The magdeburg film: first questions

1. The magdeburg film: first questions Sol Haring Rob Evans

2. videography • I started using the term videography for a methodological way of looking at digital narratives. Videography is related to Bina Mohn’s camera ethnography. Videography uses technological know-how – the researchers acquire this through formal or informal learning; knowing that many of their students already use this technologies for their every day life might influence research staff’s learning significance. Since researchers need to know how to use this machinery to reconstruct an understand video generated social data; they might as well create their own videographical data that then can be both useful for research and its dissemination.

3. Virtual ethnography • Mohn's Camera ethnography (2002) provides 2 approaches: • 'strong documentation' • 'thick showing' • virtual ethnography (Wesch)

4. digital narratives • Tension between users and consumers • Prosumers create many versions of narratives • the inner to the outer, teller/told, storyteller/listener relationship offers a gap, a space for potential unity, in which new ways of identification in narrative, especially for feminists working towards different ways of spectatorship and participation, can develop, and which would allow for identification among disenfranchised groups (Flanagan 2000: 79).

5. new narrative methods • The widespread generalised use of digital stories/narratives transforms traditional narrative forms (with the addition of sound and images) • "We will all be authors of our own life narrative" (Töffler et al 2008)

6. Doing the film • Interviews take time, conferences have short breaks, so we tried to get done with some... • Mistrust of the idea of a film/ the medium video and it needed much talk and explanation to get an interview • we interviewed people • we observed people using a tweaked form of participant observation (since the cameras do not make you invisible in the crowd and need some tech attention, but I was filmed by kai and boryana being participant and presenting my paper

7. format • Questions asked: • I asked for a name, occupation (or research area) and a geographical location of working/living • Think of your first conference experience, is there a story you want to share? Tell me about something that happened to you in a networking moment • What is for you the most important thing while networking (while you are doing networking) • Could you give me a description of a person you have met at a conference (someone who you thought is interesting, or outstanding) no names! just a description of a person • Can you make a sentence: Education is ... can you say it in your mother tongue?

8. Sol reporting • I have got 11 interviews with the above questions • Kai made 15 interviews with the question "what is on your mind right now?" She told me it was very hard to get people to answer - all heads were full and people wanted a break and not to be interviewed, but as you can see in the film I made a collage of it, so some answered •  We went to  6 sessions and 2 panels, I have filmed the arrival and some breaks and the dinner

9. Time and timing was an issue (as written in the panel comment) • We have got 14 hours - that makes 840 minutes of Raw Film • I would like to add the full interviews to  the DVD (next version)  • Peter Alheit's Keynote and the filmed Sessions as well as the panel discussions are worth putting there uncut as well! • I have edited Peter's Keynote - I worked in some titles and key words the authors referred to. • Question: who would have the time to watch it? • Discussions were a problem - we could not catch the sound (technically) that means we would need more microphones to get all participants on the Audio.

10. Why video? • 3. Why video: too many reasons, but there is one thing, I can show this to my students who can not imagine what a conference is like, the graphic artists were fascinated by the scenes they were listening too, they wanted to know all about the whole conference... • 2. Why video: I can see a new methodological discourse emerging - might be there already and I am not on it - we can see the editing process like a structuring process of an article, and the raw  videos are partly observation partly  "the books" to cite from,  • 1. Why video: I can see academics reflect on their networking actions and styles, I can see  a process I would call "making visible" what was invisible (possible at some levels ... )

11. Your views?