Institutt for medier og kommunikasjon
Det humanistiske fakultet
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Instituttstyret ved IMK
Instituttleder Espen Ytreberg
6.11.2012
Diskusjonssak
Espen Ytreberg
Sak nr.: 39/2012
NY PROSESS FOR FAGLIGE PRIORITERINGER VED IMK
IMKs faglige prioriteringer ble vedtatt i IMK-styret ultimo 2009, og løper fra medio 2010 til medio
2013. Vedlagt er utlysningsteksten, som ga de sentrale føringene når det gjaldt avsatte ressurser,
søknadsprosess og tildeling. Det ble også holdt en separat utlysnings- og søknadsprosess i 2010
om midler til individuelle bokprosjekter. Det fungerte til å balansere den foreliggende utlysningen:
Denne siste var rettet mot kollektive initiativer, den søkte særlig mot å styrke utvalgte
forskningsmiljøer og å skape større aktivitet i genereringen av eksterne prosjekter.
To av fire søknader ble innvilget og resulterte i IMKs to prioriterte områder. De to søknadene er
vedlagt, sammen med rapporter fra de to områdene, satt sammen av områdenes ledere Liv
Hausken og Tanja Storsul. Slik skal Styret kunne diskutere forholdet mellom ambisjonene i de
innvilgede søknadene og resultatene så langt - og dermed hvordan de strategiske prioriteringene
har fungert.
INSTITUTT FOR MEDIE OG KOMMUNIKASJON
Utlysning av prioriterte forskningsområder ved IMK
Styret ved IMK har i møter 20. oktober og 15. desember 2009 fastsatt at
strategisk prioritering av forskningsområder ved IMK skal skje gjennom en
søknadsprosess som er åpen for instituttets vitenskapelig ansatte og at det skal
lyses ut inntil to slike områder. Utlysningen nedenfor følger av styrevedtakene:
’Område’ utgjør et faglig territorium som er mer avgrenset enn ’medievitenskap’, men mer omfattende enn hva enkeltprosjekter dekker. Ordet skal
forstås på linje med fagkonferansenes arbeidsgrupper, divisjoner og seksjoner.
Siktemålet er å øke andelen eksternt finansierte prosjekter ved instituttet, og
å styrke forskningskvaliteten. Dette skal gjøre det mulig å bringe IMK nærmere
målet om å bli blant de fremste medieforskningsmiljøene i Europa. Dessuten
skal det sette IMK i stand til å møte kravene i Prosess Faglig Prioritering (PFP)
ved UiO og fakultetet.
Søknaden skal gjøre rede for og dokumentere søkergruppens planer i forhold
til hver enkelt av vurderingskriteriene. Det skal angis en leder for gruppen,
som skal være fast vitenskapelig ansatt ved IMK. Søknaden skal være på
maksimalt 10 sider inkludert CV’er og vedlegg. Den skal skrives på engelsk.
Søknadsfrist er mandag 22. mars kl. 1000. Søknaden sendes elektronisk til
instituttets forskningskonsulent. Samme person kan delta i flere søknader.
Vurderingsprosessen vil bli ledet av instituttets forskningsleder i samråd
med instituttleder, på oppdrag fra styret. Det vil bli innhentet to fagfellevurderinger for hver søknad, en norsk/nordisk og en videre europeisk. Det skal
gjøres en vurdering av om søkerne tilfredstiller søknadskravene, og de skal
rangeres. Det kan forventes avgjørelse i slutten av april 2010.
Oppstart av de prioriterte forskningsområdene kan skje med forberedelser
umiddelbart etter tildeling, men formell etablering er fra 1. juli 2010, med tre
års virketid til 30. juni 2013. Oppstart kan etter avtale skje senere i 2010 med
tilsvarende avkorting i finansieringen for første år.
Oppfølging av den foreslåtte prosjektaktiviteten skjer ved IMKs forskningsleder i henhold til de aktivitetene og målene som er satt opp i søknaden.
Innlemming av nye prosjekter og fagaktiviteter på et prioritert område skjer
via søknad som behandles av forskningsleder.
Evaluering av ordningen kan foretas av nyvalgt styre/nytilsatt instituttleder
fra 1.1.2013, som også avgjør eventuell fortsettelse.
U NIVE RS ITETET I OSLO
Institutt for medier og kommunikasjon
Side 2 av 2
Vurdering av søknader om å bli prioritert forskningsområde ved IMK skjer via:
- Plan for en eller flere prosjektaktiviteter, med angivelse av bærende
forskningsidéer og/eller problemstillinger.
- Redegjørelse for fagområdet/ene som prosjektaktiviteten/e plasseres
innenfor, og for bidraget søkerne ønsker å gi til områdets utvikling.
- CV’er som redegjør for søkernes relevante publisering og prosjekterfaring.
- Redegjørelse for samarbeid om felles prosjektaktiviteter mellom
faggruppene. Søknaden skal kunne vise til medvirkning fra både fast
vitenskapelig ansatte og midlertidig vitenskapelig ansatte. Den skal romme
planer for studentmedvirkning, for eksempel i form av forslag til forskningsbaserte kurs, og for bruk av informasjons- og forskningskonsulentstøtte.
- Redegjørelse for nasjonale og internasjonale nettverk og samarbeidspartnere.
- Hvis flere forslag tilfredstiller søknadskravene, skal det prioriteres områder
fra ulike deler av medievitenskapen.
Ressursene som vil bli fordelt til hvert av de prioriterte områdene er
- For leder av gruppen: frikjøp inntil 70 % forskningsandel i 1.5 år
- 50000 pr. år i driftsmidler over tre år
- 10% av kapasiteten til IMKs informasjons- og forskningskonsulenter over
tre år
- Det høyest vurderte området får allokert ett allerede innvilget strategisk
doktorgradsstipend. Dersom to områder prioriteres alternerer områdene om
å være prioritert ved IMKs søknader om strategiske doktor- og
postdoktorstipendier i perioden 2010-2012.
- Den høyest vurderte området får prioritet ved ansettelse av ny professor II i
2010.
For de to halve årsperiodene i 2010 og 2013 reduseres årsbeløpet
tilsvarende.
INFORMASJONSMØTE:
Det holdes informasjonsmøte om utlysningen tirsdag 19. januar kl. 13001400, i forkant av det tillyste forskermøtet.
21. desember 2009
Knut Lundby
Forskningsleder
Research area proposal:
Media technologies, innovation and transformation of
the media sector (MIME)
Field of research
The proposed research area Media technologies, innovation and transformation of the
media sector (MIME) explores how changing technologies and modes of usage and
engagement with media are bringing about innovation and transformation in the
media sector.
The development and expansion of digital technology has prompted investigations
into a range of media practices and aspects of media provision. Over the last decade a
number of studies have focused on how Internet and mobile communication impact
on media services, business models and strategies, as well as user patterns. MIME
builds on a large body of research, but aims to bring it one step further by explicitly
integrating perspectives on the role of media technology with perspectives on the role
users have in generating innovation and transformation in the media sector. Users of
digital media are becoming increasingly more active as producers (and re-distributors)
of content, contributing to new services, new social constellations and new business
models. By emphasising how interrelations between media technology and users
contribute to driving innovation, MIME will provide a framework for studying change
that enables a deeper understanding of the ongoing developments and challenges. This
perspective will also facilitate critical reflection of the social, economic and political
implications of the changes – in addition to the implications for the media sector
itself.
The objectives of MIME are dual. One is to strengthen the cumulative effect of
research at IMK by bringing together researchers with a joint focus. The other is to
provide an arena for generating new research projects on innovation and
transformation of the media sector. For both purposes, we will focus especially on the
following four areas of change:
1. New media services: New media services now develop on multiple platforms
(divergence), and integrate different modes of communication (convergence).
Services range from multiplatform TV-formats integrating SMS and web as return
channels to online journalism incorporating television services, and from social
networking sites and new search engines to location-sensitive services such as
augmented reality where digital layers of information are added when viewing real
objects (see e.g. Retteberg 2008, Ling and Donner 2009).
2. New players: The concept of “the media sector” is increasingly blurred as players
not formerly associated with the sector begin to incorporate media practices into their
mode of operations. Software and hardware developers, telecoms, search engines and
catalogues, travel agents and booksellers, educational institutions, state agencies, and
non-governmental organisations are only a few of the actors that now view social
media, response facilities, media and music players, and mobile applications as tools
to achieve their societal and commercial goals. These players draw on their particular
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competences and market logics, which in turn impose changes on the media market
and thus intervene with and change established notions of mass communication
(Burgess and Green 2009).
3. New roles of users: New modes of communication emerge as a growing portion of
the population in developed economies use personal digital media to interact with the
mass media and to form new arenas for horizontal and vertical communication
(Rheingold 2002, Shirky 2008). Relations between the public and the media sector are
undergoing a genuine transformation. The public – whether viewed as consumers,
citizens or social beings, as users, producers or redistributors, as fans or co-creators –
now feature as a fundamental part of any innovation strategy in the sector. The
changes, while facilitated by digital technology, have roots in changes in society and
culture, such as the long-term trend towards greater involvement amongst users in the
origination and creation of content (Lessig 2008, Hindman 2009). In the course of just
a few years, use of social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs have
become everyday practices such as shopping, playing, working, reading and debating,
as well as arenas for agenda-setting and socializing (Tapscott and Williams 2007).
4. New practices by existing media organisations: New products and services and
changing patterns of usage and demand require market incumbents to regroup and
reconsider their strategies. Traditional business models fail and existing media
organisations struggle to innovate, adapt, defend and expand their positions in the
market (Benkler 2006, Castells 2009). They increasingly seek innovation through
integrating new forms of user interaction in their services, through adaptation of
production and distribution activities and through alliances with new players in the
market.
For all four areas, the interrelations between media technology and its users in driving
innovation will be emphasised. Innovation has in recent years become an area of
considerable interest in research related to media and creative industries, with earlier
work involving diverse approaches. Through our research we will seek to contribute
towards a clearer and more informed understanding of how innovation can best be
understood, analysed and theorised in the context of media products and services,
media production and distribution processes and media organisations. It is also our
ambition to have impact on innovation processes through research-based design of
media genres.
Main research questions
Consequently, the research area aims to contribute with empirical, theoretical and
critical insight about recent and ongoing changes in the Norwegian and international
media sector. Ongoing and future research projects within MIME will have their own
specific research questions, but on the co-operative level we ask:
A. To what extent and how do use and conceptualization of new digital media
technologies influence change in the four areas of change mentioned above?
The purpose of this research question is to address the significance of digital media as
a driver of change and re-invention in the media sector (Thorburn and Jenkins (eds.)
2003). We will study how old and new players in the media sector take the new
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technological landscape into consideration strategically and commercially and the
effects of identified strategic choices. We will focus on the role that use and
conceptualization of new digital media plays in processes of innovation in a broad
sense. This includes innovation in technologies, services, business models and other
practices where digital media may enable change (Christensen 1997, Küng et al
2008).
In this context we also want to consider the stability of the changes. After a couple of
decades with experimental and scattered developments in the media sector, we may
now reflect on the degree to which the changes contribute to long-term innovation and
transformation of the media sector.
B. To what extent and how do users and their actions influence these four areas of
change?
The purpose here is to investigate how the changing role of users and their modes of
engagement and usage of personal and other media present new constraints and
possibilities for innovation in the media sector. Increased participation changes and
modifies established media formats and genres, and contributes to the creation of new
ones. We will study everyday digital practices in relation to the industry, but also
interpersonal communication that may be targeted by the industry in its innovation
processes. These developments call for a reinvention of the concepts of audiences,
power relations between audiences and the media, and power relations between
audiences and other institutions (Jenkins 2006, Castells 2009).
C. What are the social, economic and political implications of these changes?
In developing and drawing together the two above-mentioned key areas of research
work, our aim is also to shed light on wider implications the observed transformations
may have for everyday life, the digital economy, cultural production and distribution,
and public policy-formation and non-commercial practices such as political parties,
social movements and NGOs. Within each of these topics, there is a plurality of
theories and issues that will be addressed empirically and theoretically.
Position of the research area
MIME is safely situated within the wider field of media studies. In international
conferences, relevant sections are named for example “Communication and
Technology” (ICA), “Digital Culture and Communication” (ECREA), and
“Communication Policy and Technology” (IAMCR). These sections typically
emphasize sociology, aesthetics or policy in their approaches to technology. MIME
seeks to go beyond disciplinary distinctions. Participating researchers integrate
perspectives and theories from media sociology; media institutions and media policy;
media economy and media management; innovation studies; user/audience studies;
media theory; and technology studies. The complexity of the media sector and its
environment justifies such multi-disciplinarity.
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As the title indicates, the research area is wide. Also, as the media sector changes, the
research agenda must evolve alongside it. We argue that this is an advantage for
developing a dynamic platform for long-term collaborative research on shifting
phenomena in the media landscape. In order to keep co-operation focussed, we will
decide on topics within this area for given time-periods. In the coming three-yearperiod (the application period) we will, as described above, concentrate on how
changing technologies and modes of usage bring about innovation and transformation
of the media sector.
The knowledge and expertise generated in MIME will be of importance to:
o International Scholarship. Research on the impact of changing technologies and
the evolving role of users is needed to advance academic understanding and
provide a strengthened basis for theory building in relation to innovation, media
systems, media power etc.
o Industry. Both established media companies that seek to reinvent products and
services in restructured markets and new, innovative companies need expertise
and research-based knowledge on service developments, on user involvement, on
business models, etc. in order to make strategic decisions about their future.
o The public. Users, citizens, consumers and in particular, institutions and
organizations need more knowledge on the emerging media landscape and the
implications this has for our society.
o Political decision-makers. Market regulations, subsidy systems and legislation are
dependent on knowledge about the transformation of the media sector.
Research activities and organisation of research area
MIME brings together a group of researchers all of whom have been doing substantial
research in the described area. The objectives of establishing this group are dual.
Firstly, we aim to strengthen the quality of research. The participating researchers all
gravitate towards this area. By bringing this group together we aim to strengthen the
cumulative effect of research conducted at IMK, by sharing and collaborating more
effectively with others working on similar research within the Department, as well as
strengthening the existing networks and collaboration with research environments and
partners outside of the Department.
Secondly, the group aims to generate new large-scale projects. MIME corresponds
well with several programmes in the Norwegian Research Council (such as
VERDIKT and VAM) and the group aims to generate and get funding for at least two
new, large research projects. In addition, a realistic objective is to be involved (as
leader or core partner) in at least one application for EU funding.
In order to achieve these objectives we will:
o Establish theoretical discussions and conceptual innovation that will enable
research at the Department to be in the forefront internationally.
o Develop new research projects by providing arenas for project generation and
elaboration of new and innovative ideas both within the group and with
external partners.
o Co-operate on empirical studies that will generate new knowledge in the area.
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o Work to strengthen collaborative writing skills, co-author publications – as
well as and support each other’s individual publications.
o Participate in processes of research-based invention and design.
o Strengthen project management in research projects.
For these purposes, research activities will be organised around ongoing and new
projects and concrete assignments (such as publications, empirical data collection,
project generation etc). This means that much of the work within the group will be
project based, with several project groups working with short-and medium term deadlines. In addition we will have several ongoing events and ways of working together,
which secure the long term and cumulative aim.
One such important event will be an annual workshop for all members of the group.
This will also serve as a place for working together on the various ongoing projects
within the group, presenting ongoing work for the rest of the group, as well as
discussing outlines for future projects.
We will also seek to initiate a couple of large empirical studies, which will serve as a
common ‘data bank’ to be shared within the group. This model is adapted from the
previous IMK project ‘Participation and Play in Converging Media’, where two large
studies were performed; a survey on media participation (with TSN Gallup), and a
large interview study with media executives. Both served as empirical data for several
publications with different theoretical perspectives by researchers in the group. While
the focus and topic of such studies still needs to be discussed further, and additional
funding will need to be secured, tentative ideas for such studies include the use of
media technology by young vs. elderly users, and a study of innovation processes in
old media institutions and new start ups.
In all these activities, cooperation with external partners is important. Among the first
activities the group will initiate is to arrange a symposium where we will invite key
people in our network of international and national researchers as well as industrial
partners to discuss our research agenda. This will serve to strengthen our ties with
external partners, and develop joint projects.
From our network, we will ask a couple of people to serve as our external advisors.
The advisors will be expected to evaluate the activities within the research area
annually, assess the group’s publication profile, the soundness of research questions,
the relevance of the activities etc.
Associate professor Tanja Storsul will be the leader of the group. During the fall term
2010 she will spend her sabbatical in Oslo and will be able to focus on establishing
the research area. For all of 2011 and spring term 2012 she will have her capacity
reserved for research extended to 70%. During the last year of the call she will use
some of her ordinary time reserved for research to lead the group.
Networks and partners
The research area already has a large network. Previous, ongoing, and planned
research projects, have established research collaborations both nationally and
internationally. Nationally, the network includes researchers across faculties at the
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University of Oslo, our sister departments at the universities of Bergen and
Trondheim, research institutes such as Sintef, NIBR and ISF, and industrial partners
such as NRK, Telenor, TNS Gallup, New Media Network etc. Internationally,
networks include the ongoing COST action ‘Transforming audiences – transforming
societies’, the international network ‘Media and participation’, The Euromedia group,
the EMMA (European Media Management Association) innovation network, as well
as individual researchers.
MIME will integrate these networks and develop more in-depth partnerships through
conference panels, publications and proposals for new research projects, as well as the
mentioned symposium. As these are existing networks no partners have been
explicitly asked in the context of this application.
Student involvement
The research area emphasises student involvement on PhD and master level. A PhDseminar on Media technologies, innovation and transformation of the media sector
will be proposed for the PhD programme. Such a seminar will be held in Oslo and
will be open to Nordic PhD-students.
The participants will use the opportunity to teach classes and supervise student papers
and dissertations that fit the research topic of MIME within several existing master
courses at IMK, and will seek to develop one or two new courses related to the
empirical cases we wish to investigate.
Dissemination of results
MIME will publish its result in academic publications and at conferences. In addition
we wish to develop dialogue with industry and the interested public. The purpose is
both to disseminate results and to develop contact points with potential partners in
future projects.
We also wish to develop and operate a website and write and participate in media
debates including social media. A strategy for this will be developed together with
IMK’s information officer.
Resources
The group plans to use the resources allocated to the research area in the following
way:
o The 50 000 NOK each year will be used to cover the annual internal workshop,
part of the international symposium, and other operating expenses such as visits
from external advisors.
o The leader of the group will use extra time reserved for research to lead and
coordinate the activities described.
o IMK’s information officer will be asked to develop an information strategy for
the group and help the group to implement this strategy. This will include
developing a dynamic website for the research area and a strategy for using social
media.
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o IMK’s research officer will be asked to assist to develop applications to NRC and
EU. The research officer will also help to arrange the annual internal workshop
and to document the activities of the group for the annual assessment.
o Strategic PhD/postdoc scholarships will contribute with new research in the area
and a new professor II will strengthen both research and teaching within the area.
CV - projects
Participants in MIME have broad experience from research projects relevant to this
research area:
o NRC projects: Internet in Transition I, II and III (Rasmussen (leader), Liestøl,
Fagerjord).
o NRC project: Participation and Play in Converging Media (Syvertsen
(leader), Fagerjord, Maasø, Sundet, Ihlebæk, Storsul, Enli).
o NRC project: ICT and Local Democracy (Skogerbø (leader)).
o NRC projects: Telecom-projects (Skogerbø (leader), Storsul).
o NRC project: Inventio (Liestøl (leader), Rasmussen).
o UiO programme: Competence and Media Convergence (Storsul (coordinator), Rasmussen, Liestøl, Sundet).
o UiO programme: The Democracy Programme (Skogerbø).
o IMK network: Professionals and Amateurs (Enli (leader), Ihlebæk, Sundet,
Løvheim, Skogerbø, Storsul, Krumsvik).
CVs - the participants
Full references, CVs and further publications for the different participants may be
found on the website at the Department of Media and Communication, University of
Oslo (IMK) (cf. http://bit.ly/IMKstaff) and on FRIDA (http://bit.ly/FRIDA-eng).
Gillian Doyle, PhD, is Professor II at IMK, and Director of the Masters programme in
Media Management, University of Glasgow. Her research interests are related to
media economics and media and cultural policy. Her work on the economics of mass
media and on media ownership has been translated and published in several
languages. Relevant works include The Economics of Mass Media (ed., 2006),
Understanding Media Economics (2002), “Financial News Journalism: A Post-Enron
Analysis of Approaches towards Economics and Financial News Production in the
UK” (2006), and “Managing global expansion of media products and brands: A case
study of FHM”, (2006). Doyle will continue her research on political and economic
aspects of media, and new business models and patterns of use in new media.
Gunn Enli, PhD, is Associate Professor at IMK. She has published widely on multiplatform media and audience participation in journals such as Media, Culture &
Society, Television and New Media, Javnost- The public, and Convergence. Relevant
works include Digitale Dilemmaer (2008, ed. with Skogerbø) TV- en innføring (2010,
with Moe, Sundet and Syvertsen) and “Small talk makes a big difference: recent
developments in interactive, SMS-based television” (2007, with Beyer, Maasø and
Ytreberg). Enli will contribute with research on how combinations of social media
and broadcast media create new business models and new user patterns.
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Anders Fagerjord, dr. art, is Associate Professor at IMK. He has published
internationally on questions of web media, convergence and hypertext and multimedia
theory. Relevant publications include Web-medier (2006), “Prescripts: Authoring
With Templates” (2005), “Questioning Convergence” (2007, with Storsul), and “High
Risk, Strong Belief: Images of the Future in the Media Industry” (forthcoming 2010,
with Maasø, Storsul and Syvertsen). Fagerjord will contribute with a study on how
publishing systems and ‘content management systems’ influence and channel internet
communication, both in amateur settings (Social Network Sites, blog systems) and
professional organisations (Web News sites, etc.).
Karoline Andrea Ihlebæk is a PhD candidate at IMK. Her research interests include
media policy, audience participation and public journalism. A particular focus in her
research has been concerned with how gate-keeping mechanisms and control is
carried out in a digital media environment. Ihlebæk has published several articles in
Norwegian journals and books. Relevant publications include “Publikumsdeltakelse
og redaksjonelle dilemmaer” (2008), “Folkejournalistikk i NRK redaksjonelle valg og
utøvelse av kontroll” (2009), and “Moderering av digital publikumsdeltakelse.
Idealer, praksiser og dilemmaer” (2009, with Ytreberg). Ihlebæk will work on the
media industry’s control over participation formats, participation in the media by
children and youth, and will contribute to a study of how young and elderly users
adopt media technology.
Arne H. Krumsvik, PhD, is Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at IMK, Associate
Professor II at BI Norwegian School of Management, and secretary for the Norwegian
Public Media Support Commission. His research interests include media
management, media regulations, journalism, and freedom of expression. Relevant
publications include “Strategy and Structure for Online News Production - Case
Studies of CNN and NRK” (2010), The Online News Factory: A Multi-Lens
Investigation of the Strategy, Structure, and Process of Online News Production at
CNN and NRK (2009), and “Online News in China and Norway” (2008, with Wang).
Krumsvik will be working on matters of expression, the professionalization of
journalism, media ownership, and how social media affect the media industry.
Gunnar Liestøl, dr. philos, is Professor at IMK and leader of the INVENTIO-project.
He has published widely on digital media, hypertext and rhetorics of digital design.
Relevant publications include Digital Media Revisited: Theoretical and Conceptual
Innovations in Digital Domains (2003, ed. with Morrison and Rasmussen), Digitale
medier. En innføring (2007, with Rasmussen), and Sammensatte tekster (2009, with
Fagerjord and Hannemyr). Liestøl will work on genre design and innovation in the
field of mobile augmented reality and location based media.
Arnt Maasø, dr. art, is Associate Professor at IMK. His research interests include
music and sound in film and TV, media technology, communication and social media.
Relevant publications are “Small talk makes a big difference: recent developments in
interactive, SMS-based television” (2007, with Beyer, Enli and Ytreberg), “’Fordi de
fortjener det’. Publikumsdeltakelse som strategisk utviklingsområde i mediebransjen”
(2007, with Sundet and Syvertsen), and "Mediating Music: Materiality and Silence in
Madonna's "Don't Tell Me" (2009, with Danielsen). In MIME Maasø will work on
technologies of sharing and using music and shifts in the music industry, and will
contribute to a study of how young and elderly users adopt media technology.
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Terje Rasmussen, dr. philos, is Professor at IMK and part-time professor at National
Institute for Consumer Research. He has published widely on media theory and digital
media. Relevant publications include Digital Media Revisited: Theoretical and
Conceptual Innovations in Digital Domains (2003, ed. with Liestøl and Morrison),
Kampen om Internett (2007), and Nettverksformelen. Hvordan det sosiale livet henger
sammen (2008). Rasmussen will work on social experimentation of augmented
reality-services (INVENTIO), and be involved in methodological and theoretical
issues concerning new media and services and consumer influence/freedom.
Eli Skogerbø, dr. polit, is Professor in Media Studies. She has authored and coauthored and co-edited a number of publications, among them Digitale Dilemmaer
(2008, ed. with Enli), “Community Re-engagement of youth: e-participation realities
in Uganda and Norway” (2010) and “Towards and information society? The value of
media production and consumption” (2004, with Syvertsen). Skogerbø will continue
her research on local media and political communication, focusing on the interaction
between local media and local content online and offline, and on the integration of
social and personal media into the communication strategies of political actors and
political journalism.
Tanja Storsul, dr. polit., is Associate professor at IMK, and member of the
Norwegian Public Media Support Commission. Her research interests include
political and economic aspects of telecommunications, digital television and social
media. Among her relevant publications are Ambivalence towards convergence.
Digitalization and media change (2007, ed., with Stuedahl), “The impact of
convergence on European television policy: Pressure for change - forces of stability”
(2007, with Syvertsen), and “Television in cyberspace. The net neutrality tussle in
Norway” (forthcoming). Storsul will do research on how young people use social
media for political purposes and continue her research on political and economic
aspects of new media. Storsul will be the leader of MIME.
Vilde Schanke Sundet is a PhD candidate at IMK. Her research interests include
media convergence, digitalization, media institutions, mobile media, audience
participation, and television studies. She is currently finishing her thesis on how the
established Norwegian media industry adapts to technological change and make sense
of mobile media. Relevant publications include “Innovasjon og nyskaping i NRK: En
analyse av platform- og sjangerbruk i Rubenmann-prosjektet” (2008), “Working
notions of active audiences: Further research on the active participant in convergent
media industries” (2008, with Ytreberg), and TV - en innføring (forthcoming 2010,
with Enli, Moe and Syvertsen). In MIME Sundet will work on ‘professional amateurs’
in the media, and will contribute to a study of how young and elderly users adapt and
use media technology.
Trine Syvertsen, PhD, is Professor at IMK and Dean of The Faculty of Humanities,
University of Oslo. She has published widely on Television, media policy,
broadcasting history, public service, and audience participation in new media.
Relevant publications are Mediemangfold: Styring av mediene i et globalisert marked
(2004), “Citizens, audiences, customers and players. A conceptual discussion of the
relationship between broadcasters and their publics” (2004), Den store TV-krigen
(1997), “Non-professional Activity on Television in a Time of Digitalisation. More
9
Fun for the Elite or New Opportunities for Ordinary People?” (2009, with Karlsen,
Sundet and Ytreberg), In MIME Syvertsen will contribute to a study of how young
and elderly users adopt and use media technology, and continue her work on media
policy, audience participation and new media.
References
Benkler, Yochai (2006) The Wealth of Networks. How Social Production Transform
Markets and Freedom. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Burgess, Jean and Joshua Green (2009) YouTube, Online Video and Participatory
Culture. Digital Media and Society Series. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Castells, Manuell (2009) Communication power. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Christensen, Clayton (1997) The Innovator’s Dilemma. When New Technologies
Cause Great Firms to Fail. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Hindman, Matthew (2009) The Myth of Digital Democracy. Princeton and Oxford:
Princeton University Press.
Jenkins, Henry (2006) Convergence culture: where old and new media collide. New
York: New York University Press
Küng, Lucy, Robert.G. Picard, Ruth Towse (2008) The Internet and the Mass Media.
London: SAGE.
Lessig, Lawrence (2008) Remix. Making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid
economy. Great Britain: Bloomsbury.
Ling, Rich and Jonathan Donner (2009) Mobile Communication. Digital Media and
Society Series. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Retteberg, Jill Walker (2008) Blogging. Digital Media and Society Series. Cambridge,
UK: Polity Press
Rheingold, Howard (2002) Smartmobs. The next social revolution. Cambridge: Basic
Books.
Shirky, Clay (2008) Here Comes Everybody. The Power of Organizing without
Organizations. London: Penguin Books.
Tapscott, Don and Anthony D. Williams (2007) Wikinomics. How mass collaboration
changes everything. London: Atlantic Books.
Thorburn, David and Henry Jenkins (2003) Rethinking Media Change. The Aesthetics
of Transition. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
10
PROPOSAL FOR PRIORITIZED RESEARCH AREA AT IMK
MEDIA AESTHETICS
HEADS OF AREA:
LIV HAUSKEN (Associate professor, tenure, leader of area)
OVE SOLUM (Professor, tenure)
JON INGE FALDALEN (Lecturer, temporary)
IMK PARTICIPANTS:
TAINA BÜCHER (Ph.d.-candidate, temporary)
ANDERS FAGERJORD (Associate professor, tenure)
TRINE KRIGSVOLL HAAGENSEN (Seminar teacher, temporary)
GUNNAR LIESTØL (Professor, tenure)
HELGE RØNNING (Professor, tenure)
JOHANNE KIELLAND SERVOLL (Ph.d.-candidate, temporary)
SYNNE SKJULSTAD (Post. doc, temporary)
TORE SLAATTA (Professor, tenure)
GRY CECILIE RUSTAD (Ph.d.-candidate, temporary)
RAGNHILD TRONSTAD (Post. doc, temporary)
QUESTION:
ANSWER:
Why should IMK prioritize the Media Aesthetics research area?
The research area Media Aesthetics exists at IMK. The overall research
question is how media mean and make sense? This question is explored
through ongoing and planned research networks, projects and publications, both nationally and internationally, by thirteen researchers from
the tenure and temporary academic staff at IMK. Through this
application we would like to argue that Media Aesthetics is a research
area where IMK in fact could become one of the leading research
departments in Europe. Media Aesthetics should therefore become
prioritized.
OVERALL RESEARCH IDEAS. How do media mean and make sense? Objects and
processes of inquiry require subjects of inquiry. Media are such objects and processes. And
media aesthetic scholars are such subjects. We respond to a new situation that has emerged
within the realm of media – culturally through the expanding use of media, technically by
means of its digitization, and theoretically through the emergence of a common realm of
reflection where the increased interaction between media studies and the aesthetic disciplines
can take place. In this situation, we see both an opportunity and the need to rethink current
ideas of the relationships between technologies, the senses and social and cultural formations.
Media Aesthetics as a distinct research area has been developed at IMK during the last
decade. In this research area we explore current media practices in order to generate crossdisciplinary theoretical and analytical insights into the impact of the materialities of technical
mediation on communication, information and expression. To promote Media Aesthetics as a
–1–
prioritized research area at IMK has both professional and strategic purposes: It will support
the effort to develop the area further in the direction of theoretical and critical thinking on
media technologies and aesthetics. It will also be strategically wise, since Media Aesthetics is a
research area where IMK in fact could become one of the leading research departments in
Europe – an Oslo School of Media Aesthetics. Two serious first steps in this direction are the
area publications Thinking Media Aesthetics (ed. Hausken) and Between Stillness and Motion: Film,
Photography, Algorithms (ed. Røssaak, part of national network, with contribution by Hausken
and area partners).
During the last decade, the expression “media aesthetics” has gone from more or less
non-existent to a familiar concept in interdisciplinary fields of research on media, aesthetics
and technology all over the Western world (USA, Germany, France and Britain in particular).
In certain cases it has been developed towards advanced art or media productions (often with
the notion “applied media aesthetics”). The term has also been used as referring to what one
may call a media sensitive textual analysis, as well as an alternative notion for a dimension of
the diverse fields called visual studies or visual culture particularly interested in questions
concerning technology and mediation. So, what is meant by Media Aesthetics here at IMK?
Let us first briefly indicate the field’s historical contexts by reference to a few names:
Walter Benjamin, Rudolf Arnheim, Marshall McLuhan, Harold Innis, Raymond Williams,
Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, Friedrich A. Kittler, Noël Carroll, Mark B.
Hansen, Katherine N. Hayles and WJT Mitchell are prominent thinkers that have inspired the
development of this field so far. Several phenomenologically inspired thinkers like Maurice
Merleau-Ponty, André Bazin, Jean François Lyotard, Roland Barthes and Vivian Sobchack
also have to be mentioned before we explicate a bit further the two concepts of which media
aesthetics is combined: media and aesthetics.
First, aesthetics: Aesthetics is not viewed as a philosophy of art. Rather, aesthetics is
understood as a theory of culturally and historically embedded sensation and perception,
conceptually developed from the original Greek sense of the term, as aisthesis or sense
perception. In media aesthetics, aesthetics can be defined as a critical reflection on cultural
expressions, on technologies of the senses and on the experiences of everyday life. Briefly put,
media aesthetics may be seen as a study of ways of perceiving the world. The studies of
perception to be presented here share an interest in the reciprocity between the senses and an
ideal of a non-hierarchical view of sense perception. In contrast – both to the separation of
–2–
the senses in neuroscience and cognitive psychology, treating each sense as individually linked
to one single physiological organ and one particular part of the brain, and also to the ranking
of the senses so common in philosophies of art – media aesthetics is interested in the
complexity of sense perception and its embeddedness in the cultures and histories of
technologies of mediation. The concept of aesthetics in the Media Aesthetics area is general
and descriptive rather than normative. Aesthetics is not defined by properties of the object of
inquiry, but by the perspective of which the objects are approached.
The concept of medium is complex in many ways, and will be treated as complex. The
concept of medium is ambiguous, as it refers both to the “middle” and to the “bridge”, to
something that separates and something that connects. It is also multidimensional and
multilayered. Its multidimensionality includes technical, social, cultural and economic
dimensions. Its multiple layers of mediation or mediality include technical properties,
traditions and conventions of different modes, genres, and styles, and the conventions of
relevant semiotic systems. The media are social practices or assemblages of materials and
perspectives. They are also very specific technological arrangements that can be identified as
such through the way they activate experiences with different media technologies. This rather
wide variety of media concepts may be the reason why the concept seems to survive all sorts
of attacks, be they from technological, sociological, economic or philosophical perspectives.
In the Media Aesthetics research area, we will not try to reduce all these media
concepts to their least common denominator. Rather, we will try to clarify some important
conceptual tensions and present a collection of suggestions regarding the direction the
discussions about the conception of medium or mediality should go. What is shared – initially
and in a very basic fashion – is the wish to move beyond the idea of a medium as something
rather fixed, an object or apparatus, towards a concept of mediation as a process, as the
performance of a function. Media aesthetic analyses refocus the study of medium from
object-orientated questions like “what is film?” and “what is photography?” common in both
communication studies and historical studies of the arts, to questions regarding social
practices and experiences of media technologies. This implies a refocus from “medium” to
“mediality” or “mediation”. By this, the media aesthetic analysis reset the study of aesthetic
expressions from the hermeneutic question “what does this work mean?” to the more
technical or rhetorical issue: “how does it work?” or “how does it mean?”. In these questions of
how things work, the medium used makes a difference.
–3–
Secondly, and still concerning the concept of medium, what is shared is the emphasis
on the technologies and materialities of mediation. Hence, the move from media as objects to
mediations as processes and functions also implies a move from the more or less stable or fixed
materiality of a medium to the relative materialities of actual medial practices. This allows us to
look into new cultural expressions without being restrained to see them as combinations of
older media or media contained in media. Contrary to this, the media aesthetic emphasis on
mediation involves flexible distinctions between media of storage and media of display, as
well as conventions of different semiotic systems, modes, genres, and styles, so that a
particular aspect of a complex apparatus not always and in all contexts must be considered as
fixed.
Thirdly, as to the conception of medium, this research area also suggests that an
aesthetic approach to mediation moves beyond the paradigm of communication, which is the
idea that a medium first and foremost should be seen as a vehicle of communication. Studies
of communication are of course part of media aesthetics, but the conceptions of medium and
mediation should not be seen as dependent upon a theory of communication. This reflects a
more general wish to open up the conceptions of meaning and sensation so often
subordinated to a perspective of communication between senders and receivers in studies of
media. In media aesthetics, mediation is understood in a much more open and basic sense,
since experience as such is seen as culturally mediated – and cultural mediations must be
considered as having material and social dimensions that are important for the understanding
of media and aesthetics.
This situates media aesthetics at the critical intersection between aesthetic discourses
and the realm of technological and mediatic phenomena. In this critical intersection, media
specific concepts are seen as dynamic and contextually flexible, always reflecting their specific
situatedness within a medial, technological, social or cultural context. Main research interests
focus on the materialities of mediation through medial transferals, visualization and scientific
imaging and audiovisual aesthetics. The medium is not a given, and we start from concrete
cultural phenomena with a special interest in how the medium makes a difference.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS, ACTIVITIES AND NETWORKS. Media Aesthetics as a
research area at IMK is to be understood as diverse. As an existing area, the overall media
–4–
aesthetic questions, activities and networks at IMK can be allocated in three tangent areas of
foci, namely Medial Transferals, Visualization and Scientific Imaging and Audiovisual Aesthetics:
MEDIAL TRANSFERALS. Main research interests are exploring how social,
historical, cultural and technological changes involve medial transferals that questions existing
sets of concepts, methodologies and theoretical perspectives. The research views mediation as
process, as performance of a function. Foci are performative, technological and genre transferal.
Performative transferal research in the Media Aesthetics research area explores how
performative strategies are being used in interactive media art to produce a sense of presence
and how the notion of play found in traditional aesthetic theory can be transferred and used
on interactive works. Play is also explored as a medium in itself, characterising and/or
transforming the objects and situations that are framed by it. Theories of performativity form
a perspective that has not previously been applied to media aesthetics, and the media aesthetic
implications of interactive media art practices are addressed through the notion of
performative transformation. The research also explores how aesthetic practices form the
basis of novel forms of mediated advertising and brand building within the fashion business.
How may we textually conceive of the transference of aesthetic value from aesthetic practice
to branded products through cross-media branding and advertising? Performative transferal
research is explored through the ongoing research projects Play, Performativity and Presence. A
Study of the Play Concept in New Media Art and A Media Aesthetic Perspective on Play (Tronstad),
Media Aesthetic Transferal as Performative Practice (Tronstad and Susanne Østby Sæther, part of
national network), and Branding and Advertising in Digital Domains (Skjulstad).
Technological transferal research in the Media Aesthetics research area explores how
algorithmic software prescripts transfer cultural practice, shapes identities and creates subject
positions. The research explores how new media practices are developed and formed by the
underlying features of the present software. It focuses on the cultural and media theoretical
ramifications of software in the context of social media specifically, interested in the power
dynamics between software and subjects, and specifically the ways in which software can be
seen as generating and circulating identity, as well as on the material-ideological aspects of
software itself. How are subjects addressed by the material substrates of media today? The
research also discusses how easy-to-use computer authoring systems (blogs, homepage
generators, video editing systems, social network sites) offer prewritten parts of half-finished
messages – so-called prescripts – and study how they influence on the messages users create.
–5–
Technological transferal research is explored through the ongoing research projects Inventio
(Liestøl), Prescripts in Template Authoring Systems (Fagerjord), and Techno-Social Moments: an
Understanding of the Role of Software in Today’s Media Practice (Bücher).
Genre transferal research in the Media Aesthetics research area explores genres on
paper and on line, especially how genres on YouTube and literary forms and genres in books
are linked to socio-historical implications on aesthetics. The research also designs a system for
presenting historical church music in Rome. Using an iPhone with GPS, the application can
detect which church a user is entering, and play music written for that church, as well as
recorded talks on the music’s position in music history. Focus is on how the aesthetics of the
architecture and art on the location influences on how audience members comprehend the
music presented. Genre transferal research is explored through the ongoing research projects
The Book as a Medium (Rønning and Slaatta), Inventio (Liestøl) and The Genres of YouTube and
Genre Design: Church Music in Rome (Fagerjord).
National and international networks and cooperating partners are WJT Mitchell
(University of Chicago), Alexander Galloway (NYU), the Media Aesthetics project and its
members (Østby Sæther, Røssaak, Blom and Fetveit), The National Library (Eivind Røssaak),
the Aesthetics at work project and its members (Arne Melberg, Arnfinn Bø-Rygg, Mia Göran),
InterMedia (Andrew Morrison), Marin Engebretsen, Adrian Førde Anderssen (UiA) and the
Swedish research project Media Aesthetic Pedagogy at Malmö University (Feiwel Kupferberg).
VISUALIZATION AND SCIENTIFIC IMAGING. Main research interests are
visualizations and scientific imaginings of that which is hidden, too small, too big or too far
away to be seen. Foci are visualization and scientific imaging, two interrelated operations of
aesthetic practices considered as processes of rendering something available to sensory
perception.
Visualization research in the Media Aesthetics research area currently involves studies
of visualization of historical sites on location (Inventio, Liestøl) and of visualization of
detection in forensic fiction (Forensic Fiction and Surveillance, Hausken), as well as medical
visualization of the body (Bodies in Translation. Visualisation and Visibility in Science and Art,
Hausken), conceptualizing visualization at the nano-scale (Imag(in)ing the Nano-Scale, Hausken)
and how photographic technology and scientific knowledge changes visualization and
perception of the universe (Universal Images – Universal Knowledge?, Krigsvoll Haagensen).
Scientific imaging in the Media Aesthetics research area currently include the inter-
–6–
disciplinary research project X-rays on Photography (Hausken) as well as studies of the scientific
images involved in the projects mentioned above (forensic fiction, nano-technological images,
medical images, photography).
National and international networks and cooperating partners are the Nano-project
and its members: Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities (UiB), Oslo
National Academy of the Arts, Dep of Philosophy (NTNU), Nanoscience Programme (UiB),
The Dep of Art & the NanoCenter (Univ of South Carolina), Inst for Science and Society
(Univ of Nottingham), Inst for Philosophy at Darmstadt Technical University (Germany), the
Bodies in Translation project (Aud Sissel Hoel, NTNU, Annamaria Carusi, Oxford e-Research
Centre) and its international network, as well as the Photography in culture project (Peter Larsen),
its members and international network, and Nomadikon (Asbjørn Grønstad, Øyvind Vågnes,
Henrik Gustafsson and Tonje Haugland Sørensen) and its international network.
AUDIOVISUAL AESTHETICS. Main research interests are audiovisual expressions
on multiple platforms, especially the style and materiality of moving images and the
significance of the platform used. How does moving images mean in different contexts? Foci
are moving images aesthetics and still moving aesthetics.
Moving images aesthetics research explores the intersection between film and
television aesthetics research and media aesthetics. It explores the film repertoire and
questions related to the aesthetical consequences of the digital turn in the Norwegian cinema
institution. It analyses films and television series from aesthetic and historical perspectives,
and asks how film and television as medium play a role, not only in creating new meanings,
but also in organizing and communicating the authorial instances of the writer of the novel
and the director in the filmic or televisual expression. It also analyses television series, such as
Mad Men and The Wire, through Jacques Ranciére’s aesthetic theory, to further the
understanding of recent developments in so-called “Quality Television” and televisuality.
Moving images aesthetics research is explored through the ongoing research projects Moving
Images Aesthetics (Solum, Hausken and Faldalen), Audiovisual Diversity in the Digital Age (Solum
and Asbjørnsen, part of national network), Film Styles in Contemporary Norwegian Cinema
(Solum), The Track Record of the Auteur Concept in Norwegian Film History (Servoll), and
Contemplating Television Fiction and Watching Television with Jacques Ranciére (Rustad).
Still moving aesthetics research in the Media Aesthetics research area explores how
moving images sometimes seemingly move to stand still. This research is done through media
–7–
aesthetic analyses of the slide-motion film and the figure of style the static shot, and through
exploring how moving and still images, as well as sound, can be effectively used to explain
matters – for instance, but not only – in digital textbooks for pupils and students. Still moving
research is explored through the ongoing research projects Between Stillness and Motion: Film,
Photography, Algorithms (Hausken in Røssaak), Mediating Materialities of Still Moving Images – the
Static Shot in Film, Video, and File (Faldalen), and Still and Moving Images in Explanatory Web Sites
(Fagerjord).
National and international networks and cooperating partners are the Nordic network
Nordic Film Think Tank (Solum, Ib Bondebjerg and Erik Hedling), The National Library
(Røssaak), the project The Body Language in Audio-Visual Media and its members (Lennard
Højbjerg and Torben Grodal), Gunnar Iversen, Bjørn Sørensen and Stig Kulset (NTNU), Jan
Anders Diesen, Tore Helseth and Audun Engelstad (Lillehammer), Maaret Koskinen, Trond
Lundemo and Astrid Söderbergh-Widding (Stockholm) and Erik Hedling (Lund), Dag
Asbjørnsen (The Department of Culture), and Timotheus J.V. Vermeulen (Reading).
COOPERATION PLANS. To arrange the below mentioned – and as part of the aim of
becoming one of the leading research areas in Europe – to inform about our activities and to
assist with application processes, we need the prioritized resources of the information and
research consultants at IMK.
AREA WORKSHOPS. The Media Aesthetic research area at IMK will meet monthly
to a) exchange ideas in an informal setting so as to generate less structured discussions of half
baked publications and potential projects, and b) read and discuss seminal texts within the
field of media aesthetics. The area will also meet twice every term to discuss research in
progress (papers, article drafts etc.). Once a semester we will invite a relevant international
guest to an extended (2-3 days) seminar, in which we discuss our own texts. Already this
spring, a Moving Images Aesthetics workshop will develop an application to NFR in June 2010
for the research project Moving Images Aesthetics.
AREA SEMINARS. The area plan to arrange the seminars Medial Transferals,
Visualization and Scientific Imaging, Audiovisual Aesthetics, Media Aesthetics and the Cultural Industry,
(In)Visual Culture: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives on Visibility and Invisibility in Media
Systems, Techno-Cultural Situated Selves: Identity and Subjectivity Today and Program and Programming:
Conceptualizing Media Formats and In-Formation during 2010-2013.
–8–
AREA EXHIBITION. The area will curate an exhibition – including a seminar – in
relation to the post doctoral-project Media Aesthetic Transferral as Performative Practice.
AREA COURSE. The area will involve higher-level students in the research network
as part of a planned Master course named Media Aesthetics Workshop (10 credits), which is
integrated in the area workshops. Based on the quality of theses written within what we define
as the Media Aesthetics area during the last few years, qualified recruitment seems probable.
AREA WEBSITE. The area will create a Media Aesthetics website.
AREA NETWORK. The area will initiate and organize a Nordic network for media
aesthetics.
CV’S WITH RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS AND PROJECT EXPERIENCE.
LIV HAUSKEN (Dr.art., Associate Professor) has been the leader of the inter-
disciplinary research project Media Aesthetics – Materiality, Practice and Experience for the last five
years, and as such been responsible for several international conferences, workshops, a major
art exhibition and all sorts of project activities. The two doctoral candidates in the group both
submitted and defended their doctoral theses during that period. She is editing the anthology
Thinking Media Aesthetics to be published at Duke University Press (2010) with contributions
from WJT Mitchell, D. N. Rodowick, Mary Ann Doane, Samuel Weber, Alexander R.
Galloway, Dieter Daniels and Sandra Naumann, as well as from the members of the project
group, Ina Blom, Arild Fetveit, Eivind Røssaak, Susanne Østby Sæther and herself. With
contributions from Tom Gunning, Mark Hansen, George Baker, Christa Blumlinger, and
Thomas Elsaesser in addition to all the members of the research group, the research project
will also publish the anthology Between Stillness and Motion: Film, Photography, Algorithms (ed.
Røssaak) at the Amsterdam University Press this year. Hausken has also published a
collection of media aesthetic studies in Norwegian (Medieestetikk, Spartacus 2009). Hausken
has participated in the two inter-disciplinary NFR-projects Aesthetics at Work at the University
of Oslo (2003-2007) and The Photography in Culture at the University of Bergen (2004-2008).
She has also been part of the Nordic Network of the History and Aesthetics of Photography for five
years. Hausken is international partner in the Swedish research project Media Aesthetic Pedagogy
at Malmö University (Feiwel Kupferberg). She is also a member of the board of the Aesthetic
Seminar, an open, interdisciplinary seminar at the Humanistic Faculty at the University of
Oslo. She is the co-editor, with Peter Larsen, of Medievitenskap, a four-volume textbook in
–9–
Media Studies (1999, revised 2008/2009), and has published numerous articles on such topics
as textual theory, narrative theory, feminism, film, television, photography, and medical
imaging, among them “Textual Theory and Blind Spots in Media Studies”, in Marie-Laure
Ryan (ed., 2004) Narrative Across Media. The Languages of Storytelling, University of Nebraska,
“Fotografisk erfaring” (Photographic Experience), in C. Krogholm and J. Uhre Mogensen
(eds., 2006) Fotografiske dialekter, NSU Press; ”Billedbehandling og troverdighet” (Image
Modification and Credibility), in E. Skogerbø and G.Enli (ed., 2007) Digitale Dilemma,
Gyldendal; and “The Aesthetics of X-ray Imaging”, in A.Melberg (ed., 2007) Aesthetics at
Work, UniPub.
OVE SOLUM (Dr. philos, Professor) has done research and published articles and
books on a wide range of subject within the field of film studies (film history, film theory,
film analysis and institutional analysis). He recently finished the book Den norske filmbølgen.
Fra Orions belte til Max Manus (The Norwegian Film Wave – From Orion’s Belt to Max Manus)
written in collaboration with professor Gunnar Iversen (NTNU). The book was published in
January 2010 and combines a historical overview of Norwegian film history after 1985 with
close readings of a selection of film texts from the period. This book follows the book
Nærbilder: artikler om norsk filmhistorie (Close-Ups: Articles on Norwegian Film History) from 1997
which dealt with the Norwegian film history from the pioneer area to the mid 1980s. In 2007
the anthology Følelser for film (Feelings For Film) was published with Solum as editor (and
contributor) discussing the emotional appeal of films. Solum is currently revising the fourth
edition of the book Introduksjon til film. Historie, teori og analyse (Introduction to Film. History,
Theory, and Analysis) first published in 1994 (Swedish edition 1997). Solum’s doctoral thesis
(2004) dealt with the development of the unique municipal cinema system of Norway, as a
part of the project titled The Municipal Cinema System of Norway. This project has resulted in
articles in national and international journals and in several reports. The last publication
related to the project was the book Film og Kino. Den norske modellen (Film and Cinema. The
Norwegian Model) which was published in 2008. Solum is part of a Norwegian network for
film historians. He is member of the Research group at the National Library and is in charge
of the annual Film History Conference arranged in collaboration with the National Library
and Norwegian Film Institute. Solum is also part of a research project on Norwegian film
history applying for funding. In April 2010 he is in charge of a seminar on Scandinavian
New Wave with contributors from the different Scandinavian countries. The plan is to use
– 10 –
this seminar as a starting point to develop a Scandinavian research project focusing upon the
mutual historical and actual tendencies in Nordic film. This Scandinavian network will be
strengthened with the newly established Journal of Scandinavian Cinema. Solum is a member of
the journal’s advisory board. In relation to the digitalization of the cinemas in Norway taking
place between 2010 and 2012, Solum plans a project dealing with the different aspects of the
digitalization process. The project will study the consequences both when it comes to the
Norwegian cinema institution as such, the film repertoire and questions related to the
aesthetical consequences of the digital turn.
Blindern, March 2010
Liv Hausken
Ove Solum
Jon Inge Faldalen
– 11 –
Tanja!Storsul!29.!oktober!2012!!
•
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•
Dette!notatet!oppsummerer!de!viktigste!resultatene!fra!Media!Innovations!fra!
juli!2010!til!oktober!2012.!!
!
I!søknaden!om!å!bli!prioritert!område!la!vi!vekt!på!at!vi!ønsket!å:!
• Styrke!forskningen!gjennom!mer!deling!og!samarbeid.!
• Utvikle!nye!prosjekter.!
Aktiviteter&
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Medlemmene!i!Media!Innovations!trekker!i!sin!interne!midtveisevaluering!(feb!
2012)!fram!at!det!viktigste!området!har!bidratt!med!er!å!være!et!faglig!
fellesskap.!Flere!trekker!fram!at!Media!Innovations!har!arenaer!for!diskusjon!der!
vi!både!diskuterer!teori!og!konkrete!forskningsprosjekter!og!vi!gir!hverandre!
tilbakemeldinger.!!
!
Videre!legger!medlemmene!vekt!på!at!Media!Innovations!har!bidratt!til!et!økt!
fokus!på!innovasjonsteori!blant!medlemmene.!Dette!har!gitt!økt$bevissthet$om$
’innovasjon’$som$et$faglig$begrep!og!mer!refleksjon!rundt!betydningen!av!ulike!
former!for!innovasjon.!Flere!trekker!fram!at!de!lenge!har!jobbet!med!innovasjon!
eller!forskning!på!innovasjon!og!først!nå!reflekterer!faglig!over!implikasjoner!av!
begrepet.!
!
Dermed!blir!det!også!rimelig!å!prøve!ut!om!innovasjonsbegrep!og!–teori!kan!gi!
nye$innsikter$til$gamle$problemstillinger!–!om!medieutvikling,!samfunnsendring,!
brukere.!Tidligere!forskning!leses!med!innovasjonsbriller!og!nye!perspektiver!
åpner!nye!muligheter.!Dette!har!bidratt!til!samarbeid!om!nye!prosjektidéer,!
publikasjoner,!symposium!og!undervisning.!
Nye&prosjekter&
Forskerne!i!Media!Innovations!har!utviklet!flere!prosjektsøknader,!hvorav!flere!
har!fått!støtte:!
• ’App!power’!ble!utviklet!gjennom!et!samarbeid!mellom!mange!av!
deltakerne!i!Media!Innovations.!Prosjektet!fikk!ikke!støtte!i!VERDIKT,!
men!har!fått!prosjektstøtte!fra!RAM.!
• ’Situated!simulations’!har!utviklet!både!en!VERDIKTTsøknad,!EUT
søknader,.!VERDIKTTsøknaden!fikk!ikke!støtte,!og!utfallet!av!EUTsøknaden!
er!ukjent.!Prosjektet!har!også!fått!støtte!blant!annet!fra!Kulturrådet!og!
Statsbygg.!!
• ’Nettdebatten!etter!22.!juli’!fikk!RAMTstøtte!til!et!forskningsprosjekt!med!
deltakere!fra!Media!Innovations.!
• Media!Innovations!fikk!nettverksmidler!fra!Samkul!til!en!workshop!om!
Media!Innovations!in!International!Politics.!Workshopen!ble!avholdt!28.T
29.!september.!
• Media!Innovations!var!partner!i!en!BIATsøknad!om!et!innovasjonsprosjekt!
om!tredjegenerasjons!publiseringssystemer!for!nettaviser.!ATpressen!var!
hovedsøker.!Søknaden!fikk!ikke!støtte.!
!
Et!prosjekt!om!brukerevaluering!og!testing!av!App!i!kunstmuseer!er!nylig!
sendt!Kulturrådet!fra!forsker!tilknyttet!Media!Innovations.!
Sky!og!scene!fikk!tilslag!på!sin!NFRTsøknad!i!2010!(men!søknaden!var!
utforma!før!Media!Innovations!ble!etablert).!
1!
Media!Innovations!har,!slik!det!ble!framhevet!i!søknaden,!gjennomført!en!rekke!
aktiviteter!som!har!hatt!som!formål!å!styrke!samarbeid,!utvikle!undervisning!og!
knytte!nettverk!til!samarbeidende!miljøer.!I!tillegg!til!halvårlige!interne!
seminarer!og!en!kontinuerlig!rekke!av!kollokvier/seminarer!og!
gjesteforelesninger!(se!vedlegg)!vil!vi!særlig!trekke!fram:!
!
Masteremnet!Media$Innovations!ble!første!gang!gitt!vårsemestret!2012.!Flere!av!
forskerne!i!Media!Innovations!bidro!til!undervisninga.!
!
The$International$Symposium$on$Media$Innovations$19.T20.!april!2012.!!Dette!var!
et!symposium!med!ca!80!deltakere!fra!forskning!og!næringsliv!i!over!20!land.!
Symposiet!plasserte!oss!som!stedet!der!det!forskes!på!medieinnovasjon.!
Symposiet!er!etablert!som!en!årlig!event!der!arrangementet!alternerer!mellom!
IMK!og!kolleger!ved!Vrije!Universitet!i!Brussel.!
!
Antologien!Media$Innovations!redigert!av!Arne!Krumsvik!og!Tanja!Storsul!gis!ut!
på!Nordicom!tidlig!i!2013.!Antologien!er!basert!på!bidrag!til!symposiet!i!2012.!
!
Workshopen!ICT$and$the$global$governance$of$peace$and$security!ble!arrangert!
med!tung!internasjonal!deltakelse!28.T29.!september!2012.!
!
PhDTworkshopen!Researching$Media$Innovations$–$approaches$to$users,$producers$
and$texts!arrangeres!7.!november!2012.!!
!
Workshopen!Ethical$Internet$Research!arrangeres!19.!november!2012.!!
!
Media!Innovations!har!ikke!gjennomført!felles!store!empiriske!studier!slik!det!
ble!beskrevet!i!søknaden.!Dette!er!IMKs!ledelse!orientert!om.!
Centre&for&Research&on&Media&Innovations&
Deltakerne!i!Media!Innovations!har!opplevd!samarbeidet!så!fruktbart!at!vi!har!
ønsket!å!gi!samarbeidet!en!noe!fastere!form!som!muliggjør!videreføring!
uavhengig!av!IMKs!framtidige!prioriteringer,!og!som!letter!samarbeid!mot!
eksterne!forskningsmiljø.!Media!Innovations!har!derfor!etablert!Centre!for!
Research!on!Media!Innovations!(CeRMI).!Pr!i!dag!har!CeRMI!medlemmer!fra!
Telenor,!Sintef,!Høgskolen!i!Gjøvik,!Høgskolen!i!Oslo!og!Akershus,!og!IMK.!
!
Websida!er!knutepunktet!i!sentret:!
http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/research/center/mediaTinnovations/!
!
Og!vi!sprer!informasjon!via!Facebook:!
https://www.facebook.com/MediaInnovations!!
!
2!
Vedlegg:!
•
Events!announced!on!the!website!T!open!to!interested!
researchers!and!students.!
•
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•
Upcoming!events!
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•
•
•
•
•
PhD!Workshop:!Researching!Media!Innovations!T!Approaches!to!Users,!
Producers!and!Texts.!Time!and!place:!Nov!7,!2012!09:15!AM!T!04:00!PM,!
Room!406,!Department!of!media!and!communication!Add!to!calendar!
Workshop:!Ethical!Internet!Research:!Challenges!and!(re)solutions.!Time!
and!place:!Nov!19,!2012!12:00!PM!T!04:00!PM,!Room!208,!Department!of!
Media!and!Communication!Add!to!calendar!
PhD!Defense:!Jens!Barland.!Time:!Nov!28,!2012!Add!to!calendar!
Internal!workshop.!Time!and!place:!Dec!10,!2012,!406!Add!to!calendar!
The!International!Symposium!on!Media!Innovations!2013.!Time!and!
place:!Apr!18,!2013!T!Apr!19,!2013,!Brussels!Add!to!calendar!
•
•
•
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•
Previous!events!
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
!
Workshop:!ICTs!and!the!Global!Governance!of!Peace!and!Security.!Time!
and!place:!Sep!28,!2012!09:00!AM!T!Sep!29,!2012!12:30!PM,!Rådssalen,!
Lucy!Smiths!Building,!University!of!Oslo!
PhD!thesis!defense:!Vilde!Schanke!Sundet.!Time!and!place:!Sep!19,!2012!
11:15!AM,!Auditorium!6!Eilert!Sunds!hus!
Reception:!Opening!of!Centre!for!Research!on!Media!Innovations.!Time!
and!place:!Aug!27,!2012!03:00!PM!T!04:00!PM,!IMK,!room!418!
Guest!lecture!by!Jan!Fagerberg:!“Innovasjonsstudier!–!en!oversikt”!Time!
and!place:!Jun!5,!2012!12:30!PM!T!02:00!PM,!Rom!418!!
Why!the!KGB!wants!you!to!join!Facebook!T!with!Evgeny!Morozov.!Time!
and!place:!May!11,!2012!02:00!PM!T!04:00!PM,!University!of!Oslo,!
Forskningsparken,!Gaustadalléen!21,!IMK,!room!205!
The!International!Symposium!on!Media!Innovations!at!the!University!of!
Oslo.!Time!and!place:!Apr!19,!2012!T!Apr!20,!2012,!University!of!Oslo,!Oslo!
Innovation!Center!
Colloquium!on!innovation!theory!and!research:!Niamh!Ní!Bhroin!and!
Tanja!Storsul:!On!Social!Innovation.!Time!and!place:!Dec!6,!2011!01:15!
PM!T!02:00!PM,!Rom!406!(lounge):!!
Colloquium!with!visiting!researchers!Andrea!Calderaro!and!Jonathan!
Albright.!(Andrea!Calderaro:!"New!Media!and!International!Politics:!
opportunities,!despite!the!limits"!Jonathan!Albright:!"Curatorial!vs.!
editorial!newsmaking:!new!forms!of!audience!participation!in!the!online!
news!ecosystem")!Time!and!place:!Nov!29,!2011!12:30!PM!T!02:00!PM,!
Rom!418!
Guest!lecture!by!Steve!Jones!"Human!Augmentics!and!Persuasive!
Technologies.!Bridging!Communication!and!Computer!Science."!Time!and!
place:!Nov!22,!2011!12:15!PM!T!02:00!PM,!Room!202!
3!
•
•
Colloquium!on!innovation!theory!and!research!Anders!Fagerjord:!On!
syntheticTanalytic!approaches.!Time!and!place:!Nov!8,!2011!01:15!PM!T!
02:00!PM,!Rom!406!(lounge)!
Colloquium!on!innovation!theory!and!research.!Terje!Colbjørnsen!
presents!his!PhDTproject!for!discussion.!
Colloquium!on!innovation!theory!and!research.!Niamh!presents!her!PhD!
project!for!discussion.!Time!and!place:!Jun!14,!2011!01:15!PM!T!02:00!PM,!
Rom!406!
Colloquium!on!Innovation!theory.!Gunnar!Liestøl!and!Terje!Rasmussen:!
Inventio!and!Innovation.!Time!and!place:!May!3,!2011!01:00!PM!T!02:00!
PM,!Room!406!
Colloquium!on!innovation!theory!and!research.!Tone!Bratteteig!om!
Participatory!design!og!innovasjon.!Internal!seminar!Time!and!place:!Mar!
2,!2011!10:00!AM!T!11:00!AM,!Room!418!
Colloquium!on!innovation!theory!and!research.!Arnt!Maasø!discusses!ties!
T!i.e.!Granovetters'!theory!about!'weak!and!strong!ties'!(1973)!and!Adams'!
concept!'temporary!ties'.!Time!and!place:!Dec!10,!2010!12:30!PM!T!01:30!
PM,!Room!406!
Mobile!opplevelser:!Tverrfaglig!seminar!om!design.!Time!and!place:!Nov!
30,!2010!10:15!AM!T!Dec!1,!2010!01:00!PM,!Forskningsparken!
Colloquium!on!innovation!theory!and!research.!!Tanja!Storsul!about!
Tapscott!&!Williams'!Wikinomics.!Time!and!place:!Nov!26,!2010!12:30!PM,!
Room!406!!
Colloquium!on!innovation!theory!and!research.!!Terje!Rasmussen!about!
Eric!von!Hippel's!Democratizing!Innovation.!Time!and!place:!Nov!12,!
2010!12:30!PM,!Room!406!
!
!
4!
Media Aesthetics – kort rapport, oktober 2012
Aktiviteter og resultater fra området:
25 månedlige arbeidsseminarer hittil
Web: på norsk og engelsk, inkluderer Aktuelt (nye prosjekter og medarbeidere),
Kalender (relevante konferanser, foredrag og seminarer), Call for papers (tidsfrister),
våre egne seminarer (se egen oversikt), Curriculum (se nedenfor), Nettressurser
(relevante tidsskrifter, magasiner, nettsteder, blogger, lenker og andre ressurser til
inspirasjon og forlystelse), Studenter (relevant informasjon om aktuelle medieestetiske
emner, tips til akademisk skriving og en idebank til masteroppgaver, som er åpen for
kommentering). Underområder gir alle deltakere mulighet til å presentere prosjektene
sine under prosjektporteføljene Audiovisuell estetikk, Mediale forskyvninger eller
Visualisering og vitenskapelig bildedannelse, lenket til egne personsider.
Curriculum, medieestetisk leseliste (se rapport vedlagt)
Postdoc
Ph.d.-kandidater fra medievitenskap, andre institutter og andre institusjoner (se rapport
vedlagt)
Studentrettet arbeid (se rapport)
Masterclass: 1.-3. februar 2011 arrangerte området Masterclass med den nederlandske
nett-teoretikeren Geert Lovink
Forelesningsrekke: 10. mai – 14. Juni 2012 arrangerte Medieestetikk forelesningsrekken
Screenicity: images, screens and the augment city, som bestod av forelesninger med
Christian Ulrik Andersen (Aarhus Universitet), Chris Berry (Goldsmiths, London), Mark
Shepard (Buffalo State University) og Nanna Verhoeff (Utrecht University).
Overvåkingsseminaret:
8.
november
2012
arrangerer
Medieestetikk
Overvåkingsseminaret: et kritisk blikk på overvåking i Norge etter 22. Juli rapporten.
Seminaret handler ikke om 22 juli per se, men ved å se på rapporten ønsker vi å stille
kritiske spørsmål om åpenhet, demokrati og overvåking i det norske samfunnet (se
vedlagt program).
For prosjekter og publikasjoner , nettverksbygging og innflytelse se rapporten vedlagt.
1
Media Aesthetics – rapport, oktober 2012
Denne rapporten gir en kort oppsummering av de viktigste utbyttene og aktivitetene så
langt, for det prioriterte forskningsområdet Medieestetikk. Rapporten presenterer først
områdets overordnede faglige utbytte og betydning, før den går mer konkret inn på
områdets månedlige seminarer, postdoc, web, studentrettet arbeid og andre aktiviteter.
Overordnet faglig utbytte, teoriutvikling og nye perspektiver
Prioriteringen av forskningsområdet Medieestetikk har hatt stor betydning for
Medieestetikk som fagfelt på IMK, for både interne og eksterne deltakeres individuelle
utbytte samt for konsolideringen og videreutviklingen av Medieestetikk som fagfelt i
Norge og internasjonalt.
For den enkelte deltager på Medieestetikk har prioriteringen av området betydd en
synliggjøring og styrking av et faglig fellesskap og et rom for aktuelle, faglige og kritiske
diskusjoner omkring estetikk, teknologi og formidlingsformer. Dette faglige rommet er
prinsipielt og praktisk åpent for alle som vil bidra. Dette har ført til at Medieestetikk ved
IMK er blitt et sted både for ansatte ved IMK, studenter fra både medie- og
estetikkprogrammene, interne og eksterne stipendiater (som bl.a. Kultrans),
gjesteforskere (som eksempelvis David Berry våren 2012), forskere ved andre
institutter (IFIKK, ILOS) og institusjoner (Høgskolen i Lillehammer, Høgskolen i Hamar,
Arkitekthøgskolen i Oslo, Westerdahls) og forskere uten institusjonell tilknytning
(hvorav noen, men ikke alle, søker PhD-stipend eller post.doc. stillinger). Dette har blant
annet bidratt til økt samarbeid om nye prosjekter og om paneler på konferanser.
Dessuten har det bidratt til å styrke troen på betydningen av et humanistisk perspektiv i
forskningen og undervisningen ved IMK.
Prioriteringen av forskningsområdet Medieestetikk er av stor betydning for utviklingen
av Medieestetikk som teoretisk og analytisk perspektiv. Det er alltid vanskelig å måle
effekten av en slik institusjonell prioritering men det er påviselig at områdets
perspektiver og problemstillinger gir stadig større og mer markant gjenklang
internasjonalt på konferanser, tidsskrift og i bokutgivelser. Vi ser også mer spesifikt at
de problemstillingene og forskningsinteressene områdets forskere særlig har vært
særlig opptatt av (betydningen av den tekniske medieringen, mediale forskyvninger,
vitenskapelig billeddannelse osv) også vokser fram internasjonalt. Prioriteringen av
Medieestetikk ved IMK har slik vært viktig for deltagernes muligheter til å delta i den
teoriutviklingen og kunnskapsbyggingen som foregår på disse områdene i og utenfor
Norge.
Månedlige arbeidsseminarer
Siden prioriteringen av Medieestetikk ble iverksatt, eller strengt allerede fra juni 2010
og fram til oktober 2012, har vi arrangert 25 månedlige arbeidsseminarer. Disse
seminarene har vært helt avgjørende for å skape et miljø og et sted for faglig utveksling.
Arbeidsseminarenes overordnede formål er å være et rom hvor deltagerne kan legge
frem egne tekster og ideer for tilbakemelding, et sted for diskusjon av faglige relevante
2
tekster og tema, og et fast møtested for medieestetikere ved IMK og eksterne fagfolk
med sammenfallende faglige interesser. Forumet har også blitt brukt til høyttenkning
rundt aktuelle forskningsobjekter og til å se relevante filmer og annet materiale.
Prinsippet om å holde en åpen og inkluderende linje hvor alle interesserte er velkomne
har medført muligheten til å bygge opp et nettverk av interesserte på ulike nivå (fra
materstudent til professor) og med ulike former for tilknytning. Dette gjør området til et
svært engasjert, kompetent og fleksibelt fagmiljø.
Siden Medieestetikk har vært etablert og utviklet som fagområde over en tiårsperiode
har oppgaven nå vært å konsolidere, videreutvikle og ytterligere kvalifisere begreper,
perspektiver og metoder. Som ledd i dette har vi – i tillegg til å arbeide med deltakernes
egne forskningsarbeider – forsøkt å bygge opp et tekstkorpus og en refleksjon omkring
gamle og nye tekster av relevans for forskningsområdet. Dette har vi forsøkt å gjøre med
en viss systematikk. Det første året, altså høstsemesteret 2010 og vårsemesteret 2011,
ble det lagt vekt på tekster med fokus på medie- og medieringsbegreper. Høsten 2011
var tematikken tysk Medieestetikk, våren 2012 var viet til det som kan omtales som
kanadisk Medieestetikk, mens inneværende semester retter fokus mot fenomenologi og
estetikk (som er en notorisk vanskelig distinksjon). Formålet med en slik overordnet
tematikk har vært å mer systematisk kunne arbeide seg gjennom de tradisjoner,
begreper og forskningsperspektiver som er sentrale og relevante for oss. Denne
gjennomgangen av tekster har også fungert som et ledd i oppbyggingen av et felles
tekstgrunnlag for området – et medieestetisk curriculum. Tekstene blir derfor vurdert
etter diskusjonene mht fruktbarhet og relevans for området og deretter kategorisert i en
leseliste på områdets web som kjernelitteratur, utvidet leseliste og inspirerende tekster,
eller ”need to know”, ”nice to know” and ”for inspiration”.
Arbeidsseminarene samler månedlig mellom tolv og femten personer. Drøyt halvparten
av disse kommer praktisk talt hver gang mens de øvrige varierer pga andre forpliktelser
(som undervisning ved andre institusjoner), forskningsopphold utenlands, o.a. I tillegg
har vi en del interesserte som støtter opp om området, bidrar faglig på mail og som
kommer når de har anledning.
Blant deltagerne i det medieestetiske området finner vi:
Ingrid Hoelzl, Jon Inge Faldalen, Kai Schwind, Lene Vibeke Hansen, Liv Hausken,
Magdalena Tutka Gwozdz, Ove Solum, Anders Sundnes Løvlie, Gry Rustad, Gunnar
Liestøl, Helge Rønning, Johanne Servoll Kielland, Susanne Østby Sæther, Taina Bucher,
Tore Slaatta, Trine Krigsvoll Haagensen, Andrew Salway, Håvard Andreas, Nadège
Lourme Hanssen, Yngvil Beyer, Andrew Morrison, Audun Engelstad, Eivind Røssaak, Ina
Blom, Ingrid Rommetveit, Karolina Bieszczad-Roley, Ragnhild Tronstad, Sara Rundgren
Yazdani, Siv Heidi Hansen, Steffen Krueger, Synne Skjulstad, David Berry og Audun Solli.
Inneværende semester har flere masterstudenter kommet til, både fra medie- og
estetikkprogrammene.
Arbeidsseminarene fungerer også som et forum hvor man kan invitere inn utenlandske
forskere som oppholder seg i Norge (representert ved Tyskland, Polen, Østerrike,
England og Frankrike). Thomas Elsaesser er en av de som har presentert eget arbeid på
medieestetisk seminar. Arbeidsseminarene har slik fungert som en mulighet til å bygge
3
opp et internasjonalt nettverk, og trekke på en bredere kompetanse. En av de
utenlandske gjestene beskriver seminarene som ”exceedingly well-functioning 'sparring
place' to test articles and theoretical ideas.”
Foruten å være et viktig faglig inspirerende og utviklende samlingspunkt fyller selvsagt
seminaret en viktig sosial funksjon. Medieestetikk arrangerer derfor også utvidete
arbeidsseminarer som avslutning på hvert semester.
Web
Arbeidet med utvikle egne hjemmesider til området startet allerede sommeren 2010.
Det legges kontinuerlig ned mye arbeid og ressurser i å få Medieestetikk sine nettsider
til å fungere best mulig som forskningsgruppens viktigste kommunikasjonskanal både
for interne UiO-brukere og for interesserte i Norge og internasjonalt. Det har vært et mål
å informere bredest mulig, og å inkludere studenter og internasjonale ressurser.
Informasjonen blir oppdatert på norsk og engelsk, og inkluderer Aktuelt (nye prosjekter
og medarbeidere), Kalender (relevante konferanser, foredrag og seminarer), Call for
papers (tidsfrister), våre egne seminarer (se egen oversikt), Curriculum (se nedenfor),
Nettressurser (relevante tidsskrifter, magasiner, nettsteder, blogger, lenker og andre
ressurser til inspirasjon og forlystelse), Studenter (relevant informasjon om aktuelle
medieestetiske emner, tips til akademisk skriving og en idebank til masteroppgaver,
som er åpen for kommentering). Underområder gir alle deltakere mulighet til å
presentere prosjektene sine under prosjektporteføljene Audiovisuell estetikk, Mediale
forskyvninger eller Visualisering og vitenskapelig bildedannelse, lenket til egne
personsider.
Curriculum
Som et ledd i konsolideringen og videreutviklingen av Medieestetikk som
forskningsområde arbeider vi som nevnt med å utarbeide en medieestetisk leseliste som
skal være tilgjengelig på nett. Foruten å tydeliggjøre et felles tekstgrunnlag innen
området fungerer leselisten som en viktig pekepinn for studenter og interesserte fra
andre forskningsinstitusjoner som ønsker å orientere seg mot og om Medieestetikk.
Listene er under utarbeiding og skal også forbli åpne for kommentarer og nye forslag
slik at tekstkorpuset ikke bestemmes en gang for alle og heller ikke begrenses av
interessene til forskere på IMK men er i kontakt med forskningsfeltet utenfor IMK både i
Norge og internasjonalt.
Postdoc
Da Medieestetikk ble prioritert ved IMK fikk vi anledning til å søke om neste strategiske
stipend fra fakultetet, noe vi gjorde og fikk, med påfølgende utlysnings- og
ansettelsesprosess. Stillingen hadde en overveldende høy andel internasjonale søkere og
vi fikk også ansatt en søker (Ingrid Hoelzl) med forskningserfaring fra flere anerkjente
4
forskningsinstitusjoner (Humboldt i Berlin og McGill i Montreal) som også har hatt stor
relevans for utviklingen av medieestetikk (jf tysk medieteori og –filosofi, og kanadisk
medieforskning). Holzl utgjør en viktig forskningsressurs ved IMK, og hennes
kompetanse og nettverk bidrar til å utvikle kontaktflaten mellom IMK og andre
forskningsinstitusjoner som er relevante for forskning på estetikk, teknologi og
mediering.
Ph.d.-kandidater
Medieestetikk har vist seg å skape et særdeles viktig møtested for stipendiater.
Områdets månedlige seminarer utgjør et viktig sted for å få tilbakemeldinger på egne
tekster og tanker, prøve ut teorier og argumenter og bygge opp et kjærkomment
nettverk av forskere med tangerende interesser. Videre medfører det å ”tilhøre et
område” en sterkere følelse av å tilhøre et fagfellesskap. Medieestetikk bidrar dessuten
med oppdatert informasjon på weben om seminarer, call-for-papers, etc. som er av
spesiell interesse for medlemmene av området. Denne funksjonen er ekstra viktig for
unge forskere.
Vi vil også understreke at den åpne og inkluderende profilen til Medieestetikk har
medført et svært bredt og kompetent deltagernettverk av stipendiater både fra IMK og
andre institutter ved UiO, fra Høgskolen i Hamar og Høgskolen i Lillehammer.
Studentrettet arbeid
Medieestetikk anser arbeidet med studenter som en viktig del i å bygge opp et fremtidig
sterkt og kritisk fagmiljø. Det månedlige arbeidsseminarets åpne profil har slik også
fungert som et forum for studenter som vil delta i faglige diskusjoner og/eller få
tilbakemelding på egne prosjekter. Seminaret har hatt med masterstudenter både fra
estetikkprogrammet og fra medieprogrammet. Som et ledd i det studentrettede arbeidet
har også en av masterstudentene tatt emnet MEVIT4895 - Konferansedeltagelse med
presentasjon på det månedlige seminaret. Flere av de nye studentene skal etter planen ta
dette emnet hos oss til våren. Slik bidrar arbeidsseminaret til avlagte studiepoeng på
masternivå.
Videre kan det her også sies at Medieestetikk har lagt ned et anselig arbeid i utviklingen
av studentressurser på fagområdets hjemmesider. Her har vi samlet inn og lagt ut ideer
til medieestetiske masteroppgaver, manual for akademisk skriving, tips og råd til
innlevering av hjemmeeksamen, liste over filmatiske grunnbegreper, etc.
Medieestetiske perspektiver er også godt integrert i instituttets undervisning. Blant
sentrale medieestetiske emner på instituttet finnes: det engelskspråklige emnet
Audiovisual Aesthetics som ble opprettet høst 2010, emnene Filmhistorie (BA) og
Alternativ film (BA/MA), Filmauteuren, Medietekster: teori og analyse, Moderne
fjernsynsfiksjon (ma) 2009 og 2010, Tverrestetisk prosjektsemester (ba) og
Medieestetikk (ba/ma).
Ytterligere aktiviteter
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8. november 2012 arrangerer Medieestetikk Overvåkingsseminaret: et kritisk blikk på
overvåking i Norge etter 22. Juli rapporten. Seminaret handler ikke om 22 juli per se,
men ved å se på rapporten ønsker vi å stille kritiske spørsmål om åpenhet og overvåking
i det norske samfunnet. Jon Wessel-Aas (Internasjonale Juristkommisjon), Joakim
Hammerlin, Jon Fitje (PST), Åke Refesdal-Moe (Teknologirådet). Taina Bucher (IMK),
Elisabeth Staksrud (IMK), Eivind Lentz og Heidi Mork Lomell (Politihøgskolen), Liv
Hausken (IMK) holder innlegg. Medieestetikk planlegger å gi ut en samling av
innledningene fra seminaret etterpå.
10. mai – 14. Juni 2012 arrangerte Medieestetikk forelesningsrekken Screenicity:
images, screens and the augment city, som bestod av forelesninger med Christian Ulrik
Andersen (Aarhus Universitet), Chris Berry (Goldsmiths, London), Mark Shepard
(Buffalo State University) og Nanna Verhoeff (Utrecht University). Denne seminarserien
var et initiativ fra vår postdoc Ingrid Hoelz og skal bidra til faglig stimulans og utvikling,
samt til nettverksbygging både mellom Medieestetikk og andre forskningsområder ved
IMK og mellom IMK og institusjoner internasjonalt.
Fra rapporten heter det: The series brought together four international scholars with a
background in art and architecture, film studies, and software studies, to investigate
screenicity in terms of digital augmentation, navigation, and public screen culture. Given
the multi-facetted nature of the Augmented City, the lectures covered a broad range of
issues and approaches: from the Software City focussing on the role of software art and
culture in the city, and public screens being the sites of both consumption and resistance
culture in a suburban setting in Shanghai (Chris Berry) to the Sentient City as a nearfuture scenario of a city capable of monitoring and organizing the life of its citizens
(Mark Shepard), and emerging Augmented Reality technologies for smartphones
fostering a performative cartography of urban space (Nanna Verhoeff).
1.-3. februar 2011 arrangerte området Masterclass med den nederlandske nettteoretikeren Geert Lovink med stor søknad og deltakelse fra studenter, stipendiater,
samt noen interne og eksterne forskere. Lovink holdt også en åpen forelesning som
”trakk fullt hus” på undervisningsrom 205. Det medieestetiske fagmiljøet jobbet her
strategisk med mediedekningen og fikk publisert både kronikk av og intervjuer med
Geert Lovink. Dette arrangementet er også et eksempel på hvordan Medieestetikk har
forsøkt å prøve ut nye seminarformer ved IMK.
Prosjekter og publikasjoner
Områdets medlemmer har naturligvis også bidratt til arrangementer av ulike slag,
prosjektutvikling og annet. Å redegjøre for dette for et slikt åpent forskningsfelt som
Medieestetikk lar seg ikke gjøre uten store avgrensningsproblemer. En del har tatt med
seg forskningsprosjekter inn i området etter at det ble prioritert ved IMK, andre har søkt
om støtte underveis, noe har fått slik støtte. Detaljerte oversikter over dette kan man
utvikle hvis det er behov for det, men vi kan nevne Tore Slåttas prosjekt Kunst og Makt,
Ove Solums prosjekt Den digitale film- og kinorevolusjonen, Ingrid Hölzls allerede
nevnte postdoc-prosjekt, Yngvil Beyers doktorprosjekt, Susanne Østby Sæthers postdocprosjekt (ved IFIKK) og et mediekunstprosjekt, Steffen Krügers utstilling "Stoffskifte",
finansiert av og presentert ved Barents Spektakel 2012.
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Å lage publikasjonslister og lister for konferansedeltakelse for et åpent
forskningsområde er tilsvarende vanskelig. Vi er i ferd med å utvikle dette til en evt
sluttrapport, men også her er avgrensningsproblemene omfattende, så vi lar dette ligge
inntil videre. Avslutningsvis vil vi forsøke å konkretisere noe av vårt nettverk som stadig
er under utvikling.
Nettverksbygging og innflytelse
En stor delegasjon fra Medieestetikk deltok ved den internasjonale konferansen Media
Acts i Trondheim høsten 2011 og bidro med dette til å konsolidere et kontaktnett som
bl.a. omfatter det nordiske nettverket NORsis og det prioriterte forskningsområdet
PerFormativitet ved NTNU. Vi har også utviklet tette bånd til Nomadikon-miljøet i
Bergen og til Nasjonalbiblioteket (både gjennom Archive in Motion prosjektet og
gjennom filmkonferansene der). Ove Solum er sentral i det norske filmhistorienettverket knyttet til Nasjonalbiblioteket, mens Archive in Motion - Liv Hausken, Eivind
Røssaak og Yngvil Beyer deltar i Arkivprosjektet. Jon Inge Faldalen representerer
området Media Aesthetics i det nordiske medienettverket Kropsprog i audiovisuelle
medier, ledet av Lennard Højbjerg ved Københavns universitet. Vi arbeider dessuten
videre med planer om å utvikle et Nordisk nettverk i Medieestetikk.
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