympathise his physical discomfort, leading to a feeling of both amusement and unease at his tragicomic ending due to all the similar human traits.
2: Dinosaur in’ Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)’
This influential short animation displays the interaction between the creator Winsor McCay, and his animated dinosaur, Gertie, set in a dinner time, surrounding by the other gentlemen to watch their performance.
Gertie, an anthropomorphic figure which is highly reflective in human’s emotion through its physical responses to McCay’s commands. She easily breaks the fourth wall by performing bow to the audiences and is being playful itself to follow the instructions in a charm manner.
Gertie can do different physical poses such as raising feet, shaking its bodies and moving around with surprising expressiveness to show its characterisation.
Also, she cries when McCay blames on her of being distracted by the sea serpent appearing in the scene, and bearing grudges with the jumbo by attacking the latter back to show the emotional depth.
Overall, her spirit of sentimental modernism is displayed through emotionally engaging with the creator McCay and showing her human traits of being childish, naughty and innocent in the scene. She brought humour to the narrative and gaining affection from audiences to the story, and eventually making people to remember her in the animation history.
To conclude, Winsor McCay’s successful use of ‘caricature’ and ‘exaggeration’ in anthropomorphic characters deliver a strong sense of natural shortcomings from their internal sources, this anti-stereotype of traditional gags had been studied by Disney films at the same time (understanding animation, P130). Which helps audiences to identify the weaknesses and strengths of human traits and hence being impressed by the creation of figures. Also, Disney tried to adopt the working process which used by Windsor McCay into Ub Iwerks creation, instead of drawing from one image to the next one, he tended to add ‘in-between’ in the middle of two ‘extreme’ poses. (Animation and American, P21).
Topic 4:
Though the concept of anthropomorphism brought a lot of benefits to the creation of art, it is undeniable there are potential risk, destabilisation, and immorality of applying it to our media in the real life.
<Popular Media and Animals> first chapter:
The text indicates anthropomorphic narratives of animals are in an important position for popular media industries and define most animal issues in publicity.
However, the strongly use of anthropomorphism from the human perspective to describe the plight of them in either soft news or hard news is structured to gain emotional reaction from audiences in popular media, and boost the sale.
Hence, Steve baker argues those animals within popular culture themselves, are not being treated respectfully, instead they symbolise the dismissive treatment of the farm in a trivialising and amusing way for the publications.
And, their reality received by audiences are being addressed mainly through representations to control the influence of the business.
In the film industries, real animals have always been strongly exploited, specially through merchandising the product and entertaining the audiences.
<Popular Media and Animals> third chapter:
Animal stars were especially crucial in the mid-twentieth American film industry, they embedded human traits for the marketable functions and represented cultural stereotypes for audiences to consume(p55-56).
In studio under Hollywood such as MGM, it had a specific system for training and producing animal related films and products (p51-52), animals were correspondingly becoming part of their physical capitals.
Jackie the Hollywood MGM lion, one of the animal stars was absolute a moneymaking of the business, has been strongly pressured by Hollywood films for his entire life.
After the inspiration and success of ‘gimmick pictures’, centring animals and chap production produced by universal-international studio, Jackie had been used to compete it in ‘Fearless Fagan, the wandering lion’.
Poor Jackie had to passively work in a toxic environment, they structured him as a figure or orphan initially to attract the support of the community, after he had been rescued from the Mills Bros. Circus; they focused on ways to generate the revenue such as releasing peanuts merchandise and pictured him with other famous stars; his natural animality of lion had been replaced by gentleness and sensitivity in his characters while he was over 400 pounds, and his film critics will be only relied on his performances instead of his animal natures.
<Popular Media and Animals> second chapter:
Also, animal testing was becoming more popular after the second war due to the development of science and medicine, therefore the post-war west are more reliant on the constant exploitation of animals.
Readers of the newspaper based on the cases formed national pets club in 1957, they set strong influence on the vivisection around the world.
However, proponents of animal rights movement tried to split them from the identity of ‘animal lovers’ by the end of 20th century due to their excessive emotional sympathy towards animal potentially led to the acts of terrorism.
As mentioned by Peter Singer in his text, the protest raised up by emotional ‘animal-lovers’ has excluded the true issue being discussed in serious political and moral debates, as their extreme actions only lead to negative stereotypes and the marginalisation to the society.
