Cop3 + Lecture 4 _ Academic Conventions

INTRODUCTION

Announcing t the outset what he/she will do on the pages that follow.

Enables reader to skip to sections of interest.


An expected structure.


Getting your own personal voice across. You authorial personality - your personal idom / style.

Derrida, J 1987 Glas. Nebraska. Univeristy of Nebraska Press.

Typset by Richard Eckersley

3 books in one, all operating on the same page. This would be cool for physical page! Visual dialogue, literally on the page of different design scenes and sensibilities, transparent layers, so by the end of the book, all styles physically and literally merge to create an international style.




Academic Conventions are like an institutional framework for your work. They structure and standardise. They aspire to academic honesty.


Series of rules, standardisation. Play by, or methodological reason for rejecting it.


Quoting and referencing is about showing where your argument is coming from, from where it's based. And a keen reader will be able to trace the quote back to it's original source and look deeper into the same clarified argument.




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AN ANALYTIC AND CRITICAL KNOWLEDGE, NOT JUST A HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE.

Apply theory to practie.

Analyse relevant material.



Deep learning - evidenced through your use of academic conventions.

Original blooms, new blooms





Top level. sCreating. Evaluating. Analysing.


(Possibly produce primary research through the form of quick design projects?)





Surface Approach - Superficial learner. Marks whore. No critique, no judgement, very routine and by the numbers approach. Minimal research, ignoring guiding patterns and overarching principles from different writers works.





Deep approach

Independent engagement.

Broad range of reading

Broad range of thinking


Show constant reflection and ongoing investigation. These things will take place with strong engagement and focus in the project to independently be engaged with it.




How do I evidence deep learning?

Way in which you write. Lay out arguments. Structure. Gives clues that you have done deep, methodical and logical learning. Top end of pyramids, not near the bottom.


Academic writing is formal and following structure shows structure.


Each academic discipline has its own specialist vocabulary which you will be expected to learn and use in your own writing. Must be based on solid evidence, and logical analysis, and presented as a concise accurate argument.



Academic writing allows you to present your argument and analysis accurately and concisely!


Learning the jargon - and being able to use it confidently, and not awkwardly. When in context use them, don't just throw them in. Expected to use specialist and informed vocabulary.



DO come up with your own opinions. That's what it's all about. Those opinions have to be based on solid opinions and logical analysis.




Logical argument. Have your question, your focus and your argument. Every point your make is backed up by evidence. Every point you make is analysed, and critiqued.




When you get comfortable with it. What you quickly realise is the structures and conventions can be used to quickly show reader breadth and knowledge of your critical points.

**Look into structure of strong pieces of academic writing, to get the overall skeleton and general conventions.







TIPS


Be precise. Don't waffle. Make a point, back it up with evidence, critique that evidence, relate to whatever discussion, move on.


Don't use cautious language. Not "I think it's crap" just say "it's crap." It's your opinion. Don't say some people, could be, arguably, just say IT IS. and this is why. It's your opinion that's why they're reading it.

No unnecessary words.



You're expected to know what you're on about, no one's expecting poems from you.


P R E C I S I O N .


Short and snappy sentences are better than big ones full of commas.


Try not repeating words, they become immediately obvious. Shows a lack of vocabulary.




Really look into introductions, and general tone of voice and introduction of discussions to come. Don't use conversational, you're not reading a kid a bedtime story.


Don't write how you speak. Formal. Big statements, need support and evidence.



No slang. No abbreviations. No contractions e.g. "Dept." Instead of department. No abbreviations. No vague terms.


DO NOT write in first person, it's supposed to be subjective, you should write in an objective style. Most tutors prefer impersonal language to be used in assignments.





We have considered = Consideration has been given to
I have observed it = It has been observed




The danger if you follow these conventions, it sounds very formulaic, robotic and not humanistic. FIND A BALANCE and voice. Keep your voice there, but follow expected conventions of academic writing and critical analysis.


Map out a logically developed argument. Explain some results. When gone through the main body, concluding section. Which importantly, includes a summary of conclusions from the preceding chapters. Finish with a point. A strong purpose and contemporary relevance for your essay.




Preliminaries - title, acknowledgements, contents, list of illustrations
Introduction  - the abstract, statement of the problem, methodolocial approach
Main body - review of literature, logically developed arguments, chapters, results of investigations
Conclusion - discussion and conclusion, summary of conclusions
Extras - bibliography, appendices.




Intro - outline argument, how it will develop. Link to theories and pieces of writing which will be discussed.


Problems, how it will be investigated. Split into chapters. Chapter one will look into ...

Figure out your chapters.





A mixture of paraphrased sections, small quotes can be woven within the text. Big ones, indent and drop out with analysis.


For a first class piece of writing, three or four citations from different writers on each page.





Harvard Referencing


Books

Author, (date) title, place, published

MILES, R (2013) Why Referencing, Leeds: LCA Publishing





'quote quote' (surname, year, page)


Use " when you're referring to what someone said to you, direct speech - direction speech,  '  ' is for citations.


Always lower-case not capitalised.


REFERENCE AS YOU GO.




BIBLIOGRAPHY SHOULD BE ALPHABETICISED BY SURNAME.

Different sections for books. Journals. Visits. Websites. Etc.



Need a list of illustrations for every image you've used. Pictures should be included with reference, just how you'd reference any book.





CONCLUSION

Broadly outline method for academic writing.

Framework for writing at undergraduate level.

'Default format' for writing, learn the rules, abide by them while having your own style and voice intact.

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Cop3 Lecture 2: Doing Your Research Project

Doing Your Research Project - excellent and useful book. Everyone who does MA's / PHD's - have all relied on this book at some point

Study Skills section in library.


Approaches to Research

Quantitative v Qualitative

Yield the best and most relevant results for your projects. Don't just waste your time


What are you going to research and how are you going to research it.


**Look into sociology and cultural dynamics and influences for your project.




Action Research


If your project is concerned more with making, an entirely research methodology is probably going to be needed. One to employ could be action research. A cyclical porcess.


Make work

Put work in a real world situation

Reflect on work

Repeat.



Don't think you have to do questionnaires don't shoe-horn in. Do what's relevant and what feels logical to you.

If you have a strong concept and clear idea of what you need to do and an action plan, a strong research methodology should take care of itself if you engage and work/research logically and creatively.


Planning the project

Have a project plan or overarching work and research schedule so you know what you need to do.

Do this week-by-week so you don't feel overwhelmed with lists.


Write and log. Write down research questions you want answers to.


Consider each on their merit and focus on two. You already have two questions and broad lines of  enquiry - Swiss style and design style vs globalisation. Focus on them in terms of primary and secondary.


**How can you link the two reasonably separate lines of enquiry and find an underlying common value and theme? e.g. design style. birth of design styles, collaboration,



What is the purpose and justification for your study? Is your question researchable.


Constantly keep in mind what you want to do with all this research - what do you want to make or achieve, or find loads out about?


Don't just do something because "you're into it" - do it for a reason, a contemporary issue relavant in todays world and to your practice and goals as a designer.



Decide on a 'working title'? You already have a fairly decent one, you have a more focused subject study than just a theme. You're not just looking at globalisation, you're focusing on design styles and approaches to work which are unique, and whether they still do/will exist in the face of globalisation etc etc.





Project Outline


Take your question and talk through with your supervisor. Super important and it will definitely help! Give ideas and insight.

Come prepared.



Consider timing. 12 weeks - 12 different weekly action plans.

Only a small matter of time in which you can do this. Spread your time efficiently and effectively and be realistic.




**Allow generous time to reading! You won't get it done in a day.


Be disciplined. Read on the train to and from college. Devote free days in between other modules to reading, especially in these early stages.


Also time for making notes.


Time for writing, time for binding and finishing off the written and physical work project.



Be consistent and reliable and don't lie to yourself with being diligent.




Literature Search


Look at critical texts and OPINIONS from different scholarly sources. Don't just focus on history lessons but opinions open up debate and your own opinions and reactions.


Cross reference and cross critique between sources.



Keep at note and log of books, concepts, themes and references of the books. When writing and debating and discussing it's useful to know which books are strong to back up certain points.



Opinions:
Challenge, support or share.



Ethics:

Does your project involve other people?

Consent.

When sharing research and questionnaire answers - ask before sharing their answers. Or maybe keep them anonymous?





Reference stuff straight away so you don't have to work backwards later on.



Ask proper questions not loaded questions, don't research for a question you already know the answer to, having an opinion is ok but don't research something which is a pretty clear cut answer which is tough to argue against.



In conclusion

Project Outline
Working Title
Working Methodology
Literature Search




checklist

Dont procrastinate!
Plan research methods and plans of action carefully
Select most appropriate and relevant research methods
Self assess ethicaly
Literature review and database
Document regularly and all ntable updates

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Lecture Notes: Globalisation & The Media

21/1/13

SOCIALISM > CAPITALIST

Socialism - Transformation of local or regional phenomena into worldwide. 

Globalization

"Global Integration"

The world becoming a much smaller, more integrated environment. e.g. The Arab Sprint. Triggerd by rapid communications with the West vs The East. Citizens of countries such as Libya and Syria could easily almost act as uncensored news journalists through outlets such as Twitter.

McDonalds. "McDonaldization"

B. Steger.

The wide-ranging socioculturual processes by which fast-food process are dominating sectors of US Society.

Exotic places still have the same Starbucks & McDonalds around the corner.

Marshall McLuhan - 1964. "Extended our nervous system in a global embrace."

Experiencing effects of our behaviour in a global scale. Quite true!

GLOBAL VILLAGE THESIS

Thought is should make us more aware of our responsibilities."Globe no bigger than a village."

Nothing is hidden and news is everywhere.

\

But the problem is it kind of hasn't brought us together and maybe in fact segregated the world and communities even more.

Hatred can be spread from behind a screen without any obvious personal ramifications of your actions.

Centripetal Forces X Centrifugal forces.

3 PROBLEMS OF GLOBALIZATION

• Sovereignty - Challenging the idea of a nation.
• Accountability - People aren't always held accountable, people are reckless with their actions
• Identity

"Globalization: A Very short Intro""

"Does globalization make people around the world more alike or different?"

CULTURAL IMPERIALISM

 Schills v Chomsley 

Empires - British Empire. Soviety Union.

Forcing your culture on others. US culture leaking into UK for example, hip-hop culture and idolising American celebs and prominent figures and knowing more about American politics than UK politics for example.

US Presidential elections hold much more interest to the younger generation than Prime Ministerial elections in the UK which is interesting, the US' culture and news is forced upon us.

People are less regionally unique. People for examples speak US slang and vocabulary from other countries, dialects are now going missing. For example the 'classic Australian' way of speaking is pretty much non-existant nowadays and this could be from globalisation.

FREE MARKET - Media conglomerates operate as oligopolies.

Giant multinational corporations own little ones, which in turn own little ones. So in reality only a handful of corporations basically run media and journalism! One of the biggest ones is TIME WARNER 

e.g. Rage Against The Machine. Anti disestablishment movement to get RATM to Number 1 instea of Joe McElderry. In reality, the same corporation owned the record labels for both artists so the same fat cats got the money in the end...

News Corporations divide territories into descending market importance.

e.g. Big Brother. Repackaged and sold around the world. Countries lap it up. Has real social effects, for example in India after the release of Bigg Boss the biggest selling product in India was skin whitening cream.

PROPAGANDA MODELS

In the past it was Anti-Communist and a 'us' and 'them' mentality, nowadays Communism has been replaced with Anti-Islam.

Anti-Islam.

People still think if its in a newspaper it has to be true. Media Bias.

Rupert Murdoch. Just his company owns 1/3 of the UK newspapers and owns NOTW, SUN, TIMES, BSKYB, FOX TV. even IGN.com, a games website.

Once said The Sun can control elections. Politicans lick his arse. Puppets. 

By painting, someone else as abnormal, you pain yourself as normal.

West vs Islam.

'An Inconvenient Truth'

Politicans now becoming media savvy. For example Obama's 2008 campaign being a waterstone moment in terms of social media integration.

David Cameron on youtube

Cringe.

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Lecture Notes: Communication Theory

Semiotics




Two Ronnies sketch: Confusion. O's? Hose? Pantyhose?

Demonstrate how precarious communication is. The meaning isn't guaranteed in whatever you say. People don't realise and are confident in what they say without realising it can be misinterpreted

LINGUISTICS

Theories and theorists

What is Semiotics?

Ferdinand De Saussure - definied semioligy as 'the study of sign systems'

Linguists - are people concerned with language

Helps to understand visual commnication aswell.

Signifier - signified - reference

Word/image/colour/stands in place for something else - not the thing itself/the mental image or concept, what you create in your head - the actual thing itself

Saussure also separated the process of speaking from this speaking of language itself (la Langue) - the process of communicating is a willful thing on our part. We decide what we want to say. The language itself doesn't belong to us, it precedes us. Belongs to society and the human race.

Semiotics is a form of meta-language - a language about language.

E.G. Green and blue have their own connotations. Green - grass/nature? Blue - water/cold?

You add some walkers crisps next to them and the green means salt and vinegar and blue means cheese and onion. Wasn't always this way, it's almost a mental agreement.

Blue as a colour itself has no real connection with cheese or onion in terms of colours and the kind of flavours through prior knowledge that blue imagery creates in our minds.

Saussure tells us that meaning is established in differentiation.

Denote. Connote?

Myth

Barthes linked myths to ideology - 'Bourgeois ideology...turns culture into nature' (1974)

Myths often appear to 'go without saying' yet function hige dominant cultural values.

To Barthes they are a 'third order' of signification after denotation (first order) and connotation (second order) Myth would be (third order) no logical connection but naturalised over time through society.

FOR EXAMPLE...

Red Wine

Associated with class, intelligence. In actual fact no logical or realistic connection between red wine and intelligence. Particularly in France.

Milk

Particularly in US. Associated with strength, Freedom, liberty, like most things in the US. In actual fact bares no logical connection with freedom, liberty. 

SYNTAGM - a series or collection of signifiers within a 'text' e.g. a sentence

Syntagmic relations - how signifiers within a syntagm relate to each other.

Paradigm - signifiers that relate through function or relative meaning (e.g. boy/man male/female)

 FOR EXAMPLE

"he hit the boy" "he hit the man" by replacin the words it completely changes the meaning and perception of the sentence.

SO HOW DOES THAT WORK WITH IMAGERY

D&G

So in terms of a syntagm. Matther McConnaughey for D&G. Bottle of perfume in bottom right corner, right type. And so on. It's syntagmatic relations, the composition, the way he looks at you, in the first third of the image. The rule of thirds. 

In terms of paradigm - replacing one of the signifiers but replacing it with something in the same paradigm/collection

Replacing that signifier with a cowboy ( it's now going to become aftershave for rugged men, the perceived smell and social impact of the fragrance would totally change.

Marlboro Man
Rugged, chilling, man. Replacign the man with a woman would completely change the communication like on other cig adverts.

Metaphor and Metonym - are both non-literal forms of signification, as such require a level of interpretation.

metaphor - where one signifier is replaced with another of similar character or concept

metonym - where a signifier stands in for another to which is conceptually or physicall a part of. For example referring to your car as "the wheels". Small part of the car.




The White House
Saying The White House doesn't necessarily mean the house itself, it can refer to US politics, democracy and so on.




RHETORIC
The act of effective persuasion using language. Politicans, Journalists, Advertisers, PR. So subtle, wer'e sometimes not even aware it's happening at all.

Very careful about what they photograph, how they photograph and which photographs they pick to capture the message. For example "war is bad" "madonna likes babies"





THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD
a movie about making a movie - a metamovie.

Marcel Duchamp 'Fountain'
The loo. An artwork about art, comments about art itself.

STRUCTURALISM
The term used for the broad application of semiotics/semiology to a range of sign systems.
Further than the application solely to linguistics.

Structuralism emphasises structures or systems of signification.

Not what it means but How it comes to mean.

Semiotic linguistic terms/structures act as analogies for other systems.




Roland Barthes - 'Image Music Text' 1977

Barthes anlyses range of visual media in terms of their signifying structures. 'The photographic message' 'The rhetoric of the image' 'The Third meaning' Essays worth reading if interested in semiotics and signifiers.




POST-STRUCTURALISM

People became skeptical of modernism, post-modernism happens. Same happened with structuralism.


Art Thoughtz - Post Structuralism

"using big words to make their work seems interesting. "If you can't make it, fake it. Use big words"

Modernism is kinda like your father growing up. You assumed everything he said was true, Too young to see reality, your hero. Establishing the world for you, differences between right from wrong etc. Post structuralism - "fuck your father, your authority". 

You be like "Maureen I'm not the father of that baby." 

Post structuralism "You are the father of that baby."

Realistic. Pessimistic and no faff.

Post structuralism is a part of post-modernism. It's about skepticism about assumed rules and assumed meaning.



What's wrong with structalism?

Structuralism reduces everything to related elements within a signifying system...

This is authoritarian in nature.

Assumes the presence of meaning ('the metaphysics of presence') logocentrism

Post structuralists aim to deconstruct assumptions and emphasise the plurality of interpretation






Differance

Jaques Derrida established this term both in development of Saussure and disagreement.

Differer - to differ and to defer

Differance is both differing and deferring simultaneously

Derrida states that meaning is not only established in difference/opposition but is also being deferred.


JD 1968 quote. "As rigorously possible we must permit to appear/disappear the trace of what excees the truth of Being. The trace of (that) which itself can never be presrnted: that is, appear and manigest itself, as such in it's phenomenon... Always difering and deferring, the trace is never as it is in the presentation itself. It erases itself in presenting itself.."




DECONSTRUCTION
Where structuralism identified/created structures of signification

Deconstruction aims to dismantle the structures - identifying gaps and instabilities/

Through deconsitruction Jacques Derrida challenged 'binary oppositions' which are deeply rooted in our culture and language.

Emphasising what is lost or cast aside.





Intertextuality

Describes how texts (according Kristeva) subject to influence but also everything that comes before and is similar to.


Intertextuality describes how texts are contructed/collages of previous texts...


Foucalt also writes about intertextuality.

Exists because it references others. 

SIMULACRA

Jean Baudrillard introduces the idea of hyperreality in representation...a copy without an original.

That we have lost the ability to recognise the difference between nature and artificiality







Apple Mac v Nike

Useful for their purposes. But also useful to say Apple Macbook, often instead of Laptop. The status and the brand themselves become more important the brand itself. People who have an iPhone very rarely refer to their phone as a phone anymore, but an 'iPhone". Yet people using a Samsung S3 for example would rarely say "Oh I'm just on my Samsung S3"






CONSIDERATIONS FOR ART & DESIGN

Considerations in analysing art and design

Considerations in creating art and design.

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Lecture Notes: Cities & Film

helen.clarke@leeds-art.ac.uk

Cities & Film

The lecture looks at modernism in the city. Urban sociology. The city as a public and private space, the city in postmodernism.  And the relation of the individual to the crowd in the city

Georg Simmel 

German sociologist. Wrote 'metropolis and mental life' in 1903. Influenced critical theory of Frankfurt school thinkers, people like Walter Benjamin, Kracauer, Adorno etc

Presented pioneering analyses of social individuality

Dresden Exhibition

1903.

Simmel asked to lecture on intellectual life in the city but reverses idea and writes about effect of city on individual. 

Herbert Bayer lonely metropolitan 1932. 

Coined the phrase "Form ever follows function:

"Skyscrapers represent the upwardly mobile city of business opportunity"

America built on immigration.

Manhatta 1921. Short documentary film revels in the haze rising from city smoke stacks. City as subject. 65 shots sequenced in a non-narrative structure.

Modern Times (1936) by Charlie Chaplin.

Wrote directed and starred in. Chaplin plays factory worker on assembly line. Being subjected to stuff like force-fed by a "feeding machine" and an assembly line he can't keep up with anymore. Chaplin snaps and runs around doing chaois. Gets accused of being a communist, goes to jail, meets a girl, becomes a waiter and becomes a pantomime performer to success.

Stock Market crashed in 1929. Mass unemployment, closure of factories. The Louisville Flood 1937.

Russian silent documentary film. Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

No story and no actors. Accompanied by live music.

'Flaneur' - Frenchc masculine noun, meaning 'lounger', 'saunterer', meaning "to stroll" in French. Being a bit of a Flan. Bourgeois.

Charles Baudelaire  - French Poet. Proposes a version of the flan, a person "who walks the city in order to experience it".

Walter Benjamin - The concept of an urban observer as an analytical tool. Similar to Victorian arcades in Leeds. Cafe society, for the bourgeoise of Leeds to sit around and enjoy the city and drink and eat expensive food. Flan about.

Harmonising the environment with the human experience of the city.

Following strangers in the street. For the pleasure of following them. Photographing without knowledge. Voyeuristic.

"I followed a man whom I lost sight of a few minutes later in the crowd. That very evening, by chance, he was introduced to me at an opening. During the course of our conversation, he told me he was planning an imminent trip to Venice.’ Frieze magazine

First game to be shown at Tribecca Film Festival.

Set post-war, noir style of filmmaking referenced.

Blade Runner. 1982. Dystopian future, references Tokyo, neon lights. Comments on the future, commercialism, modernism, mass production and technology with the idea of humanoid replicants walking next to us.

Fredrick jameson Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late CapitalismVerso, 1991

Eye is overwhelmed by signs. Doesn't know where to look, confusion. Overloaded culture, overload of information and exposure to selling. Consumerism. No sense of tradition, or community. No proper traditional buildings that are inviting.

Destruction of Twin Towers - destruction of the American dream?

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Lecture 8: Creative Rhetorics

Janine Sykes.

Creative inspiration, creative thinking.

Major role in Blade Runner (1980). Changed careers, embraced criticism and negativity, defying odds.

Creative flow

Using heart not mind, sometimes overthinking can lead to negative output, a reaction can be more fruitful and creative.

The creative challenge of the "blank sheet" of paper. Daily routine, outlook etc. Renzo Rosso is Diesel founder.

"You have to work in a team. Me alone there would be no work."

"When you do things before others. People treat you like you're stupid."

"The most important people that have made a change in the world, Mandela etc, they're usually considered stupid"

Talks about experience of school and fashion, practice based. Facilitating creativity. Bauhaus, Arts and crafts movements of 19th century. 

The best idea is always the next one. Creativity is dynamic in some way. 

Be stupid, think with heart. Creativity is different to rational subjects such as science.

Rosso - romantic genius?

Rewind - few thousand years

Martin Bernal - Black Athena - argues that Classical civilisation has deep roots in Afroasiatic cultures. In history it's often been implied that world has roots in Greence.

Very rigid statue pose on the left. The Hellenistic period statue on the right is much more expression and much more emotion and life. The History of Art seems to have been striving to imitate nature in a better way.

Few hundred years

Classicism - Imperial period. Roman art, just copying the Greeks?

FAST FORWARD

Facilitating creativity

Art schools appeared in mid 19th century with the Arts and Crafts movement, just like LCA did.

Abundance of new research about new media having a profound change on creatives and citizens lives.

3) Ubiquitous creativity

Creativity as a basic skill where people can find solutions to problems in 21st life, being resourceful, flexible - contributing to society.

Society (crowd) made up of online Communities of practice VCOP Group(s) of people, which have an interest in the same topic and are engaged in an activity.

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