title: The Dark Knight’s many stories: Arkham Video Games as transmedia pathway

authors: Barrett, Kyle

subjects: Transmedia

abstract: This article examines the Batman Arkhamvideo game series (Rocksteady/WB Montreal, 2009-2015) as part of a wider transmedia franchise that encompasses comic books, films, merchandise and multiple animated and live-action television series. It will be posited that the video game series is a successful entry point for non-fans into this ever-expanding transmedia universe. Batman: Arkham Asylum(2009), the first of the series, was critically acclaimed and established the gameplay, mechanics, and rules for the sequels Arkham City(2011), Arkham Origins(2013) and Arkham Knight(2015). Gameplay mechanics are linkedto ‘player agency,’ i.e.how the user controls the avatar within the game environment. Player agency is somewhat restricted in the series;however, this will be argued to bea benefit for audiences. There are somewhat ludic conditions that can either be beneficial or detrimental for the player, to ensure they learn from failure. This essay will further argue that players accumulate a wider understanding of the Batman universe by collecting artefacts as they deviate from the central narrative. The player unearths character biographies and interview tapes that are based on the character’s extensive history and, thus, provide a gateway into the transmedia world of Batman.

text: The Dark Knight’s many stories: Arkham Video Games as transmedia pathway This article examines the Batman Arkhamvideo game series (Rocksteady/WB Montreal, 2009-2015) as part of a wider transmedia franchise that encompasses comic books, films, merchandise and multiple animated and live-action television series. It will be posited that the video game series is a successful entry point for non-fans into this ever-expanding transmedia universe. Batman: Arkham Asylum(2009), the first of the series, was critically acclaimed and established the gameplay, mechanics, and rules for the sequels Arkham City(2011), Arkham Origins(2013) and Arkham Knight(2015). Gameplay mechanics are linkedto ‘player agency,’ i.e.how the user controls the avatar within the game environment. Player agency is somewhat restricted in the series;however, this will be argued to bea benefit for audiences. There are somewhat ludic conditions that can either be beneficial or detrimental for the player, to ensure they learn from failure. This essay will further argue that players accumulate a wider understanding of the Batman universe by collecting artefacts as they deviate from the central narrative. The player unearths character biographies and interview tapes that are based on the character’s extensive history and, thus, provide a gateway into the transmedia world of Batman.

year: 2020-12-18

title: Pre-conference tephra data workshop: Hands-on session II: Tephra excursion, Okareka loop road (29 January 2023)

authors: Lowe, David J.

subjects: Okareka embayment

abstract: General stratigraphy of Okareka Loop Road section.
The following units are evident in the sequence from the base upwards:
(1) early tephras (Te Rere, 25.1 cal ka; Okareka, 23.5 cal ka) and thin interbedded loess within the remnant top of a small, buried hill-top at the base of the sequence;
(2) the buried hill itself, the formation of which represents a period of erosion that occurred during the last glacial period, and remnants of a (reworked?) tephra draping the (paleo)hillslope (Rerewhakaaitu, 17.6 cal ka);
(3) the thick (~4.5 m), bedded pumice lapilli tephra (with lithics) mantling the hill (Rotorua, 15.6 cal ka), the top of which is pedogenically modified to form a distinct orange soil (this orange soil material is evident throughout Rotorua basin and in road cuttings such as along SH 5 to the west of Rotorua); and
(4) at least four younger tephras and soil horizons overlying the buried soil on the Rotorua tephra: Waiohau (14.0 cal ka), Rotomā (9.4 cal ka), Kaharoa (c. 1314 ± 10 CE/AD), and Rotomahana Mud (of the Tarawera eruption, 10 June 1886).

text: Pre-conference tephra data workshop: Hands-on session II: Tephra excursion, Okareka loop road (29 January 2023) General stratigraphy of Okareka Loop Road section.
The following units are evident in the sequence from the base upwards:
(1) early tephras (Te Rere, 25.1 cal ka; Okareka, 23.5 cal ka) and thin interbedded loess within the remnant top of a small, buried hill-top at the base of the sequence;
(2) the buried hill itself, the formation of which represents a period of erosion that occurred during the last glacial period, and remnants of a (reworked?) tephra draping the (paleo)hillslope (Rerewhakaaitu, 17.6 cal ka);
(3) the thick (~4.5 m), bedded pumice lapilli tephra (with lithics) mantling the hill (Rotorua, 15.6 cal ka), the top of which is pedogenically modified to form a distinct orange soil (this orange soil material is evident throughout Rotorua basin and in road cuttings such as along SH 5 to the west of Rotorua); and
(4) at least four younger tephras and soil horizons overlying the buried soil on the Rotorua tephra: Waiohau (14.0 cal ka), Rotomā (9.4 cal ka), Kaharoa (c. 1314 ± 10 CE/AD), and Rotomahana Mud (of the Tarawera eruption, 10 June 1886).

year: 2023-01-29

title: /u/ fronting and /t/ aspiration in Māori and New Zealand English

authors: Maclagan, Margaret

subjects: Maori

abstract: This article examines the relationship between the frontness of /u/ and the aspiration of /t/ in both Māori and New Zealand English (NZE). In both languages, these processes can be observed since the earliest recordings dating from the latter part of the nineteenth century. We report analyses of these developments for three groups of male speakers of Māori spanning the twentieth century. We compare the Māori analyses with analyses of related features of the speakers' English and of the English of monolingual contemporaries. The occurrence of these processes in Māori cannot be seen simply as interference from NZE as the Māori-speaking population became increasingly bilingual. We conclude that it was the arrival of English with its contrast between aspirated and unaspirated plosives, rather than direct borrowing, that was the trigger for the fronting of the hitherto stable back Māori /u/ vowel together with increased aspiration of /t/ before both /i/ and /u/.

text: /u/ fronting and /t/ aspiration in Māori and New Zealand English This article examines the relationship between the frontness of /u/ and the aspiration of /t/ in both Māori and New Zealand English (NZE). In both languages, these processes can be observed since the earliest recordings dating from the latter part of the nineteenth century. We report analyses of these developments for three groups of male speakers of Māori spanning the twentieth century. We compare the Māori analyses with analyses of related features of the speakers' English and of the English of monolingual contemporaries. The occurrence of these processes in Māori cannot be seen simply as interference from NZE as the Māori-speaking population became increasingly bilingual. We conclude that it was the arrival of English with its contrast between aspirated and unaspirated plosives, rather than direct borrowing, that was the trigger for the fronting of the hitherto stable back Māori /u/ vowel together with increased aspiration of /t/ before both /i/ and /u/.

year: 2009