Staging Research Results: Exhibi­tions and MOOCs

The next session of the Critical Media Lab Colloquium will take place, Wednesday, 8. April 2015 at the Critical Media Lab (D 3.05) from 9:15 to 10:45 AM.

For the third session of this term’s Critical Media Lab colloquium series — Rendering Research — we host a session with Jan Torpus and Jeanine Reutemann.

We want to discuss two different formats of staging research: Research exhibitions and Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as means for research communication. The first part will address the nature, role and purpose of the research exhibition as an emerging form of knowledge transfer. In which way differs a research exhibition from an ordinary one, what might be its essential contribution to research and how is that contribution archived and disseminated? The second part will enquire the potential and pitfalls of MOOCs as a new avenue of research communication and the role of video as a publication format. There are no doubts that the disruptive movement of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has already changed the way we think teaching. Videos play a major part in almost every MOOC course. These videos are part of tertiary knowledge transfer. MOOC videos can be understood as a form of research publication, at least those going beyond a 101 course. Further, these videos co-shape the „corporate identity“ of a professorship. Still, today most videos are obviously produced without much attention to media design.

For preparation, please have a look at the following materials, if you find the time.

The Research Exhibition: context, interpretation, and knowledge creation.
K. Niedderer, M. A. R. Biggs, M. Ferris. University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. Design Research Society. International Conference in Lisbon. 2006

A mash-up of selected MOOC Videos (all published in 2014) from several universities including MIT, Harvard, Standford, ETH Zürich etc.