This article discusses Twitter bots that generate textual outputs for aesthetic effect. It considers in-detail a specific instance, The Ephemerides ( @the_ephemerides ) by Allison Parrish, and presents a critical assessment of how its functional and thematic attributes meditate self-reflexively upon their operational contexts within digital infrastructure. This mode of reading is then presented as having value for analysing generative Twitter bots more widely. The initial balance of this article will concern the broader question of how generative digital writing can be assessed critically, debating key claims made by Simanowski (2011), before presenting a model in which the salient quality of this art form is the distinctly machinic modes of expression it makes available, revealing the software itself to be an active agent in the reading encounter. The remainder of this article will then apply this perspective to a reading of The Ephemerides, considering its meditation on the functional and aesthetic relationship between technical systems that are unobtrusively efficient versus those that are vividly breaking down – with the latter making manifest the contingency that is inherent to the processes of coming to know and act on the world through technology. The goal of this discussion is to consider not only how the generative operations of Twitter bots might be approached fruitfully, but to demonstrate also that such analyses constitute a worthwhile pursuit in the first instance – that even these tightly constrained instances of digital creativity can offer forms expression that reward extended academic criticism.
1. INTRODUCTION. In his Presidential address last year J. E. D. Williams treated us to a most absorbing, largely philosophical review of the development of the science of navigation over the last five centuries. In discussing the profound and enduring influence of radio waves on air navigation over the last century he commended as of ‘transcending importance’ the ‘homing quality’ of the radio beam in which the accuracy increases as distance from the transmitter decreases. He illustrated this ‘homing quality’ with references to the radio range for en-route navigation and the instrument landing system (ILS) for guidance to the runway. But he went further and remarked ‘Automatic landings in regular airline service are an example of how a perceived potential of the homing quality of radio has drawn to navigation a whole range of diverse applied sciences including, in this case, information theory, the properties of semi-conductors and the theory of servomechanisms and control, among many others.’
Introduction: Making decisions based on evidence has been a challenge for health professionals, given the need to have the tools and skills to carry out a critical appraisal of the evidence and assess the validity of the results. Systematic reviews of the literature (SRL) have been used widely to answer questions in the clinical field. Tools have been developed that support the appraisal of the quality of the studies. AMSTAR is one of these, validated and supported by reproducible evidence, which guides the methodological quality of the SRL.
Objectives: To show a historical, theoretical and practical guide for critical assessment of systematic reviews using AMSTAR to guide the argumental bases for their use according to the components of this methodological structure in health research, and to provide practical examples of how to apply this checklist.
Methods: We conducted a non-exhaustive review of literature in Pubmed and Cochrane Library using “AMSTAR” and “Systematic Reviews” as free terms without language or publication date limit; we also collected information from experts in the evaluation of the quality of the evidence.
Conclusions: AMSTAR is an instrument used, validated and supported by reproducible evidence for the evaluation of the internal validity of systematic reviews of the literature. It consists of 16 items that assess the overall methodological quality of an SRL. It is currently used indiscriminately and favorably, but it is not exempt from limitations and future updates based on new reproducibility and validation studies.
AbstractHealth outcome measurement is a growth industry. Thousands of behavioural assessment instruments, developed for neurological populations alone, are available for diagnosis, prediction and evaluation of interventions. The task of selecting the best instrument for the purpose at hand is thus a daunting one for the clinician and researcher. Fortunately, there are guides that make the task easier. This presidential address covers three interrelated themes that inform assessment in neurorehabilitation: First, it reviews current concepts and the status of behavioural assessment in neurorehabilitation. It then examines evidence-based clinical practice as applied to assessment of function, along with methods to benchmark the scientific quality of assessment instruments. Finally, the article considers the need to move beyond outcome measurement in the neurorehabilitation setting.
This paper is concerned with reassessing the importance of the destruction of the house of Cicero in the light of recent investigations into housing in the Roman world. In recent years, the quantity and quality of such investigations have intensified but Cicero's house remains somewhat unpopular – despite excavations on the Palatine slopes which have revealed more details of the houses occupied by Cicero and his Late Republican neighbours.3 The saga of Cicero and his house had not been dealt with for several decades until the presidential address of Susan Treggiari in the 1998 Transactions of the American Philological Association. Her paper, however, is not so much concerned with the actual relationship between private and public in the house of Cicero as Cicero's private and public attempts to come to terms with his grief over the death of his daughter Tullia.
We understand that both the level as well as the composition
of investment play a crucial role in the economic development process.
However, it needs to be understood that investment contributes to the
growth process by increasing the productive capacity, improving the
technology, and enhancing the competitiveness of an economy. And when it
is supplemented with investment in the social sectors, it also results
in human development. The demand for investment depends on strong
macroeconomic fundamentals comprising stability of exchange rates,
fiscal prudence, feasible structure of financial market, including the
regulatory and supervisory framework and the size and quality of the
securities and bond markets, and continuity of a consistent investment
policy.
Assessing the methodological quality of systematic reviews using the AMSTAR tool