by Prof. Sarah Pink

As part of the integration activities, in the Department of Media, the Doctor of Arts Seminar at Media Lab is pleased to offer a general lecture and workshop on the topic of visual and sensory ethnography. Prof. Sarah Pink, from the University of Loughboro in the UK will lead the activities. Dr. Marja Seliger will be the faculty person throughout the course.

Objectives:

1.     To present the idea of Visual Ethnography as a route to knowledge

2.     To present the method of The Moving Camera

3.     To invite participants to engage in a research task that involves them to use the method of the Moving Camera

4.     To invite participants to present the images they have produced as part of the research task and reflective commentary on their use of the method, and to generate discussion through this

5.     To present examples of uses of the Moving Camera in applied research and to generate discussion about the potential of this method in design and arts research

Learning outcomes:

1.     An introductory overview understanding of Visual Ethnography

2.     An understanding of the method of the Moving Camera

3.     Knowledge of uses of moving camera methods in existing research

4.     Experience of applying the Moving Camera method to a research task and insights gained through this and through discussion of the task with the group

5.     A basis from which to consider the potentials of the application of the Moving Camera method in design and arts research.

Number of credits: 1 ECTS

Audience: The workshop is targeted to Doctor of Arts students. Students from the Department of Media (Graphic Design, New Media, and Photography) will be given priority. There is a maximum enrolment of 14 students. Students are expected to participate in ALL the activities of the course, including the general lecture and final presentations and discussion.

Monday afternoon:

Session 1 (Open lecture): Visual Ethnography as a Route to Knowledge (Sept. 19, 13:00-15:00, lecture room 4319)

This lecture introduces the idea of Visual Ethnography. I first set out the methodological principles that inform doing visual ethnography. I then focus on some of the ways that the visual is part of the ethnographic context such as: as part of a local and global ‘visual cultures’; as multisensory material artefact and digital text; as representation; and as a process of exploration whereby researcher and participant co-produce knowledge by using existing images or by making images together; and as part of a scholarly way of knowing and presenting work to other scholars and wider publics. The lecture will last for approximately one hour and will be followed by an opportunity to ask questions

Tuesday morning:  Session 2 (Workshop): The Moving Camera (Sept. 20, 10:00-12:30, lecture room 4319)

This workshop will explore how the Moving Camera method might be engaged as a way of (audio)visually exploring the environments and experiences of our everyday lives.

1.     Introducing ourselves and our research projects and objectives.

2.     Presentation of the method of the Moving Camera, which might involve walking, or otherwise moving through the environment with video or with a stills camera. This presentation will take the form of an informal lecture during which participants will be welcome to ask questions and develop discussion

3.     Presentation of the research task. Before Wednesday’s session participants will be invited to undertake a short research task. This will involve using a camera to explore the experience of an environment, artefact or practice in movement. The next day participants will be asked to present short reflexive narratives to represent and discuss what they have learnt from this research experience, using the images recorded.

4.     Discussion of and questions about the research task.

Tuesday afternoon: participants undertake the research task independently.

Note: There will not be any instruction on technical matters related to photography or video. It is expected that each of the students can independently produce their own audio-visual materials. Students will be responsible for securing access to a server where they can upload their materials in order to show them as part of the workshop activities. Students will also be responsible for also backing up their materials into suitable media such as a memory stick or DVD so that, in the event that there is a problem with the server, they can still be accessed by the faculty in a timely manner for class discussion. If you are a student at Media Lab and you need to make these arrangements, please speak with Mr. Ilpo Kari in the library.

In order to receive the credit for participation, you need to be sure that you sign in the attendance sheet every day. Dr. Marja Seliger will be responsible for keeping attendance.

Wednesday: Session 3 (Workshop): Building Insights. (Sept. 21, 10:30-12:30,  lecture room 4319)

In this workshop we will present and discuss the results of the research task produced by participants. As we go along we will seek to develop a series of insights about how doing visual ethnography in movement can offer us routes to knowledge about the environments, ‘things’ and practices that we are seeking to research.

The session will conclude with a short presentation and discussion of the potential of such techniques in applied research. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on how such methods might inform the making of interventions in design and arts contexts.

Sign up:
heikki.nuutinen@aalto.fi

Recommended reading and on-line resources:

Coover, R. (2008) Outside / Inside: Virtual Panoramas of Independence National Historical Park, available online at http://www.unknownterritories.org/APS.html.

Ingold, T. (2010a). Ways of mind-walking: reading, writing, painting. Visual Studies, 25(1), 15-23
> Available now in Arabia Campus Library, ask Sarah Pink file!

Ingold, T. (2010b), Footprints through the weather-world: walking, breathing, knowing. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 16: S121–S139.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2010.01613.x/abstract

Irving, A. (2007), Ethnography, art, and death. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 13: 185–208.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2007.00420.x/abstract

O’Neill, M. and P. Hubbard (2010) ‘Walking, Sensing, Belonging: Ethno-Mimesis As Performative Praxis.Visual Studies 25(1):46-58
> Available now in Arabia Campus Library, ask Sarah Pink file!

Pink, S. (2007) Doing Visual Ethnography: images, media and representation in research London: Sage.
Available at Media Lab Library!

Pink, S. (2007) ‘Walking with Video’ in Visual Studies 22(3).
> Available now in Arabia Campus Library, ask Sarah Pink file!

Pink, S. (2008) ‘An Urban Tour’ in Ethnography, 9(2).
http://eth.sagepub.com/content/9/2/175

Pink, S. (2009) Doing Sensory Ethnography, London: Sage Pink, forthcoming
Available at Media Lab Library!

About Sarah Pink: Dr. Pink is Professor in the department of Social Sciences at the University of Loughboro in the UK. She is a widely respected authority in visual and sensory ethnography and the author of several books on the topic. http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ss/staff/staff_biog/pink.html

These topics are:
Open experimental spaces
Institutional spaces
Social spaces for dialog and debate
Networked spaces
Abstracts should be submitted by Friday June 24.

“Abstracts” may be short descriptions of written papers, media artefacts (including but not limited to movies, exhibitions, and soundscapes), design prototypes and plans, installations and performances, and work that is designed to exist virtually or online (or both).

http://www.designsonelearning2011.com

Professor Stefan Sonvilla-Weiss, PhD
Head of MA ePedagogy Design-Visual Knowledge Building
Aalto University / School of Art and Design
PL 31000 (Hämeentie 135 C, 00560 Helsinki)
00076 Aalto
stefan.sonvilla-weiss@aalto.fi
http://epedagogydesign.uiah.fi
http://www.sonvilla-weiss.org
http://www.taik.fi
http://www.aalto.fi
———————————————
MY NEW BOOKS 2009-10:
Stefan Sonvilla-Weiss (ed.)
Mashup Cultures
Springer Wien/New York
http://www.springer.com/springerwiennewyork/art/book/978-3-7091-0095-0
—
Stefan Sonvilla-Weiss
(IN)VISIBLE. Learning to Act in the Metaverse
Springer Wien/NewYork
http://www.springer.com/springerwiennewyork/art/book/978-3-211-78538-6

The 13th international conference on UbiComp  will be held in Beijing, China on September 17-21, 2011 in Tsinghua University.
Ubicomp is the premier outlet for novel research contributions that advance the state of the art in the design, development, deployment, evaluation and understanding of ubiquitous computing systems. Ubicomp is an interdisciplinary field of research and development that utilizes and integrates pervasive, wireless, embedded, wearable and/or mobile technologies to bridge the gaps between the digital and physical worlds.

workshop 11,  The Role of Design in UbiComp Research and Practice http://211.151.90.25/ubicomp2011/index.html
welcomes researchers and experts working in areas such as design, computer science, engineering, business development, anthropology, and psychology, and especially be interested in bringing people from east and west. Additionally, researchers who work on the interdisciplinary issues based on the above mentioned fields are also welcome.The workshop aims to provide a disciplinary forum for researchers and experts from design， computer science, psychology， and anthropology to exchange ideas on the issue of collaboration. It will build the understanding across disciplines and explore the potential opportunity for design in UbiComp research and practice. We also hope to bring the eastern and western to present some opinion on design state both in Asian and western countries.

Submission deadline: 20 June, 2011
Please submit a 4-page position paper or up to 10-page study paper to show the ongoing work, opinions, theories and methods based on interdisciplinary or collaborative work on UbiComp research and practice. We also plan to discuss this theme on cross-cultural perspective, so we will actively encourage submissions from those who has presented theories or methods bringing the role of design into a wider scope.

Upload your paper here through this website http://211.151.90.25/ubicomp2011/callforpaper.html

ALL accepted workshop papers will be included in the ACM digital library and the supplemental proceedings.
You can find paper template in this link: http://www.ubicomp.org/ubicomp2011/templates.html

—
Wu Jiayu 吴家煜
Doctoral student,
Department of Industrial Design,
Academy of Arts and Design,
Tsinghua University, Beijing

The Editors-in-Chief of ACM Interactions magazine invite authors to submit
articles and other features for publication.

Interactions magazine is the mirror on the human-computer interaction and
interaction design communities and beyond. It is the multiplicities of
conversations, collaborations, relationships and new discoveries focused on
how and why we interact with the designed world of technologies.
Interactions magazine carries a special voice that lies between practice and
research with an emphasis on making accessible and engaging HCI research in
practitioner communities.

The magazine is circulated to approximately 6000 subscribers per issue! This
includes all ACM members of SIGCHI. It is the third largest ACM publication.
Interactions magazine has a large readership and is influencing the field.
To work with the magazine does make a difference.

Interactions magazine represents the expertise and new discoveries within
the HCI and interaction design research and practitioner communities. Our
emphasis is on communicating our expertise and knowledge across our fields
and beyond. Submissions may be new material or based on material previously
published in academic research venues re-written for wider audience.

We are looking for the following submissions:

– Feature Article: A 2200-2500 words article that covers any topic
related to Human-Computer Interaction and Interaction Design.
– Blogspot: A 1200-1500 words opinion piece on a topic related to our
communities.
– Demo Hour: An example of new technologies, design, applications or
something we’ve not seen before! This submission requires at least one image
and a 50-100 words description plus a link to a project web site and a
reference for a single publication for more details.

We are also looking for community notices for relates conferences and events
descriptions, dates, and deadlines.

There is no deadline for submissions. We accept submissions year-round.

Send your submissions or inquiries to eic[at]interactions[dot]acm[dot]org

Best,

Ron Wakkary and Erik Stolterman
Editors-in-Chief ACM Interactions
*—————————————————
Erik Stolterman
http://transground.blogspot.com/*

Dear Colleagues,

please find below the invitation to a PhD course we are organizing in August in Uppsala:

Culture, Business and Community around Games – PhD Course
We are pleased to announce and invite you to a PhD course at the department of Informatics and Media at Uppsala University with the topic “Culture, Business and Community around Games”. The course will be given in English.

In order to understand games as a medium it is not enough to look at the software sold in the paper box. Electronic games like all media exist in an environment of cultures, communities and practices.  The digital information and communication infra structure surrounding games is a fertile ground for actors like organizations, companies and business-oriented individual who are serving the community and in turn living from it. Implications on game design  are as clearly visible as the influences of game design on the community and culture of the game. In this environment that emerges around games it becomes more and more important to take the whole picture into account to be able to understand games and gaming.

With such an understanding of the importance of the environment of games this course is designed to bring together leading researchers and practitioners who are working with different perspectives on games. Sébastien Genvo will elaborate a theoretical framework about an increasing process that occurs within the digital sphere, the process of “ludicisation”. More than ever, diverse digital technologies take ludic forms and the term “game” is applied to areas that are increasingly heterogeneous. As we will see, this brings about a profound change in our representations of what is and what constitutes a game. How can we study these mutations of game forms? What does it imply in terms of game studies and game ontology? Steven Bachelder will give an account of the design of games for sociability from a scholarly point of view while Mirjam Eladhari will present some technical approached to the creation of AI and life in games in connection to social play.Olli Sotamaa will explain the connection between gaming culture and game development. Juho Hamari is an expert for business models in the game industry and for virtual economies and will present this side of gaming.  There are plans for guest speakers from the industry but it is not clear right now if we will be able to have them.

The aim of this course is to open a platform for academic exchange and for presentation of ongoing research inspiring creative and critical discussion. Participants will get possibilities to present their work in progress and get feedback, to create connections and to ask questions that are actually concerning them at the point they are at right now.

This course is meant for PhD students. The topics the participants can be but are not limited to digital communication, social media, online communities, new media business models, online and game cultures, the computer game business and electronic games, play and players. Theoretical, analytic and empirical work is welcome. The presentation of cutting-edge ongoing research is encouraged. Participants can send in a paper they are working on. Each paper will get special feedback from a senior researcher and another participant who sent in a paper.

The second focus of the course will be practical information about activities in the field of media science for PhD students. The presenters are going to share their experience of how one can be active editing a book, organizing a research forum and publishing online as PhD students. The aim of this is to empower young researchers and to show ways and opportunities to get active in the scientific community as early and independent as possible.

When: 22-24 August 2011 (3 full days)
Where: Ekonomikum, Uppsala University, Uppsala,
Responsible Organizers: Associate Professor Else Nygren, PhD Student Patrick Prax, Department of Informatics and Media, Uppsala University, Sweden

Keynote Speakers:
Steven Bachelder, Professor in Art and Design with a Specialization on Convergent Media, Department of Game Design, Narrative and Time-based Media.

Sébastien Genvo, Associate Professor, Paul Verlaine University – Metz (IUT Thionville – Yutz), France. Former game designer at Ubisoft Paris.

Mirjam Eladhari, PhD, Gotland University, University Lecturer in Game Design with Specialization in Character Development and AI for Computer Games, Department  of Game Design, Narrative and Time-based Media.

Olli Sotamaa,  PhD, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Information Studies and Interactive Media, University of Tampere, Finland.

Juho Hamari, (M.Sc. Econ) is a researcher at Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT and a Doctoral student in Information System Science at Aalto University School of Economics, Finland.

ECTS: 3 ECTS with paper, 1½ ECTS without

Costs: The participation in this course is free. However, the participants need to organize and pay for travelling, accommodation and food themselves. There will be a free BBQ evening.
Application Requirements and Deadline:
To apply to this course please sent
1.      An academic CV with your publications and presentations on conferences
2.      A short outline of your dissertation project and the state of your work on max. one page
3.      A one-page abstract of your paper and presentation
to Patrick.prax@im.uu.se not later than 27th of June. You will be informed about the acceptance latest 11th of July. Papers for presentation need to be submitted latest 25th of July.
Participants will be chosen after the relevance and quality of their work. Submitting a paper will be positive for your application. The number of participants will be limited to 12.

Preparations:
A package with required reading consisting of text preparing the presentations of the speaker and the submitted papers of the participants will be sent to the participants about one month before course start. Each PhD student will be asked to comment specifically on the presentation by one of the other PhD students. Students who present a paper will be notified about which paper they will give detailed feedback to at the same time.
Website:
You can find the course information on the web under http://www.im.uu.se/education/PhD+Studies/human-computer-interaction/PhD_kurs/

Dear colleagues and students,

the Center for Research on Activity,  Development and Learning (CRADLE) at the Institute of Behavioural Sciences of University of Helsinki is offering three opportunities to study activity theory and developmental work research in Helsinki,  Finland. The first one is our international summer school course  ‘Activity Theory and Formative Interventions’ that will take place in August 2011. The second one is the international Master’s  degree programme in adult education and developmental work research which is accepting applications for its next class that starts in the  fall of 2012. The third one is the Doctoral program for developmental  work research and adult education which is also accepting applications  for its next class that will start in January 2012.

Below we give very brief information about each one of the three programs.  More details can be found in the web pages of the three  programs (see the links below). Do not hesitate to contact anyone of  us if you have questions or need further information. Please forward this message to anyone who might be interested.

Sincerely,

Yrjö Engeström, Professor
Director of the doctoral program and the Master’s program
yrjo.engestrom@helsinki.fi

Reijo Miettinen, Professor
Associate Director of the doctoral program
reijo.miettinen@helsinki.fi

Annalisa Sannino, University Lecturer
Instructor in the Master’s program
annalisa.sannino@helsinki.fi

Anu Kajamaa, Doctoral candidate
Coordinator of the summer school course
anu.kajamaa@helsinki.fi

Auli Pasanen, Coordinator of CRADLE
auli.pasanen@helsinki.fi

Anne Vierros, Coordinator of the Master’s program
anne.vierros@helsinki.fi

1.
The Helsinki Summer School course  on ‘Activity Theory and Formative  Interventions’ (ATFI) will take  place from August 9 to August  25, 2011 at University of Helsinki, Finland. The course is aimed at  giving a rich introduction to activity  theory and developmental work  research for those interested in  pursuing further studies in this  exciting field.
Theory and practice will be brought together with the help of case   presentations and field visits to organizations in which formative    interventions have been carried out.
The number of participants is limited to 30 and only a few places are left. The   course will be held in English. The application form and further   information about the course can be found online here:

http://www.helsinkisummerschool.fi/home/courses/activity_theory_and_formative_interventions

2.
The Master’s Degree Programme in Adult Education and Developmental  Work Research started in 2006 and is based on the 20-year tradition of  developmental work research conducted in the CRADLE at the Institute of  Behavioural Sciences (IBS) of University of Helsinki. This is an  interventionist research approach rooted in cultural-historical  activity theory and internationally recognized as an innovative  framework to study work and learning. During their studies students are typically involved in research projects conducted in the CRADLE or in its partner organizations.

Beginning of the programme: 1 September 2012
Application period: 21 November 2011 to 31 January, 2012.
For more information, see:
http://www.helsinki.fi/atmo/

3.
The Doctoral program for developmental work research and adult  education (DWRAE) is a subprogramme of the Finnish Doctoral Porgramme  in Education and Learning (FiDPEL). Our doctoral program has been  running since 1995, and 30 doctoral dissertations have been produced  in it. In the first two years of this four-year program, the students  participate in intensive courses and seminars at the CRADLE. The students conduct  their research and work on their dissertations as full members of the collaborative CRADLE community and often within its larger research projects. For the class of 2012,  we have a limited number of places which come with full salary, and a number of places for students who bring their own funding.

For more information, see:
http://www.helsinki.fi/cradle/dp.htm
and:
http://vanha.edu.utu.fi/kasva/

On the new Into website for  Aalto students you can find a list of grants and scholarships
https://into.aalto.fi/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=2392689

Please check it from time to time!
Now for example is approaching the deadline of Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation.

Best wishes,

Pia Sivenius
Research Coordinator
Aalto University School of Art and Design
Research Institute
PO Box 31000
FI-00076 Aalto, Finland
Tel. +358 9 470 30528
Mobile +358 50 548 2974

Media Aesthetics research group is a new research group at Aalto University, Department of Media. It focuses on theoretical and artistic research concerning interrelations of aesthetics, media and sense experience. More specific focus is set on media theoretical questions related to the heterogeneous field of photographic media.

Web site is open: http://mediaaesthetics.wordpress.com/

We are happy to announce a new call for both the continuation of old projects as well as for new proposals. The maximum sum of potential funding for the projects is 25000 euros. However, typically the budget of funded projects are in the range 5000 to 8000. The projects must have true collaboration with more than one independent department or unit.

Submission deadline: Mon, June 13 2011.

More information:

http://mediafactory.aalto.fi/?page_id=548

Media Lab Demo Day this spring on Thu 26.5.2011, in TAIK classroom 822 with its surroundings, on the eight floor of the house.

Program:

http://mlab.taik.fi/news/2011/05/23/media-lab-demo-day-spring-2011/