Search Results (451)

In recent years, augmented reality has become a popular method of spatial data visualization, both via the most popular and basic plane-based method and more advanced automatic positioning of visualizations based on predefined real-world locations. The aim of this study is to provide new insights into geolocated 3D visualizations in AR using a visual positioning system (VPS). VPS technology enables the creation of visualizations that can be displayed with high accuracy directly on a specific area of interest. This approach is especially well-suited to cultural heritage preservation, as it can be used to visualize destroyed buildings or archaeological sites. The result of the study is a mobile application created using the Unity game engine, which allows users to access AR visualizations as well as additional context in the form of pop-up texts or photographs. Thanks to the display of AR visualization directly at the chosen location, the user can better understand the context of the whole scene. This is because it is a more immersive experience than simply viewing a 3D model on a computer or mobile phone screen. Full article

The burden of disability is rising rapidly in Africa, where a severe shortage of rehabilitation professionals and limited infrastructure create a major treatment gap. Immersive virtual reality and serious games have shown promise for upper limb rehabilitation, but current extended reality (XR) solutions lack personalization, cultural adaptability, real-time feedback, and scalability. This perspective paper proposes a conceptual AI-enhanced XR framework tailored to African low- and middle-income countries. We identify how generative AI, large language models, multiagent systems, and explainable AI can address specific rehabilitation barriers. The framework integrates these four pillars into a three-layer architecture covering content creation, interaction, and decision support. We analyze implementation considerations specific to African contexts—infrastructure, capacity building, cultural adaptation, ethics, and financing—and outline a detailed research agenda with near, medium, and longer term priorities. Realizing this vision requires co-design with African communities, investment in local capacity, adaptation to infrastructure constraints, and development of ethical frameworks. AI-enhanced XR has the potential to democratize access to quality rehabilitation across Africa, but this potential must be validated through rigorous, context-sensitive research. Full article

Urban tourism research has long recognised that understanding cities depends not only on accumulated knowledge but also on the ability to read space, interpret urban form and connect physical settings with cultural meaning. Although these ideas are well established in tourism geography, fewer studies have examined how such skills can be developed through structured learning activities in higher education. This article addresses this gap by analysing the Urban Hunting Game (UHG) as a place-based learning approach designed to strengthen students’ spatial awareness and analytical capacity to interpret urban environments through fieldwork and digital mapping. The UHG was implemented in two European cities, Porto and Kaunas, through distinct pedagogical structures shaped by local conditions. In Porto, students followed a collaborative process using uMap to co-create a single itinerary. In Kaunas, international student groups independently designed thematic routes using MyMaps. This differentiated methodological approach proved advantageous, as it showed how different levels of autonomy and digital engagement influence spatial decisions, interpretive strategies and the narratives that the students construct. Based on student-generated maps and observational notes, the findings show that the UHG enhances spatial literacy, encourages attention to detail and supports the translation of field observation into coherent tourism experiences. This study contributes to tourism geography by illustrating how map-centred, place-based learning methodologies can be adapted to diverse urban contexts and by highlighting their potential to develop interpretive and analytical competences relevant to urban tourism studies. Full article

The aim of the present study was to explore differences in fair play attitudes among university students in Hungary and Kenya using the Fair Play Attitude Scale (EAF). The questionnaire was culturally adapted for the Kenyan context and administered in both countries. A total of 2090 university students participated in the survey (1278 from Kenya and 812 from Hungary). The scale measures three dimensions of fair play attitudes: gamesmanship and the importance of winning, acceptance of rough play and cheating, and fair play and enjoyment of the game. Principal component analysis confirmed the three-factor structure of the instrument, and reliability indices indicated satisfactory internal consistency in both samples. Due to the non-normal distribution of the variables, non-parametric statistical procedures were applied to examine differences between groups. The results revealed significant cross-cultural differences in fair play attitudes. Kenyan students, particularly men, showed higher acceptance of competition-oriented behaviour and gamesmanship, whereas Hungarian students placed greater emphasis on enjoyment and adherence to fair play principles. The findings highlight the role of cultural and social contexts in shaping ethical attitudes in sport and underline the importance of fair play education in sport pedagogy and educational practice. Full article

Faced with the challenges of cross-cultural communication of public opinion in emergency events, traditional sentiment recognition methods struggle to accurately capture the complex semantics under multi-lingual and multi-symbol systems. This paper takes the powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar in 2025 as a case study. It constructs a multi-dimensional public opinion annotation framework that integrates four types of semantic information—time, space, subject, and sentiment—by extracting data from multi-source textual materials, including social media, news reports, and government announcements. Building on this foundation, we design an improved Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning (MAML) model that incorporates cultural features to enhance sentiment recognition performance in low-resource cross-linguistic scenarios. Experimental results show that the model outperforms traditional methods in terms of sentiment classification accuracy, cultural semantic deviation rate and metaphor recognition ability. Furthermore, the research reveals the coupling mechanism of public opinion communication of “cultural modulation–agenda game”, and clarifies the influence paths and weight distributions among multiple subjects. The research results provide theoretical support and practical paths for improving the governance capacity of cross-border public opinion in emergency events and the construction of multilingual monitoring models. Full article

With the rapid development of digital technologies, augmented reality (AR) has created new possibilities for the presentation and dissemination of cultural heritage. However, conventional digital guide systems in historic districts are typically dominated by static information delivery, lacking interactivity and user engagement, which limits their effectiveness in enhancing public understanding of historic architectural environments and related cultural knowledge. To address this limitation, this study focuses on historic architectural districts and proposes a narrative-based AR cultural exploration approach embedded in real architectural space. The Hubu Mountain historic architectural district in Xuzhou, China, was selected as the case study. First, grounded theory was employed to systematically analyze the cultural resources of the district and extract key cultural narrative elements. Based on these elements, a design framework for a narrative AR cultural exploration system was constructed. Subsequently, a mobile AR interactive system was developed using the Unity 2022.3 LTS and Vuforia Engine 10. A total of 80 participants were recruited and randomly assigned to either an experimental or a control group. Cultural knowledge tests, an immersive experience scale, and a dissemination intention scale were used to evaluate the outcomes, and the collected data were analyzed statistically. The results indicate that, compared with a conventional text–image guide condition, the narrative AR exploration condition significantly improved participants’ cultural cognition and dissemination intention. Specifically, the experimental group achieved significantly higher post-test scores in cultural knowledge than the control group, and a significant between-group difference was also observed in dissemination intention. In terms of immersive experience, although the experimental group reported higher mean scores than the control group, the difference did not reach statistical significance, showing only a possible improving trend. These findings suggest that an integrated narrative AR cultural exploration condition can enhance public understanding of historic architectural districts and strengthen the communication potential of heritage experiences in real built environments. This study provides a digital interpretation approach for historic architectural districts and offers empirical support for the use of AR-based interactive systems in architectural heritage communication and public engagement. Full article

Current research directed toward exploring the complexities of experiences within video gaming culture often comprises male-majority yet mixed-gender samples. Although valuable, these findings do not provide a male-representative overview of male gamers and risk diluting male gamer experiences as universal to all gamers, losing valuable gendered perspectives. In our study, we aimed to bridge this research gap by addressing: “What are the experiences of male gamers in online video gaming environments?” Through a qualitative, exploratory approach, underpinned by social constructionist epistemology, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 12 Australian adult male-identifying people who self-identified as online gamers (aged 18–36 years). Interviews were analysed through Reflexive Thematic Analysis, and findings present an overview of the complex social dynamics that shape male gamer experiences. Participants discussed experiences with toxicity online and frequently attributed problematic behaviour to characteristics they described as unrepresentative of male gamers broadly. They further described the sophisticated nature of online socialisation regarding the depth of bonds formed through gaming, which, at times, constitute larger online communities. These were navigated through a multitude of social criteria, revealing the underlying sociological structures that maintain dynamics within gaming environments. As such, broader concerns for the sociocultural status of men arose, particularly the problematisation of masculinity, which participants countered through identity management strategies aimed at restoring their reputation. Our findings highlight implications surrounding the importance of accounting for gendered meaning within gaming-based academic discourse and encourage public discourse surrounding problematic behaviour online to be redirected toward systems-level approaches. Full article

As the core repository of historical memory, the revitalisation and utilisation of cultural heritage (CH) are paramount to cultural transmission. Currently, virtual reality (VR) has become a mainstream method for public engagement with cultural heritage, but existing research mainly focuses on knowledge transfer efficiency while neglecting emotional factors’ key role in heritage identification and dissemination. This study examines the VR-based CH experience for Tianjin Marco Polo Square via multi-stakeholder collaboration, exploring how emotional design affects users’ CH learning and identity formation. Findings show emotionally driven VR games enhance immersion, engagement, resonance and learning outcomes through multisensory immersion, goal-oriented interaction and narrative connections. Theoretically, a three-tier “instinct–behaviour–reflection” emotional design framework integrated with constructivist learning theory is built to tackle emotional deficiency in CH communication. Practically, it verifies that affective VR games upgrade CH transmission from unidirectional dissemination to dynamic inheritance, establishing a new participatory culture paradigm. Full article

The global expansion of the gaming industry has intensified scholarly interest in the cultural and psychological implications of digital gameplay. This study examines how gameplay experiences are associated with adolescents’ and young adults’ attitudes toward traditional culture and national pride, focusing on how myth-based digital games can function as interactive vehicles for cultural heritage engagement. Using Black Myth: Wukong, a contemporary action role-playing game inspired by the Chinese literary classic Journey to the West, the study investigates the psychological mechanisms through which gameplay extends into longer-term cultural evaluation. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory, gameplay experience was conceptualized in terms of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, while Retrospective Imaginative Involvement (RII) was introduced to capture post-play imaginative recall and narrative elaboration. Survey data were collected from 312 Chinese adolescents and young adults who had played Black Myth: Wukong, and structural equation modeling was employed to test the relationships among gameplay experience, RII, traditional cultural attitudes, and national pride. The findings indicate that need-satisfying gameplay is positively associated with retrospective imaginative involvement, which in turn is linked to more favorable attitudes toward traditional culture and stronger national pride. The study suggests that the cultural influence of digital games extends beyond the moment of play and continues through reflective post-play processing. Theoretically, it contributes to research on media effects, narrative engagement, and digital heritage by identifying RII as a key post-play mechanism. Practically, it highlights the potential of culturally grounded games to support heritage communication and youth-oriented cultural engagement. Full article

Fallujah, by Jonathan Holmes (2007), is one of the archetypal examples of verbatim theatre, which addresses the truths of the Iraq War through dramatised eyewitness accounts and documentation reconstructions. Sketched in the Second Battle of Fallujah, the play reveals moral, political, and epistemological aspects of how modern warfare is presented. This article hinges on the postmodern theory of Jean-François Lyotard—especially the concepts of language games, paralogy, and the differend—to discuss the play Fallujah as a subversion of official grand narratives of the Iraq War. Through the use of testimonial intertextuality, irony and fragmentation, Holmes builds a multidimensional tableau of discourse contradictions in which truth is relative, and legitimacy is constantly deferred. The play turns into a meta-discursive critique of Western power dynamics, challenging the manner in which the knowledge is created, distributed, and twisted in the name of liberation and humanitarianism. Further, the article examines both dramaturgical and aesthetic techniques that lend truthfulness to Holmes’ concept of the verbatim approach as it dislocates the truth in relation to war and victimhood. The results help us comprehend the role of modern theatre in the reconstruction of the cultural memory and morality in the post-war era. The article concludes that Fallujah is a vivid example of postmodern theatrical resistance, an ethical and artistic response to commodity violence and the obliteration of lived suffering. Full article

We developed an augmented Sungka board that integrates traditional Filipino gameplay with embedded sensor technology. Each pit is equipped with load cell sensors and HX711 analog-to-digital converters to accurately detect marble distribution and movement in real time. A Raspberry Pi 4 serves as the central controller, handling sensor data acquisition, game state processing, rule enforcement, and output display through a liquid crystal display. The system enables automatic score tracking, move validation, and real-time board updates without altering the physical structure or rules of Sungka. A rule-based decision algorithm using fuzzy logic and heuristic search evaluates possible moves in constant time, allowing seamless real-time interaction. Across 10,000 simulated games, the algorithm achieved win rates of 84.9% against random, 77.7% against greedy, and 56.3% against exact-match strategies, with statistically consistent performance. By combining reliable hardware sensing with intelligent decision support, the proposed system enhances engagement while preserving the cultural authenticity of Sungka. Full article

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) frequently exhibit marked impairments in nonverbal communication, particularly in eye contact, which serves as a foundational element for social interaction and relational development. This study evaluated the effectiveness of an early intervention program utilizing interactive games supported by Augmented Reality (AR) technology to enhance eye contact behaviors, specifically initiation and maintenance, in children with autism. Using a multiple baseline across participants single-case experimental design, four boys (aged 5–7 years) diagnosed with ASD participated in an 8-week intervention at a specialized center in Saudi Arabia. The intervention featured tablet-based, gamified AR tasks incorporating real-time visual feedback, graduated difficulty levels, and reinforcement mechanisms designed to elicit social gaze and sustained eye contact. Eye contact duration and frequency were measured during structured social interactions via systematic direct observation. The results demonstrated significant improvements across all participants, with the mean duration of eye contact increasing from a baseline of 2.0 s to 5.8 s post-intervention. Visual analysis revealed robust treatment effects, further supported by substantial Tau-U effect sizes (range = 0.89–0.96; M = 0.93). Follow-up data collected three weeks post-intervention confirmed the maintenance of gains for three of the four participants. These findings suggest that AR-based interventions provide an effective and culturally responsive approach for enhancing specific nonverbal communication behaviors among children with autism in Middle Eastern contexts. Implications for clinical practice and directions for future research are discussed. Full article

Elementary music teachers in the United States face many challenges today, including an increasing cultural divide between teachers and students, worsening student behavior, and excessive exposure to technology in children’s lives. These challenges are magnified due to the hundreds of students elementary music teachers see weekly, the lack of teaching and planning time, and inadequate teaching resources, making it difficult to fully understand the culture and learning needs of every child. However, music educators may find culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) a useful tool for meeting the needs of a diverse student body. Further, when teachers engage in kid culture, the environments and activities that only children have, there is a plethora of music and media to use that children prefer that can help increase engagement and reduce behavioral problems. In this Perspective article, I provide three sample lessons that model instructional strategies that challenge current systems of power and representation in music education and center student agency through singing, chanting, moving, playing, and creating. Using repertoire that students already know and prefer, such as “Old Town Road,” Fortnite dances, and the song “See You Again”, draws from children’s funds of knowledge. Moving away from the Western art music canon and traditional formal education structures (like standard notation) in favor of learning by ear, peer collaboration, and improvisation decolonizes the curriculum. Critical reflexivity occurs when the teacher acts as a learner, constantly adjusting lessons to ensure student agency and addressing ethical issues, such as the intellectual property rights of creators whose work is used in media like Fortnite. By using melodies, songs, and video game movements children already know, music teachers can use the materials and learning processes in kid culture to engage in culturally sustaining pedagogy. I aim to inspire educators and researchers to reflect on sustaining children’s dynamic, cultural practices and better understand how to authentically bring popular music and media into elementary music lessons to provide a more engaging, relevant, and transformative music education. Full article

While recent game research explores culture and Orientalism, a significant gap remains regarding Sinologism. Gu proposed Sinologism based on Orientalism, laying the theoretical foundation for this study. Utilizing the analytical framework of Chapman and Šisler, this study examines the characteristics of Sinologism within and outside the game, including its scenes, characters, items, abilities, skills, and narrative style. The cultural practice of Black Myth: Wukong exemplifies the complex dynamics described by “Sinologism.” Operating within the globalized framework of the video game industry, it negotiates with Western perspectives while, to a certain extent, challenging established Orientalist modes of representation. However, this study argues that its success is not a result of “complicit” strategies that merely replicate dominant paradigms. Instead, it represents a reconstruction of “cultural subjectivity.” By combining high production values with familiar ARPG conventions, the game makes culturally dense elements more legible to international audiences, encouraging engagement with indigenous cultural logic rather than defaulting to externally imposed interpretive frames. Accordingly, Black Myth: Wukong stands as a paradigmatic case, illustrating how Chinese developers attempt to negotiate agency within an asymmetrical Sino-Western structure to seek autonomous expression amidst structural constraints. Full article

Historically, the sustainable development of education bears the mission of advancing the sustainable development of human society, and the transformation of universities is a crucial link in the sustainable development of higher education. This paper addresses the top-down, government-led transformation of local undergraduate universities, a process currently hampered by ambiguous objectives, insufficient internal motivation, and a mismatch in supporting systems, resources, and institutional culture. To analyze and optimize this process, we establish an asymmetric evolutionary game model involving the local government, local universities, and teachers. By integrating optimization theory, this study determines the optimal equilibrium conditions for the game system. We then use numerical simulations to depict the system’s evolutionary paths under various transformation scenarios. Furthermore, we have analyzed the key influencing factors for promoting university transformation and development, which form the basis for proposing targeted policy recommendations. Full article