How might we employ these strategies when working with a text that doesn't have an overt "argument" about an issue? What strategy might you add or revise?
I think I would hook myself onto one of the aspects the writer is discussing and try to make a summary about that. I would add my own point of view, knowing that I'd be falling out of the summary realm. I would also write that the author is neutral about an issue and is trying to inform without giving her opinion. I would also be weary about how reliable the text is and what points of view are being omitted.
How might we employ these strategies when summarizing an interview or an observation of an event or sub-culture? What strategy might you add or revise?
I think that for an observation, stating clearly that this is what you particularly saw and thought about. To that type of summary I would obviously have to add interviews from other people that experienced the same event or that are part of a sub-culture. Even then, the conglomeration of summaries on what happened will be a subjective report because every person presents their observations with a very diverse background.
For an interview, I would try to be very careful to not manipulate what the person had said into fitting my own opinion. I think I would actually use their observations as a way to have a discussion on the topic.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Clive Thompson - How Tweets & Texts Nurture In-Depth Analysis SUMMARY
Clive Thompson writes about how the Internet through its text messages, tweets, and status updates (short-form thinking) has opened the road for more "long-form meditation".
He argues that these forms of "short-form thinking" are ways in which society takes in what just happened; the impression that people form from situations. Contrary to tweets and texts, the long take is a report that has been analyzed, often taking a considerable amount of time to produce (weeks, months, years). With the internet, the long take –usually published in magazines, documentaries or books– can now be published in blogs. Thompson emphasizes that tweets become dated quickly, but a smart long take can be valuable for years. With the internet it's easier to find articles or blogs that are very old, whereas the physical newspaper or magazine is quickly removed from the newsstand.
Thompson says that the form of communication that is not reaching a vast amount of people is the middle take, where essays on major events are produced a few days after without a lot of analysis, depth or critical thinking. This was the way blogs looked like ten years ago, but once Twitter arrived bloggers started writing long takes. According to one survey Thomson found most people enjoy long blogs (1600 words on average), saving tweets for "little stuff".
Thompson ends his articles with "We talk a lot, then we dive deep".
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/12/st_thompson_short_long/
He argues that these forms of "short-form thinking" are ways in which society takes in what just happened; the impression that people form from situations. Contrary to tweets and texts, the long take is a report that has been analyzed, often taking a considerable amount of time to produce (weeks, months, years). With the internet, the long take –usually published in magazines, documentaries or books– can now be published in blogs. Thompson emphasizes that tweets become dated quickly, but a smart long take can be valuable for years. With the internet it's easier to find articles or blogs that are very old, whereas the physical newspaper or magazine is quickly removed from the newsstand.
Thompson says that the form of communication that is not reaching a vast amount of people is the middle take, where essays on major events are produced a few days after without a lot of analysis, depth or critical thinking. This was the way blogs looked like ten years ago, but once Twitter arrived bloggers started writing long takes. According to one survey Thomson found most people enjoy long blogs (1600 words on average), saving tweets for "little stuff".
Thompson ends his articles with "We talk a lot, then we dive deep".
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/12/st_thompson_short_long/
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Focus on NAEP (The National Center for Education Statistics). 1st Annotated Bibliography...
National Center for Education Statistics. “NAEP and the Visual Arts: Framework, Field Test, and Assessment.” Focus on NAEP: The Nation’s Report Card. Vol. 3 No. 4. Washington: NCES, 1998.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessed the visual and performing arts (dance, music and theatre) in the fourth and eight grade in 1995 and in 1997 for the twelfth grade. Since there were too few dance programs in schools, the NAEP did not conduct an assessment in dance.
In the section of “The Importance of the Visual Arts” the NAEP states it’s belief in the arts as an essential component of every child’s development and education. They also state that the arts can be used as a vehicle to communicate ideas in various kinds of multimedia. The NAEP does not expect that all students will become professional artists but that they experience enough discipline, challenge and joy while creating as means to intimately understand the human significance of all the arts.
In their assessment framework they cover content and processes. The area of content is divided into knowledge and understanding of the visual arts and perceptual, technical, expressive, and intellectual/reflective skills. In the area knowledge, students must be able to account for the influence of personal, social, cultural and historical context whilst creating and responding to works of art. The area of skills relates to way that students interpret meaning in visual form. They must analyze and synthesize experience; generate, plan and organize visual ideas and apply technical proficiency in the making of visual objects.
Processes include creating, and responding. When they create, students experiment with ideas, such as sketches, before they create the final work and this is a method of evaluation. In the area of responding students describe works of art showing knowledge of form, aesthetics and context; they analyze and interpret by looking at relationships between form and context and articulate judgements that reflect prior knowledge, while developing a personal belief system and world view that is informed by the arts.
NAEP uses two types of assessment tasks: paper-and-pencil and performance. The performance task assesses creating; on the other hand, the paper-and-pencil tasks assesses students' ability to respond to the visual arts. The performance tasks try to be authentic, but are limited to time and resources. An example of a paper-and-pencil task includes asking students to consider several sculptures, intended to use in a public space, and to select the most appropriate for an imaginary community; explaining the reasons for doing so. One of the challenges of the NAEP is to create tasks suitable for students with a diverse educational background, while also making distinctions among levels of student ability. The scoring guide for paper-and-pencil tasks is divided in four: unacceptable (student writes “It’s pretty. It’s interesting. I like it.”), partial (student says “there is a small figure and a large head, that make an interesting contrast”), essential (student describes the artwork specifically and relates to the work as a whole in only a general way), extensive (the student not only describes the work specifically and relates it to the work as a whole, but also refers to formal elements of the medium, or to the emotional or imaginative experience provoked by the work).
Even though this assessment report was published in 1998, a recent report was published in 2008. This one compares the results of both years in the area of visual and performing arts. I think it is important to know what others are writing about the importance of visual arts in a child’s development and educational growth, however I found that this article was lacking reasons as to why visual arts are important. I think this assessment is useful for my research when the time comes to create an arts education program for k-12 grades.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Reflecting on sources...
I found through Google an article with information of audiences:
"As a result of the 1992 NEA survey we know, for instance, that 4.7% of the U.S. population has attended at least one ballet performance in the previous year. The figure for New York City was 10%, and for Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and the major West Coast cities it was 7 to 8%. Eighteen- to twenty-four-year-olds accounted for 37% of all ballet attendances in 1992, down from 47% in 1982... In contrast to ballet, the modern dance audience has never been the subject of a nation-wide, or even a large, inclusive survey. We don't know its size, nor do we know with any certainty what its social profile looks like."
It was published in 1998. JSTOR: Dance Research Journal is a biannual publication with historical and critical theory of dance. I think this is a valuable resource that I will keep consulting throughout my research.
Working on a clearly defined project
What I already know about my topic is that artists are underpaid in Mexico. Most of the Mexican population has a low income and has priorities when it comes to basic needs (eating and a place to live), and education. The education system does include a music class in elementary and middle school, but does not include visual and performing arts until the last year of high school and it is optional to take the class. There is a PE required class throughout the k-12 system, and only sports come into consideration. Dance isn't in the realm of PE class. Most of the funding that goes into dance is directed toward ballet and danza folklórica, not modern dance.
I am drawn to this topic emotionally and intellectually. I can't avoid feeling like I need to do something about the lack of cultural education in Mexico, in order to help my country. I feel less valued because I am a dancer and not an architect and I wish this would change. I think dance and the arts are the soul of communities and without it people would be more stressed. I think that the body and movement are fascinating subjects; I want to keep studying them and share them with more people.
This project would benefit me because I'll be able to show a good research project to scholarship donors and possibly get funding to study in London. The project would benefit children in the k-12 education system in Mexico, since they would be more exposed to art and hopefully as they grew up would be more likely to support the arts. Mexicans would become aware of culture and the financial support for postmodern art would hopefully increase.
I have a cousin who used to dance in one of the stronger modern dance companies in Mexico City before it closed in 2009; I know I can contact and interview her on the project. I also know a teacher in the National Center for the Arts whom can give me other people's contact information; especially someone in the National School of the Arts. I can research articles about building audiences in the U.S.; interview directors from places such as On the Boards and local choreographers; research how small modern dance companies in Mexico have built their audiences over the years. I can research the last proposal or program held by the Mexican government in support of the arts.
I am concerned about how to organize so many questions into sections of my thesis. I worry that I won't find enough information on the subject in Mexico or that it will be difficult to find information in Mexican web pages.
I didn't find a lot of articles in Wikipedia about building Modern Dance audiences and the k-12 art/dance education system. It only directed me to the National Dance Education Organization, which I didn't know existed. However in Google I found an article with information of audiences from the Dance Research Journal which I think is a valuable source. I will keep this in mind while I go about my research.
List of 5 potential guiding questions:
1. How have modern dance companies, choreographers and theaters built up their audiences over the years in Seattle and how would I apply this knowledge in the educational system in Mexico in a way that it makes sense for such a different culture?
2. Why are audiences less likely to attend a modern dance concert than a ballet or danza folklórica performance? How are the issues different between the two countries, Mexico and the U.S.?
3. Why has history of some art not been made a requirement in k-12 education in Mexico and you only receive this course during a semester or a year in your last year of high school?
4. How many and which dance groups have toured or asked to perform in k-12 public and private schools?
2. Why are audiences less likely to attend a modern dance concert than a ballet or danza folklórica performance? How are the issues different between the two countries, Mexico and the U.S.?
3. Why has history of some art not been made a requirement in k-12 education in Mexico and you only receive this course during a semester or a year in your last year of high school?
4. How many and which dance groups have toured or asked to perform in k-12 public and private schools?
5. Why is there no government support for modern dance in Mexico? Why is INBA taking all their financial support away from dance companies? Why is art the first area to be relieved of financial support when there are insufficient funds? How has this affected art instructors and education in the k-12 system?
Keywords
- modern dance education
- 20th century concert dance
- Building audiences for modern dance
- dance curriculum in k-12
- national dance surveys
- modern dance attendance
- national endowment for the arts
- dance funding
- modern dance Mexico
- government support dance Mexico
- proyectos de la Escuela Nacional de Danza
- educación cultural en primarias, secundarias y prepas
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Reflecting...
I am very confident in the topic I want to write about... Solving the lack of cultural awareness in Mexico, specifically in modern dance for two reasons mainly. First, the interchange of ideas that artists from one country and another would increase and it would be great to have more relationships with artists around the world; it could also expand people’s creativity to solve a wide range of problems ⎯from ordinary to global. Second, artists would be better appreciated and taken seriously, which means they would be better paid and able to sustain themselves economically with one job.
I know that my proposals seem like I want to create a utopia for artists, and that it is unrealistic; but I think that if I at least get an economist to care about art more, then my effort is worth it.
Ways to go about this project are consulting with people from the University of Washington, On The Boards, Spectrum Dance Theater, Velocity and choreographers like Corrie Befort, Amy O'Neal and Amelia Reeber how they have created an audience for modern dance and their collaborative work.
Then, I would like to interview choreographers and dance teachers in Mexico, specifically in the Centro Nacional de las Artes (CNA National Center of the Arts) and ask them how they have created an audience for contemporary dance and how well it is attended in comparison to folkloric dance; if they have toured in k-12 schools and if they have thought about having a Q&A session with the audience (which I have never seen in a performance in Mexico).
I also need to research what the educational program for public schools is in regards to the arts; if they include history of some art since elementary school and if they have a type of lab for an art as a requirement. It seems to me, that if I want to see artists valued more in my country, why not start there? Why should we all be required to study Math and not Painting? Why is the left side of the brain valued more than the right?
I know that my proposals seem like I want to create a utopia for artists, and that it is unrealistic; but I think that if I at least get an economist to care about art more, then my effort is worth it.
Ways to go about this project are consulting with people from the University of Washington, On The Boards, Spectrum Dance Theater, Velocity and choreographers like Corrie Befort, Amy O'Neal and Amelia Reeber how they have created an audience for modern dance and their collaborative work.
Then, I would like to interview choreographers and dance teachers in Mexico, specifically in the Centro Nacional de las Artes (CNA National Center of the Arts) and ask them how they have created an audience for contemporary dance and how well it is attended in comparison to folkloric dance; if they have toured in k-12 schools and if they have thought about having a Q&A session with the audience (which I have never seen in a performance in Mexico).
I also need to research what the educational program for public schools is in regards to the arts; if they include history of some art since elementary school and if they have a type of lab for an art as a requirement. It seems to me, that if I want to see artists valued more in my country, why not start there? Why should we all be required to study Math and not Painting? Why is the left side of the brain valued more than the right?
Traditional Dance in Mexico
I was reading the article "The Dances of Mexico" as my piece of writing that is research-driven. This is the link: http://www.culturalpartnerships.org/fan/MexicanArtists/MexicanDances.html
The article is part of Pennsylvania's cultural program, which intends to unite the diverse traditions that make up the state's neighborhoods. Some of the research that was done included interviews with dance masters and seamstress, video excerpts and a quick general historical and geographical overview:
"Amelia Contreras is the director of Generación Diez in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. She invited me upstairs to her closet to show me the traditional clothes worn when Luis Ramirez and María Sosa’s students perform."
I can see that the writer thought about her reading audience whilst creating this article because the language used is very simple, its purpose is to introduce Mexican Dance, Danza Folklórica. The writer shares a map of the Mexican states to help the reader understand where a type of dance is located. In the text, I also notice that the information is organized in states, and also in themes such as "Identity", "Marriage Tradition", "Fabric" and "Your Closet", each of which briefly discuss the importance of Mexican traditional dance as means to understand the culture more. Two of the most interesting facts I read were:
In the second quote I can tell that the interview was in Spanish; I can imagine the way that the phrase "They wanted more screaming, and more like 'we are revolutionaries'" was told, with its mannerisms and passion.
I know that for my research project I will have to use an academic style because I am trying to get a scholarship with it, thus I need to obtain my readers' trust and have them value my work as a professional.
The article is part of Pennsylvania's cultural program, which intends to unite the diverse traditions that make up the state's neighborhoods. Some of the research that was done included interviews with dance masters and seamstress, video excerpts and a quick general historical and geographical overview:
"Amelia Contreras is the director of Generación Diez in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. She invited me upstairs to her closet to show me the traditional clothes worn when Luis Ramirez and María Sosa’s students perform."
I can see that the writer thought about her reading audience whilst creating this article because the language used is very simple, its purpose is to introduce Mexican Dance, Danza Folklórica. The writer shares a map of the Mexican states to help the reader understand where a type of dance is located. In the text, I also notice that the information is organized in states, and also in themes such as "Identity", "Marriage Tradition", "Fabric" and "Your Closet", each of which briefly discuss the importance of Mexican traditional dance as means to understand the culture more. Two of the most interesting facts I read were:
- "the women of Veracruz wear a flower in their hair on the right hand side if they are single, on the left if they are married", and
- “The north of Mexico has more influence from the United States and all those dances, but the Mexicans didn’t like the waltz. They wanted more screaming, and more like ‘we are revolutionaries.’ So they make the dresses more colorful and the dancers more aggressive.
In the second quote I can tell that the interview was in Spanish; I can imagine the way that the phrase "They wanted more screaming, and more like 'we are revolutionaries'" was told, with its mannerisms and passion.
I know that for my research project I will have to use an academic style because I am trying to get a scholarship with it, thus I need to obtain my readers' trust and have them value my work as a professional.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
My influential context as a researcher/writer...
Since I am writing about postmodern dance and cultural education in Mexico, I know that my political and social ideas will clash with perspectives in Mexico. I have been living in the U.S. for two and a half years now, and during this time I have come to discover so much about myself and my stands on social issues, that I actually feel disconnected from my country. I know I don't make a conscious effort to keep in contact with the news or the dance scene over there, which impacts the way I view general cultural awareness. Since I was raised there, my experience has taught me that not a lot has changed in the arts-government-society relationship during my lifetime. There hasn't been enough formal arts education requirements, economical support for dance, or understanding/interest in this art form from the general public. And how can there be, when more than half the Mexican population is poor and worries only about making money to survive the week? I might not be qualified enough to write on the topic because I haven't spent the past years advocating for the arts in Mexico; but I have seen how it can work in the U.S. and how there is an audience for postmodern dance.
I also know that I am hard on my fellow Mexican brothers and sisters; that I criticize our customs, traditions and identity to explain why we don't move forward in the arts as a nation. I also know that Mexico is a conservative country and that to get into its mindset and convince my readers (whom will hopefully give me a scholarship to study abroad), I have to start gaining their perspective and translating my own into effective words.
I have a lot of work to do this semester.
I also know that I am hard on my fellow Mexican brothers and sisters; that I criticize our customs, traditions and identity to explain why we don't move forward in the arts as a nation. I also know that Mexico is a conservative country and that to get into its mindset and convince my readers (whom will hopefully give me a scholarship to study abroad), I have to start gaining their perspective and translating my own into effective words.
I have a lot of work to do this semester.
Analysis... Aerobic Sisyphus and the Suburbanized Psyche
Solnit writes about walking and it's transformation throughout time. She introduces the concept through a historical point of view, describing how the industrial revolution transformed the way individuals experienced their body and mind in time and space. This reading seems relevant today because of the speed at which technology is advancing and replacing itself, making our own lives and the way we experience time speed up.
Solnit's purpose in the text seems to me like she is trying to convince me that machinery and other technological advances have made walking obsolete, that as humans we are loosing the sense of our body and the experiences it can bring us in the immediate environment (outside of home) we live in; that we have lost the experience of our body as a tool to knowledge, to travel, to work and not "work out".
She takes an apparent objective stance by citing other texts and not introducing her own opinions. However at some points she writes that the reason for her argument(s) is not merely to be nostalgic about the farmworkers' life, but to bring attention to how activities have transformed. She also acknowledges reasons for people to use a gym, for instance, or a treadmill which makes me think that she regards the reader as someone who first of all is cognisant of the industrial revolution, then knows what a gym is and has experienced time in a train; but will be resistant to her point of view in regards to technology as diminishing the power of the body, the power of walking.
She appeals to our emotions by depicting the destruction of family relationships during the industrial revolution and creation of suburbs. She also appeals our common sense by thoroughly describing how we are willing to perform movements with our bodies as if pumping water to enhance our musculature at a gym, but are not willing to actually pump water for the efficiency and production of every day life necessities. Solnit uses very descriptive words and adjectives, as well as a somewhat sarcastic tone to enthrall and convince the reader to accept her point of view:
"The most perverse of all the devices in the gym is the treadmill (and its steeper cousin, the Stairmaster). Perverse, because I can understand simulating farm labor, since activities of rural life are not often available - but simulating walking suggests that space itself has disappeared. That is , the weights simulate the objects of work, but the treadmill and Stairmaster simulate the surfaces on which walking takes place. "
Solnit's purpose in the text seems to me like she is trying to convince me that machinery and other technological advances have made walking obsolete, that as humans we are loosing the sense of our body and the experiences it can bring us in the immediate environment (outside of home) we live in; that we have lost the experience of our body as a tool to knowledge, to travel, to work and not "work out".
She takes an apparent objective stance by citing other texts and not introducing her own opinions. However at some points she writes that the reason for her argument(s) is not merely to be nostalgic about the farmworkers' life, but to bring attention to how activities have transformed. She also acknowledges reasons for people to use a gym, for instance, or a treadmill which makes me think that she regards the reader as someone who first of all is cognisant of the industrial revolution, then knows what a gym is and has experienced time in a train; but will be resistant to her point of view in regards to technology as diminishing the power of the body, the power of walking.
She appeals to our emotions by depicting the destruction of family relationships during the industrial revolution and creation of suburbs. She also appeals our common sense by thoroughly describing how we are willing to perform movements with our bodies as if pumping water to enhance our musculature at a gym, but are not willing to actually pump water for the efficiency and production of every day life necessities. Solnit uses very descriptive words and adjectives, as well as a somewhat sarcastic tone to enthrall and convince the reader to accept her point of view:
"The most perverse of all the devices in the gym is the treadmill (and its steeper cousin, the Stairmaster). Perverse, because I can understand simulating farm labor, since activities of rural life are not often available - but simulating walking suggests that space itself has disappeared. That is , the weights simulate the objects of work, but the treadmill and Stairmaster simulate the surfaces on which walking takes place. "
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