'In Terms of Performance' - a free online resource worth checking out

I've recently discovered a fascinating website called 'In Terms of Performance'. 

intermsofperformance.site

"It is a free web-based keywords anthology designed to provoke discovery and generate shared literacies for how the goals, skills, and artistic traditions of experimental interdisciplinary work are understood. 

Produced by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Philadelphia in collaboration with the Arts Research Center at UC Berkeley, the site features essays and interviews from more than 50 prominent artists, curators, presenters, and scholars who reflect on common yet contested terms in contemporary cultural practice such as Curating, Choreography, Duration, Live, Participation, Score, and Spectator. 



The authors contemplate the relations among visual art, theatrical, choreographic, and performance art practices; the poetry of miscommunication; and the stakes of literacy in our current context of progressively hybrid cultural production."

Topics covered include



"As a free online resource, In Terms of Performance is non-linear and richly cross-listed, enabling an unstructured browsing experience in which terms, contributors, and artworks connect intricately in a true web of reference—while inviting new entries to be added in the future. It also allows users to create their own PDF publications, customised to their interests."



The coeditors, Shannon Jackson and Paula Marincola conducted a set of extended interviews with major figures in art and performance, who reflect on their own experience with the poetry of miscommunication, the challenges and rewards of collaborating, and the history and future of intermediality.

An extended conversation between Jackson and Marincola explains the project’s evolution and muses on the stakes of literacy across disciplinary boundaries today.

intermsofperformance.site

Newcastle University Learning and Teaching Case Studies website goes live

Since December 2014 I have been employed by Newcastle University, working within the Learning and Teaching Development Service (LTDS) to review, amend and update the Case Studies of Teaching Practice resource. A new website has been created to host the case studies, and this week it has been launched and gone live!

Check it out...

http://teaching.ncl.ac.uk/casestudies/

The case studies offer examples of Newcastle University staff members' teaching practice. Their case studies aim to share what works for them and their students, and to support larger conversations about learning and teaching. 

Currently there are 100 case studies, with this number constantly increasing. The case studies are wide-ranging from the use of social media in lectures to the introduction of a student peer mentoring scheme.

The practices vary but the case studies are all based around the same 5-question structure:

1. What did you do?
2. Who is involved?
3. How do you do it?
4. Why do you do it?
5. Does it work?

The idea is that anyone interested in any of the case studies can contact the author of the case study for more information. It is hoped that the website will encourage staff to look at teaching methods used by different staff members, and from different faculties. 

My job involves corresponding or meeting with different staff members to assist in the writing and submission of their case study. I am fascinated by the teaching methods used and strategies employed in order to enhance the learning experience of students. I hope that you find the website as interesting as i do.

Colour inspirations from pinterest - leifshop

Pinterest is a good way to find images of things that one is looking for. I find it useful as a source of inspiration for colour combinations. Here are a few of my recent picks:

https://www.pinterest.com/leifshop/

The Make Works Directory is live!

Make Works is an independent design company that facilitates, celebrates and debates design, craftsmanship and manufacture. They are interested in materials, machines and digital technology. 

Their mission is to make it easier for creative professionals to work with industry and produce high quality work locally. To do this they are opening up access to Scottish suppliers, trades and manufacturing in ways that are useful, informative and inspiring. The first of these is the Make Works Directory - a digital service that makes sourcing factories, fabricators, workshops and facilities simple. 

What a genius idea!

Browsing the directory is simple, partly due to the different subgroups that have been created to enable you to narrow your search, for example, by location or by material.

The site also consists of production guides which provide information about the way materials can be used.

There are a few case studies, and some articles about specific Scottish businesses.