Reality Television Research Articles

Calibration of the Becton Dickinson FocalPoint GS slide profiler is essential for optimal performance: Avoiding the algorithm supersaturation cascade effect pitfall.

The MAVARIC study supported the use of the FocalPoint GS (FPGS) imaging system "No Further Review" (NFR) technology for cervical screening and recommended further investigation. A validation study (Nuttall etal.) was performed by Cervical Screening Wales before implementing the NFR slide reporting technology within the cervical screening program in Wales, United Kingdom. A total of 45,317 SurePath liquid-based cytology cervical screening samples were submitted for FPGS scanning within four Welsh cytology laboratories between 2006 and 2011. The study, Computer Assisted Evaluation, Screening and Reporting, involved scanning the slides using the FPGS and comparing the results with manual screening performed under established Cervical Screening Wales protocols. An increased number of abnormal cases presented in the NFR reporting category, significantly greater than that previously encountered. This anomaly resulted in higher false-negative rates with potentially life-changing consequences for the screening participant. Subsequent investigation determined that this increase in cases created an algorithm cascade or "sump" effect, which resulted in an unprecedented increased number of samples categorized as NFR. This exceeded the calibration parameters set for the FPGS and was thought to be caused by an increase in the number of younger women attending for screening following the death of a young reality television celebrity from cervical cancer. Adequate and timely calibration of FPGS technology is vital for quality assurance of the results produced, particularly following events that may impact on cervical precancer incidence rates. Failure to do so can result in potentially catastrophic screening incidents that are avoidable.

“I'm So Sick of This Race Talk. Boo Hoo”: Perceptions of Race on 2021–22 CBS Survivor

Historically, reality TV casts have lacked diversity while producers have been known to create narratives based on stereotypical characterizations, perpetuating stigmas and reinforcing racial bias. But what is the role of reality TV anyway and do audiences even desire or care to include these conversations in entertainment discussions? In response to the most diverse cast of CBS’ Survivor, this study analyzes 492 social media posts to assess how audiences perceive race on season 41 of this popularized reality TV competition. Specifically, this study explores audiences’ sentiments about CBS’ attempt to intersect diversity initiatives with the show while assessing whether audiences believe Survivor is an appropriate forum to educate about race and engage in racial discourse. Findings suggest that generally audiences watch Survivor solely for entertainment purposes and believe engaging in race conversations presents an unnecessary and problematic distraction, encroaching on their ability to escape reality. Moreover, findings indicate audiences often become offended by these conversations and believe they demonstrate a political agenda, while believing diverse cast members can separate their racial identities from their gameplay, despite Survivor being a social experiment. Such perspectives and their implications including their ability to impede progress toward addressing systemic racial issues are discussed.

A Study on Impromptu Speech Initiation of Programme Hosts Based on Communication Accommodation Theory: The Case of “Hello, Interviewer”

In recent years, the social situation of choosing a career and employment has become more and more difficult every year, and the mass media has provided a new solution to this dilemma：job-seeking reality shows. In this type of show, the host’s ability to improvise is a critical factor in the show’s success. However, many presenters do not have strong improvisation skills. They cannot reasonably guide the interaction between job seekers, interviewers, and career advisors, resulting in the guests not getting the required information efficiently or the scene getting out of control, ultimately affecting the program’s communication effect. At present, there is a lack of research on how the hosts control the guests’ right to speak and how to trigger the guests to respond in job-seeking reality programmes. Therefore, this paper adopts a qualitative research method and selects the programme “Hello, Interviewer” as the research corpus, drawing on communication accommodation theory in social psycholinguistics, communication, and broadcasting to analyse the forms of improvised speech initiation by the hosts in the job-seeking reality shows. This study divides the overall process of a job-seeking reality show into three stages, including: the opening introduction - low interaction stage, multiple interactions - high interaction stage, and the end of the decision - medium interaction stage. Then, the forms of improvised speech initiation used by the hosts in each stage are summarized in relation to the corpus. The findings of this paper are expected to provide guidance to job-seeking reality show hosts to better master their discourse skills and improve their improvisation skills so as to achieve the most optimal communication effect of the programme.

HAbot: a human-centered augmented reality robot programming method with the awareness of cognitive load.

In the era of Industry 4.0, manufacturing enterprises are actively adopting collaborative robots (Cobots) in their productions. Current online and offline robot programming methods are difficult to use and require extensive experience or skills. On the other hand, the manufacturing industries are experiencing a labor shortage. An essential question, therefore, is: how would a new robot programming method help novice users complete complex tasks effectively, efficiently, and intuitively? To answer this question, we proposed HAbot, a novel human-centered augmented reality programming interface with awareness of cognitive load. Using NASA's system design theory and the cognitive load theory, a set of guidelines for designing an AR-based human-robot interaction system is obtained through a human-centered design process. Based on these guidelines, we designed and implemented a human-in-the-loop workflow with features for cognitive load management. The effectiveness and efficiency of HAbot are verified in two complex tasks compared with existing online programming methods. We also evaluated HAbot quantitatively and qualitatively through a user study with 16 participants. According to the user study, compared with existing methods, HAbot has higher efficiency, a lower overall cognitive load, lower cognitive loads for each type, and higher safety.

Alone in the wilderness-Cultural perspectives to the participants' motives and values from participating in a danish reality TV-show.

This paper focus on the participants in the Danish version of the reality TV-show Alone, named Alone in the wilderness (AIW), and seeks to explore What motives and values are important to the participants in the TV-show (AIW) and how can the show be understood as a cultural phenomenon? The study is qualitative with a design based on a triangulation of different methods: single interviews, transcripts of programs and autoethnographic notes. The analysis is inspired by a hermeneutic approach applying a 6-phased thematic analysis. The participants motives and values from their participation in the TV-show reflect ideas that may be related to the solo experience. On one hand the participants are motivated by the challenges of being alone in the wilderness and they value the possibility of personal development. On the other hand, they value nature and simple life in the outdoors, an experience that seems to grow more important to the participants as time goes. AIW is a competition and some of the participants are highly competitive aiming at winning the show, which however becomes less important during their stay in the wilderness. AIW as a cultural phenomenon reflects ideas and values related to an understanding of adventure and the Nordic tradition of friluftsliv (simple life in the outdoors) and can be related to theories on late modernity focusing on reflectivity and self-identity. The study presents new empirically based knowledge on the motives, values and experiences of people participating in AIW and it presents new theoretically based knowledge on how these motives, values and experiences can be understood as part of outdoor education and recreation and as a cultural phenomenon in late modern society.

What to do when it is hard to fire someone in the academy

Before his presidency, Donald Trump popularized the reality TV show tagline, “You're fired!” on the show The Apprentice. In television‐land, the act of firing an employee is quick, simple, and even entertaining.

A pilot study of a nature-based virtual reality program on mental health among Korean immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic

A pilot study of a nature-based virtual reality program on mental health among Korean immigrants during the COVID-19 pandemic

A virtual reality program to assess cognitive function in multiple sclerosis: A pilot study.

Introduction: Cognitive impairment is a debilitating symptom in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Most of the neuropsychological tasks have little resemblance to everyday life. There is a need for ecologically valid tools for assessing cognition in real-life functional contexts in MS. One potential solution would involve the use of virtual reality (VR) to exert finer control over the task presentation environment; however, VR studies in the MS population are scarce. Objectives: To explore the utility and feasibility of a VR program for cognitive assessment in MS. Methods: A VR classroom embedded with a continuous performance task (CPT) was assessed in 10 non-MS adults and 10 people with MS with low cognitive functioning. Participants performed the CPT with distractors (i.e., WD) and without distractors (i.e., ND). The Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), California Verbal Learning Test-II (CVLT-II), and a feedback survey on the VR program was administered. Results: People with MS exhibited greater reaction time variability (RTV) compared to non-MS participants, and greater RTV in both WD and ND conditions was associated with lower SDMT. Conclusions: VR tools warrant further research to determine their value as an ecologically valid platform for assessing cognition and everyday functioning in people with MS.

Negative Impact of Stardom on Child Artists in the Entertainment Sector

The last decades of the 20th century saw a dramatic expansion of economic liberalisation in Indian film and television industry. The stellar rise of the business has enticed the youth to engage and utilise this platform to exhibit their creative ability. The rise of young artists appearing on reality television and in feature films has sparked a variety of concerns. The article aims at discussing issue of the negative impacts of stardom on child performers in the entertainment industry, focusing specifically on the violation of their fundamental and other rights because of the nature of the employment in the film and television industry.

Beyond the Screen: Joan Jonas’s Television by Other Means

‘The resistance of distances having finally ceased, the world’s expanse will lay down its arms, once known as duration, extension, and horizon.’– Paul Virilio1 ‘The resistance of distances having finally ceased, the world’s expanse will lay down its arms, once known as duration, extension, and horizon.’ – Paul Virilio1 In the spring of 1972, a unique televisual event took place in downtown Manhattan. It was the year that the Watergate scandal broke; the first reality television show, ‘An American Family’, was in postproduction; and ‘The Price Is Right’ first aired on CBS. It was the season of the Easter Offensive in Vietnam, and the television sets that had for five years ‘brought the war home’ continued to transmit the distant conflict into American living rooms. Unlike these televisual spectacles, the event that took place on New York’s Lower West Side was not actually televised. Rather than sitting in front of the TV set and tuning in, the viewer would instead find herself climbing to the roof of a five-story building on Greenwich Street and looking out from this elevated position (Fig. 1).

A Study on Rehabilitation Specialists' Perception of Experience with a Virtual Reality Program.

This study aimed to analyse the types and characteristics of rehabilitation specialists' experience in administering virtual reality (VR) programs using Q methodology as well as provide basic data regarding the introduction of VR programs in rehabilitation therapy. Thirty-three statements were derived based on a literature review and an in-depth interview with rehabilitation specialists. Q-sorting was performed by a Q-sample of 22 rehabilitation specialists with experience administering VR programs. Data were analysed using the QUANL Program. Rehabilitation specialists' experience with administering VR programs were classified into three types: type 1 was labelled 'the need to develop VR programs customised for disability level and type', type 2 was labelled 'emphasis on experts' role of paying attention continuously and their experience', and type 3 was labelled 'the need to develop safety equipment by disability type'. The study's findings demonstrate that there are a variety of rehabilitation specialists' perceptions on their experience administering VR programs. This study is of significance because it suggests ways to improve VR programs for disabled people, with the consultation of rehabilitation specialists. In addition, rehabilitation specialists' perceptions on VR programs have not been explored before.

The Year’s Work in American Humor Studies, 2021

The Year’s Work in American Humor Studies, 2021

Cultivating paranormal beliefs: how television viewing, social media use, and podcast listening predict belief in UFOs

ABSTRACT This study builds on cultivation theory to consider how use of different media – including television, social media, and podcasts – may predict belief in unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and extraterrestrials. Extending previous research on media use and belief in paranormal phenomena, the study tests whether consumption of specific television genres, television news outlets, social media platforms, and podcast programs is linked to greater belief in UFOs. An analysis of national survey data (N = 1,035) collected two months after the widely publicized release of a US government report on ‘unidentified aerial phenomena’ shows that paranormal documentary and reality television viewing, Fox News viewing, YouTube use, and Joe Rogan Experience listening were positively associated with belief in UFOs. By illuminating how specific forms of media use predict public beliefs about one type of purported paranormal phenomena, the findings suggest future directions in investigating beliefs about other topics on the fringes of conventional inquiry.

Response to Ofcom letter (1)-15/07/2022 & response to Ofcom letter (2)-27/02/2023.

Dear Professor Premila Webster MBE, Professor Keith Neal Editors, Journal of Public Health 15th July 2022 We write in response to Ofcom’s letter regarding our article ‘Exposure to tobacco, alcohol and “Junk food” content in reality TV programmes broadcast in the UK between August 2019–2020’. Ofcom have expressed a wish to correct inaccuracies in the paper and we would like to respond to their points. First, Ofcom state that the article incorrectly states that ‘ there are currently no rules in Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code restricting references to HFSS products in TV programmes (p.6), describing such references as ‘as-yet unregulated’ (p.6), and stating specifically that product placement of HFSS products is ‘not currently prohibited’ (p.6).’ In regards to the point around HFSS references in programmes, in our introduction section, we state that; ‘Similarly, in 2007, Ofcom and the Advertising Standards Agency introduced regulations prohibiting HFSS foods (junk food), which are a strong risk factor for the development of obesity,34 advertising during or adjacent to programmes commissioned for, principally directed at, or likely to appeal particularly to audiences below the age of 16 in the UK. Further, the 2018 update to the UK Government Childhood Obesity plan proposes to extend the Ofcom prohibition to include programmes broadcast before the 9 pm watershed.’ (p. 1–2).

The British Tribe Next Door (2019): Reality TV in Kaoko, Tourism, and the “Hollywood Himba”

ABSTRACT In 2019 British Channel 4 reality TV programme The British Tribe Next Door putatively compares contemporary life in Britain to a small, sustainable indigenous Himba community of Otjeme in the Kaoko region of Namibia. An actual British terraced house was built and provided with all the modern furnishings. British Reality TV celebrity Scarlett Moffatt and her family would live in the house. The idea was to have a “reverse anthropological exchange” between the Moffatts and the “nomadic” Himba. Critics of the programme called it “racist and exploitative” and “the most immoral show of all time.” Others in the British viewing public praised it for revealing the simplicity of the Himba way of life. But the programme fails to comprehend that “the Himba” is really an artificial construct created by the South Africa apartheid regime for its own racist ideas and then reenforced by advertising, the tourist industry in Namibia, and international media. This essay examines the evolution of that construct and its impact on the Himba. The British Tribe Next Door does reveal the persistence of problematic and condescending colonial tropes as well as the deception of Reality TV. While playing their tourist role, the Himba will pursue their own agendas in the Kaoko, Namibia, and the World.

The 1990s and Anything Goes America

During the 1990s the nation witnessed the rise of a culture that this essay labels Anything Goes America. The seeds of this era had been planted in the 1970s with the development and expansion of women's, gay, and sexual liberation movements. Over the next generation those seeds slowly germinated until the 1990s when they bloomed with TV sitcoms, reality television, and shock jock radio that presented a barrage of obscenity, sex, and for the first time even the F-word. Added to this mix was the rise of the World Wide Web, internet, dot.com revolution, new networks, rap music, even the pharmaceutical development of Viagra. Anything Goes America was boosted primetime by two events that contributed to the rise of Infotainment--the "Trial of the Century" of football star O.J. Simpson and the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

Gasp! The reality of ingressive speech in contemporary French

Pulmonic ingressive speech, the use of an inhalation airstream in speech, serves a set of similar paralinguistic functions in a wide variety of languages (Eklund, 2007). This phenomenon is most closely associated with Swedish and related languages (Eklund, 2008), affirmative particles (Eklund, 2007), and female speakers (Clarke andMelchers, 2005). It is known to be highly interactive and therefore difficult to elicit (Eklund, 2002). While acknowledged to exist in French, particularly used by women on the word oui “yes” when expressing “reticence” (Léon, 1992), this mode of articulation and its uses have yet to be described systematically in that language. In this study, we extracted all tokens of ingressive oui produced spontaneously over one season (338 min) of the reality television series L’Agence, yielding 14 tokens. A detailed analysis of each in context, combined with observations from native speaker use and additional discourse-pragmatic observations from the study data, suggests that ingressive oui is used more often by men, is restricted to a semi-professional middle register, and is associated with final vowel devoicing, another known French phenomenon (Dalola, 2014). These data further indicate that, though rarer, ingressive oui is more perceptually salient when pronounced by a female speaker.

Global TV Formats Queer Contemporary China

Global TV Formats Queer Contemporary China1 Jamie J. Zhao (bio) TV formats are sets of transferable ideas, principles, and procedures to produce and remake television programs.2 They "are designed to 'travel well' across national boundaries" and are adaptable to various domestic markets.3 While the transnational exchange of TV formats was considered "an Anglophone development,"4 the rapid integration of television production, circulation, and consumption into a global trade system since the 1990s has created many popular global TV formats that have become profitable media franchises and been widely (re)made in different parts of world.5 A case in point is the Dutch reality television franchise Big Brother (Veronica, 1999–) that has been adapted in more than sixty regions worldwide as of August 2021.6 Since the late 1990s, the television industry of the People's Republic of China has also started to creatively appropriate standardized global media and cultural formulas to produce content compatible with local political-ideological [End Page 183] projects. Toward the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, a few highly popular TV formats originally developed in Euro-America, such as Idol and Survivor, were employed as efficient catalysts of the party-state's strategic goals of media marketization and cultural globalization.7 Global TV formats have thus played an indispensable role in the economic, cultural, and social-political transformations of contemporary Chinese media landscapes.8 In the meantime, gender and sexual television images that subvert local heteronormative ideals have proliferated in entertainment TV shows made, distributed, and consumed in contemporary China. Most of these productions are variety or reality TV shows adapted from global TV formats. Notable beneficiaries of these productions include numerous tomboyish (meaning young, masculine) female singers who have risen to stardom in Idol-style reality singing competitions and effeminate, beautiful male stars who have enjoyed wide popularity for their appearances in the trans-Asian idol group training programs.9 In both cases, the nonbinary personae of these celebrities and their television performances are socioculturally legitimized in the Chinese context. These adapted Chinese shows do not present the stars' nonconforming images as visual signs for more politically sensitive and censorable lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) identities and sexualities.10 Rather, the shows subtly depoliticize and explain their gender-nonconformity as expressions of Chinese-specific individualism, feminism, cosmopolitanism, or fashion styles that synthesize characteristics of local and global public and pop cultures.11 Such dissociation and depoliticization also result from these television stars' frequent cultural references to premodern and modern Chinese gender norms and paradigms, their incorporation of inter-Asian and cosmopolitan gender aesthetics, and their promotion of official ideologies. Existing scholarship has considered local adaptations of global TV formats as "gendered and gendering" venues that both circulate and reconfigure various patriarchal elements transnationally.12 For example, dating show formats, such as The Bachelor (ABC, 2002–), often feature a highly hetero-centric [End Page 184] setting and mobilize "culturally specific gender tropes" to reproduce and promote various forms of misogyny and hegemonic male masculinity in their local adaptations.13 Yet I take a different approach, conceptualizing certain global TV formats, such as those featuring intensive homosocial bonding and settings (e.g., the reality singing competitions shows with an all-female cast) or those promoting heteropatriarchal ideals (e.g., heterosexual matchmaking shows), as inherently queer-enacting, queer-structured, and queer-scripted. These queer-inflected formats and their localization speak volumes about the coexistence and mutual implications of queer and heterosexual sentiments in normative Chinese societies. Specifically, I employ a queering lens to analyze the formats of and dramatic moments in several popular reality shows in contemporary China. I pay particular attention to the long-running popular dating show Feicheng wurao (If You Are the One, JSTV, 2010–) and unfold the ways in which heterocentric TV formats might queer and be queered despite predominantly heteronormative media and public discourses. I see queer as a critical, analytical practice to interrogate "nonnormative ways of being, doing, desiring, and imagining in and cross various forms of traditionally defined boundaries."14 My discussion explores the queer-enabling potential and queered adaptations of global TV formats and unravels the nonnormative meanings and connotations...

A Queer Cooptation of Sport: RuPaul’s Drag Race Contestants as Athletes in a Culture of Risk and Injury

RuPaul’s Drag Race (RPDR) is a reality television show wherein drag queens compete for the title of America’s next drag superstar. This article contends that RPDR is sport and that the queens are contestants in a culture of risk wherein queens must be willing to play through pain, risk their bodies, and demonstrate emotional toughness to succeed. A hegemonic power structure exists on RPDR wherein judges, fans, and contestants reward queens willing to participate in the culture of risk and deem queens unwilling to participate as unworthy. Using a discourse analysis of Season 9, this article will demonstrate how the contestants on RPDR must conform to the traditional masculine and feminine gender norms commonly found in sporting contexts to garner success on and off the show.

Fully-immersive virtual reality instrumental activities of daily living training for mild dementia: a feasibility study.

The purpose of this study was to confirm whether fully-immersive virtual reality instrumental activities of daily living training is safe and feasible for people with mild dementia. The virtual reality program contents include simulation of instrumental activities of daily living training. Feasibility was assessed by means of responses to a self-report satisfaction questionnaire and the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire; and by analyzing the level of participants' immersion. Researchers assessed the instrumental activities of daily living scores, cognitive functioning, and mood changes pre- and post-intervention. A total of seven participants with mild dementia were recruited. The mean immersion score was 50.42±7.89 points, and the mean adherence was 83.71±6.10 points. Overall, the participants found the activities satisfying. Six participants experienced negligible side effects and one exhibited moderate side effects. After the training, the instrumental activities of daily living scores improved significantly (P=0.042). Performance on the Word List Delayed Recall test and Trail Making Test B showed improvements in all participants. Fully-immersive, virtual reality-based, instrumental activities of daily living training is feasible for people with mild dementia and provides them with a high level of satisfaction and immersion. This program can help improve their capacities to carry out activities of daily living, their cognitive functioning, and mood. However, further research is needed for fully-immersive virtual reality instrumental activities of daily living training before it can be considered as a treatment option in people with mild dementia.