title: Framing audience prefigurations of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: The roles of fandom, politics and idealised intertexts

authors: Davis, Charles H.

subjects: prefiguration

abstract: Audiences for blockbuster event-film sequels and adaptations often formulate highly developed expectations, motivations, understandings and opinions well before the films are released. A range of intertextual and paratextual influences inform these audience prefigurations, and are believed to frame subsequent audience engagement and response. In our study of prefigurative engagements with Peter Jackson’s 2012 film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, we used Q methodology to identify five distinct subjective orientations within the film’s global audience. As this paper illustrates, each group privileges a different set of extratextual referents – notably J.R.R. Tolkien’s original novels, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of The Rings film trilogy, highly localised political debates relating to the film’s production, and the previous associations of the film’s various stars. These interpretive frames, we suggest, competed for ascendancy within public and private discourse in the lead up to The Hobbit’s international debut, effectively fragmenting and indeed polarising the film’s prospective global audience.

text: Framing audience prefigurations of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: The roles of fandom, politics and idealised intertexts Audiences for blockbuster event-film sequels and adaptations often formulate highly developed expectations, motivations, understandings and opinions well before the films are released. A range of intertextual and paratextual influences inform these audience prefigurations, and are believed to frame subsequent audience engagement and response. In our study of prefigurative engagements with Peter Jackson’s 2012 film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, we used Q methodology to identify five distinct subjective orientations within the film’s global audience. As this paper illustrates, each group privileges a different set of extratextual referents – notably J.R.R. Tolkien’s original novels, Peter Jackson’s The Lord of The Rings film trilogy, highly localised political debates relating to the film’s production, and the previous associations of the film’s various stars. These interpretive frames, we suggest, competed for ascendancy within public and private discourse in the lead up to The Hobbit’s international debut, effectively fragmenting and indeed polarising the film’s prospective global audience.

year: 2014

title: Management strategies to optimise sustainable clam (Tapes philippinarum) harvests in Barbamarco Lagoon, Italy

authors: Spillman, C.M.

subjects: tapes philippinarum

abstract: Barbamarco Lagoon is a small lagoon adjoining the Northern Adriatic Sea and is the site of a commercially valuable clam (Tapes philippinarum) fishery. A three-dimensional (3D) coupled hydrodynamic–ecological model was applied to the lagoon with the objective of assessing impacts on clam food supply, commercial harvests and water quality of different clam rearing strategies, lagoon morphologies and flow regimes. Harvest and net growth to seeding ratios, total harvest value, clearance efficiencies and clam satiety were used to quantify the commercial success of different management strategies, while bottom dissolved oxygen concentrations were used as an indicator of ecosystem health. Increasing exchange with the Northern Adriatic Sea or increasing freshwater inputs into the lagoon improved clam food supply and increased both harvest production and ecosystem health in model simulations of the system. Results indicated that the high spatial and temporal variability of clam production and water quality responses must be considered for a holistic assessment of the outcomes of strategies in the context of ecological and production carrying capacity.

text: Management strategies to optimise sustainable clam (Tapes philippinarum) harvests in Barbamarco Lagoon, Italy Barbamarco Lagoon is a small lagoon adjoining the Northern Adriatic Sea and is the site of a commercially valuable clam (Tapes philippinarum) fishery. A three-dimensional (3D) coupled hydrodynamic–ecological model was applied to the lagoon with the objective of assessing impacts on clam food supply, commercial harvests and water quality of different clam rearing strategies, lagoon morphologies and flow regimes. Harvest and net growth to seeding ratios, total harvest value, clearance efficiencies and clam satiety were used to quantify the commercial success of different management strategies, while bottom dissolved oxygen concentrations were used as an indicator of ecosystem health. Increasing exchange with the Northern Adriatic Sea or increasing freshwater inputs into the lagoon improved clam food supply and increased both harvest production and ecosystem health in model simulations of the system. Results indicated that the high spatial and temporal variability of clam production and water quality responses must be considered for a holistic assessment of the outcomes of strategies in the context of ecological and production carrying capacity.

year: 2009

title: A cultural encounter through volunteer tourism: Towards the ideals of sustainable tourism?

authors: McIntosh, Alison J.

subjects: cultural tourism

abstract: International volunteering is increasingly recognised as a form of alternative tourism. However, the nature of the ‘alternative’ experience gained, and the ensuing narrative between host and volunteer, remains under-explored in published research, especially in volunteer tourism research within a cultural context in a developed nation. This paper examines the nexus between volunteer tourism and cultural tourism in the search for alternative and sustainable experiences through tourism. Qualitative research using in-depth interviews, diaries and participant observation was conducted to examine the pre-, during and post-trip experiences of 12 Australian visitors undertaking organised volunteer activities in an indigenous Maori community in the North Island of New Zealand during January 2005. Members of the indigenous Maori community were also interviewed to provide an important host perspective. Findings suggest that the nature of the interaction and cultural experiences gained were perceived as mutually beneficial and seemingly different from those gained from traditional cultural products. In particular, the volunteers experienced an alternative Maori cultural product and engaged in a different narrative with their Maori hosts through their volunteer work, one rich in authentic cultural content, genuine and reflective of modern Maori life in New Zealand society.

text: A cultural encounter through volunteer tourism: Towards the ideals of sustainable tourism? International volunteering is increasingly recognised as a form of alternative tourism. However, the nature of the ‘alternative’ experience gained, and the ensuing narrative between host and volunteer, remains under-explored in published research, especially in volunteer tourism research within a cultural context in a developed nation. This paper examines the nexus between volunteer tourism and cultural tourism in the search for alternative and sustainable experiences through tourism. Qualitative research using in-depth interviews, diaries and participant observation was conducted to examine the pre-, during and post-trip experiences of 12 Australian visitors undertaking organised volunteer activities in an indigenous Maori community in the North Island of New Zealand during January 2005. Members of the indigenous Maori community were also interviewed to provide an important host perspective. Findings suggest that the nature of the interaction and cultural experiences gained were perceived as mutually beneficial and seemingly different from those gained from traditional cultural products. In particular, the volunteers experienced an alternative Maori cultural product and engaged in a different narrative with their Maori hosts through their volunteer work, one rich in authentic cultural content, genuine and reflective of modern Maori life in New Zealand society.

year: 2007