Image 1: class session 26
Do not be scared! This introductory sentence is nothing but the title of the slam that opened today’s session.
Indeed, we have started the lecture by watching a video of the slam contest held in Chad in November of this year. The message of the slam, essentially delivered in French can be summarized as follow:
‘’En Afrique, en général et au Tchad en particulier, le mort reçoit plus d’honneur que le vivant. C’est du vivant des hommes qu’on prend soin de leur vie’’.
‘’In Africa in general, in Chad in particular, the dead receives more honor than the living. It is during men’s lives that we should take care of their lives. “
Lionel: I found it funny that after this slam, Mirjam noticed the absence of a considerable number of students who did not apologize. What does this massive absence reflect? A discontent? A disinterest? A passive rebellion?
“It is when students are diligent that one has to wonder why such a craze. But when they are absent, no one will know why they have been diligent or even why they are no longer there. ”
Our own slam goes like this: ‘’In the class, the absent speaks more than the presents’’.
Ida: The lecture started off with a movie excerpt of a slam in French, which I could not understand as I do not speak French, but at moments like these I wish I did. But even though I don’t speak French, still the melody of the words, the gestures, the facial expression; it impressed me. Even though I don’t know what he is talking about, his performance still captures me.
After the slam, Mirjam de Bruin started today’s class by presenting the session plan.
First, Mirjam will discuss the individual assignment that has been devoted to: “How to implement the literature of the first four sessions in your research in Africa?”
Good constructions start with a good foundation. To write a good essay, the first step to take is to fully understand the question and rephrase it with your own words. Such an approach facilitates the writing process. Donna de Weijer, who managed to reformulate the question of the assignment was taken as an example. In the following video, she shares her approach on the subject.
Video: Donna de Weijer rephrases the question
Mirjam’s first observation is that some key concepts have not been deeply elaborated, or even misunderstood or interpreted. A deeper analysis of the concepts involving an individual perspective has been lacking in many assignments. Despite this constructive criticism, the good news is that all students passed the exam.
Sanne de Vries who has managed to analyze the concept of virtuality in a dimension which has not been explored before gives her opinion in the next video:
Video: Sanne de Vries explains the concept of virtuality
Finally, to close the first part of the course, Mirjam recalled the exercise that each student is invited to do. Each student must share in a video of one minute what the different exercises have brought him as an intellectual baggage.
For more details, watch the following film:
Video: Mirjam explaining the assignment
In the second part of the course, Sjoerd commented on the different interviews recorded by the students.
Image 2: Sjoerd commenting on the interviews
This exercise has been a learning process for many students.
Sjoerd said that several points need to be improved.
On the form, Sjoerd suggests that the capture plan should be ‘landscape’ instead of ‘portrait’.
The choice of the background is also important.
On the technical side, it is important to adjust the colors and to choose a good background. It is also necessary to pay attention to the noise generated by the wind because an inaudible interview is good for nothing.
Basically, showing interest in what the interviewer is saying can help the interview move forward.
The experience of interviewing and being interviewed that was shown on a big screen in class, appeared to cause some awkwardness in class. Do all the people who were interviewed even know that the records or videos of the interviews would be shown in class, on such a big screen? Would they all still agree with this if they knew? Would you agree with this, feel comfortable with this? And what happens with these interviews after class? They are on blackboard, and people have them on their phones and computers; everybody in our class can download them. As our class appears quite trustworthy, this might seem like a safe space. However, the possibilities are there. Is it ethical to make all these interviews available via blackboard? And what for example, if someone’s laptop or mobile phone gets stolen? Many people have saved their log in details on their laptop. Or what if somebody gets hacked; anybody could access these interviews? We have the responsibility to protect these data, but how cautious should we be as scientists with these interviews, with these data? Is it our plight to get to know more internet security and protecting data online? It would be interesting, if not necessary, to learn how to keep obtained data safe. But what do you think about data and internet security and the role of academia? You can leave a comment with your point of view in the comment section.
The last part of the course concerns the creation of logos
The general remark is that the choice of design and message that accompany the logo must take into account the audience for which the logo is intended. It is important to target your audience and design their logo and the message that accompanies it.
As far as the creation of logos is concerned, the fact that the logo enters a field of abstraction makes it difficult to conceptualize a logo since its interpretation depends very much on the perception that the audience has of the logo. Even the choice of colors is subject to the appreciation of the cultural environment in which one finds oneself.
Video: Kim de Vries explaining the logo assignment
The writing of blogs does not meet the objectives assigned to this exercise, many must resume this exercise and submit it before Friday.
After three hours of classes, students and instructors took leave of each other and said goodbye and the next appointment was fixed for next week, Monday, December 1, 2018.