The last day!

Today was quite stressful, but it was the final presentation of a months’ hard work. The entire group had to get up around 5AM, met at 5:40AM and walked over to Central Station. I woke up with a realization I had no closed-toe shoes. I resorted to flip-flops and felt vaguely guilty. Eddy biked with me on the back and my legs almost fell off. We all found each other around 6:00AM, got some food, and boarded the train. Most everyone was sleeping; Kelsey and I talked for a bit before falling into an uncomfortable nap. We got to Rotterdam in about an hour; the group of us, dreary and not yet drugged on coffee, walked through the rain to stand at the tram station for about 20min. Finally our tram came to take us to the conference. We saw the stamper with the most ridiculously long strippenkart ever for the group of us.

View from train:


Erasmus University:


We arrived at Erasmus University of Rotterdam, where the social science conference was being held. We shuffled in to get our name tags. Eddy became Edward and of course “Jenny” was omitted completely from my tag. We somehow got up a flight of stairs in search of the cafeteria but it was not yet open. Instead we all dogpiled on a long bench; some groups practiced, I slept solidly for 2 hrs until 10:40AM—20min before our presentation. My neck felt stiff and my whole body hurt. Gugg.

Anyway we got into room T3-17 (M Building) and set up our computers. Eddy’s group was first with their fantastic Google Earth whirliness. I jotted bullet points of my notes and redid parts of my slides (again). About 5 strangers showed up for our epic showdown in the M Arena!! Paul introduced us briefly as students as researchers and the students he, himself, is finding out more about: how we approached research, what e-research meant to us, etc. Then Clifford talked a bit about some of the themes of our study abroad including the concept of “radical transparency”. Everyone looked pretty pumped.

The presentations were extraordinarily well rehearsed and well-thought out. Although we’d just heard everyone on Wednesday, so much improvement had been made I was astounded. My favorite presenter was probably Lauren; my favorite presentation overall must go to Eddy’s. The squatting group should be seriously proud of how much improvement they’ve made…amazing.



After our presentations Jessica made a brief closing speech, quoted a beautiful poem, and opened the floor to questions. We got praise on how tremendous our short research was, etc. etc. but we did have a man who was disappointed with the program description since apparently our program (not equal) our program description.
Anyhow we had a good discussion with all of the participants and audience members, so we all felt good. Outside at the sign of the university we took just short of 500 group pictures (I don’t have any). Tired and on an adrenaline low we sleepily trotted back to Amsterdam. Eddy and I went home to make grilled cheese with really good chunky tomato soup, sold our bikes back for 40E a piece (not that good, not that bad), got some coconut beer, and got various last souvenirs (Eddy got a teeshirt, I got new sunglasses).

We then went to group dinner at a cute Persian place. The food was fantastic. I got mint tea to start and dolmades (little rice/meat wrapped in grape leaves) for an appetizer and this “labour-intensive” eggplant dish. The eggplant didn’t even look like eggplant, but it was so delicious with the tiziki sauce and saffron rice it was served with. Eddy & Clint got pomegranate duck, which was tasty but vaguely strange. Kelsey got this chicken which was melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Later we got dessert! Kelsey and I split this yogurt, which was delightfully thick but still fluffy. Clint and Eddy got Iranian ice cream that had pistachio and herbs in it; it was really hard (like harder than regular ice cream) and icy but yummy. Just something you had to get used to.

Lauren got Mirjam a card, so we all signed that and said our goodbyes with flowers. How nice. Paul also called on Clifford’s iPhone 3G and congratulated us over speakerphone.

During the dinner the restaurant staff was setting up a large hooka outside (7E a puff!) which was rather distracting. It was really funny to see these old me preparing hooka in front of all of us. Also the bathrooms at this place were really nice.

Anyway that night our group cranked out some serious work. Kelsey busted her ass getting our video and our conclusion done. I finally wrote my analysis so it made sense, and Mimi helped me integrate and synthesize. At around 2AM we finished; I fell asleep immediately and didn’t even see Kelsey leave.

So, the last hurrah! Amsterdam has been quite a journey. I think I learned a lot about both Dutch people, the people on this program, and what this program really strove to achieve. I had a good time doing my project and exploring the strange things around the city. Kelsey and Eddy really helped me from having too many panic attacks. Paris taught me I should never return to France again as well as be careful on trains! So I leave you with this: Watch your bags and wear a lot of sunscreen.

The Tenth Hour (and forty minutes)

Wednesday, August 20th, 13730002008

Early this morning--or very late last night, depending on your lifestyle choices--around 9:30, we, the students, in it, the study abroad program, met with Jessica Burstein, Clifford Tatum, Paul Wouters, Julie Villegas, Mirjam Schieveld, and Judith Vos at the Prins Hendrikkade campus to run through our dress rehearsal for the conference on Saturday.

The presentations were all very good, and were much improved from Monday. The feedback, again, was excellent. This time around, according to Paul, our presentations are presentable enough for the conference. This feels like a substantial achievement.

The fashion group provided visual refreshments.


After presentations, several of us biked over to Dappermarkt for a lunch of falafel and Turkish pizza. This is the same place where some of us had lunch on Monday, and the falafel really hasn't changed since then.




The afternoon was spent working for some, sleeping for others...Evening found some of us meeting again and biking across Amsterdam and through Vondelpark, to have dinner at yet another people's kitchen, MKZ! This one is in a building that's part of a complex of legalized squats. The building itself was actually a restaurant for a while. The meal was all vegan, but the zucchini soup was simultaneously so hearty, zesty, and dynamic that some of us speculated about the possible inclusion of chicken flavoring or MSG. But I think I'd rather give the cook the benefit of the doubt. Indomitable soup! The main course was composed of a mixed salad with mustard dressing, creamy cauliflower stew, crispy red potatoes, and bread with green tapenade (minus anchovies). For dessert we had bananas in chocolate sauce with beer ice, which wasn't quite cold enough and quickly melted, forming ultrachocolatebeersaucezord, and Lord Zedd was banished for all time. This meal was definitely better than the curry on Monday, which was also good, but which suffered a bit from undercooked chickpeas (in the opinion of most if not all respondents). It also had the element of novelty. I keep being impressed by how creatively these cooks work within the restrictions of veganism. These restrictions seem to inspire innovations that would otherwise be rejected out of hand, simply because easier methods are available to do something similar but less interesting. As one cook put it the other day, it's easy to make something taste good with meat or enough butter; the real art of cooking comes when you don't have these things to fall back on. I'm pretty sure that's more or less what he said.



On the bike ride back through Vondelpark we came upon a memorial for a victim of racism. As we approached, a woman was singing Redemption Song by Bob Marley. Everyone went home then except for Cassie and I, who stayed to hear a choir, which sang beautiful songs. Whatever I say will either sound affected or be an understatement, so I'll leave it at that.

rehearsals & dinner at joe's garage

So, today was our first rehearsal day for our presentations. Unfortunately, the squatting group went last... that means that I spent most of the time beforehand trying to calm myself down and frantically reading my notes over and over. So although I didn't take too much notes on the other presentations, I can say that I was pretty impressed with everyone's work. (Props to Eddy and Jenny for making it work after a vicious laptop kidnapping). It's apparent that everyone put a lot of time and effort into this research, and I also think that everyone was composed and presented well. I personally have a lot of anxiety about presenting; every time I have one coming up, my heart starts racing, I forget about all the work I put into the project, and I start feeling lightheaded... a little dramatic, I know, but it's true.

Anyway, our group presentation came and went without anyone dying, and I felt like I did okay. I took too long, I left out some really important things and kept in some trivial things, and my voice started getting pretty shaky at one point... but I think it went fine, and I think Fiona, Isaac, Ruben, Lauren and I went over to one of the markets and got a falafel- mmmmmm. I also found a pair of amazing purple pants for 3,50!!!! I should have gotten the yellow ones too.

Later on, a bunch of us got together to go to Joe's Garage (one of the squats) for dinner at the voku (folk's kitchen) they were hosting. Most everyone took the tram, except for Dylan and I who biked. Well sort of. Somehow Dylan caught some serious bad luck and his bike chain (er.. Kelsey's bike chain) fell off twice, and then the tire went flat. Once we arrived, we all had a bowl of soup... I don't really know what kind it was, but it was tasty. For the main course, there was chickpeas and curry, rice, and green beans. I enjoyed it, but I must say, I've had better squat dinners. (Competition is pretty stiff). Joe's was having an English theme... because they had this British beer on tap, and maybe for another reason but I'm not sure. The beer tasted good but was a tad flat... still good though. There was also a trivia game planned for the evening, but we didn't end up staying because everyone wimped out and went home early! (kiddingggg :) ) It was nice to have (almost) everyone out for dinner at the squats; usually Ruben, Emily C, Mimi, Haylee, and Katherine join us and it's always a great time. It was good to have the additional members this time! Here's a couple videos from our dinner. If I were you, I'd pay close attention to Ruben's dancing in the second one.... he'll be a STAR someday!

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Teamwork, Archives, BBQ... Happy Birthday, Fiona!

August 14, '008

Collaborative Research

Today, our class attended a lecture and tour of the archives at the VKS studio. During the lecture, Jan Kok from IISH & VKS and Stefan Dormans from VKS spoke to us about collaborative research and their experience/background in the field. Jan Kok first gave us his insight on using new tools in the humanities and how new media has influenced the humanities. Some portals that he discussed included "Digital History" and "The Center for History & News Media", and how new media is adapted to research questions, data collection, and research collaboration.

The Questions (with focus on SOCIAL RESEARCH)
How can we improve collaboration between science and the humanities?
What are the benefits of using common research tools in group projects?
How do researchers actually collaborate and how can we observe people collaborating? What kind of tools can be developed to improve collaboration between researchers? How does one approach "social research"?

The researchers were taking a look at social research in 3 ways: history of the labour movement, history of daily life (minorities who did not leave record of themselves, non-mainstream cultures), and social science history (in regards to demography, economy, anthropology, etc). His group is currently trying to develop a project to synthesize information between research collaborators under the "hub" concept, which is pretty interesting. It is a system that uses data-archiving to share collected data and further analysis with peers (data exchange) with certain open-access rules. It was mind-blowing to imagine the years of research put into the "Global Labor History" project that is studying the labor relatoins "of the world". Jan said that project will probably take 10 to 20 years to complete... the researchers are looking at living standards, labour relations, occupational groups, family relations, conflicts, and associated organizations. The question that is left in my mind after hearing about the project details is "how do the researchers combine data from such various fields?" Under the umbrella "Global Hub" project, researchers in the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, and the United Kingdom are taking a look at occupational structure, historical wages and prices, anthropometric data, and GIS. Through their work, they are trying to draw conclusions and create a single portal to social science history research. I believe that Emily presented the following question to Jan and Stefan: how is data credited to certain researchers under this model? How are copyright laws worked into this portal/database?

Random fact: Around 97% of chemistry works are co-authored while only 3 - 5% of philosophy papers are co-authored. Guess there is currently a lot more collaboration in the sciences than in humanties in general.

With more of a background in the natural sciences, I find open-access to science journals such as Pub-Med to be extremely helpful in developing new research questions for research biologists. It is sometimes frustrating to find the perfect paper but then only be able to view the research abstract. Stefan answered that is it up to the copyright of the research group, to decide whether they want to open their collected data to the group or public after a few years or share it only with their peers. The monthly rate that made it too expensive for social research groups to view humanities journals is ridiculous. Association with a public university in the states gives us access to these journals, and we should really take advantage of this research tool. What is the incentive to share one's research? In natural sciences, I have seen many researchers "steal" other researchers' work by using their data in a journal to further their own research time and time again. Personally, I think it is beneficial for researchers to feed off one another's work because in the end, it all goes to create more public knowledge in the sciences. Public scholarship that benefits the community has already risen in genetics and hereditary diseases; people can go online to public databases to look up information about the human genome. At the same time, I completely understand the frustrations of years of research gone to "waste" within a matter of months of another biologist(s) taking a different approach and publishing a paper in "Nature" magazine.

Jan talked more about the research performed on historical wages and prices, discussing the difficulties. There are many problems in data standardization (metric systems, translations, etc) and the data is incomparable as a whole. The ultimate goal is to be able to create a comparison of living standards around the globe. Under compiling data about organizational titles, the research group is very interested in seeing the change in jobs between generations. Do children follow in their parents' footsteps, taking upon the same jobs that their parents had? Or are jobs changing with the economy, practicality, education? Another ongoing project is labor relations, which seems like a tough one with many roadblocks. Researchers are collecting data on the number of slaves in countries throughout history. They are also looking to create a worldwide census on each country/region of those who are self-employed, workers, shareholders, etc. One project I find particularly challenging yet engaging is the microlevel data. The group is digitizing the lives of 18,000 people by reconstructing the change in their lives from birth to death. Along with a population register, the foci are on marriages, births, deaths, servants in household, and moves, which must be reported. The LifeRay environment for sharing data seems efficient for collaborators-- it includes both a public and private area on the site. While some of the data is public, researchers must have a username and password in order to access data, papers, presentations, and analysis. Jan did tell us that the system still needs to be simplified or researchers need to take a workshop to be trained in how to use the database. It seems like a really good medium to share work between a group, building upon each other's conclusions/data.

Next, Stefan discussed distance and engagement in ethnographic studies and his role in the project. Within his roles, he is a critical analyst and a collaborative researcher in ethnography. What does ethnography research consist of? Observation in an objective matter along with participation which can be recorded in a subjective light. Observation is what Haylee and I have been primarily doing when reading the space of the fashion displays in Red Light District. We take a step back without engaging in the experience, making notes of the aesthetics, location, surroundings, and reaction of tourists/natives/passerby to the displays. With interviews, we have been more participatory, talking more openly about our thoughts, curiosities, and asking questions to collect data. While being an observer is viewing data through a critical lens, social research is always subjective in the end. It is difficult to step back without being engaged in the situation. Perhaps being more participatory lowers the credibility of the research quality. As for our projects, I still feel like an outsider in Amsterdam, trying to understand the culture and even looking for Dutch culture manifested in fashion (fashion as communication). With limited time, we are really relying on the expertise, personal opinion, and vast knowledge of the current issue from interviewees.

Archive Videos:







Afterwards, we took a 45 minute tour through the archives at IISH (International Institute of Social History), which was an incredible collection of the widest array of items from history one could ever imagine.

Archive items:
-Pins
-Clothes
-Rugs
-Postcards
-Documents
-Books
-Scrolls
-Letters
-Posters
-Random odds and ends
-Etc...

Of the interesting things we saw during the tour, my favorite part was getting to see (and smell!) squatter clothes from the 80's. Everything at the archives was categorized in rooms by size, category, time period... I wonder, why are there so many items from the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the archives in Amsterdam? Pretty interesting... I hope to go back one time with classmates to take a further look at the IISH archives. While in the midst of fieldwork, I have gained appreciation of the hard work and challenges researchers in the humanities and social sciences must overcome and work through to conduct research. Before I came to Amsterdam, my uncle, a biocultural anthropologist, was telling me about his experiences with fieldwork and roadblocks he experienced when he was studying minorities in China. He sent me an email a few days ago, excited to hear about my A'dam experience as well as research progress. After reading Haylee's blog and her thoughts on changing her project to a unique aspect of Amsterdam, I feel really glad that we both have an interest in studying the current issue of fashion shops moving into ex-window brothels in the Red Light District.

During out time in Amsterdam, I am often reminded of Belinda and how much she enjoyed her experience in Amsterdam (she was part of the '006 "Honors in Amsterdam" group). Yesterday, I took a second look through her pictures. It made me smile to see that we had both taken pictures at some of the same locations-- landmarks, canals, streets, restaurants, etc. Oh, I also saw pictures of the Rotterdam conference, which is coming up very, very soon.




Group Barbeque:





Photo Credit for "Group Barbeque" (X2) and "Eiffel Tower": Kelsey

In the evening, we all headed to PG to enjoy a group potluck BBQ! Lauren and Isaac, among others, were amazing cooks and made delicious burgers, chicken, and veggie kabobs; props to them, thanks guys! It was a nice start to the three-day weekend. Professor Paul Wouters and Petra joined our class; Professor Wouters spoke to us at the barbeque. He reassured us about our presentations at the Rotterdam conference, giving us of insight on his recent experience presenting at the conference this past week. I definitely felt a bit more relieved about presenting in front of an academic audience. He reminded us that the conference will be somewhat informal and not to take it personally if someone walks out during your presentation. My personal greatest fear is public speaking, and I hope I will be able to get through the conference without freezing up or blabbering too much. It was reassuring to hear that our professors and peers are our main audience and that each of our projects were limited by our short time in Amsterdam. I am looking forward to see the progress of all the projects during this upcoming week; each group is learning a great deal about an aspect of the culture of Amsterdam and experiencing the methods and roadblocks of social research. Overall, it has been a rewarding experience with seeing the progress of the project and how all the data my group has collected is coming together.

Tomorrow is the start of the three-day weekend, with some people staying in A'dam with a Sunday day-trip to the Hague and others going on short trips to Berlin or Paris.

Happy Birthday, FIONA!!! Lucky girl, celebrating her birthday in the city of love. Off we go to explore Paris, see the Eiffel lit up in the night sky, view the city from atop Montmartre, celebrate Fiona's Birthday, & much more...

Update:

8/12 | on data gathering

By about 10am, we were all assembled @ VKS for a lecture by Sally Wyatt on health and the internet, focused on data gathering. She talked about a project she worked on on IHTs (innovative health technologies).

This was a two-year project, which took place in Brighton (SE England). The study looked at patients prescribed HRT (hormone replacement therapy) (in women) and Viagra (for men). The objects of the study were as follows:
1) assess the ways in which patients access health info
1) assess the ways in which advantages, disadvantages, and uncertainties of these [pharmaceutical interventions are interpreted by a range of patients
3) explore implications of on/off-line for info for knowledge/power relationships and for subsequent treatment outcomes
4) analyze the above in the context of patterns of social inclusion/exclusion in relation to both healthcare and the internet

Basically, the study was looking at the role of ICTs (information communications technologies) in the distribution of health information and what role that plays in creating the "informed patient." Also considered is the role of the "digital divide" , the inequality of access, and qua.ity of health info available online.

One of the things I found most interesting was the obvious difference in health care culture and how that influences how research is approached. In the states, there are often incentives (like cash!) for participating in/completeing research studies. However, in Britain, incentives are rarely provided. The seems to stem from the fundamental fact that in their healthcare system, no money changes hand. The patients do not pay the doctors directly--that's what taxation is for. Similarly, it would seem odd to the patients to receive money from healthcare. They tend to view healthcare and thus the participation in medical research, as a citizenship issue.

Another interesting point brought up was the difference between the states and Britain in terms of drug advertising. While in the US, a person is bombarded (TV, magazines, radio, you-name-it) with ads selling various dugs, direct appeal/marketing of prescription drugs is not allowed in Britain. I bet that doesn't stop the Viagra spam mails though!

Also, researchers don't have to deal with the IRB system we do (and did!) have to deal with. The researchers approached practitioners, having them ask their patients to contact the research team if they were interested in participating. Well, the issue with this happened to be that while the general practitioners were willing to pass on letters about the study to women undergoing HRT, they refused to do so for men on Viagra. Turns out, the doctors were not following the guidelines set for the prescription of Viagra and they didn't want the researchers or anybody else for that matter, to find out!

Sally also talked about their research process:
-gaining access- ethical clearance
-developing interview schedules
-interviews
-transcription- summaries- analysis
-joint authorship

It's nice to realize that we are slowly working our way through the process.

Sally had several other wise words/tips/points I really appreciated/have noticed:
1) Research consist of good and bad luck
2) more quotes doesn't make for a stronger argument
3) most people are not reliable/don't do what they are asked, so don't depend on it

In closing, I'll admit while I realize I had a blog post to do, I forgot the video component. In the afternoon, after visiting a couple squats in our attempts to gather more data, my group and I sat down along the canal to jot down notes and gather our thoughts. The video captures the moment and illustrates a quaintly Dutch scene: bicycle, canal, and distinctive buildings.

8/10 Kröller-Müller

We started the day by traveling to the Kröller-Müller Museum by charter bus. The ride was around 90 minutes in length and rather uneventful. Unfortunately, the ride began much too early in the morning (I slept through it) and was unable to appreciate the rustic Dutch landscape we were traveling through.

According to its website, The Kröller-Müller Museum “is located in the centre of National Park the Hoge Veluwe. The park consists of 5.500 hecare woodland, heathland, grassy plains and sand drifts, and the natural habitat of deer, mouflons and wild boars.”

The museum is “A magnificent amalgamation of art, architecture and nature. Amidst unspoilt natural surroundings, the Kröller-Müller Museums collection centres on the extensive collection of works by Vincent van Gogh and the world famous sculpture garden.”

Many of us began the museum visit by checking out the refreshment stand getting some much needed coffee and snacks!

I began my art perusal by meandering through the upper-right wing of the museum. I was surprised at the amount of newer and and nontraditional art pieces. I had read online that "The Kröller-Müller Museum is named after Helene Kröller-Müller (1869-1939). Helene Kröller-Müller collected almost 11,500 art objects with the help of her advisor, H.P. Bremmer,” so I expected to see a traditional museum layout comprising hundreds of paintings solely from the 1930s and earlier. Instead, the museum came off as a very unconventional museum focusing on contemporary artists. The exhibits included not only paintings and sculptures, but sound, video, and even some interactive elements. The museum was very open and I got the feeling that great care was spent in organizing the exhibit spaces.

Honestly, I was moderately unimpressed with the newer, more abstract art pieces in the first few rooms. I felt that they were too conceptual and not very inspired. Perhaps I have been spoiled by the art at the van Gogh and Rijksmusuem.

Next, I checked out what must have been the 'Nature as Artifice: new Dutch landscape in photography and video art' exhibit, described on the website as “Worldwide, ‘Dutch landscape’ still evokes an immediate mental picture: the picture of the idyllic agrarian landscape that is rooted in the tradition of Dutch landscape painting. However, the Netherlands, like many other countries, has changed radically in its function over the last century, and has thus also altered in its appearance. Affected by a global reordering of production and industry, the agrarian function of the landscape is making way for suburbanisation, recreation, industrial and business parks and infrastructure for transportation. Today it is precisely the planning, the artificial manner in which the Dutch manipulate their landscape and nature in a continual and far-reaching way, for which The Netherlands is internationally famed. Since the end of the 1980s a number of Dutch photographers and filmmakers have been taking exactly this artificial character of the Dutch landscape and nature as their point of departure. In the framework of the international Triennial Apeldoorn on gardens and landscape architecture, Nature as Artifice shows work by a number of them.”

I found this exhibit to be much more intriguing. The art pieces were more straightforward but also pleasant to look at.

Afterward I viewed the collection of older material. I was surprised to see pieces by both Picasso and Monet.


At 1:00 the group rode over to another area of the park and had lunch and recess (just like elementary school). The playground had some nice equipment, including a zip line. Then, each group shared the status of their projects. After the presentations, we had around 50 minutes to explore the park. I chose to ride along a bike path through the forest.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the sculpture garden, which apparently is a world class area with over a hundred sculptures. From what I've seen online, this juxtaposition of art and nature looks pretty amazing.

At 4:30 we headed back to Prinsengracht.

The music on this video is owned by Jimi Hendrix/Bob Dylan (I would assume)
I don't know the laws about putting music in personal videos, so let me know and I'll remove the sound ASAP.

8/9/2008: Mieke Bal and the Private Screening

Disclaimer: The following entry does not reflect the opinions of the program.

As a business administration and international studies major researching the international political economy and working for a humanitarian/development organization, I am often dubious of work the humanities. For me, poetry analysis, while certainly interesting and undeniably an exercise in critical thinking, is not particularly relevant unless the “knowledge” gained by interpreting a line in that poem can be applied to a social, political, or economic situation. And if this “knowledge” is kept within a select group of academics, its production is all the more pointless.

My tremendous respect for Mieke Bal stems from her ability to incorporate contemporary issues and an efficient, wide-reaching medium into her work in the humanities. She produces “untraditional documentaries” without narration; each film is a collection of scenes intended to “activate” the mind of the reader. The audio/visual medium serves two purposes: while academics papers are not often written with the subject but about the subject, the subjects of a documentary obviously are involved in the making and often participate in the editing of a video, meaning viewers have a much closer connection with the study. Secondly, a film reaches a different and broader audience than an academic paper (even if the video is shown in an art gallery rather than French national television). The knowledge produced is no longer confined to a close-knit academic circle and therefore necessarily involves and "activates" the outside world.

We were fortunate to watch three of Mieke’s videos—Access Denied, Lost in Space, and Mille et un Jours—in a private screening this afternoon. For those who missed the screening, synopses can be found here. Access Denied focused on cross-cultural understanding (or in some cases, a conspicuous lack of it) and the concept of collective memory, especially in the context of pre-1948 and al nakba. In terms of collective memory, I found Ihab's interview scenes with the older generation to be the most potent: their memory of British-cantoned Palestine as a paradise (one man asserts that “there were no problems”) and their insistence that the advent of Israel is responsible for the destruction of this utopia. It is interesting to think about how this feeling (that of being wronged, of being deprived of what is rightfully yours) has been transferred to a younger generation, one with no individual memory of life pre-Israel. For me, the most powerful and tear--jerking scene was the middle-aged man not old enough to have experienced life in the pre-1948 Palestine who nonetheless asserts that "It's my land. My land and I want it!" I was also made acutely aware of my own position as a social researcher while watching the "antropologist in the field..." This scene has had a lasting impression on me and the importance of "cultural competency" (to use a word from Emily S and Lauren) in interacting with human subjects. It also made me reflect once again on the outsider/insider divide.

Lost in Space was intended to showcase the disconnect between ideas of home, borders, and security. Here is Mieke's introduction to the film (split into two parts due to my lack of camera saavy) and the debriefing proccess afterwards:





Because you have access to the summaries, I will just say that the most interesting things about the film were the background shots and sounds (firefighters failing to put out a smoking building, "punks" ignoring their dog, street noise drowning out the speakers in order to represent the way their voices are often lost in the world) and the English subtitles for even those who speak English as a first language. Apparently this was done to establish equality among the speakers.

The last film, Mille et un Jours, concerns a Tunisian man and his upcoming "arranged-consent-greencard-love" marraige. What I found most interesting about this film really had to do with the editing proccess and how Mieke made the film in the context of the tension between traditional Tunisian norms and values and assimiliation into western society. Thinking about the freshly washed lettuce ("now the French will know that Arabs are clean people"), the concern over the scene with the bag of meat, and other parts of the film making and editing proccess so affected by the social and political context made me realize the extent to which Mieke has managed to use art and the humanities to capture the intricacies of contemporary social phenomena and the priveleges and responsibilities that accompany this. While each film is certainly a work of art, it is also societally relevant and constructive in the sense that it informs and motivates the audience.

At the end of the day, I am deeply impressed by Mieke Bal's work and her way of situating art in a relevant and important social/political context. These videos have changed the way I feel about digital media-- because I have seen how one can be respectful and non-invasive while capturing the subject of study on a much more personal and deep level (especially thinking about the closeness I felt to Tarek in Mille et un Jours), I am now more open to using video and other types of media to communicate the findings of my social research.

Fab Lab, De Waag Technology & Westergasfabriek

Part 1: De Waag Fablab

Visiting the Fablab was an interesting and informative experience. We had about 4.5 hours to use the lab to create anything we wanted. To be honest, my initial impression of the Fablab was that of an endless workspace with unlimited supplies and resources at our fingertips. In reality, there were a few materials and resources but far less than I imagined. Our project seemed very ambitious and daunting when we surveyed the Lab.

This turned out to be a challenging and good thing, because we had to think more creatively to fulfill our goal of making our robotic bug. After surveying materials, we decided to use dumb motors, gears and clear plastic to make the frame. My job was to design the aesthetics or "shell" of the bug. This proved to be a very daunting task, because how was I to create the exterior cover of the bug when the interior was not really conceptualized? I had a rough set of measurements, but I am not mathematically inclined enough to actually figure out how large to make semi-circle "scales" over a rectangular frame. So I spent the first part of the day conceptualizing the design.

There was this black plastic I really wanted to use for the shell, but it turned out to be sticker material so I opted for the clear. I am not an engineer, and know almost nothing about mechanics and gears (though I can understand if explained to me in detail). So Clint, Dylan and Clifford worked on the body and the mechanics while I guesstimated measurements for the shell. I cut out the translucent plastic on the laser cutter, which turned out to be too hot so it burned the edges of my shapes. It turned out to have a really neat browning effect that I think everyone actually liked. So after 4.5 hours of learning (and sometimes failing) new software, hardware, machinery, materials and design, we ended up with a bunch of pieces of bug. We will return next Tuesday to complete the fabrication and test out our bug.

I'm still not totally clear on what exactly the Fablab does for De Waag. I understand they are open to the public every Tuesday afternoon. But is the Fablab where they create all of their prototypes? Is it more of an educational space? These are all questions I will ask during our next visit.

We have learned much about the Society in the last two weeks and what I am most unclear about is how all of the sub-spaces of the Society fit together. This certainly needs more investigation on my part, especially since the connection seems crucial so understanding how De Waag wishes to solve social issues.




Part 2: Meeting with Tom and Peter (Dylan's Technology Interview)

We the Media group had our first interview of three today, with Peter Fekkes, Manager of the Media Lab, and Tom Demeyer, Head of Technology.

The interview was very informative. I think Clint's idea for all of us to attend all of our scheduled interviews, regardless of topic, was the best idea since all of our individual research questions are so related.

The most important bit of information I learned about the society was that De Waag does not actually develop new technologies. Rather they implement existing technology in new and creative ways to solve some social problem. Generally this means creating a prototype with a certain group in mind, such as old folks or mentally challenged individuals. Technology is usually secondary to their projects, and if using a low-level technology is the best and most efficient means of solving a problem, then the low-level technology will be used.

Another comment I found fascinating was the comment that "no nerds work here." I suspect this is not totally true, since technology and new media IS an integral part of the work De Waag does and therefore there probably are individuals who are very interested in technology. But from who we have met at De Waag, there seems to be a striking parallel between those who work at De Waag and those who work at VKS: all individuals with diverse multiple backgrounds in seemingly unrelated fields. Is this unique to these two institutions, or is this type of background highly valued in Amsterdam? Or Europe?

Part 3: Tour of Westergasfabriek

Our travel from Prinsengracht to Westergasfabriek:

View Larger Map

My video pails in comparison to some others that have been posted. I hoped to pick up some audio of Pol talking about the park, but the wind distorted it too much to be of any use. You can hear him talking about the huge number of people who visit the park. So here is a 360 view of the center of the park. Note the kids playing soccer and open green and concrete space.





On the map on the right, we stand next to the huge blue circle in the middle of the park. It was the old gas factory, which is now used for concerts, parties and other social events. Pol works for the park and has a creative vision of using new media technology, including blue tooth, to bring people in the park together.

This "Park of the 21st Century" is divided into four parts:
-Living Park
-Living Lab
-Services
-Events

He made notes to show us the structure. I apologize for the poor photo quality.






















Pol is working with De Waag to conceptualize some prototypes for creating this living park.

Public Space through Bijlmer

Today is the first day of our second week here and also the last day before we break from various exploration tours of Amsterdam, which made sense to me when the train took us out to Bijlmer, a rising urban community southeast to Amsterdam. Before we departed for the tour, Leon Deben gave us a lecture on public space, which is simply defined as the place where you can sit or stay as long as you want to. For the purpose of the study, space is divided into three domains:
Public domains, where strangers are present and only known by their professions (e.g. truck drivers, doctors)
Parochial domain, where people know each each other because of the common space their share; no strangers
Private domains, where is mainly family-oriented and people might act very differently under the protection of privacy.
Speaking of social actions, which was the next question Leon brought up, how do people live in public space? Scanning through four pages of notes I took, I ended up with a somewhat selfish respone: you live your own life in public space. The perfect example for our sometimes cruel personal inatenttion would be later in the day when we were riding in the train and a girl playing accordion walked passed by hoping for acts of charity but everybody immediately turned away in ignorance, including myself. Yet this is the very neccesary way we live our lives in public spaces. The less we care about what the strangers are doing around us, the more smoothly we move on with out lives.
However, we cannot ignore ALL the time, because we are part of the public space we are in. Leon illustrsted this with the question of how close someone can sit next to you before you have to leave. Hmmm…awkward indeed. Leon brought a different angel in interpreting this awkwardness other than how we feel personally: the unique type of social actions in public space. IF some family member or a close friend did the same thing, you probably wouldn’t even notice. But when private acts and ideas are brought on the public frontstage like the Gay Pride, people are entertained, amused, or maybe disgusted by such exposion of private intimacy.
Whether you like it or not, most of us do not have much to say about public spaces. It is a place to reflect the organizations of the society as well as to express individualism in front of public crowd. This is how public space is used in urban settings by its inhabitants who often pay very little of their attention to their surroundings.

The Bijlmermeer is an area within the Amsterdam-Zuidoost district, where more than 82,000 people reside and 50,000 jobs are provided. The original plan of Biljmer turned out tob e a failing tragedy when a Beoing 747 crashed into one of the high-rise buildings in 1992. No one knew the exact number of deaths casued, because there were many unregistered illegal immigrants residing in that area, which was one of the main reasons that Bijlmer was known as the “ghetto”.
The structural renovation took place after 1992, aiming to “provide specific support to residents in a vulnerable social position the opportunity for better housing within the Bijlmer itself. The various functions – residential, business, recreation and shopping – will then become more intermingled” instead of being entirely seperated when it was first built. Half of the high-rise flat buildings were demolished, whereas the other half were renovated. Shopping centers, school, medical centers, and religious facilities were built throughout the community. Leon explained to us the on-going removating plan for next coming years and its intention to attract more new middle-class residents.
Walking around the neighborhood, I admit I was impressed by its well-designed landscape. Yet something felt “off” about it which I could not specify. It is a strongly segregated neighborhood with its own subculture and identity. The highlight of my day was a miniture zoo in the middle of the high-rise buildings. The clash between country and urban, African and Dutch, even black and white was spelled out oddly by the dunkies and hens running around on the concrete ground.
What I love the most was the welcoming hospitality we encountered at the market. This Ukraine man offered us indigenous African vege products for free while he told his life story and his “American dream”. I could not help being touched by his generous act. As little as we might see his potato and plantiam as some exotic food experience on our trip, to him it might be a piece of dream carried along by couple American college students. This had nothing to do with the buildings and landscapes surrounding us, but the direct genuineness one shared with the other that ended my day perfectly.

Video coming up soon!

Daily Diary 8/08 - Eddy Hu

Amazingly today was a productive day despite getting up at 1:30 PM. The original plan was to do as much as possible in order to have something good to blog about, but it was difficult because by the time everyone was ready it was 3 PM.

We started the day (afternoon) off by going down to the Rembrandt House. It was a short walk from the dorms, so Jenny, Clint, Dylan, and I headed out as quickly as possible. It was a little confusing to find because of the Rembrandt Center (tourist shop) and the Rembrandt Corner (no idea what that is about) flanking the Rembrandt House.

The entrance was super modern and therefore confusing since I was expecting Rembrandt's front door, but the sign in front of it was unmistakable so we went in. Thanks to our museum cards we got in free, which was great since I had not yet found a place that accepted the card.

Inside, the entryway led into the actual house, and as we walked down the hallway, the modern entrance & giftshop melted into a recognizable historical Dutch house. We started on the main level where the main door was found. The entryway was filled with prints from other artists and one Rembrandt. I was surprised to learn that Rembrandt was also well known as an art dealer and master, since I had only been taught about his work as an artist.

We made our way up through the house, and got to see the traditional super narrow spiral staircase. It felt like the house would never end as we passed through the studio, the bedrooms, and the showrooms. All told, I counted 4-5 floors in Rembrandts old house, which for 13,000 gilders must have been quite the mansion at the time. The most interesting room in my opinion was Rembrandt's room of his collections. As an avid collector, Rembrandt had tons of (now illegal) animal relics, ranging from tortoise shells, to huge antlers. In addition there were several busts of Roman Emperors (which Rembrandt seemed to have a thing for), a cabinet full of coins, and a vast collection of old weapons. The most impressive part was Rembrandt's collection of other artists' works. He allegedly had 8,000+ prints bound in books, and although I knew none of the objects were the real thing, I could still imagine the amazing amount of effort Rembrandt must have put into making his collection.





The highlight of the house were Rembrandt's etchings. I had learned before about the process of making the etchings, but it was something else to see Rembrandt's studio and his original works. The detail he managed to get into his portraits were mind blowing, and the landscapes he created of the countryside were far more impressive than the photographs I had seen before.





After the Rembrandt house we returned to Prins Henrikkade to meet up with Kelsey and Ruben to head over to Rijksmuseum. By the time we were ready it was nearly 4:30PM, and we were worried about not having enough time to see the exhibits, but the walk and the tram ride over were brisk and afforded us an hour to do a "pre-screening" as we decided to take advantage of our museum card and come back again for the real thing. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed, so I don't have any photos of the exhibits (you'll have to see it for yourself!) but I do have some photos from outside the building.



The museum itself was truly impressive, classic and a bit imposing on the outside, and modern and beautiful. I was very impressed with the Vermeer paintings and the Japanese temple guardians. The best part in my opinion was how well the museum housed all of their works. Unlike most museums I had been to, the rooms really suited the art, and were not just generic darkened rooms with dimly light paintings or artifacts behind thick glass. I also noted that many of the works were purchased with help from the National Lottery, which I wish the US would do from time to time.

After the museum we made our way over to Amsterdam's first Ethiopian restaurant, Lalibela. It was a bit of a struggle to get a table since we ended up with 11 people, but with a bit of rearranging we were all seated. We then proceeded to make fools of ourselves by not knowing how to order and not being able to explain the various food allergies and vegetarian needs. It took about half an hour, but it was totally worth it when our food arrived. I had never had Ethiopian food before, but I was very pleased when I discovered that I would get to stuff my face with various breads, meats, and veggies. Most of the group ordered veal, Mimi ordered chicken, I ordered mutton, and all of it was delicious.

This is what it looked like when we started eating:

Pardon the poor quality, but I'm just getting used to using my little digital camera.

Gay Pride Day!

Today was a wonderful day to be in Amsterdam. The gay float parade down the canal was an amazing experience, one that showed how united and supportive the Dutch are. As we all watched the many differing styles of floats go down the canal there was truely one theme throughout the entire parade. This theme was of course Gay pride but it's importance goes far beyond just pride, but awareness of the growth of a culture into understanding and acceptance. The Netherlands/Amsterdam deserves to be proud of their acceptance because as we all know being Gay in many societies across the world is not accepted or even allowed under law ( some countries even have the death penalty if you are caught being "gay"). For example in the United States gay marriage is a heavily debated issue where morals and beliefs of others tend to dictate the many lives of lesbians and gay men. In the Netherlands this seems to not be a problem. Getting married is a personal choice one that should not be decided upon by law. If a gay couple wishes to get married than why shouldn't they? It's not like they are hurting anyone by sharing their love with one another on paper. This is exactly the views of the Netherlands government and the obvious views of most Dutch persons in general. As far as I could tell there was no one there disrupting the event with signs of a differing viewpoint.

On a lighter note the parade was so much fun to watch! Each float had blasting techo music, exciting sometimes revealing costumes, and of course no parade would be complete without tons of confetti! There were many floats that were fun to watch but there were also floats that helped create awareness about differing issues affecting the gay community. For example AIDS awareness, Hepatitis B awareness, and amnesty international were all there spreading important knowledge to the community. One float in particular really touched my heart. The float stated that "these parents were proud to have gay children". I know many people from home who wished their parents supported and loved them no matter their sexual orientation. But of course we all know that this is not always the case and to see such support was touching and uplifting.

All in all, I believe that everyone really enjoyed the parade, not only was it fun to watch and partake in, but it also shed light on the type of community that we are living in. It allowed me to see that acceptance of all people no matter who they are is important if one wants to have a successful society. The United States and other nations should use the Netherlands as an example!

The Art of Research Technology

Today, after waking up at various times in the morning and accomplishing a widely varying amount of work, we headed east to the IISG (International Institute of Social History) building, where the Virtual Knowledge Studio is housed, to meet our friend and mentor Professor Paul Wouters. There, we were treated with an introduction to what, exactly, his Virtual Knowledge Studio does.

Indeed, while the name itself isn't terribly definitive, its component parts are more than a fair approximation of their task, along with a number of non-eponymous components. Chief among these is the general field of Humanities research. One favorite definition of the Humanities which Professor Wouters enjoys is that by Cathy N. Davidson and David Theo Goldberg of Duke University and the University of California, respectively:

Meaning concerns interpretation of data, evidence, and texts. Value ranges over the entire field of cultural, aesthetic, social, and scientific investments. Significance, implicating both the former two, raises questions of representation, in the sense of accounting for (explanation) and of capturing, in the sense both of offering a faithful rendition (description) and of making broad claims (generalization).

From the above, it feels natural to glean the essence not merely of an area of research, but rather a process, with many working parts which fit together in a very loosely defined manner. This process of combining the concepts of meaning and value into a singular entity appears to be a core tenet of what it means to research the Humanities -- and the Social Sciences, another defining component of the Virtual Knowledge Studio, is merely an entity within the Humanities.

The Social Sciences are equally hard to define, partially because while rooted in the hard sciences, as denoted in the name, their object of study can stray quite a bit from anything intuitively relatable to "science." However, one of the tenets of the Virtual Knowledge Studio described by Professor Wouters sheds some light onto a concrete definition of the field: the VKS strives to "turn philosophical questions into empirical ones." This sort of description appears to provide a reasonable parallel with the essence of Social Sciences, which may be described as a process by which humans and society, something organic and philosophical, and molded into something resembling the natural sciences, involving extensive experimentation and repeatable results. It's important, though, to note that the term "science" has traditionally not implicated the natural sciences, and both spirits of the term are in fairly common use.

It would appear now that we have at least stumbled our way through some sort of concrete definition of the humanities, and then the social sciences, where the Virtual Knowledge Studio lives, and thus we may begin exploring the essence of what the organization specifically does. From the standpoint of a pragmatic, outcomes-based analysis, the Virtual Knowledge Studio appears to build technological tools that enable other researchers to perform their work with greater efficiency – this would cover the "virtual" component, and touch upon the concept of ICT, which will be discussed in further detail later. However, the story is much deeper than this surface analysis.

changing practices, telling stories, building tools

As is evident from this particular quote detailing the pragmatic goals of the organization, building tools is only the third of three. By also focusing on improving research practices and telling stories to the public, VKS brings another component to the equation: the aspect of knowledge. Not only does the Virtual Knowledge Studio build tools for research organizations and teams, they also study the impacts of these very same tools on the research process, thus furthering the knowledge capabilities both of the subject and of themselves. And, through innovative and interactive means of conveying the research process and results to the public, they tell stories that help further the public's knowledge.

The means by which they accomplish this is, as previously mentioned, through various types of ICT. ICT may be loosely related to the American "IT", or Information Technology, but while IT implies merely the technological infrastructure that enables a preconceived set of communication services such as networking or telecommunications, the European notion of ICT stretches far beyond this. Instead ICT is almost a philosophy that binds the technology – it is the use of technology to communicate, inform, and analyze, not simply the existence of it. This crucial difference in terminology led to several debates, but Professor had a number of core principles that he believes represents ICT, as well as the Virtual Qumran project as an example to back it up.

Essentially, the Virtual Qumran project is a virtual recreation of the Qumran area where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. The project thus aims to be a visualizer for the area, to allow better understanding and study of it; however, it also features a strong simulation component, as all the data put into is bound together in such a fashion that enables factors to be changed and resulting effects to be propagated.

• ICT as a neutral container of information. This approach has a focus on data – collecting, relating, and collating data becomes the key focus behind ICT technology. This already has an advantage over human-powered research: in the Virtual Qumran example, ICT technology enables data from all different fields – epidemiology, geography, and religious studies – to be bound together in a meaningful way that humans would struggle to accomplish.


• ICT as a tool. This approach is the simulation aspect: now that we have the data all intercorrelated, we can put it all to use by experimenting upon the data. What happens to the religious history of the area if we introduce an epidemic of some sort? The tool aspect of ICT thus enables intense analysis of data, including the interpolation and extrapolation of existing data. However, the tool aspect also encompasses public communication – the storytelling aspect.


• ICT as a political tool. This the ICT version of How to Win Friends and Influence People. As we put more of ourselves and of our research into these ICT tools, we turn ICT into a powerful political tool, enabling it to be used for propaganda, censorship, or other useful and dangerous means.

As can be seen, the Virtual Knowledge Studio is composed of a vast plethora of loosely connected ideologies, technologies, and methodologies. Putting them together is a delicate act which must be handled with care, not only because it is so difficult to achieve elegantly, but also due to the disruptive nature of their research – they manipulate directly what they intend to study, and then observe the results, thus putting themselves into their own research equation. This leads to my final conclusion that this is all quite an art, thus justifying the use of the word and component of studio in their name.

As a footnote and a look to the future, Professor Wouters' latest project, Research Dreams, connects people via a social tool to help amalgamate potential research projects into larger, more meaningful, and collaborative projects. Check it out!

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Following all of this, we departed for a couple of hours before the group dinner at bloem, during which those of us at Prins Hendrikkade found that the power was out.

Dinner itself, however, was a fantastic affair, during which we tied or broke last year's record of length of stay, with a total of nearly four hours in the restaurant's upstairs loft. The food was delicious (and for us, free!), and everyone seemed to have a good time. Here's looking forward to our next one on Wednesday!