Monthly Archives: July 2017

Media Lab Doctoral Summer School: Event-Driven Culture: “The Visit” as Case Study

Call for Participation
_ Deadline Extended August 4, 2017

Event-Driven Culture: “The Visit” as Case Study

DOM-L0006 Department of Media Doctoral School
Dates: 29–31 August 2017
Location: Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture / Department of Media – Design Factory, Engine Room, Betonimiehenkuja 5 C, 02150 Espoo, FINLAND
https://designfactory.aalto.fi

Beyond being of place, culture can also be said to be a thing of time. This is particularly the case in contemporary virtual environments where multiplicities of human culture often converge, co-exist, and co-evolve. In this three-day seminar and workshop organized by the Department of Media (Media Lab) at Aalto University we first intend to explore the notion of time and how it is represented across diverse cultures. Subsequently we will focus on the notion of ‘Event’ as a unit of analysis with the ‘Visit’ as an illustrative example.

The School includes lectures, presentations, and group exercises/workshops in which participants will engage in concept design exercises.

Faculty:

Lily Díaz-Kommonen, Prof. of New Media, host (Aalto ARTS, Media Lab) (see bio)
Zsófia Ruttkay, Associate Professor (MOME, Hungary) (see bio)
Paul Mulholland, Senior Fellow, (KMI, Open University, UK) (see bio)
Rasa Smite, Associate Professor, (Liepaja U, Latvia) (see bio)

Credits: For doctoral candidates, it is possible to receive up to 5 credits.

To participate: Send us your name, email address and a brief description of your current research indicating why participation in the course would benefit your studies and practice by Friday August 4, 2017.

For more information and registration: saara.mantyla@aalto.fi

See the Summer School website: http://mlabsummerschool.aalto.fi

Preliminary assignment

We request that you bring a 300-500 word narrative prepared about a significant visit that you realized. Your narrative should answer the 5Ws questions: Who, what, when, where and why? You will be asked to present your narrative during the first day of the School. Your presentation cannot exceed three minutes. It is possible to use images and sound.

Preliminary readings

To prepare for the discussion and work please read, annotate and extract up to five keywords from the texts included below.

  • Pratt, Mary Louise, “Arts of the Contact Zones”, Modern Language Association (MLA), 1991. https://serendip.brynmawr.edu/oneworld/system/files/PrattContactZone.pdf, (Accessed on 30/07/2017.)
  • Clifford, James, Routes, Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century, Harvard University Press, 1997.
  • Kimmel, Michael, “Properties of the Body: Lessons Learned from the Anthropology of Embodiment.” In R. Frank, R. Dirven, T. Ziemke, E. Bernández Eds., Body, Language and Mind, Mouton de Gruyer: Berlin, 2007.

Tasks

  • Using a systemic approach, map out the experience of ‘the visit’.
  • Consider how the digital bears an impact on the experience of the visit. What are the pros and cons? Focus on data gathering processes, from a multimodal perspective (e.g. text, images, sound, smell? touch?).
  • Using design research methods, propose a concept for an application (or tool) that supports this significant event, from a human-oriented perspective.

This Doctoral School will take place at the Aalto Design Factory, Otaniemi.
Getting there: http://www.aalto.fi/en/about/contact/route_otaniemi/