Search Strategies, Resource Organization, Management & Sustainability; The Creation of Knowledge in the Digital Era
"Media are not pseudopods for extending the human body. They follow the logic of escalation that leaves us and written history behind it." Friedrich Kittler
Thanks to the groundbreaking works of historians, anthropologists, sociologists and researchers in related interdisciplinary fields (medium theory, cybernetics), it has by now become accepted wisdom that not only the amount, but also the nature of scientific knowledge is a function of the constraints and opportunities that are hard-wired into the communication technologies that contain it. We are nowadays experiencing yet another sea change in information production and dissemination, conveniently summarized as the ‘digital revolution’.
Exploring the disruptive impact of the latter on the production of scientific knowledge is the mainstay of this course and project. As this course does not believe in the usefulness of the traditional lecture (and neither should you), the approach is ‘hands-on’: through the concrete manipulation of a wide range of (scholarly) tools, students will gradually be made aware of how conceptual domains and knowledge categories are shifting and emerging, and what types of attention will be indispensable when doing research in the aftermath (and mirror) of the ‘Gutenberg Galaxy’....
This course will take students on a digital journey which includes the management of bibliographic sources, alternative methods of writing and publication, tools for integrating writing and data analysis, etcetera. We also look into contemporary debates on preservation, data visualization, the relevance of academic debate in modern society, and what else. At all times will we be reminded of the fact that the medium is the message. Eventually -and thereby even going against Marshall McLuhan's famous dictum, we discover that what we refer to as 'man' may well be the extension of technologies and communication media, rather than the other way around.
- Hoover, Dave, and Adewale Oshineye. 2009. Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman. 1 edition. Beijing ; Cambridge Mass.: O’Reilly Media.
- Resnick, Mitchel, and Ken Robinson. 2017. Lifelong Kindergarten: Cultivating Creativity through Projects, Passion, Peers, and Play. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
- Sennett, Richard. 2009. The Craftsman. 1 edition. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Session 1: bibliographic management
Session 2: more research within the browser window
Session 3: the science of search
Session 4: collaborative work and reproducible research
Session 6: about OpenAccess
Session 8: licensing your work
Session 9: data and data visualization
Session 10: big data & social network analysis
Session 11: encryption - anonymity - safety - whistleblowing
Session 12: where do we go from here?
From session 2 onwards, small student groups will be assigned to introduce topics to be discussed. This may include both historical matter and/or their contemporary implications. Students are expected to:
- participate in the course as a whole: doing the essential reading for each week’s topic, and coming prepared to question and intervene.
- provide written and oral comments;
- research, write, present, and defend your argument and choice of topic to be discussed.
- When presenting, students should go beyond the narrow content of the reading to be presented; develop an argument as a coherent whole, e.g. by focusing on theoretical issues (e.g. the relationship between (political) power and violence, methodological ones (for instance the nature of the relationship between ‘ideas’ and the material/technological/… contexts in which they are shaped), and...
- ...most importantly, to bring their laptop into class!
Undergraduate students often find it challenging to read scientific articles; and indeed, the format that characterizes scientific publications is quite different from what may have been familiar in highschool. Here is a digest of a comprehensive reading method called SQ3R; there also exists a longer guide.
Evaluation will be based on: reading notes, class discussions (other means of evaluation may be discussed with the students). There is no paper to be written; instead, students are asked to make ‘smart’, elaborate and interactive presentations. They are responsible for putting the presented reading in context, and act as ‘moderator’ for the follow-up discussion. Although all grading is characterized by an inherent opacity (if only for the simple reason that every presentation pertains to different material and a different session), here are some simple rules:
- students presenting on several occasions will receive a higher grade
- students making elaborate presentations (including audiovisual material, links to primary sources etc.) will be rewarded for the extra effort
- showing that you mastered the readings by partaking actively in the discussions is a plus.
As this class is an example of problem-based learning and the 'flipped classroom', it strongly encourages and rewards participation; vice versa, it penalizes a passive or absent behavior. Concretely, 80 percent of your grade is based on class discussion; the remaining 20 percent is reserved for presentations.
Some basic rules: whereas attendance is considered crucial, merely being present in class is insufficient to pass. Active participation is prerequisite. Checking social media or constantly looking at your phone during class is discourageing and even disturbing for your peers, so should be avoided. This class demands a considerable degree of commitment; do not take this class if you are not motivated.