I think what's most important for me to hang on to after these three weeks is the slow work I'm making towards some workable definitions. I think tomorrow I'll make up a chart to see if I can describe them more accurately. The definition of image provided in this week's reading is far too broad for me to find acceptable, but I like Drucker's definition of art and I found a new appreciation for the Benjamin article.
The concept that most matters to me is actually part of the structure of this class, that of a community of learners. I need to be more active in the community. I'm struggling to keep some sort of order with the format of the forums and discussions, and I think most of it is just in my head. I like to read everyone's contributions and synthesize them before responding, and that takes a lot of time.
I am enjoying how philosophical our conversations tend to get about the terms we're struggling to define. It makes me feel less like I've got to find a way to come up with the be-all-and-end-all definition of a concept and just focusing on making some headway, rather than completing a marathon. I'm looking forward to the weeks when we read "Senses" as well as next weeks' readings.
1 comment:
Hey Anna,
I hope that as you do your definitional work for yourself that you will incorporate your thoughts into the wiki, so that we can all gain from your thinking. And it is good to hear that you are thinking about "working definitions" rather than seeking to fix your definitions; given the changing landscape of media and the complexity of all the institutions and practices we are considering in this class, flexible and generous definitions seem to be on order.
Let me know ideas you have for how we can strengthen the sense of our class as a community. My usual f2f strategies -- having food at classes, sharing about ourselves, even being able to nod at others -- obviously won't work here. This puts more responsibility on all of us, I think (and is definitely worth discussing "out loud" in class because an online class engages us with new kinds of mediation.
Meanwhile, I too am looking forward to when we discuss "Senses" and "Bodies" -- it was hard to figure out how to fit those in, and I worry that they come too late!
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