Category: Analysis

Art as a Vehicle and Jerzy Grotowski’s Investigations Beyond the 20th Century

Photograph of Jerzy Grotowski, a white man with medium-length white hair, beard and moustache

Dossier on director Jerzy Grotowski highlights the relevance of his theatrical practices and cross-cultural approaches, featuring articles that revisit his legacy to propose new perspectives for contemporary theatrical art. Read More →

Metamorphosis, friction or symbiosis between body and animated forms in the work of Ilka Schönbein

Black and white photograph of Ilka Schönbein's show “Métamorphoses”, in which dolls and puppets with a slightly macabre appearance stand above a wooden platform, being manipulated by the artist.

The works of puppeteer and dancer Ilka Schönbein challenge perceptions of life and death, provoking reflections on eroticism and finitude. Her creations reveal a poetic singularity that provokes disquieting strangeness in the relationship between the human and the animate. Read More →

Presence as a field of research in the performing arts

A dark multi-level stage with reflections and abstract and colorful geometric patterns inspired by nature projected onto the surfaces.

Throughout its work, the Revista Brasileira de Estudos da Presença has given visibility to various themes in the performing arts, focusing on the concept of presence. We present articles that discuss this subject in dialogue with philosophy and media arts, going beyond the hic et nunc of the stage event. Read More →

An Analysis of the Epistemological Foundations of Machine Learning

Photograph of a robotic hand and a human hand reaching towards each other against a plain background, nearly touching fingertips.

Outlined here is a critical review of the logical-epistemic foundations of machine learning, focusing on the limitation of AI systems’ autonomy in generating knowledge. It contrasts this possibility with the theoretical constraints posed by Chaitin’s incompleteness theorem, which argues that AI cannot surpass human cognitive capacity. Read More →

Tracing the origins of ‘publish or perish’ [Originally published in the LSE Impact blog in July/2024]

A painting by John N. Rhodes called “Study of a Skull, a Book and a Scroll of Paper” shows a human skull resting on a piece of paper wrapped around a brown cover book with a worn spine, so that you can see the seams.

The search for the origin of the phrase ‘publish or perish’ has been intriguing since it was first raised by Eugene Garfield in 1996. Drawing on recent discoveries in relation to this question, Vladimir Moskovkin, discusses the evolution of the term and pinpoints its earliest known usage to date. Read More →

How to translate academic writing into podcasts using generative AI [Originally published in the LSE Impact blog in June/2024]

Image of a work of art made up of several lilac letters in a formation that looks like a cloud, generated by Google DeepMind

One of the benefits of generative AI is the ability to transform one media from text, to speech, to imagery to video. In this post Andy Tattersall explores one aspect of this ability, by transforming his archive written blogposts into a podcast format, Talking Threads, and discusses why and how this could be beneficial for research communication. Read More →

The Open University of Brazil in the management of student permanence in Pedagogy courses

Photograph of a man wearing glasses and headphones smiling while looking at a laptop screen. He is sitting at a table with a book, notebooks and a pen. In the background, there are shelves with folders and potted plants.

The growth of distance education (Educação a Distância, EaD) in Brazil, coupled with the high dropout rates in this modality, brings with it the need to renew school management models, with the aim of keeping students until they graduate. Based on an analysis of the Pedagogy courses at the Open University of Brazil, researchers have developed alternative guidelines to guarantee student retention. Read More →

Web platform can revolutionize the essay correction process

Promotional image of CRIA (artificial intelligence essay grader), showing the tool's logo, details about its features, and social media contacts, all on a purple background.

In search of an alternative to the laborious process of correcting essays, more specifically regarding identifying deviations from the theme in essays, researchers have developed a text feedback platform that simulates the National High School Examination (Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio, ENEM) guidelines and grades, the Corrector of Essays by Artificial Intelligence (Corretor de Redações por Inteligência Artificial, CRIA). The tool is already being used by students and education professionals. Read More →

How do young people experience the democratization of access to higher education?

Map illustrating the Federal District, highlighting the areas where the young interviewees lived. These are 12 administrative regions of the capital, one of the most unequal cities in the country.

Educational expansion, marked by the tension between meritocracy and pragmatism in access to higher education, confronts the aspirations and realities of young people, especially those from working class backgrounds, amid the erosion of traditional notions of career and stability. While some seek any degree as a means of social mobility, others aim for specific careers, trying to adapt in the face of obstacles. Read More →

Pedagogical practices for student retention

Man with short brown hair, wearing rectangular-framed glasses, black suit, and tie, presenting a seminar in a conference room. In the background, a screen displays a slideshow with the text "Active Methodologies in the Classroom".

Professional education has been undergoing transformations, so schools are challenged to re-signify the way they maintain a link with society. Student dropout is one of the major problems faced, and pedagogical practices are aimed at getting students more involved with the institution. Read More →

Collective constructions: open peer review of an article on indigenous literature

Photograph of an indigenous man seen from behind, gazing at the horizon. He is wearing a feather headdress and various adornments on his body. He stands beside a small lake in an open field with diverse vegetation. The sky above is clear and blue.

Open peer review is critical to ensuring the integrity and quality of academic research, enabling greater transparency and collaboration. According to the researchers, the dialogical process between authors and reviewers and the resulting knowledge exchange guaranteed a significant improvement of the research. Read More →

Structured questionnaires can make peer review more efficient

Photo of a black and white dartboard with two darts, one yellow and one red. The red dart is at number 6 and the yellow dart is at number 9, closer to the bullseye.

In order to make peer review more efficient, a study proposes adopting a standard form to be answered by reviewers, so that no important aspect of the manuscript’s evaluation goes unnoticed. Available in Portuguese only. Read More →

On preprints, journals, open access and research evaluation: the repercussions of the Gates Foundation’s decision

Photograph of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Visitor Center building in Seattle, Washington, United States.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation recently announced that it will no longer fund APCs for open access journals and is prioritizing the adoption of preprints. A series of recent posts discusses how the Gates Foundation’s announcement has resonated with the scientific community, prompting considerations about open access and its forms of funding, peer review and ultimately, how these changes influence the evaluation and integrity of research. Read More →

AI agents, bots and academic GPTs

Image of a work of art made up of several colored pieces in geometric formation, generated by Google DeepMind

Bots and academic GPTs are based on large language models, such as ChatGPT, designed and sometimes trained for more specific tasks. The idea is that by being specialized, they will deliver better results than “generic” models. This post presents some of the bots and academic GPTs. Available in Portuguese only. Read More →

Is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s new OA policy the start of a shift towards preprints? [Originally published in the LSE Impact blog in April/2024]

Following the announcement of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s new open access policy, Richard Sever assesses whether this change signals the beginning of a wider preprint-led open access transition. Read More →