I must say that I really enjoyed this week’s readings on auto-ethnography and visual ethnography, especially the article by Pink. I can't wait to read the rest of the book. Having another really good reference about the benefits of using multimedia ethnography methods in our research is wonderful. I wish I had read this before I wrote my most recent paper, in which I ended up citing Harper (1998) and Collier and Collier (1986)’ although they are good references, they are also explained in the Pink chapter.
I, too, agree with Eric that we should have a workshop or some day set aside in the college where everyone (regardless of discipline, background, and research interests) can learn about how to use some of the multimedia equipment, editing programs, etc. I am working with the Teacher Education Program (TEP) right now to help better implement the arts into the TEP program. My specific domain is to better teach the teachers some of the fundamentals of visual documentation and technology, and how to teach elements of visual ethnography in their classes.
Perhaps a larger program could and should be designed for everyone in the college to attend. Perhaps faculty and others with backgrounds in these fields or current PhD and master's students who are working and using these methods could share some tips or tricks of the trade. I really feel something like this would be very beneficial to all graduate students because, unless you already have learned it or are learning it through your research position, there seems to be little place where actual techniques are demonstrated, programs explored, and equipment explained to anyone. While courses explain methods and the theory behind this work, such as this ethnography course or even the Qualitative Methods course, no single course explains how to use a video camera, what is the best format to film in, how to use lights, audio, tripods, video editing software such as iMovie, Quick Time, Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere, etc.
I believe we all could learn a lot from one another. Is there any way we could try to set something like this up for
Therese
1 comment:
Therese! You're a genius! This is exactly what I need right now. As I'm thinking through my research projects there are points in time where I wish I had better understanding of the technology available to me. I'm not technophobic, by any means, but I just don't have any sort of background knowledge about video, editing software, etc. I'm confident that there are ways that my projects could be enriched with the addition of technology, but I wouldn't know where to start on my own. I also wouldn't know who to ask for help. I'd love to talk with you more about how we might team up next year on a project or two :) Melissa
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