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Papers by Danielle Barrios-O'Neill

As energy systems integration deepens to support the development of a cleaner and more intelligen... more As energy systems integration deepens to support the development of a cleaner and more intelligent energy infrastructure, it will be increasingly important for consumers to better understand their relationship to energy systems and to take more proactive roles in managing energy. Foregrounding the importance of systems comprehension, we argue for the strong potential of interactive games to be helpful in engaging consumers in sustainable energy practices, as they can demonstrate complex system dynamics through simulation-based experiences. Focusing on interrogations of engagement and social change posed by gaming theorists and designers, and using several flagship interactive games as points of reference, we discuss the elements of game space that make it capable of simulating complex systems and large-scale implications of energy decisions richly and effectively. We discuss social, technological, and narrative elements of game play, pairing a theoretical investigation with a practical exploration of how energy related games can link with data in the real world, with particular emphasis on the emerging Internet of Things. Our conclusions emphasise the importance of game simulation toward the longer-term goal of cultivating more complex patterns of interaction and cultural analysis around energy use; this is based on the assertion that energy, a social resource, must be managed in ways that are equally social.

The concept of “rewilding” has made its way into popular culture in recent years, describing a ne... more The concept of “rewilding” has made its way into popular culture in recent years, describing a network of supporting the health of the environment and humanity itself through the cultivation of un-cultivated spaces within existing structures. This paper looks at recent cutting-edge works in literary criticism and theory to see how they handle this growing contemporary impulse to defer to wildness, ie. Complexity, as the “natural” form of cultural and biological processes.

This paper addresses the question, how can sustainable energy projects increase engagement from c... more This paper addresses the question, how can sustainable energy projects increase engagement from consumers using interactive media communications? To this end, a systematic literature review was conducted in order to synthesise findings across four major disciplines, with the goal of identifying current and imminent challenges, as well as potential solutions, to engaging consumers with sustainable energy projects in the era of interactive media. The authors propose a Socially Dynamic Communications Framework (SDCF) that can be used organisationally to address core challenges and generate solutions within a single iterative cycle. Initial findings indicate that consumer behaviours are most likely to be influenced through strategic social interactions using diverse, networked platforms, in order to be meaningful in contemporary social and technological contexts. Furthermore, this type of interaction is likely to become integral to future energy delivery systems, making interactive, online engagement with energy initiatives an important area for investigation. While many organisations may cite a lack of control in digital and social media as a risk justifying avoidance, the majority of engagement and marketing literature emphasise the greater risk inherent in not engaging effectively online.

A variety of critics and theorists have since demonstrated how approximations of chaotic principl... more A variety of critics and theorists have since demonstrated how approximations of chaotic principles occur in literary systems and texts. Across disciplines, this set of approaches has emerged concurrently with the arrival of increasingly powerful computing technologies. This paper examines the novel Exchange Place by Ciaran Carson, applying Katherine Hayles’s concept of ‘chaotics’ to the text to read for established chaotic features including unpredictability, complex forms, nonlinear relationships and multi-scalar representations. Foregrounding interactions between chaotics as proposed in the 1990s and contemporary post-digital environments, I highlight three distinguishing elements of Exchange Place, which are explained and illustrated through close reading, that reflect an evolving, 21st-century chaotics; I’ve termed these pulsating subjectivity, mercurial body-text, and collective mind. Crucial to this discussion are evolutions in subjectivity in the post-digital age, where bodies and texts have become deeply embedded with, and within, technological networks. The result is a new horizon of textual strategies and effects that privilege network-ecologies of personhood over individuality and coherence; Exchange Place is a quintessential illustration of this literary horizon.

Discusses a critical gaming project focusing on the work of Belfast poet Ciaran Carson, and argue... more Discusses a critical gaming project focusing on the work of Belfast poet Ciaran Carson, and argues that the quasi-algorithmic complexities of postmodern poetics demand a mode of criticism that engages practical-synthetic (building/doing) as well as analytic (breaking) modes. As part of a larger project exploring the technological possibilities and attitudes in the post-conflict posttext, a form that is “open and connectable in all its dimensions,” we have adapted the work to mixed-media spaces, where users read the text through digitally-enhanced experiences of the actual space of Belfast. The research explores how, through processes of making and enactment, re-mediating rather than deconstructing the text, the methods of (post-)literary criticism may change. “Word” and “image” are fluid concepts, and a synthetic criticism would propose to treat them within an open field, rather than relegate them to artificially separate categories. This follows a notion that the critical project should engage as much as possible an epistemology linked to that of the text itself. It depends for its validity on being transliterate: a bi-lingual criticism that speaks the language of the academy as well as that of the created work, of the word as well as of the image.

As an adaptation, the critical-creative project is not an attempt to rewrite existing works, but rather to demonstrate translations between divergent media forms, and to raise questions concerning the future of literary theory and pedgagogy; its outcomes are far from predictable. The broad, informing question—“How would this art object be in another context: historically, socially, geographically?”—is really a question of mixing, not switching, media paradigms, where issues of posttextual arts and postnational consciousness converge. The result is, perhaps, an instability of structures of knowledge, but a stability of process, “a continuously decomposing and recomposing equilibrium created through negotiations with views from other eyes” or through other apparatuses, one where the ideal of cognitive certainty is replaced “with the broader value of cognitive mobility.”

This paper explores how two emerging projects in education—globalizing the peacebuilding process,... more This paper explores how two emerging projects in education—globalizing the peacebuilding process, and the progressive use of technologies for change—might be constructively joined through the medium of creativity; how, in other words, current social needs can be answered by integrating digital creativity into educational frameworks. A first step for educators, researchers, and community workers will be to foreground the relationship of in-group reciprocity to global thinking, and to facilitate socio-centric, responsible action through sustainable creative platforms. Transliteracy will be a particularly important element of these platforms, as it privileges relational understanding and frame-shifting (crucial elements of a peacebuilding aptitude) over compliance with top-down learning paradigms. This is an attempt (from one young enough to be considered a digital native) to redefine what it means to be educated, and to argue for educating each other and ourselves as members of an integrated and diverse citizenry, one capable—through technology, creativity, and a mediating wisdom—to gracefully survive the challenges of globalization. By learning to integrate creative paradigms into public life, and by using technology to orient ourselves toward responsible action, we’ll be better prepared to heal past wounds and welcome interrelated and postnational futures.

Exploration of proto-digital modes and postnational identity in the writing of Ciaran Carson. Foc... more Exploration of proto-digital modes and postnational identity in the writing of Ciaran Carson. Focuses on the socio-technological, coterminous evolutions of writing and identity in relation to structures of nationalism. Emphasis on how “Carson’s Belfast is part oral story (tribal and pre-textual) and part metamedial (global and posttextual).” The author characterises a post-conflict Irish identity as one of complex interdependency, with a unique awareness and use of technology with respect to writing.

Discussion of methods for developing an alternate reality game or ARG, for use in educational and... more Discussion of methods for developing an alternate reality game or ARG, for use in educational and cultural engagement activities. Focuses on the creation of the flagship alternate reality game [in]visible belfast, developed by the authors and produced in conjunction with the University of Ulster, Queen’s University Belfast and the Belfast Book Festival in 2011.

Research Projects by Danielle Barrios-O'Neill

TV Ficciones, 2019

Translated from the original article in View Journal

As energy systems integration deepens to support the development of a cleaner and more intelligen... more As energy systems integration deepens to support the development of a cleaner and more intelligent energy infrastructure, it will be increasingly important for consumers to better understand their relationship to energy systems and to take more proactive roles in managing energy. Foregrounding the importance of systems comprehension, we argue for the strong potential of interactive games to be helpful in engaging consumers in sustainable energy practices, as they can demonstrate complex system dynamics through simulation-based experiences. Focusing on interrogations of engagement and social change posed by gaming theorists and designers, and using several flagship interactive games as points of reference, we discuss the elements of game space that make it capable of simulating complex systems and large-scale implications of energy decisions richly and effectively. We discuss social, technological, and narrative elements of game play, pairing a theoretical investigation with a practical exploration of how energy related games can link with data in the real world, with particular emphasis on the emerging Internet of Things. Our conclusions emphasise the importance of game simulation toward the longer-term goal of cultivating more complex patterns of interaction and cultural analysis around energy use; this is based on the assertion that energy, a social resource, must be managed in ways that are equally social.

The concept of “rewilding” has made its way into popular culture in recent years, describing a ne... more The concept of “rewilding” has made its way into popular culture in recent years, describing a network of supporting the health of the environment and humanity itself through the cultivation of un-cultivated spaces within existing structures. This paper looks at recent cutting-edge works in literary criticism and theory to see how they handle this growing contemporary impulse to defer to wildness, ie. Complexity, as the “natural” form of cultural and biological processes.

This paper addresses the question, how can sustainable energy projects increase engagement from c... more This paper addresses the question, how can sustainable energy projects increase engagement from consumers using interactive media communications? To this end, a systematic literature review was conducted in order to synthesise findings across four major disciplines, with the goal of identifying current and imminent challenges, as well as potential solutions, to engaging consumers with sustainable energy projects in the era of interactive media. The authors propose a Socially Dynamic Communications Framework (SDCF) that can be used organisationally to address core challenges and generate solutions within a single iterative cycle. Initial findings indicate that consumer behaviours are most likely to be influenced through strategic social interactions using diverse, networked platforms, in order to be meaningful in contemporary social and technological contexts. Furthermore, this type of interaction is likely to become integral to future energy delivery systems, making interactive, online engagement with energy initiatives an important area for investigation. While many organisations may cite a lack of control in digital and social media as a risk justifying avoidance, the majority of engagement and marketing literature emphasise the greater risk inherent in not engaging effectively online.

A variety of critics and theorists have since demonstrated how approximations of chaotic principl... more A variety of critics and theorists have since demonstrated how approximations of chaotic principles occur in literary systems and texts. Across disciplines, this set of approaches has emerged concurrently with the arrival of increasingly powerful computing technologies. This paper examines the novel Exchange Place by Ciaran Carson, applying Katherine Hayles’s concept of ‘chaotics’ to the text to read for established chaotic features including unpredictability, complex forms, nonlinear relationships and multi-scalar representations. Foregrounding interactions between chaotics as proposed in the 1990s and contemporary post-digital environments, I highlight three distinguishing elements of Exchange Place, which are explained and illustrated through close reading, that reflect an evolving, 21st-century chaotics; I’ve termed these pulsating subjectivity, mercurial body-text, and collective mind. Crucial to this discussion are evolutions in subjectivity in the post-digital age, where bodies and texts have become deeply embedded with, and within, technological networks. The result is a new horizon of textual strategies and effects that privilege network-ecologies of personhood over individuality and coherence; Exchange Place is a quintessential illustration of this literary horizon.

Discusses a critical gaming project focusing on the work of Belfast poet Ciaran Carson, and argue... more Discusses a critical gaming project focusing on the work of Belfast poet Ciaran Carson, and argues that the quasi-algorithmic complexities of postmodern poetics demand a mode of criticism that engages practical-synthetic (building/doing) as well as analytic (breaking) modes. As part of a larger project exploring the technological possibilities and attitudes in the post-conflict posttext, a form that is “open and connectable in all its dimensions,” we have adapted the work to mixed-media spaces, where users read the text through digitally-enhanced experiences of the actual space of Belfast. The research explores how, through processes of making and enactment, re-mediating rather than deconstructing the text, the methods of (post-)literary criticism may change. “Word” and “image” are fluid concepts, and a synthetic criticism would propose to treat them within an open field, rather than relegate them to artificially separate categories. This follows a notion that the critical project should engage as much as possible an epistemology linked to that of the text itself. It depends for its validity on being transliterate: a bi-lingual criticism that speaks the language of the academy as well as that of the created work, of the word as well as of the image.

As an adaptation, the critical-creative project is not an attempt to rewrite existing works, but rather to demonstrate translations between divergent media forms, and to raise questions concerning the future of literary theory and pedgagogy; its outcomes are far from predictable. The broad, informing question—“How would this art object be in another context: historically, socially, geographically?”—is really a question of mixing, not switching, media paradigms, where issues of posttextual arts and postnational consciousness converge. The result is, perhaps, an instability of structures of knowledge, but a stability of process, “a continuously decomposing and recomposing equilibrium created through negotiations with views from other eyes” or through other apparatuses, one where the ideal of cognitive certainty is replaced “with the broader value of cognitive mobility.”

This paper explores how two emerging projects in education—globalizing the peacebuilding process,... more This paper explores how two emerging projects in education—globalizing the peacebuilding process, and the progressive use of technologies for change—might be constructively joined through the medium of creativity; how, in other words, current social needs can be answered by integrating digital creativity into educational frameworks. A first step for educators, researchers, and community workers will be to foreground the relationship of in-group reciprocity to global thinking, and to facilitate socio-centric, responsible action through sustainable creative platforms. Transliteracy will be a particularly important element of these platforms, as it privileges relational understanding and frame-shifting (crucial elements of a peacebuilding aptitude) over compliance with top-down learning paradigms. This is an attempt (from one young enough to be considered a digital native) to redefine what it means to be educated, and to argue for educating each other and ourselves as members of an integrated and diverse citizenry, one capable—through technology, creativity, and a mediating wisdom—to gracefully survive the challenges of globalization. By learning to integrate creative paradigms into public life, and by using technology to orient ourselves toward responsible action, we’ll be better prepared to heal past wounds and welcome interrelated and postnational futures.

Exploration of proto-digital modes and postnational identity in the writing of Ciaran Carson. Foc... more Exploration of proto-digital modes and postnational identity in the writing of Ciaran Carson. Focuses on the socio-technological, coterminous evolutions of writing and identity in relation to structures of nationalism. Emphasis on how “Carson’s Belfast is part oral story (tribal and pre-textual) and part metamedial (global and posttextual).” The author characterises a post-conflict Irish identity as one of complex interdependency, with a unique awareness and use of technology with respect to writing.

Discussion of methods for developing an alternate reality game or ARG, for use in educational and... more Discussion of methods for developing an alternate reality game or ARG, for use in educational and cultural engagement activities. Focuses on the creation of the flagship alternate reality game [in]visible belfast, developed by the authors and produced in conjunction with the University of Ulster, Queen’s University Belfast and the Belfast Book Festival in 2011.

TV Ficciones, 2019

Translated from the original article in View Journal