SCIS research teaching linkages: SCIS research projects presented to UWS MA Creative Media Practice students, 17th March 2011

Ethnographic Approaches to Creative Media Practice Research

As part of the MA Creative Media Practice core module Research: Critical Development ( Module Co-ordinator Dr Kathryn A Burnett) both Kathryn Burnett and Kirsten MacLeod delivered to the year 2 students on this postgraduate course as part of a thematic week exploring ethnographic approaches to community media research and practice. Kathryn presented some examples from SCIS historical and archive projects informed by an ethnographic approach  in the island communities of  both the Outer Hebrides and  Tristan da Cunha .

Kirsten’s presentation featuring her work on community media with particular reference to the Govan Banner’s film. Kirsten spoke to the students about her background in Visual Anthropology and offered some insights on taking an ‘ethnographic’ position in relation to community media practice in both urban and rural/island settings.

SCIS PhD student Kirsten MacLeod presents at !Documentary Now! 2011

¡Documentary Now!

A Conference on the Contemporary Contexts and Possibilities of the Documentary, University of Westminster,  January 2011

AVPhd Panel presentation by SCIS PhD student Kirsten MacLeod, “I film therefore I am: Process, Practice and Participation in Community based Filmmaking”.

Kirsten MacLeod (University of the West of Scotland)

This paper will explore examples of community-based media in Scotland, focusing on participation in the production process and the construction of identity and knowledge. Using a visual practice based methodology, the research focuses on fieldwork examples of community based, collaborative video production, in urban and rural areas of Scotland.
The paper is concerned with exploring community media as a transformative social process, a catalyst for new relationships, experience and knowledge about the world. It presents community documentary projects as a lens through which to explore issues of participation, representation, identity and knowledge within communities.
Taking a fluid approach to community as meaningful and symbolically constructed (Cohen), and to community media as covering a spectrum of media which serves, reflects or involves communities, geographically bounded, or of interest (Atton, Jankowski), this paper presents participation as part of an ongoing process of production, which lives on beyond the end product of the actual media itself, in the situated social experiences of its participants.
By examining the process of production, the research deconstructs the filmmaking process, exploring how people engage in filmmaking as participants, but also as members of the audience community. How meaningful is community media to communities who produce it, as a process and in the longer term once the end product is “out there”?
Through examples from Glasgow and islands on the West coast of Scotland, as well as broader trends in Scottish community media, the paper describes how community media channels the situated-ness of knowledge and identity.
The paper advocates a practice led methodology, where the research engages directly with the process of filming and draws reflexively and practically on the researcher and participants’ experiences.

Community Media Networking Day, CCA Glasgow

As part of the Viewpoints Community Film Festival, Kirsten MacLeod, SCIS PhD student, is organising a Community Media Networking Day at CCA Glasgow on Thursday 18th November for practitioners and participants of community media to network, show their work and discuss issues surrounding community based media. It is a free event, between 12-6pm, with a showcase of young people’s films in the evening produced by SWAMP and Plantation Productions. More details to follow, but if you are a community based filmmaker, or know of anyone who would like to take part or come along, do contact Kirsten at kirstenmac [at] clara.co.uk.

SCIS PhD student screens at Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, 2010

 As part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, a short film produced by SCIS PhD student Kirsten Macleod  is being shown at GMAC/Streetlevel Gallery at Tron 103 on Thursday 7th October between 7-10pm. It’s titled “Playtime” and is about  remembering and rediscovering the joys of childhood fun. The film is also part of the touring exhibition, Time Out: Arts Showcase and will also be screened at Cardonald Library on  14th October 1-7pm and Pollok Civil Realm: 21st,  1-7pm. There is also a photography exhibition, Mutter Shutter associated with the project.