Charlie, everyone
It's interesting to read about the Moot, which I also attended. The first thing I'd like to point out is that most of the presenters at the Moot were not associated with the AHRC or the advisory group. My understanding is that a wide range of people were invited to present, from as many of the sectors as possible that the AHRC works with. It's a broad remit the Council addresses (the creative arts are just one element) and although there are no doubt some universals across disciplines it is the case that each has its own take on the issues and how the digital can be transformative. They all have to be accommodated and reflected upon and we can learn a lot from each other as we do this.
Charlie led a great panel at the Moot and challenged some of the premises of the event. It was what was hoped for. Whilst I agree that it was difficult to discern clear lines of travel at the Moot (much less define in what sense the digital can be transformative), likely due to the many views articulated, I am confident the conversations being had at the AHRC, and within the advisory group, are engaging the profound end of the spectrum when it comes to how the digital can be transformative. Do not expect to see projects being supported that do more of the same - big data digitisation projects, social media mining for qualitative research and digital conservation projects are unlikely to be funded. The AHRC is looking for the researchers and practitioners who are looking to how new technologies can be transformative. I'm thinking about the theme in terms of human evolution and specifically how we evolve as a homo-technical apparatus. We are our technologies and they are us, from language to computers. Radical changes in one element in a system will lead to change across that system. Change of this ilk is profound and work that engages this is likely to be supported. If that is a bit like the 90's (of which I generally have find memories) then I'm not sure that's a bad thing.
best
Simon
On 21 Nov 2012, at 19:31, Gere, Charlie wrote:
> Hi all
>
> Just to add a few more thoughts on the Moot, which I also attended. My major problem with what is a well intended move on the part of the AHRC - to fund work on digital transformations - was that, on the evidence of the Moot at least, there is little real engagement with actual transformations brought about by these new technologies. Part of the problem was the relentless focus on kit, as if the issues of how digital technologies are changing our lives could be reduced to what academics could do with snazzy hardware and software. There was little sense that these technologies are potentially transforming the arts and humanities out of all recognition or that the real transformations are not taking place at the level of equipment but rather at the structural level.
>
> Katrina on the other hand expressed it beautifully in her contribution to the panel I chaired, when she described the changes in the very ontology of the image brought about by digital social networks, as well as in our reception of such images. I thought that her contribution and those of other panelists on the panel took the debate to a different level, as did some other contributors at other times in the day. But the general tone of the event mostly militated against this kind of thinking.
>
> WIth all due respect to the organisers to some extent it felt like the kind of event that happened in the early 1990s, when excitement over the technological possibilities of the digital was the main focus. But rather than carp perhaps this might offer us opportunities, virtually or otherwise, to debate what a genuinely critical approach to digital transformations might look like, and how the AHRC might fund that. Otherwise my major fear is that the limited number of funding opportunities offered will go to instrumental projects involving the application of data mining, visualization etc... rather than the, in my view more needed, focus on the transformative effects of these media on culture and society
>
> Charlie
> ________________________________________
> From: Curating digital art - www.crumbweb.org [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Sarah Cook [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 21 November 2012 18:23
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] Fwd: November Theme: Curating on and through web-based platforms
>
> This message from Katrina was meant to go to the list... so I am forwarding now...
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: "Sluis, Katrina Patricia" <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
> Date: 21 November 2012 08:34:07 GMT
> To: Sarah Cook <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
> Subject: Re: [NEW-MEDIA-CURATING] November Theme: Curating on and through web-based platforms
>
> Hi all
>
> Just to add briefly to Sarah's comments, I think one of the issues with the way the AHRC 'moot' was framed is that there was an absence of self-reflexivity about how 'digital transformations' apply to epistemologies, ontologies and practices within disciplines and not just 'wider culture'. Although there was a great buzz about new 'methods' (especially as it potentially gives humanities scholars the ability to do quantitative research and embrace positivism) and disseminating 'research in progress ' it felt at times that 'method' filled in for critical thinking about the politics of software and related tools.
>
> Secondly, for those CRUMBsters in London, you may be interested in an upcoming panel on 4th Dec at The Photographers' Gallery: "All your cat memes are belong to us" where speakers will explore key questions around the image economy of the web, from LOLcats to Flickr, 4Chan to twitter, as well as issues arising from the curation of online photographic practices within the gallery/museum.
>
> The panel includes Dr Lop Lop, who established the popular Flickr group Somebody else's cat, Dr Alexandra Moschovi, Lecturer in photographic theory and history, University of Sunderland, Dr Olga Goriunova, Assistant Professor at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, Warwick University.
> http://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/all-your-cat-memes-belong-to-us
>
> Looking forward to the rest of the discussion.
> Katrina
>
>
> University of Sunderland - Shortlisted for the Times Higher University of the Year 2012
>
Simon Biggs
[log in to unmask] http://www.littlepig.org.uk/ @SimonBiggsUK skype: simonbiggsuk
[log in to unmask] Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh
http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/ http://www.elmcip.net/ http://www.movingtargets.org.uk/
MSc by Research in Interdisciplinary Creative Practices
http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/degrees?id=656&cw_xml=details.php
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