FROM THE ARCHIVE - Widening Participation and the Media Student Experience

Widening Participation and the Media Student Experience
Angela Devas, Thames Valley University (now the University of West London)

Angela Devas examines the experiences of non-traditional learners applying the analytical methods of Cultural Studies to educational inequalities in higher education. The paper won the first ADM-HEA Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Prize at the MeCCSA Annual Conference 2008. The prize was awarded for the best paper analysing key issues impacting on media, communications and cultural studies higher education.

Published in Summer 2008: Networks, Issue 4, pp. 11 - 15.


To access the article

GENERAL NEWS - from HE

EVENT - Using OERs in HE in FE: Degrees of edupunk?

University Centre at Blackburn College

11 June 2012

The aim of the workshop is to increase delegates’ awareness of OERs and their use in HE in FE. The lack of lecturer time is recognised as a major barrier impeding the use of OERs and therefore the workshop’s interactive nature will provide opportunities for direct engagement with a variety of resources. The event will demonstrate how such resources have been deployed in HE in FE and will make suggestions as to how such initiatives can be effectively recorded. The workshop also intends to encourage pedagogical reflection on the utility of OERs for the delivery of HE in FE.
For more information

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EVENT - 2012 Annual RAISE Conference: Student Engagement as a shared agenda: people, places, practices

University of Southampton

13 - 14 September 2012



At this second RAISE Conference the organisers are adopting and applying their definition of student engagement as broad and holistic. The three themes are chosen to capture innovative and exciting research, practice and ideas around:
 The roles and activities of people in engaging themselves and others; The places and contexts in which SE happens and how this is influenced by these contexts and The practices of students and staff which foster (or impede) engagement.

For more information

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CALL – for responses to HEFCE consultation on a risk-based approach to quality assurance

Deadline for responses: 31 July 2012

This HEFCE consultation, drafted with the support of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), sets out proposals for the further development of the quality assurance system, in particular Institutional Review in England. The aim of the proposed approach is to put the interests of students first and to contribute to a reduction in the external regulation of those higher education providers with an effective track record of assuring quality and standards.

For more information
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NEWS – QAA discussion paper 'Student Engagement - whose education is it anyway?'

At the SEDA conference on 'The Student Journey', this QAA discussion paper by Gwen van der Velden was published.
For more information

EVENT - Visual Culture Research: Access All Areas?

Attenborough Building, University of Leicester

15 June 2012

Confirmed Speakers:

• Tim Padfield, Copyright Officer for The National Archives 
• Garry Campbell, Head of Archive Services at the BBC

This symposium is presented by The Salon and IDeoGRAMS in association with the School of Historical Studies at the University of Leicester.

With the advent and proliferation of digital culture, humanities research has changed forever. In an age when the internet allows access to more and more visual material, much of which has been previously unavailable, academics have an increasingly rich seam of sources to tap into but, inevitably, questions must be asked about the ethics of using sources and research which fall outside the bounds of archives and institutions. At a time when such archives and institutions are also at risk of marginalisation and cuts in funding, should academics use material accessed outside these repositories without questioning its provenance? How may academics and curators negotiate this tension between utopian academic and cultural impulses and the ethical, financial and political constraints around visual culture research, copyright and access?

This one-day symposium will explore the use of visual material in academic research and some of the ethical issues that this raises in the digital age. To open up the dialogue beyond academia, speakers from a number of national repositories and archives have been invited to contribute their thoughts on how to improve shared knowledge and enable wider access to visual media through a variety of channels. 

This event is free to attend, but requires registration with Dr Anna Claydon at eac14@le.ac.uk.

CALL – for papers to First International Workshop on 'Understanding Delight in Design: User Experience, Technologies and Tools'

University of Birmingham

10 September 2012

Deadline for paper submissions: 18 June 2012

This workshop is organised at HCI 2012 - People and Computers XXVI, University of Birmingham, 12-14 September 2012.

Drawing on the established fields of usability, user experience and interaction design, this workshop aims to bring together people to discuss the concept of 'delight' in interface, product and interaction design.

The organisers argue that 'Delight' or 'delightful' design is an aspirational quality that the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community would do well to consider when designing and evaluating interfaces. Open-mindedness and designing for emotion seem critical aspects of a broader call or desire for design which is ‘delightful’; an experience which engages the user more fully, an experience which provokes ‘ensoulment’, a term coined by Nelson and Stolterman to describe an emotional response to a product which results in a deeply moving feeling of being significantly changed.

This workshop seeks to explore: 

1. what constitutes a delightful interface, and how we can determine its value
2. how this can be capitalised on in interaction and interface design and
3. how successful realisation of the 'delightfulness' of interfaces might be evaluated.

'Delightful design' is an aspect of research and user experience under investigation in SerenA, a multi-disciplinary project to design interactive systems that create opportunities for serendipitous connections.

The organsising committee invites contributions that address the concepts of delightful design; appropriate topics include but are not limited to:

• Case studies and reports of positive emotion or delightful design in product and interaction design, and visual practices;
• theoretical or conceptual discussions around the notion of 'delight' and unexpectedness in interfaces, technologies and products;
• papers which propose a new understanding of user experience and usability goals;
• evaluation techniques that consider the assessment of 'delight' or emotion;
• the role of 'delight' and participant engagement within the user-centred design process;
• the changing role of emotional design in interactive interfaces across media platforms and emergent technologies.

For more information http://www.serena.ac.uk/delight-in-design-workshop/

Networks - hard copies of issues 1 - 12 available

Issues 1 - 12 of Networks published between 2007 and Spring 2011, are still available as hard copies. If you are based in the UK and would like us to send you any issues (free of charge), please contact j.embleton@brighton.ac.uk

Up until issue 12, Networks was a predominantly hard-copy publication produced by the Art Design Media Higher Education Academy Subject Centre; it was distributed to colleagues in art, design and media higher education and readers informed us that the news, features, projects and reviews impact on their teaching practice in positive ways. Many of the articles are currently being republished online, see our FROM THE ARCHIVE posts.

Networks issues 1 - 12 

NEWS - launch of Amateur Cinema Studies Network

The Amateur Cinema Studies Network (ACSN), is the first international initiative to explore amateur cinema studies in a wide-ranging and cross-disciplinary framework.

The ACSN Ltd. and its website aim to advance the study of amateur cinema through pioneering scholarship, international collaborative research and practice-based projects.

The ACSN Mission statement:

• Integrate and consolidate the existing cross-disciplinary scholarship relevant to amateur film studies, from film history to social anthropology, psychology, imperial history and gender studies
• Create a forum for discussion, debate and up to date information for scholars and visual artists
• Develop templates for teaching amateur cinema studies and promote their inclusion in film and media studies curriculumExamine academic and popular responses to amateur cinema

http://amateurcinemastudies.org/

EVENT - Community-powered digital transformations in learning workshop

University College London
21 June 2012

Digital transformations mean that cultural and media organisations now find themselves in a new environment in which communities of participants interact to create, curate, organise and support cultural experiences.

This workshop, organised by University of Westminster and UCL, is the fourth in a series of AHRC-funded events where practitioners and researchers come to consider innovative practices, and develop new ideas together. (All welcome – attendance at the previous events is not necessary).

This event considers: How can we use digital tools to explore knowledge in new ways, and translate ideas and materials into digital arenas in order to gain new understandings? How can communities of digital participants transform their own learning, and that of others? What are the uses and implications of this for museums, schools, and universities? How can learning in the arts and humanities be enhanced by online creative participation?

Speakers include:

• Amy Twigger Holroyd, Keep and Share
• Sam Strudwick, Digital Editor, Amnesty International
• Kate Lindsay, Learning Technologies Group, University of Oxford
• Alison James, Head of Learning, London College of Fashion
• Caroline Bassett, University of Sussex

The day will involve presentations, discussions, and smaller-group conversations.

The event, including refreshments and lunch, is free, but registration is essential. (Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council – Digital Transformations Programme).

http://bit.ly/digital21june

CALL and NEWS – Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies

The Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies is a peer-reviewed journal that aims to bridge the gap between media and communication research and actors with a say in media production, i.e. broadcasters, newspapers, radios, Internet-based media outlets, etc. It is devoted to research with an applied angle in which a clear link is made between the prevalent theories and paradigms media and communication scholars work with, and the real world where media and communication activities take place. It tackles issues and practices related to the output and organization of media outlets in our digitized age.

The journal has a particular focus on and interest in contemporary issues and practices of media firms as they are experienced by their actors journalists, executives, publishers and proprietors, among others. Besides scholarly submissions, the editors are interested in articles written by media actors focusing on topics including their activities, problems, strategies, guidelines, management and editorial issues, organization, ethical codes, coverage, distribution, marketing, handling of user-generated material, etc. The journal is the first scholarly publication giving due consideration in publishing to material by media actors. Practitioners, for the first time, will have their articles printed alongside academic papers within the pages of the same journal.

To celebrate the launch of this new Journal, Intellect are offering Issue 1.1 for free online: http://bit.ly/IQN2hX.

Call for Papers:

The Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies focuses on practical issues media outlets confront today. Its main interest is in research and studies that help media actors – journalists, proprietors and publishers – improve their output. The editors are interested in topics covering problems media outlets face in our digitized world. Contributions from both academics and practitioners are welcome. http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=220/view,page=2/

Winner and runner up of Student Award 2012 announced!

We are very pleased to announce that the winner of this year's Student Award, Reflect:on Learning Experiences in Art, Design & Media, is Lydia Hardwick from the Royal College of Art.  She wins the first prize of £300. Congratulations Lydia!

The runner up is Bradley Bailey from Bath Spa University and he will receive the runner up prize of £100, well done Bradley!

We would like to thank all the students who took part in the competition this year; the work is of a very high standard. Submissions were not formally assessed; the winner and runner up were selected via an online voting system and we are very pleased that 843 voters took part to register their preferences.

The award, now in its seventh year, provides a unique opportunity for students to showcase their work alongside a range of UK institutions to a global audience. Students were asked to focus on their experiences of learning in art, design and media and submit an image or piece of multimedia (visual / audio / film / etc) accompanied by a short statement that reflects the epiphanies, inspirations, enablers and opportunities that are part of the experience of higher education.

Lydia and Bradley's entries and statements are reproduced below. You can see all the entries in the online gallery.

The Epiphany Head

The Royal College of Art sets your brain on positive overload. I sometimes feel my head will swell and burst. You are constantly fuelled by information and innovation provided through lectures, visiting speakers, critiques, conversation with your peers, exhibitions, technical workshops… 

My piece is a visual summarisation of my reaction to this information-dense environment. The material qualities are loose and roughly produced, demonstrating the fast flux of information, settling into little colourful simultaneous epiphanies around my head. I purposeful chose the figure to be straight and wearing grey, to show how my body can sometimes feel flat and static in comparison to the activity running though my head.

Lydia Hardwick
Ceramics
Royal College of Art

Work placement
Video

This is a hand-drawn Animation I created about the work placement I did in March 2010. It’s all about the experience of my first day on the job. I worked for a week with a freelance Health Journalist. I  wanted to learn how she successfully set up her business and works freelance.

This was a valuable work experience for me, I gained business knowledge and advice for ways in which I can setup and start my own career as a freelance animator. She’s also a contact I’ll always have and will hopefully be able to work with again in the near future. Work experience has been a big part of my learning in higher education.


Bradley Bailey
Creative Media Practice
Bath Spa University

FROM THE ARCHIVE - Perception / Interpretation / Impact

Perception / Interpretation / Impact Bernadette Blair, Kingston University

Bernadette Blair examines the design studio critique and the learning value of formative feedback. The focus of her doctorate thesis was the formative verbal feedback design students receive in studio crits and the learning achieved through these experiences. The full findings of this study are published in Dr Blair’s EdD thesis but this article is a précis some of the findings.

Published in May 2007: Networks, Issue 1, pp. 10 - 13.

To access the article