Reading, Writing & Research Methodologies 2012/2013

This is a shared page for the R,W & R module.

Trimester 1: 2013-14

Workload

The total workload for the Self-directed Research and Practice module is 8 EC (4 per trimester), or approximately 25 full days over two trimesters. Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the Reading, Writing and Research Methodologies Seminar, students are expected to:

• Confidently read, contextualise and analyse texts.

• Engage in active dialogue about texts that are related and unrelated to  one’s own practice.

• Grasp the scope of research methodologies available to artistic practice.

• Use relevant source material and appropriate modes of documentation.

• Establish a common language or set of references within the framework  of contemporary art and its discourses.

• Produce fluent texts in written English.  

• Assessment of Reading, Writing and Research Methodologies Seminar:  At the end of each of the two trimesters students are assessed on their ability to:

• Intelligibly express ideas, thoughts and reflections in written English.

• Identify complex and coherent questions, concepts and appropriate forms  in preparation for the graduate research project and thesis.

• Clearly structure and analyse an argument.

• Use relevant source material and references.

• Research texts and practices and reflect upon them analytically.

• Synthesize different forms of knowledge in a coherent, imaginative and  distinctive way.

• Position ones own views within a broader context.

• Recognize and perform the appropriate mode of address within a given  context.

• Engage in active dialogue about written work with others.

Reading, Writing, and Research Methodologies 2013-2014

The Reading, Writing, and Research Methodologies Seminar is tailored towards (further) developing research methods within the first year of this master. By establishing a solid foundation of research skills, it will eventually prepare students for their Graduate research in the second year. Through reading core theoretical texts, they will establish a common vocabulary and set of references to work from. They will learn the practice of classic ‘essayistic methodologies’, including close reading, annotation, description and notation, students learn to survey a body of literature, filter what is relevant to their research and create comparative pieces of analysis. The seminar helps students to establish methodical drafting processes for their texts, where they can develop ideas further and structure their use of notes and references. The course takes as axiomatic that the perceived division between ‘practice’ and ‘theory’ is essentially an illusion.

Outcome:

The specific outcome for the RW&RM seminar of 2013-14 will be a 1500 word text which reflects on your own method and situates your work in relation to a broader artistic and cultural context. The various texts produced within the RW&RM seminar will serve as source material for your text on method. In common with all modules on the course RW&RM serves to support the other elements of the course (Self-directed Research, Issues in Art & Theory, Practice-Group Critiques &c.). Therefore, the text on method will inform your Self-Evaluation at the end of the third trimester and provide the basis for your Graduate Project Proposal that you will produce in the fourth trimester.

Curriculum: The seminar will involve:

(a.) Identifying the object of your research: description and analysis of your work

(b.) Contextualizing your work through description and reflection on contemporary and historical practices.

(c.) Identify research material key to your practice.

(d.) Synopsis and annotation of key texts

(e.) Writing machines: creating methods for group and individual writing.

Throughout, there will be an emphasis on working collectively, whether in a larger discussion group or in smaller reading and writing groups.

Brief for 1500 word methods text. The aim of this assignment is to use description of your work as a way of identifying and articulating your method. Describing first what and then how and why you make work often leads to discussions of the works context (what work is similar to the work you describe; what are the key ideas the work deals with). The theoretical elements of the texts you write should therefore emerge from, and have a very clear connection with, the work you are making. For this experiment I am asking you to follow the method outlined above so that you can begin to reflect and write quite deeply about the work you are making. A second method you will find useful is to draw on annotations of texts you have read which have a particular relation to the work you make.

First draft: early May (review in groups)

Final draft: late May (review in groups)

Assignments

Trimester 3

19-6-13

1) Review of writing machines

2) Review of Reading Writing Research Methods 2013

3) Bring a strange and interesting piece of media to share

12-6-13

results at end of class:

Group A: (outline= 20 words)

Group B: (outline= 20 words) writing machine chain:

makrov chain cnc machine -> Synonym Machine -> Twitter Replacement -> Sorting Machine

Designs for a writing machine:

formats could include: digital - physical - interface - generative engines - formulas - external forums &c

Group NIEK MARLON MENNO NICOLE

Group two: outline here

Exquisite Corpse extended:

Start: essay or description of work Begin: modify the text by infusing certain sentences from various new media essays and books (raid the office) Execute: By rolling dice it is determined where to pick the infused fragment from and where to put it.

Poster folding:

Start: twitter tweets from a specific account: could be Michael Murtaugh tweets Begin: the tweets are printed out, cut up and glued to a piece of paper Execute: fold the paper and produce exiting new combinations!

Binary oppositions:

Start: a text is needed Begin: The text is pasted in pirate pad and each participant is assigned a 'switch'-position Execute: the participants switch their given 'emotion' turning them opposite.

Contemporary infusion:

Start: essay or description of work Begin: The essay is split up in sentences. The latest headlines from the guardian, HackAday, Nettimers-mailing-list are produced. Execute: Infuse the found headlines between the sentences of the given essay.

5-6-13

Writing machines:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjT1O0oPtxE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWVABqw3Xd4

Upload answers here:

How does it make you feel?

What kind of atmosphere does it evoke?

What was the motivation behind making it?

What preceded it?

What will follow it?

What’s holding it together?

How long will it last?

Where are its edges?

Is it original?

What does it evoke?

To whom does it speak?

Can it touch you?

When was the work made?

Can it be destroyed?

When did it begin to exist?

What is its status?

What is its economy?

What is it influenced by

Under what conditions would it fail?

What is the measure of its success?

May 30

Reader and feedback

key questions:

is the method clear?

is motivation clear?- (maybe use the discussion to talk about motivation)

how can the writer come to a conclusion?

Reading Writing Research Methods

Assignment one: 22 April - 15 May:

Self-directed research essay = 1000-1500 words

The aim of this exercise is:

(1) to further articulate your practice and to discuss it within a broader cultural and historical context

(2) to identify and articulate a methodology

Some of you have already made progress in producing texts which fulfill the above ends.

In the second year, when you produce your Final Project Proposal, then it will be necessary to demonstrate the ability to do the above.

Guidelines: The aim of this assignment is to use description of your work as a way of identifying and articulating your method. Describing first what and then how and why you make work often leads to discussions of the works context (what work is similar to the work you describe; what are the key ideas the work deals with) . The theoretical elements of the texts you write should therefore emerge from, and have a very clear connection with, the work you are making. For this experiment I am asking you to follow the method outlined above so that you can begin to reflect and write quite deeply about the work you are making. A second method you will find useful is to draw on annotations of texts you have read which have a particular relation to the work you make.

link title Timetable:

Outline: 23 April

First draft: 7th May (review in groups)

Final draft: 15th May (review in groups)

Tips on structure:

Aim: articulation of methodology

Structure:

Abstract = 50 words

Intro

Text:

Conclusion (recapping the main issues in the text)

Note on mode of address: imagine you are writing for a reader who is known to you (a peer or colleague).

What needs to be explained to them for them to understand what you do?

Upload Drafts Here
Mathijs Marlon Manno ROEL Niek Viking joak Nicole mmths Michaela Nan Yoana Lasse

PIRATEPAD: http://piratepad.net/kMpxZySx5m

Assignment two:

Writing Machines: 5, 12 and 19 June

Trimester 2

This trimester we will be looking at key terms in the media lexicon and study the ideas and work they inspire, beginning with:

Cultural Hegemony

9-1-13

links for 9-1-13 class

http://www.chadmccail.co.uk/billboard/billboards.html

http://www.chadmccail.co.uk/snake/snake.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNDz0EWJwII

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AnB8MuQ6DU

Texts under discussion this week:

The Ruling Class and the Ruling ideas, Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels

(i) History of the Subaltern Classes; (ii) The Concept of 'Ideology'; (iii) Cultural Themes: Ideological Material, Antonio Gramsci

Clip:

(the 'propaganda model', in) The Culture of Consent, Noam Chomsky

Week one: read Marx and Gramsci texts (if you haven’t got one Leslie has copies).

Assignment: gather together material comprising the following and bring that material to the seminar on Wednesday:

Make brief synopsis of each text:

Make notes on how Gramsci developed Marx’s idea

Posit your own definition for cultural hegemony

Speculate on how cultural hegemony might operate in the contemporary world... consider Chomsky’s use of the ‘propaganda model’. Can we consider the recent occupy movement and similar movements as countering cultural hegemony? If so, in what ways do they do this?

16-1-13

Cultural Hegemony Part two

1) You will work in groups on the texts you upload on to the wiki – at this point you should have material to work with and piece together, we can discuss what might be done with this material. [BUT DO NOT COME EMPTY HANDED]

2) Introduction into Adorno & Horkheimer and ‘the culture industry enlightenment as mass deception’

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pr54s

23-1-13

Cultural Hegemony Part three

Counter-culture & the New left

The culture industry continued

Texts discussed:

Whole Earth Catalogue (issue #1, 1968)

Radical Software (issue # 1, 1970)

From Counterculture to Cyberculture, Fred Turner (2009)

Digital Culture, Charlie Gere (2008)

One Dimensional Man, Herbert Marcuse (1964)

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, Richard Brautigan (1967)

Clips:

Punishment Park, Peter Watkins (1970)

Abbie Hoffman and the yippies -- Bobby Seal and the Black Panthers-- Videofreeks (1968)

TV footage of 1968 Democratic Convention and 'police riot', Chicago (1968)

21-2-13

Welcome back to RWRM after Stock’s workshop. This session will be used to tie some loose ends together. The session will be in two parts

Agenda:

Item 1 (10:00 – 11:30):

EMO: encyclopedia of media objects has made a tentative start but we now need to build on it.

Action: during the session we will do the following:

a) Timetable for media object entry and cataloguing of lectures will be established

b) Each person will choose a media object and commit to it – so think carefully about your object before we meet – (please upload material for discussion before hand)

c) Make stub page on the wiki

d) Talk about how together we can make pages for the lectures (i.e.: revisit pirate pad and go through the audio of Femke's talk again to make more comprehensive notes to give us a starting point.)

Item 2 (11:45-13:00): Cultural Hegemony part four

Counterculture – cyberculture – the culture industry

Report on progress

Since the last session you have been reading the texts we discussed in the last seminar and also conducting your own research (at transmediale and elsewhere) that will result in your own self-directed research paper. Please upload what you have (draft, notes or finished paper) and we will discuss it in groups and plan for its completion.

Upload here

Trimester 1

November 2012

'YouTube mini- seminar: participatory surveillance post- TV.'

With YouTube and Facebook as the central media under investigation we will explore the role of 'consumer as producer' in the post (mass) media context, drawing on our understanding of Deleuze’s societies of control and Foucault’s notions of disciplinary societies and neoliberal governmentality

1 (31-10-12): a) screening of We Live in Public b) discussion of film c) identify areas of interest related to your work and allocation of texts

2: (6-11-12) Notes on The YouTube Reader and related texts

3: Seminar: presentations and screenings

Wednesday 17-10-2012

Assignment for the 17th: having listened to the advice of your peers, make changes to your texts and upload them on the wiki. Read and make notes of the text(s) you chose in the seminar. On the 17th we will discuss how the texts connect to each other and to your own work

Tuesday 09-10-2012

link to Holmes:

http://brianholmes.wordpress.com/2007/09/09/future-map/

Assignment for next week TUESDAY (9-10-2012)

Everyone reads Holmes text and makes notes (a line on every couple of paragraphs)

Those reading Deleuze: make synopsis = 250 words and also make synopsis of Holmes’ text = 250 words = 500 words

Those reading Oullette & Hay: Make synopsis of 250 words for each chapter = 500 words

Those reading Foucault: Make synopsis of 500 words = 500 words