Sunday Discussion Group: communication of ideas

This Sunday December 2nd, we have our First of the month Sunday Skype discussion group. Any module  is welcome. these discussion group are an important opportunity to talk and listen about the ideas you are working with. 

We are kicking off the discussion with 'communication of ideas'.

These will be at:

9am (time in London)

or

8pm  (time in London)

Comment below to indicate which one you will attend and share relevant thinking/doing you have been mulling, reflecting on particularly in terms of 'communication of ideas'.

Sunday morning analysis!!

On the Sunday morning Skype we gave ourselves the task of giving a definition to what analysis is in terms of the course. Each person on the call is writing a definition below in the Comments. we are hoping you will add your thoughts to keep the conversation going .

Here are the elements we felt important to include when considering what analysis is:

1) Analysis is a construction of meaning through a process of translation and interpretation.
2) It isn't something in itself it is created by elements of the research (the people, data, inquirer...)
3) it is a process
4)  in -> data, analysis processing  -> out.......Data under-goes a transformation. 
5) It is a bringing things together (to communicate something)
6) it is to be able to share where you are, to make the inquiry activity describable so you can share your thoughts. 
7a) it relates to the future (where things are going for you). 
7b) it is always emerging (emerging ideas). 

Ethical consideration to theoretical frameworks

In our MAPP course we have looked at ethics from two stand points – firstly  ethical procedures that are about ‘right & wrong’ from the perspective of agreed social moral expectations of how we should behave. Ethical procedures link to the kinds of questions ethics boards ask (for instance the MORE on-line form at Middlesex). The right-ness or wrong-ness of the procedures are dependent to some extend on historical, cultural and social contexts. Even when adhering to them it is important to notice what assumptions about ‘good’, or ‘bad’ the ethical procedure is making. It is clear that these change over time, for instance something we accepted even 50 years ago are now considered unacceptable. 

In this video, Michael D. Burroughs raises the question of teaching ethical thinking (the obligation to ask yourself questions and reflect on your assumptions) to young people. There is a sense we do not engage children with ethics because adults ‘know right from wrong’ and children don’t! But it could be argued children are much more willing to adhere to the rules of fair-ness, turn-taking, and listening that society perceives to be appropriate ways to behave. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8juebyo_Z4&feature=youtu.be

I am interested in the role of ‘play’ as an alternative to competitive/consumerism. I wonder what lessons/methods in ethical thinking play itself ‘trains’ us in. 

Play requires rules and at the same time an openness to not knowing what will happen next. This resonates with components I relate to ethics – ie rules, trust…

The following article discusses ‘the ethics of play’ by giving short insights into how play has been addressed across a number of different theoretical frameworks. 

Through following what philosophers have said like  Wittenstein, Sachs, Foucault…the article looks at different ethical approaches to what play is 

http://web.flu.cas.cz/filosofievexperimentu/ethicsofplay/abstracts.html

As we explore what ethics can be, where it should be etc… we move into what on this course we have called ethical consideration (consideration = reflections, thoughts ideas).

The way you approach ideas includes ethical considerations.

The conclusion you draw from considering ideas ethically starts to form your theoretical framework. The framework into which you organise the relationship between truth, meaning, body, etc…

In this way ethical considerations help you noticethe frameworks you are working in. 

MAPP discussion group

We had a MAPP discussion group on Sunday. AM and PM.
PM was particularly big but quiet.

Many people had some great points they are blogging about - see addresses to posts in comments below. I thought about the generosity of being available in a discussion. It is similar to being a dance class when you step forward and stand at the front in order to engage and learn even if you don't feel confidence with the sequence. Many of us are used to doing this. The quiet-ness made us wonder if once a month is to big a gap between discussions, not giving people enough opportunity to exercise their voice. So, for the rest of this term we are going to pilot having a discussion every two-weeks. That means we are adding a Skype discussion on November 18th 9am or 8pm 

Please comment below to attend, also to comment and discuss from Sunday.

MORE on-line form (Module Two)

News about Module Two on-line ethics form.

1.  a draft is due in a couple of weeks. The draft is so your Supervisor can give you feedback on the form. Your feedback should help you with the form and also with the design of your inquiry. The form is finally submitted at the same time as all your other work in December.

2. When you go to the MORE folder of the our MAPP Programme Page the folder open to a lot of information. To start make sure you read:
section 1: MORE User Guidance User Information
section 4 (go to the Arts and creative industries folder): Templates -consent forms etc
section 6 : Health & Safety and Risk Assessment
You can read the rest but start with these key sections.

3. Once you start the form make sure you name your project and include "(MAPP)" at the end of the Project name.

4. Make sure you put your Supervisers name and email in the Supervisor section. That way we have access to give comments and feedback on the form for you.

5. when we give you comments and feedback on the form it come back as 'rejected' (it is not rejected!!!) it just means it is not submitted which is fine because we don't do the final submission until December.

Thinking and considering ethical reflections helps you shape your inquiry as well as give depth to your inquiry. Here video that I think is a warning about not thinking deeply enough in the design of a research project and coming up with questionable and ill-informed conclusions as a result of a bad design!! 

Its ok its Onion News...

MORE Module Two

Those of you in Module Two you'll be starting to look at the ethical considerations of your research proposals and note that there are some ethical procedures for you to undertake as part of submitting your proposal at the end of this term.

We are using the MORE (Middlesex Online Research Ethics) programme - there is a link to this on your MAPP programme page. It would be good to take a look at this and begin to familiarise yourself with it. The Ethics application needs to be completed online for your Supervisor to review by November 23rd (this is when you will also send a draft of your inquiry proposal).

We will be running a skype session with you overviewing the whole Ethics process on SUNDAY NOV 4, 9PM (immediately after our group skype discussion group that evening) and a follow-up session to look at the MORE site and process in more detail on WEDNESDAY NOV 14, 8PM.

Please comment below for these sessions: