What Role Can Social Media Play In Creative Research?

Research Question: What Role Can Social Media Play In Creative Research?

When undertaking this research I decided to take an Applied, Exploratory and Qualitative Research approach. The outcome was to explore contemporary art and documentary based photography, in order to spur on further research. Due to social media's premier place within the information timeline, a Qualitative approach was utilized because I was more interested in examining and reflecting on the approaches and methods of contemporary practitioners. My final goal was to apply my findings to my Migrant Narratives project.

Twitter was selected as it is a micro-blogging platform that incorporates both text and visuals, Richardson (2015).  My method, since February 2018 I have been using Twitter daily to document my research on contemporary photography, @jasonmachinski. Hashtags were employed to help structure my findings and to organize the content for quick access after. The goal was to apply these finding to my Migrant Narrative project so the majority of the posts focus on art and documentary photo practitioners.

The structure of the posts:

• Monday: #photoread - explores contemporary non-academic articles on photography and photographers. This was one of the greatest benefits of using Twitter. As it is a micro-blogging platform photographers/artists share articles and offer opinions often. Sharing these on my public timeline allowed me to catalog the information, share, discuss with others and connect with the original publisher.
• Tuesday: #photohistory - looks at historical practitioners and resources. This turned into a great list of resources of Museums, Archives and Art Galleries, then used for further research.
• Wednesday: #photographyquote - quotes I found interesting and was using in my research. This also spurred on conversation both online and offline with my students.
• Thursday: #favphoto - this series of posts focused on images I was using in my research and allowed me to give my opinions, catalog links, and connect with photographers.
• Friday: #photogtofollow - these posts highlights and cataloged contemporary photographers that I found through my research. By sharing their content I was also able to connect with many of the photographers. Using direct messages and comments through Twitter has been great to build my network.
• Saturday: #ottawaart - these posts look at the local art scene in Ottawa. Many of my MA modules stressed looking at both the global and local level of practitioners and resources. This has helped me immensely, it expanded my local connections and Twitter is a great way to find and share local art events.
• Sunday: #photowatch or #photolisten - this stream of posts focuses on video and audio content related to the art and documentary photography.  Great first hand and documentary resources for my research. 

Through my experiential use of the platform, I realized that it was an excellent source to glean first-hand information from contemporary photographers. These included personal and first-hand accounts of new projects by photographers, their struggles with processes and methodologies, successes and links to sources further down the information timeline, i.e. trade magazines and books, which were invaluable. This was echoed by Lorna-Jane Richardson in her case study, Micro-blogging and Online Community, looking at the use of social media by archaeologists, Richardson (2015) 'These archaeological activities were taking place on Twitter in a very unstructured and informal manner, and the platform was also being used as a 'first-port-of-call' means of transmitting archaeological news among archaeological peers'.  Twitter has also been a great reflective tool, looking back on what I have posted/cataloged has acted as flag posts helping me remember ideas and concepts for MA project.  

There are drawbacks to using Twitter as a research tool, written content is limited to 280 characters so very superficial information can be shared in the actual post.  Information on the platform is not peer reviewed so all information has to be vetted.  Subjective opinions are also often shared with little basis of fact. There is also an algorithm on the platform that suggests similar content (Twitter, 2018): 'We may make suggestions based on your activity on Twitter, such as your Tweets, who you  follow, and accounts and Tweets that you view or otherwise interact with'.  This feature is excellent for locating similar content but If all that you see is one point of view on a subject you might fall into the trap of believing that is the only point of view on the matter.   

Twitter is an excellent tool for firsthand information as it is an early source on the information timeline.  It’s position is very well suited for gleaning direct information on the practice and methods from photographers and artists, and locating sources like trade publications through posted links from others.  Twitter is not a peer reviewed platform so all information should be reviewed for accuracy and it is a platform where people express their own subjective viewpoints.  Nevertheless, Twitter can be an effective tool for initial research and to build a network of peers.  

Citations

Machinski, J. (2018) research & practice Social Media. April 2018. Unpublished.

Richardson, L. (2015) "Micro-blogging and online community‟. Internet Archaeology [Online]. no. 39. Available at: https://doaj.org/article/2d612885b4e3422f95f35dd131ab6df4 [Accessed: 3 April, 2018].

Twitter (2018) Twitter Help Center: Following and Unfollowing.  Available at:  https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/account-suggestions [Accessed: 6 April, 2018].

Next Steps

Researching the work and background of Lewis W. Hine led me to look at sociology.  Hine’s use of photography to examine a social issue was definitely influenced by his training in sociology.  So moving forward I decided to look at sociology, which is defined as:

The science of society, social institutions, and social relationships;  specifically: the systematic study of the development, structure, interaction, and collective behavior of organized groups of human beings (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

An associated term that kept coming up when looking into the definition of sociology was social science, defined as:

A branch of science that deals with the institutions and functioning of human society and with the interpersonal relationships of individuals as members of society. (Merriam-Webster, 2018)

As the focus of my MA and specifically this semester is exploring creative research I combined the keywords: creative research, social science, sociology and photography to explore the online library via StudyNet (our research portal at IDI and Hertfordshire).  This gave me a plethora of material to review specifically on visual and creative research methods.  

The first text was Visual, Narrative and Creative Research Methods : Application, Reflection and Ethics by Mannay.  This book, as the title so aptly states, explores visual narrative and creative research methods.  Planning on employing a text based questionnaire when interviewing the migrant narrative subjects I was interested in what visual tools could be used instead.  Two very interesting techniques were discussed, participant collaging and the use of the photovoice technique.

The collaging and photovoice techniques were presented in the same way and participants could select the mode, or modes, that they wanted to work with from these options, although one chose to be interviewed without taking part in any visual data production. Collages were constructed from everyday objects, magazines, photographs and printed online images, while the photovoice activity was facilitated with disposable cameras. (Mannay, 2015)

What was interesting to me about these methodologies is the interviewee has more of a participatory role in the process.

One principal objective of such research, then, is to eliminate the conceptual and practical filters applied both literally and metaphorically by researchers; and to engender access to more authentic views. (Mannay, 2015)

This added dimension of exploring their world further by examining the images and not just relying on the interview is very interesting.  Critically reflecting on these methodologies there is some concerns I have specifically could a researcher interpret the images based on their own bias to positively reinforce their own research outcomes?  This could apply to a verbal interview or text too, however images can be very subjective.  In chapter 6 of the text Mannay does address this concern.  

 Therefore, just as images are open to misinterpretation, the reader will often produce a different interpretation of the text from that which the author intends; in this manner the need for clarification is extended to all modes of data. (Mannay, 2015)

I believe, as does the author, that these methodologies work best in tandem with other methods, one helps reinforce another.  When structuring my process I would like to employ an interview, photovoice or collage and a collaborative image creation.  

Citations

Merriam-Webster (2018) Definition of sociology. [Online] Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sociology. [Accessed 6 April 2018].

Merriam-Webster (2018) Definition of social science. [Online] Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/social%20science. [Accessed 6 April 2018].

Machinski, J. (2018) research & practice Next Steps. April 2018. Unpublished. 

Mannay, D. (2015) Visual, Narrative and Creative Research Methods : Application, Reflection and Ethics. 1st edn. Routledge.

Lewis Wickes Hine

Where To Start?

Not knowing where to start with my research into migrant narratives I decided to go with what I know.  For the past ten years I have been teaching the history of photography at Algonquin College, so I decided to start with history.

Lewis W. Hine was the first photographers I decided to research because he produced a photographic series of immigrants at Ellis Island.  For Hine this was his first photographic series documenting a social issue. What I wanted to find out is why did he create this series, what were his methods, how did he start, and who was Hine at this moment in his career.  

In 1905, the year Hine created his Ellis Island series, he was a photographer and a teacher in nature studies and official photographer to the Ethical Cultural School. (Lenman, 2005)

So how did Hine go from teaching nature studies to documenting social issues with a camera.  How did he come to recognize the power of the photography as a tool for social change.  As Lenman (2005 p. 81) noted it had something to do with Hine's training in sociology:

In 1905, informed by his training in sociology, and with his reformist interests sharpened by his experience at the school, he began using the camera to study social problems by recording the arrival of immigrants at Ellis Island.

Figure 1: Italian Immigrants At Ellis Island (Source: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public  Library Digital Collections, 1905).

This seemed too shallow an explanation. I agree that given Hine’s education this could account for his predilection toward social causes, however, I am curious to find Hine’s eureka moment. When photography became one of Hine’s tools for telling compelling narratives.  As Lenman mentioned Hine’s interests were “sharpened by his experience at the school” so I decide to review Hine’s (1905 p. 81) writings while at the Ethical Cultural School.    

A brief examination of a well-selected and representative collection of photographs will give a bird's-eye view, and then the visitor may select the lines with which he wishes to become familiar.  At the annual school exhibit the photographs taken during the year have become quite indispensable as reinforcing and varying the written explanation, just as they have become so necessary in magazines and books. Here also the visitor's time is limited, and we strive to give him in condensed and attractive form what has been going on through all the year. 

Hine’s interest in using the camera to tell a story developed through his work as the official photographer.  HIne came to realize the power of combining photograph and text to effectively tell a story through marketing the school.  He realized that a curated selection of images combined with well written descriptions can convey a stronger message than either one on their own.  This is what he used to sell the benefits of the school and it is this skill that he applied to his own personal work.  

Hine’s photographic series at Ellis Island was one of his fledgling attempts at documenting a social issue.  Why did he decide to do document this issue specifically?

FIgure 2: Armenian Jew, Ellis Island (Source: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public  Library Digital Collections, 1926).

Frank Manny, Hine's superintendent at the Ethical Culture School, first suggested to Hine that he take students to the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan to photograph immigrants arriving from Ellis Island. Soon thereafter, and often accompanied by Manny, Hine began photographing immigrants on Ellis Island itself. When later asked why, Hine replied, "Hard to say. Perhaps a wave of humanitarianism? News sense?'  Seixas, (1987 p. 81

It is interesting that Hine did not really realize why he was photographing this subject.  It has been my experience that when starting a creative project you often do not formulate why you are do things.  Sometime you just do things on instinct or you really don’t see the whole picture until the end or till someone else critiques your work.  Hine’s work did put a face to these migrants Seixas (1987 p. 81) believes that 'This human connection allows the viewer to transcend the ethnic and class differences between him/herself and the subject. These are people, not faceless hordes.'

Willmann, (2008 p. 81) believes that: 

Although Hine left the objects of his portraits mostly unnamed, through his documentary style, he conferred upon them individual identity in contrast to the nativism, exploitation, and social Darwinism that surrounded immigration issues in the early 1900s.

It appears that Hine produced a photographic series for the same reason I decided to do mine, to counter populism and racism against the what many consider to be the other, migrants.  It is amazing that over 100 years later we are still facing this same issue.  

Citations

Hine, L.W. (1905) "Camera, The School", Elementary School Teacher [Online] 6(1). pp. 343-347. Available at: https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/stable/pdf/992828.pdf?refreqid=excelsior%3A5c61e2a72c865b6eb6972b6bee98a962 [Accessed: 28 March, 2018].

Lenman, Robin (2005) The Oxford Companion to Photography, Oxford University Press, New York.

Machinski, J. (2018) research & practice Where To Start? April 2018. Unpublished.

Seixas, P. (1987) "Lewis Hine: From "Social" to "Interpretive" Photographer", American Quarterly [Online] 39(3). pp. 381-409. Available at: https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/stable/2712885?pq-origsite=summon&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents [Accessed: 28 March, 2018].

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public  Library Digital Collections (1905) Lewis W. Hine, Italian Immigrants At Ellis Island [Online image]. Availabe at: http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-4e77-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 [Accessed: April 1, 2018].

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public  Library Digital Collections (1926) Lewis W. Hine, Armenian Jew, Ellis Island [Online image]. Availabe at: http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-4e87-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 [Accessed: April 1, 2018].

Willmann, K.S. (2008) "Lewis Hine, Ellis Island, and Pragmatism: Photographs as Lived Experience", The Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era [Online]. 7(2). pp. 221-252. Available at: https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.herts.ac.uk/stable/25144521?pq-origsite=summon&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents [Accessed: 29 March, 2018]. 

What Is Critical Thinking?

Research and Practice

Defining Critical Thinking

The Research and Practice course for my MA requires me to write a series of blog posts on research.  One of the first posts is to define and discuss my ideas on critical thinking.  I find it easiest to start by breaking apart a definition to understand or explain a concept. The definition of critical thinking as defined by the English Oxford Living Dictionaries (2018) 'The objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement'.

What I find interesting about this definition is the notion that one can be wholly objective.  Objectivity is defined by the English Oxford Living Dictionaries (2018) as '(Of a person or their judgement) not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts'.  To be completely objective is difficult, and I think almost impossible. We all have personal feelings and opinions that sway us in different and often subtle ways.  I believe that anyone can utilize critical thinking, however, one must realize that complete objectivity is difficult and that our biases will appear.  The rest of the definition I quite agree with.  A detailed look at something to gauge the validity of a topic or issue.  Then coming up with a conclusion based on this process, something I find quite enjoyable.

The other caveat I have about critical thinking is people's emphasis on the critical component of the process. Which is often seen as a negative approach to the process. This is a misnomer, critical thinking does not have to be negative it can also be positive or reaffirming.  The end goal of the process of critical thinking is enlightenment, a re-envisioning or affirmation of previous thoughts or ideas.  

Critical Thinking In The Age Of AI and Fake News

Critical thinking is also an essential skill to be taught, as it is a skill that will help shield future generations.  The rise of automated and artificial intelligence systems within the workplace will radically change the face of the work world as Aoun (2017) believes 'critical thinking and system thinking are crucial for human employees of the future it is imperative that we instill them through the education system of the present'.  

The trend in the business world is to replace occupations with a technology solution. The Industrial Revolution of the past is an example of this trend, exemplified in Henry Ford’s ever-evolving assembly line, Oschinski and Wyonch, (2017 p.1) believe that:

Occupations high in abstract, complex-decision-making skills with a strong focus on creativity, critical thinking and interpersonal social skills have a relatively low risk of being automated. An increase in demand for these skills is likely over the near and medium term.  As the rate of technological progress increases and digitization permeates different occupations and industries, technical job-specific skills might become obsolete relatively quickly. This indicates a need to increase opportunities for continuous education and lifelong learning.

Is critical creative thinking a boon for future generations, most likely.  Is it something that should have always been taught in schools and encouraged at home, yes.  Future implications and debates about definitions aside, critical creative thinking challenges people to think.  To not take things at face value, to question authority and to become a more enlightened human being.  I would say that this notion is at the heart of many of our religious and philosophical movements and one of our greatest political inventions, democracy.  So in this age of sound bites and fake news what better skill to nurture.  

Citations:

Aoun, Joseph (2017) In an age of machines, critical thinking gives people the edge. [Online] Medium | CXO Magazine. Available at: https://medium.com/cxo-magazine/in-an-age-of-machines-critical-thinking-gives-people-the-edge-e2b80d0ff439 [Accessed March 31, 2018]. 

English Oxford Living Dictionaries (2018) Definition of critical thinking in English. Available at:  https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/critical_thinking . [Accessed April 2, 2018]. 

English Oxford Living Dictionaries (2018) Definition of objective in English. Available at:  https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/objective . [Accessed April 2, 2018]. 

Machinski, J. (2018) research & practice Some Thoughts on Critical Thinking. April 2018. Unpublished.

Oschinski and Wyonch (2017)  Future Shock? The Impact of Automation on Canada’s Labour Market. [Online] Toronto: C.D. HOWE Institute, p. 3. Available at: https://www.cdhowe.org/sites/default/files/attachments/research_papers/mixed/Update_Commentary%20472%20web.pdf [Accessed March 31, 2018].