Roots of the Two Sides of Kamakhya

The shrine of Kamakhya (Assam) was supposed to be the eminent yogini-pitha. Inside the sanctum of Kamakhya a yoni (vulva) stone is concealed as the main cultic image of the Goddess, which Kaulism identified as the 'mouth of the yoginis'. This article analyses the symbolism related to the Tantric cult of the yoni and its historical evolution through the combined lens of History of Religions and Cognitive Science of Religions. Kamakhya thus emerges as a hyper-blended space, whose origin should be tracked down to the intersection of death symbolism related to the non-Brahmanic cult of Heruka and his retinue of yoginis and the Kaula erotic reformation of the cult of the yoginis. Therefore, the yoginis played a fundamental role in the construction of Kamakhya--as either a caring mother or as a dreadful mother--conveying other blended spaces to the yoni metonymic symbol. Hence, this article aims, through the analysis and interrelation of textual, epigraphic and material evidence, to debate the dialectic between eros and thanatos in order to shed light on the overlap, superimposition and blend of trans- and cross-cultural elements in the multifarious goddess Kamakhya.

Fractal art and multi-blended spaces

Artworks, especially in the last two centuries, have been more created through a process of blending than at any other time. This blendedness is seen not only in many modern and postmodern works of art, from German expressionist woodcuts to Picasso's paintings and spontaneous action paintings of Pollock, but in fractal works of art perhaps more than anywhere else. This study, based on Fauconnier and Turner's blended space and conceptual blending theories, will show how fractal artworks are the result of a multi-blending process. This multi-blending is not only because fractal artworks have roots simultaneously in science, technology and art but also because their creation and understanding is dependent on knowledge of fractal aesthetics. Fractal aesthetics not only makes the artist have a continuous back and forth movement between mathematical, digital and artistic spaces, but simultaneously makes the visitor/audience have such an effort as well.1

Multiple Modalities, Sensoriums, Experiences in Blended Spaces With Toolness and Tools for Conceptual Design Engineering

This paper asserts that, visual and meta-cognitive stimuli constructed from multiple experiences and multiple modalities in ‘blended spaces’ (i.e. internal or external), are potential stimuli in ideation, iterative, and creative conceptual design engineering processes. These multiplicities in human capabilities are intertwined, interlinked, and/or coupled with the cognitive memory patterns from mental representations (i.e. abstractions) of productive thought. Ideas are inherently ambiguous and/or spatial representations that become tangible- and visual transformations through intention, interaction and externalization.

Blended Spaces: Collaborative Work and Computer Supported Learning and Tools

Individualized and cooperative design combined with hybrid design tools, have the capacity to act as the missing link between humans, society, and technology (STS). The blended design environments (spaces) entail innovative interactive software solutions and design tools to create meaningful communication, experiences, personal involvement and social inclusion within various contexts and/or domains. In this paper we present preliminary data on two research experiments, user modeling and participant observation. The study is based on a comparison between a loosely (i.e. raw) and a formalized (i.e. hyper design) structured approach facilitated in blended spaces (BS) for design and engineering. Findings, results and feedback on interaction (IxD), usability (UA) and experiences (UX) are discussed along design environment parameters, strategy and contextualization.

Thomas Middleton’s Legal Duel: A Cognitive Approach

This article explores the Duel Scene (Scene 9, 99-277 (II.iii)) in Thomas Middleton's play The Phoenix (1607) in light of cognitive metephor theory. In reading this scene alongside the cultural and social changes in Elizabethan and Jacobean legal discourse, the mutual exchange of influence to both legal and political language and to drama and the theatre. The specific use of metaphoric blended spaces opens up for a combined linguistic and historical analysis.

Big–Thick Blending: A method for mixing analytical insights from big and thick data sources

Recent works have suggested an analytical complementarity in mixing big and thick data sources. These works have, however, remained as programmatic suggestions, leaving us with limited methodological inputs on how to archive such complementary integration. This article responds to this limitation by proposing a method for ‘blending’ big and thick analytical insights. The paper first develops a methodological framework based on the cognitivist linguistics terminology of ‘blending’. Two cases are then explored in which blended spaces are crafted from engaging big and thick analytical insights with each other. Through these examples, we learn how blending processes should be conducted as a rapid, iterative and collaborative effort with respect for individual expertise. Further, we demonstrate how the unique, but often overlooked, granularity of big data plays a key role in affording the blending with thick data. We conclude by suggesting four commonly appearing blending strategies that can be applied when relying upon big and thick data sources.