Since the "Automatic Binding Bricks" that LEGO produced in 1949, and the LEGO "System of Play" that began with the release of Town Plan No. 1 (1955), LEGO bricks have gone on to become a global phenomenon, and the favorite building toy of children, as well as many an AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO). LEGO has also become a medium into which a wide number of media franchises, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Batman, Superman, Lord of the Rings, and others, have adapted their characters, vehicles, props, and settings. The LEGO Group itself has become a multimedia empire, including LEGO books, movies, television shows, video games, board games, comic books, theme parks, magazines, and even MMORPGs. LEGO Studies: Examining the Building Blocks of a Transmedial Phenomenon is the first collection to examine LEGO as both a medium into which other franchises can be adapted and a transmedial franchise of its own. Although each essay looks at a particular aspect of the LEGO phenomenon, topics such as adaptation, representation, paratexts, franchises, and interactivity intersect throughout these essays, proposing that the study of LEGO as a medium and a media empire is a rich vein barely touched upon in Media Studies.
This collection examines LEGO from an array of critical and cultural studies approaches, foregrounding the world-renowned brand's ideological power and influence. Given LEGO’s status as the world’s largest toy manufacturer and a transnational multimedia conglomerate, Cultural Studies of Lego: More Than Just Bricks considers LEGO media's cultural messages; creativity with and within LEGO artifacts; and diversity within the franchise, including gender and race representation. The chapters’ in-depth analyses of topics including LEGO films, marketing tactics, play sets, novelizations, and fans offer compelling insights relevant to those interested in the LEGO brand and broader trends in the children’s popular culture market alike.
Since the "Automatic Binding Bricks" that LEGO produced in 1949, and the LEGO "System of Play" that began with the release of Town Plan No. 1 (1955), LEGO bricks have gone on to become a global phenomenon, and the favorite building toy of children, as well as many an AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO). LEGO has also become a medium into which a wide number of media franchises, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Batman, Superman, Lord of the Rings, and others, have adapted their characters, vehicles, props, and settings. The LEGO Group itself has become a multimedia empire, including LEGO books, movies, television shows, video games, board games, comic books, theme parks, magazines, and even MMORPGs. LEGO Studies: Examining the Building Blocks of a Transmedial Phenomenon is the first collection to examine LEGO as both a medium into which other franchises can be adapted and a transmedial franchise of its own. Although each essay looks at a particular aspect of the LEGO phenomenon, topics such as adaptation, representation, paratexts, franchises, and interactivity intersect throughout these essays, proposing that the study of LEGO as a medium and a media empire is a rich vein barely touched upon in Media Studies.
LEGOfied: Building Blocks as Media provides a multi-faceted exploration of LEGO fandom, addressing a blindspot in current accounts of LEGO and an emerging area of interest to media scholars: namely, the role of hobbyist enthusiasts and content producers in LEGO's emergence as a ubiquitous transmedia franchise. This book examines a range of LEGO hobbyism and their attendant forms of mediated self-expression and identity (their technicities): artists, aspiring Master Builders, collectors, and entrepreneurs who refashion LEGO bricks into new commodities (sets, tchotchkes, and minifigures). The practices and perspectives that constitute this diverse scene lie at the intersection of multiple transformations in contemporary culture, including the shifting relationships between culture industries and the audiences that form their most ardent consumer base, but also the emerging forms of entrepreneurialism, professionalization, and globalization that characterize the burgeoning DIY movement. What makes this a compelling project for media scholars is its mutli-dimensional articulation of how LEGO functions not just as a toy, cultural icon, or as transmedia franchise, but as a media platform. LEGOfied is centered around their shared experiences, qualitative observations, and semi-structured interviews at a number of LEGO hobbyist conventions. Working outwards from these conventions, each chapter engages additional modes of inquiry-media archaeology, aesthetics, posthumanist philosophy, feminist media studies, and science and technology studies-to explore the origins, permutations and implications of different aspects of the contemporary LEGO fandom scene.
The latest edition in the gold standard of project management case study collections As a critical part of any successful, competitive business, project management sits at the intersection of several functional areas. And in the newly revised Sixth Edition of Project Management Case Studies, world-renowned project management professional Dr. Harold Kerzner delivers practical and in-depth coverage of project management in industries as varied as automotive, healthcare, government, manufacturing, communications, construction, chemical, aerospace, and more. The latest edition of this bestselling book acts as the perfect supplement to any project management textbook or as an aid in the preparation for the PMP certification exam. The author includes new topics, like risk management, information sharing, scope changes, crisis dashboards, and innovation. The Sixth Edition includes ten new case studies and a wide array of updates to existing cases to meet today’s industry standards and reflect the unique challenges facing modern project management professionals. This new edition: Features 10 new case studies from LEGO, NorthStar, Berlin Brandenburg Airport, and more Includes over 100 case studies drawn from real companies illustrating successful and poor implementation of project management Provides coverage of broad areas of project management as well as focused content on the automotive, healthcare, government, manufacturing, communications, construction, chemical, and aerospace industries Offers new topics including risk management, information sharing, scope changes, crisis dashboards, and innovation Perfect for students taking courses on project management during their undergraduate degrees and at the graduate level as part of an MBA or graduate engineering program, Project Management Case Studies is also an indispensable resource for consulting and training companies who work with other professionals.
This book investigates a paradox of creative yet scripted play—how LEGO invites players to build ‘freely’ with and within its highly structured, ideologically-laden toy system. First, this book considers theories and methods for deconstructing LEGO as a medium of bricolage, the creative reassembly of already-significant elements. Then, it pieces together readings of numerous LEGO sets, advertisements, videogames, films, and other media that show how LEGO constructs five ideologies of play: construction play, dramatic play, digital play, transmedia play, and attachment play. From suburban traffic patterns to architectural croissants, from feminized mini-doll bodies to toys-to-life stories, from virtual construction to playful fan creations, this book explores how the LEGO medium conveys ideological messages—not by transmitting clear statements but by providing implicit instructions for how to reassemble meanings it had all along.
The SAGE Encyclopedia of Out-of-School Learning documents what the best research has revealed about out-of-school learning: what facilitates or hampers it; where it takes place most effectively; how we can encourage it to develop talents and strengthen communities; and why it matters. Key features include: Approximately 260 articles organized A-to-Z in 2 volumes available in a choice of electronic or print formats. Signed articles, specially commissioned for this work and authored by key figures in the field, conclude with Cross References and Further Readings to guide students to the next step in a research journey. Reader’s Guide groups related articles within broad, thematic areas to make it easy for readers to spot additional relevant articles at a glance. Detailed Index, the Reader’s Guide, and Cross References combine for search-and-browse in the electronic version. Resource Guide points to classic books, journals, and web sites, including those of key associations.
What happens when we set out to understand LEGO not just as a physical object but as an idea, an icon of modernity, an image—maybe even a moving image? To what extent can the LEGO brick fit into the multimedia landscape of popular culture, especially film culture, today? Launching from these questions, Dana Polan traces LEGO from thing to film and asserts that The LEGO Movie is an exemplar of key directions in mainstream cinema, combining the visceral impact of effects and spectacle with ironic self-awareness and savvy critique of mass culture as it reaches for new heights of creativity. Incorporating insights from conversations with producer Dan Lin and writer-directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Polan examines the production and reception of The LEGO Movie and closely analyzes the film within popular culture at large and in relation to LEGO as a toy and commodity. He identifies the film’s particular stylistic and narrative qualities, its grasp of and response to the culture industry, and what makes it a distinctive work of animation within the seeming omnipresence of animation in Hollywood, and reveals why the blockbuster film, in all its silliness and seriousness, stands apart as a divergent cultural work.
Global Marketing Management, 8th Edition combines academic rigor, contemporary relevance, and student-friendly readability to review how marketing managers can succeed in the increasingly competitive international business environment. This in-depth yet accessible textbook helps students understand state-of-the-art global marketing practices and recognize how marketing managers work across business functions to achieve overall corporate goals. The author provides relevant historical background and offers logical explanations of current trends based on information from marketing executives and academic researchers around the world. Designed for students majoring in business, this thoroughly updated eighth edition both describes today's multilateral realities and explores the future of marketing in a global context. Building upon four main themes, the text discusses marketing management in light of the drastic changes the global economy has undergone, the explosive growth of information technology and e-commerce, the economic and political forces of globalization, and the various consequences of corporate action such as environmental pollution, substandard food safely, and unsafe work environments. Each chapter contains review and discussion questions to encourage classroom participation and strengthen student learning.
What if getting the girl meant becoming a terrorist wet boy? On an unnamed university campus late in the 20th century, a young man named Fenton Bland joins a society of student Maoists in order to get near the girl he loves. But the girl turns out to belong to the chief Maoist - and HE turns out to harbor alarming aspirations in the field of revolutionary terror. And so Fenton, wearing a forcibly grown beard, finds himself propelled into a bizarre covert world of death lists, backyard bomb labs, untraceable handguns, and attempted wet jobs of wildly varying quality - a world in which he must choose between losing the girl forever or else participating, perhaps very soon, in a successful terrorist atrocity ...
INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOPS (at IAREC'17) (This book inclueds English (main) and Turkish languages) International Workshop on Mechanical Engineering International Workshop on Mechatronics Engineering International Workshop on Energy Systems Engineering International Workshop on Automotive Engineering and Aerospace Engineering International Workshop on Material Engineering International Workshop on Manufacturing Engineering International Workshop on Physics Engineering International Workshop on Electrical and Electronics Engineering International Workshop on Computer Engineering and Software Engineering International Workshop on Chemical Engineering International Workshop on Textile Engineering International Workshop on Architecture International Workshop on Civil Engineering International Workshop on Geomatics Engineering International Workshop on Industrial Engineering International Workshop on Food Engineering International Workshop on Aquaculture Engineering International Workshop on Agriculture Engineering International Workshop on Mathematics Engineering International Workshop on Bioengineering Engineering International Workshop on Biomedical Engineering International Workshop on Genetic Engineering International Workshop on Environmental Engineering International Workshop on Other Engineering Science
