We introduce a novel precedence reordering approach based on a dependency parser to statistical machine translation systems. Similar to other preprocessing reordering approaches, our method can efficiently incorporate linguistic knowledge into SMT systems without increasing the complexity of decoding. For a set of five subject-object-verb (SOV) order languages, we show significant improvements in BLEU scores when translating from English, compared to other reordering approaches, in state-of-the-art phrase-based SMT systems.

This essay provides a critical observation of the South Korean government's distinctive management of COVID-19 with particular reference to the state of emergency. It reveals that the success of South Korea's handling of the pandemic is largely attributed by a majority of Western media to the efficient deployment of both information and communication technologies and Confucian collectivism, two components that seem contradictory yet not incompatible under the rubric of techno-Orientalism. Analyzing the intensification of surveillance and the rapid datafication of society, this essay argues that the current state of emergency is not a breakdown of normality but a continuation of the state of crisis and disaster that rules a developing country like South Korea. In doing so, the essay seeks to facilitate a critical discussion about a new mode of democracy in the era of pandemic that increasingly grapples with tensions between individual freedom and public health.

Este ensaio se ocupa principalmente do exame dos aspectos metodológicos da concepção de historiografia materialista de Benjamin, a que eu chamo de crítica da cultura (Kulturkritik). Com a noção de Kulturkritik, quero distinguir a análise de Benjamin de "teorias" da cultura e ressaltar sua preocupação crítica com o conceito de "cultura". Ao fazê-lo, quero explicitar os imperativos metodológicos do exame da modernidade como espetáculo. Ainda, também procuro mostrar que a crítica da cultura de Benjamin é significativamente diferente da Ideologiekritik desenvolvida pelos integrantes originais do Institut fur Sozialforschung [Instituto de Pesquisa Social].
The essay is primarily concerned with examining the methodological aspects of Benjamin's distinct idea of materialist historiography, which I would call a critique of culture (Kulturkritik). By means of the notion of Kulturkritik, I want to differentiate Benjamin's account from a 'theory' of culture and to underline Benjamin's critical concern with the concept of 'culture'. In doing so, I aim to draw out its methodological imperatives for examining modernity as the spectacle. Furthermore, I also argue that Benjamin's critique of culture differs in significant ways from the Ideologiekritik developed by the early members of the Institut für Sozialforschung

"A mudança observada aqui no modo de exposição -uma mudança trazida pela tecnologia da reprodução -também é visível na política. A crise da democracia pode ser entendida como uma crise nas condições que governam a apresentação de políticos." Walter Benjamin (1935). AS NOVAS MÍDIAS E A VELHA DEMOCRACIAO impacto da tecnologia da comunicação na democracia e nos movimentos sociais tem sido uma questão fundamental nos campos da teoria social e política desde que as mídias de massa, Repensando a política estética RESUMOEste ensaio reexamina tese de Walter Benjamin da estetização da política relacionando-a ao desenvolvimento das mídias de massa e à crise da democracia. Essa tese é o ponto central tanto de sua concepção da crise da democracia liberal quanto da ascensão do fascismo. O estudo da análise de Benjamin sobre a interação entre a política fascista e as mídias de massa leva a uma consideração crítica da função do espetáculo político na era da mídia e aponta sua relevância para nossa compreensão crítica da ligação entre as novas mídias e a democracia, seja ela a "nova" ou a "antiga". PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Walter Benjamin; política estética; mídias de massa; democracia ABSTRACTThis essay reassesses Walter Benjamin' s thesis of the aesthetisation of politics with reference to the development of the mass media and the crisis of democracy. His thesis of the aesthetisation of politics represents the focal point of his account of both the crisis of liberal democracy and the emergence of fascism. The examination of Benjamin' s analysis of the interplay between fascist politics and the mass media leads to a wider critical consideration of the function of political spectacle in the media age. In so doing, I seek to draw out its relevance for our critical understanding of the linkage between new media and democracy, be it "new" or "old" democracy.

This essay examines the Olympic Games as a media-space which comprises both physical and mediated spatial attributes. Focusing on the Beijing National Stadium it addresses the new post-geographical spatial experiences that are produced by the layering of physicality and digitization. Drawing methodologies from the fields of ethnography, media studies and design studies, we aim to develop an interdisciplinary approach which critically explores the multiple and intertwined dimensions of these hybrid spatial articulations. This takes into account the new transnational public realms that have been opened by diverse forms of social media, and the proliferation of actors in the dissemination and shaping of the Olympic event and its architectures.