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- Convenors:
-
Fabien Medvecky
(Australian National University)
Michiel Van Oudheusden (VU Amsterdam)
Frank Kupper (VU University Amsterdam)
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- Discussant:
-
Marjoleine van der Meij
- Format:
- Combined Format Open Panel
Short Abstract:
Engaging actors across varying forms and levels of expertise comes with questions of power and possibilities. This combined panel considers how public engagement and science communication can be transformed by drawing on/using games, theatre and other creative modes.
Long Abstract:
Recent years have seen a surge of interest in theatre that engages with science topics, as well as science festivals and public dialogues that narrate stories with elements of play, emotion, drama, etc. This combined panel draws attention to the plurality of ways we can use games, theatres and other creative formats intentionally to transform engagement with science and technology and with science communication. We invite submissions that either a) showcase examples of how such methods have been intentionally used in engagement and communication activities, along with a reflection on the practice, or b) academic work that critically considers and theorizes the use of such methods in engagement and communication activities. We welcome submission of an academic paper presentation as well as in the creative format under consideration in the presentation.
In line with the conference theme, we invite explorations regarding the various roles and normative and practical commitments of those who participate in play and plays, thereby opening questions of power and possibilities: Who gets to play with science and technology, both in the sense of who is entitled or permitted to participate (whether the permissibility is self- or externally-imposed), and in the sense of who has the means or resources to participate? Part of the answer lies with the processes and methods that are used for engaging actors. Developing appropriate responses to these questions will require critical self-reflection in terms of how participants (scientists, experts, citizens, as well as technologies, storylines, props, etc.) participate in making and doing ‘play.’
Accepted contributions:
Session 1Harry Yi-Jui Wu (National Cheng Kung University)
Short abstract:
This presentation explains documentary theatre as an ethnographic method to understand the nature of long-term care. Such a method enables students to appreciate perspectivism in clinical experience, and to use the catharsis and embodiment effect of drama to deepen participants' empathy.
Long abstract:
In recent years, medical education has emphasised narrative competence, with the hope that listening to stories will increase sensitivity and understanding of clinical diagnosis and treatment, which will not only improve the doctor-patient relationship, but also enhance the performance of cultural and structural competence of clinicians. Beginning five years ago, the author began experimenting with theatre practitioners, using documentary theatre to integrate the teaching of illness and long-term care narratives. Through participant observation, in-depth interviews, verbatim transcription and editing, as well as in-person performances, students from different disciplines are able to simultaneously gain in-depth knowledge of the professional and implicit aspects of long-term care, as well as the accompanying emotions that can affect the quality of care. The author suggests that the use of documentary theatre as an ethnographic methodology enables students to appreciate the role of perspectivism in the clinical experience, and to use the catharsis effect of drama and the emphasis on embodiment in theatre training to deepen the participants' empathy for the different workers and the relationship between caregivers and cared-for in long term care work. The theatre training also emphasises embodiment, which deepens the participants' empathy and their sense of the displacement of identity between different workers in long-term care and between the carers and the cared for.
Ocean Mercier (Victoria University of Wellington) Alan King-Hunt (Victoria University of Wellington) Symon Palmer (Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington) Sara Belcher
Short abstract:
We present a prototype ludic activity designed to stimulate conversation on genetic modification, supporting broader participation in debates on GM in Aotearoa New Zealand. The activity draws on our interviews with Indigenous Māori about new genetic technologies for pest management.
Long abstract:
Aotearoa New Zealand’s nationwide strategy to support native biodiversity by eradicating mammalian predators by 2050 has sparked new research into genetic technologies that would amplify current pest control efforts. Genetic modification is potentially transformational, but controversial, particularly for Māori, the Indigenous peoples of Aotearoa. Māori share societal concerns about risks and unknowns, but raise other existential, socio-cultural and power-related questions about adoption and use of novel biotechnologies. Social research to guide scientific inquiries must also account for political authority in a Treaty-based nation, and relationships of Māori with the ecosystems we aim to repair through pest management.
Supported by National Science Challenge: Our Biological Heritage, the Tiaki: Invertebrates team have been in dialogue with Māori since 2016 about potential biotechnologies for insect control, including gene drive and gene silencing. A spin-off team, supported by Predator Free 2050, explores Māori approaches and responses to single-sex offspring selection for rat suppression. Responses to our explanations about GM applications have prompted us to adjust, refine and expand our communication strategies over time. This is culminating in an activity that draws on participant perspectives, enabling airing of opinions in collaborative, playful and productive ways. In an added ludic challenge participants 'takaro' (both 'play' and 'wrestle') with complex ideas and assume various positions on them. In this session we speculate on how our prototype ludic activity: responds to ideas about who is entitled or permitted to participate, facilitates science communication that shifts engagement with genetic technology, and thus enables and empowers participation in scientific debates.
Fabien Medvecky (Australian National University) Vicki Macknight (University of Otago) Marie McEntee (University of Auckland) Leane Makey
Long abstract:
The increasing call for ‘more public engagement’, ‘more dialogue’ often gives little consideration to what ‘engagement’ or ‘dialogue’ is possible in a given context. This is an especially vexing when there are significant epistemic imbalances, such as engagement with complex or novel technologies, where those engaged have little prior knowledge. One helpful way to think about this is in terms of epistemic anxiety—the anxiety arising from questioning how much knowledge one requires to hold before feeling confident to commit, comment or contribute. In the context of public and stakeholder engagement with science, technology or innovation, such epistemic anxiety can (and often does) limit the capacity for meaningful engagement.
In this paper, we consider what mechanisms are available to transform engagement activities in order overcome or minimize such epistemic anxiety. In particular, we consider the possibilities offered by purposeful games—a blend between ludic and serious games, where the both the entertaining and the purposeful aspect are integral. To flesh this out, we present a case study of the use of such games in a national dialogue on the use of genetic technologies for environmental and conservation purposes in New Zealand.
Engaging people in dialogue about genetic technologies is challenging, not simply because it is often contested, but also because of the epistemic anxiety faced by many in the engagement activity. We argue that purposeful games (and other mechanisms like it) are fundamental to meaningful engagement in terms of giving participants the permission to comment and contribute despite inherent epistemic imbalances.
Christina Klubert (Utrecht University)
Long abstract:
When human development is a continuous effort, and intersubjectivity is considered a significant value in dealing democratically with a complex world, then play is the key to transcending bridges in citizen involvement and tackling complex challenges democratically. As a citizen, learning to be lost in play, giving away control, and making the experience of building imaginaries which can guide action can reincarnate life with meaning and be the driver for transformative, and democratic change. Play offers a space to feel the courage to take difficult action, activate what is inside us, and learn to voice desired possibilities in more approachable ways. Therefore, it is a meaningful tool to overcome power dynamics. In a polarized society, play becomes particularly important as it serves as a means to foster a sense of reciprocity and reinforce trust and respect for others. At the Urban Futures Studio at Utrecht University, we investigate what we call ‘futuring’ - the playful, social creation of (imagined) futures that direct collective action and display meaningful, democratic ways to engage with one another. In the upcoming four years, we will explore what role 'play' and futuring can have in reimagining citizen engagement approaches in climate politics. Based on our experience with futuring, we would like to reflect with fellow researchers on these practices and get inspired on how we can shape active citizenship in a democratic society, enhancing our capabilities to tackle the complex challenges we face today.
Inge Hinterwaldner (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology)
Long abstract:
This presentation critically discusses the intended epistemic-communicative scope of a multi-authored academic study about the seminal netart piece .com (2001) by the artist duo JODI. It intentionally took an experimental and a traditional form: a) In Depth: Roaming around the conceptual space of JODI’s .com browser, 2024 is an interactive walk-through article. This interactive Unity-based environment is a digital game version of b) an academic text. The reason for the two versions is given with the object of study, which is exposed to the threat of software obsolescence. To provide the first in-depth interpretation of this iconic early netart piece we needed to secure it by documenting it thoroughly. This produces lots of detailed information. Given the complexity of the artwork, this is a tough read, but possibly the only in-depth trace to survive. To make that digestible for scholars of the future, we opted to switch to play mode. Piling up information merely as text seemed too abstract for outsiders to keep track of. Thus, we invite the reader-player into the guts of the artwork, or more precisely, into our interpretation of it. We condensed knowledge into image clusters in which textual narration is anchored. We seek to activate memory and support understanding with explorable components and localized information parcels. What role do embodiment and situated knowledge play? How is it providing insight? Is our approach suitable to reach a wider audience? Could it serve as a model for programmed pieces with which humanists fill databases of the future?
Pascal Jollivet (Université de Technologie de Compiègne (UTC)-Alliance Sorbonne Université) Ana Beatriz Duarte (Ceis20 Universidade de Coimbra) Indira Thouvenin (CNRS Heudiasyc Universty of Technology Compiègne) Bacely YoroBi
Long abstract:
The question of the compatibility of the current digital transition with the objectives of ecological transition is increasingly present, both in European institutional arenas, and in the press, as well as, most importantly, in civil society. However, a quick review of the academic literature shows that few studies explore the difficulties of making the digital transition via AI compatible with the ecological transition.
We propose here a preliminary exploration of this surprisingly little addressed issue. Over and above a literature review, our aim will be to understand why there is such a wide gap between the 'perception' of European institutions, of the Press, and of the majority of publishing researchers on the one hand, and part of civil society on the other (particularly leading engineering schools in France). The main methodology used in this exploratory phase will be that of controversy mapping (or 'issue studies') (Bruno Latour, 2010; Ghitalla, 2021; Lemos & Latour, 2012).
In a second stage, the map will act as a mediation device with a non-professional audience, using a science-art mediation perspective (Carless & Douglas, 2011; Crowther, 2012; Yee Pinn Tsin, 2015). Our aim is to create a scientific-musical event in which the results of the research will be shared and discussed through a musical performance, thus creating a sensorial translation of a techno-scientific and societal issue.
MIRCEA SAVA (University of Bucharest)
Long abstract:
Science festivals are an emblematic manifestation of the way in which science becomes an ingredient for performances related to the show industry, such as theatre, dance, music, games, where science adapts to the realities of popular culture. Bringing the traditional popular science conference for the wide public into a new register, the festival functions as an incubator for a great range of science events that intertwine knowledge and play. These scientific shows are introduced in a popular circuit which covers a wide spectrum of events that extends science into a domain which culminates with an appearance of carnival. Entertainment competes with scientific information, and profit is pursued as much as the promotion of science. The large number of visitors who pay admission tickets to attend science festivals demonstrates that science is transformed into a commodity for consumption, as much as a way of engagement. And the commodification of science is possible through a process of negotiation between actors who dispute their territories in the transmedial web of popular science, mediated by science communicators. This paper aims to analyse how the events proposed by the ”World Science Festival” contribute to the harmonization of the interests of these actors – scientists, communicators, artists, the public –, achieved through concessions made by all sides, and lead to a wider support network for the scientific process, with obvious benefits. The entire endeavour is edified under the guidance of professional science communicators by transferring science into the register of play and entertainment.
Nika Mavrody
Long abstract:
My paper engages a critique of a recent project I undertook in the Chicago theater scene as a writer selected to compose a script for a 24-hour show. Along with three other teams, I met my directors and actors at 7 p.m. on a video-conference platform to discuss staging a play for an audience expected to meet us at the same time in a venue the following night. Bleary-eyed already by 8:30 p.m., I started entering text into the US stageplay template of Literature & Latte's word-processing software, Scrivener, but its artificial intelligence (AI) repeatedly crashed the application while trying to complete my words. So instead, I ended up drafting my ten pages in a LaTeX screenplay format according to my actor's specifications, which included gender-neutrality, historical periodization, and an element of dance. After submitting my final version to a 9:30 a.m. meeting prior to the rehearsal process, I pasted my code into OpenAI's chatbot to produce an image rendering of the plot for use as a promotional material on social media. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) assumed both characters in my race-blind script were white but designed a setting and costume design beyond what my little Chicago production company could afford. The following day, after seeing the more human discrepancies my dialogue considered through its performers, I could corroborate a hypothesis about the unstable categories of actor, writer, and director that motivates my interest in theater, a site of "experimentation" as defined by Émile Zola in "Le Roman expérimental" (1880).
Harris Kornstein (University of Arizona)
Long abstract:
In recent years, drag performance has become a key target in political and cultural debates in the US and globally, with drag performers increasingly facing harassment, threats, libel, violence, and legislation that would criminalize this traditional art form. This culture-war-style backlash has been largely fueled by disinformation on social media via digital provocateurs like Libs of TikTok, which have spread use of the slur “groomer.”
However, drawing on aesthetic and political traditions within drag, performers demonstrate novel approaches to countering harassment, including creative strategies for ensuring personal privacy and safety while maintaining highly-visible public personas and artistic expression. In particular, drag performers often utilize culturally-specific brands of humor—including camp, reading, and shade—to playfully contest or dismiss their detractors. For example: drag performers have hosted fundraisers to discourage harassment by asking supporters to pledge one dollar for every hateful comment on a social media post.
This community-engaged research project draws on interviews with more than a dozen performers affiliated with the nonprofit Drag Story Hour to explore their use of playful approaches to challenging disinformation and hate speech. In so doing, the paper especially theorizes “queer play” as a cultural framework for communicating about, and challenging, the harms of contemporary digital technologies—especially for queer/trans and other marginalized communities. In so doing, it suggests opportunities for moving beyond typical discourses of inclusion, transparency, and privacy, instead drawing on vernacular queer/trans forms of communication grounded in exaggerated aesthetics, word play, and mischief.