The Workshop, Actually

8/15/2019 The Workshop, Actually

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Welcome to Mrida and its surroundings

Welcome to Actually being there: the cultural

experience workshop


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Actually being there: the

cultural experience

workshop

Mario A Moreno Rocha

Universidad Tecnolgica

de la Mixteca


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Welcome to Mrida

This workshop is the opportunity to immerse into the richness and diverse

variety of its culture

The workshop will use techniques of visual ethnography to capture, through

digital photography, daily life scenes and details which would give us an

outsider look into the inner culture

Along with its posterior analysis, we could built an idea to better understand

the culture


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Workshop organisation

The workshop will last one day with two sessions of 1.5hrs during the morning,

and one more in the afternoon

A field trip will take place in order to collect data


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Workshop structure

presentation

short introduction of the theme

visual elements of photography

field trip

public presentation of findings / discussion


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Workshop objectives

Explore the basis of visual ethnography and digital photography interestingto the workshop

Categorise and organise the themes and subjects that would be of interestfor the workshop according to the participants

On a field trip, participants will record data through digital photography(video could be considered as well)


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Workshop objectives

Analysis of the pictures taken by participants. You will create a slideshowwith meaningful images, along with its interpretation

Group discussion on the interpretation of the images in the context of theculture

Obtain conclusions, hopefully to better understand the hidden part of theculture iceberg through the experience form the workshop

Enjoy the culture!


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About me

I am a full time researcher and lecturer in Human-Computer Interaction at theUniversidad Tecnolgica de la Mixteca in Oaxaca, Mxico. I do have

experience on workshops organisation and teaching, having worked together

with Dr Christian Sturm on transcultural projects, Ive gained knowledge of the

Mexican culture through travel and writing


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introduction


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Culture as an iceberg (Kohls, 1995)


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Explicit culture, tacit culture

As a tourist travelling through a country, on a normal holiday length, one couldeasily spot the visible explicit part of a culture (eg, music, rituals, dress code,

food and drink). However, in order to discover the invisible part of culture, one

must immerse into the culture, thus by living on it or by carefully studying it


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Visual Ethnography

Sarah Pink describes ethnography as a methodology, as an approach toexperiencing, interpreting and representing culture and society that informs

and is informed by sets of different disciplinary agendas and theoretical

principles (Pink, 2001)


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Ethnographer, me?

What is ethnography? howdoes one do ethnography?

what is it that makes a text

photography or video

ethnography?


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Ethnography

A particular method or set of methods that involves the ethnographerparticipating, overtly or covertly, in peoples daily lives for an extended period

of time, watching what happens, listening to what is said, asking questions --

in fact, collecting whatever data are available to throw light on the issues that

are focus of the research (Hammersley, Atkinson, 1995)


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Example of a visual ethnography study: bullfighting


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visual elements of photography


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1 steady camera: always maintain a steady hand aimed at objective


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2 rule of thirds: divide the image into thirds, both horizontally and vertically


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3 keep the horizon level with the top or bottom of the viewfinder


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3 keep the horizon level with the top or bottom of the viewfinder


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4 fill the frame: fill the frame with your subject


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5 lighting: to create a scene or an emotion


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5 lighting: to create a scene or an emotion


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6 leading lines: Watch for strong lines that lead to your subject


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In brief

1 steady camera

2 rule of thirds

3 keep the horizon level

4 fill the frame

5 lighting

6 leading lines


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coffee break


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Welcome back


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field trip


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field trip


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Planning the research

Generally, a good knowledge of

the culture is required

Should have an idea of how our

research practices will develop

in relation to local practices

Pilot study of culture: selecting

themes


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Ethics in visual ethnography

The ethic conduct of the

researcher

informed consent, covert

research, confidentiality, harm to

informants, giving something

back, ownership of data,

protection of informants


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Selecting themes

We will select one or two

research central themes in

which we will focus our research

Presumedly, the theme(s) should

be included into those tacit

culture

Technology will be digital

photography


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status and gender

religion

signage

advertising

use of technology

formal and informal

communication


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lunch


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Welcome back


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public presentation of findings / discussion

Documents

The Workshop, Actually