Dear Jack, Mairin, Moira and others
Thanks so much for these examples of photo and video in capturing aspects
of practice.  They are inspiring me to investigate the use of such methods
in capturing and presenting aspects of our research on our website -
particularly as much of our research is done by creative and performing
artists.

You may like to know that I had the privilege today of hearing of videoed
work being done by a group of our researchers, they set up a 'kaumatua
class' (revered elders).  It is a whole programme, the point of which is
to bring the kaumatua together and have them discuss and share knowledge
of a range of issues, under a skilled facilitator who speaks both
languages, and inputs her own advanced knowledge also.  Sometimes the
discussion occurs in Maori, sometimes in English.  The facilitator, who
was sharing the concept with me today, is keeping meticulous records
tracing the names of the various kaumatua who are speaking on the videos -
one or two have already passed on, so the record will be invaluable.  She
records the gist of the conversation (not a verbatim transcript) in Maori
when they're speaking Maori or English when they're speaking English, and
who was saying what at 'marked points' on the videotape.  So it is an
easily accessible way of checking either content, or one kaumatua's
contribution.

We had a great time talking about how this work can contribute to research
development.  The class is almost entirely oral, as is the assessment
(hence the need for the videos, to 'prove' that the assessment took
place!)  But the richness of what is coming out of these videos is
contributing so much more than the mere satisfying of quality assurance
requirements...the kaumatua, many of whom are contributing knowledge which
is generally quite carefully guarded, have agreed to the videos
occurring.  I will see if we can get approval for a segment of one of the
videos to be posted to this group, for the purposes mentioned by Jack some
days back - but it will depend on the approval of the group. (I'll make
sure I get an English-spoken segment!)  I think they are developing a
really interesting and radically different 'methodology' for research,
even though that wasn't where they started.

Great to see how ideas are developing in different parts of the world, and
how we are able to benefit from hearing each other's practice - thanks so
much for the sharing.
Kind regards
Pip