Language of Tomorrow is a comprehensive guide to the history, evolution, and current forms of pictographic communication, charting its course from ancient Egyptian writing systems to modern-day emojis. The book is a culmination of research combining visual communication, semiotic theory, cultural studies, linguistics, artificial intelligence, and new media.

Haytham Nawar presents a cohesive and comprehensive historical framework—covering pictographic, logographic, and ideographic writing systems and scripts—through which we can discuss the future of communication. In his analysis, he explores the possibility of developing a standardized universal pictographic communication system that fosters mutual understanding and bridges diverse cultures. Weaving practice and theory across disciplines and bringing together language, culture, art, and design, Language of Tomorrow aims to locate the direction for the research and development of a transcultural visual communication system for the posthuman era.

While postwar British cinema and the British new wave have received much scholarly attention, the misunderstood period of the 1970s has been comparatively ignored. Don’t Look Now uncovers forgotten but richly rewarding films, including Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and the films of Lindsay Anderson and Barney Platts-Mills. This volume offers insight into the careers of important filmmakers and sheds light on the genres of experimental film, horror, rock and punk films, as well as representations of the black community, shifts in gender politics, and adaptations of television comedies. The contributors ask searching questions about the nature of British film culture and its relationship to popular culture, television, and the cultural underground.

John Newman invites teachers to take their students on a playwriting voyage in Playwriting in Schools. The book examines how students who learn to write plays and work with a professional playwright in residence empower themselves and gives instructors tools for teaching the process of playwriting in a way that makes space for the student voice. Playwriting in Schools investigates two main approaches for adult teachers and playwrights to use playwriting as a strategy for student self-expression. One approach is through the creation of fully-developed plays, written either by individual students with instruction from teachers or through interactions between a team of students and a teacher-playwright. The other approach is developing plays through collaborations among professional playwrights, teachers, and student actors, crafting new plays in ways that suit the needs, interests, and learning of young people. Throughout, Newman and the teachers and playwrights he features express themselves with an artistic generosity that encourages us to widen the scope of our own programs by introducing students to the vast ocean of playwriting and play development.

This book examines the complex relationships that exist between anarchist theory and film. No longer hidden in obscure corners of cinematic culture, anarchy is a theme that has traversed arthouse, underground, and popular film. In The Anarchist Cinema, James Newton explores the notion that cinema is an inherently subversive space, establishes criteria for deeming a film anarchic, and examines the place of underground and DIY filmmaking within the wider context of the category. The author identifies subversive undercurrents in cinema and uses anarchist political theory as an interpretive framework to analyze filmmakers, genres, and the notion of cinema as an anarchic space.

Performative Materials in Architecture and Design addresses the convergence of several significant and fundamental advancements in the ways that materials and environments are designed, evaluated, and experienced within architecture and related disciplines. The emergence of experimental and ultra-performing materials, interactive processing systems, and digital design and fabrication techniques has established an interconnected network of technological inputs that has stimulated the development of materials, assemblies, and systems with performative properties. Providing an overview of representative design projects and relevant theories, this volume illuminates both the interaction of these technologies and the role of materiality in research, design, and practice.

Scotland, its people, and its history have long been a source of considerable fascination and inspiration for filmmakers, film scholars, and film audiences worldwide. A significant number of critically acclaimed films made in the last twenty-five years have ignited passionate conversations and debates about Scottish national cinema. Its historical, industrial, and cultural complexities and contradictions have made it all the more a focus of attention and interest for both popular audiences and scholarly critics.
 
Directory of World Cinema: Scotland provides an introduction to many of Scottish cinema’s most important and influential themes and issues, films, and filmmakers, while adding to the ongoing discussion concerning how to make sense of Scotland’s cinematic traditions and contributions.  Chapters on filmmakers range from Murray Grigor to Ken Loach, and Gaelic filmmaking, radical and engaged cinema, production, finance, and documentary are just a few of the topics explored.  Film reviews range from popular box office hits such as Braveheart, and Trainspotting to lesser known but equally engaging independent and lower budget productions, such as Shell and Orphans. This book is both a stimulating and accessible resource for a wide range of readers interested in Scottish film.