IA7000 - Research for Practitioners

You will learn through research-led lectures, seminars and workshops. The lectures will provide you with an introduction to theoretical frameworks and methods from a diverse range of disciplines and introduce the necessary interdisciplinary thinking tools to integrate these to consider Digital and Immersive Arts in critical terms. Through seminars and reading groups you will be supported and guided through a wide range of material drawn from Philosophy, Media Theory, Art Theory and Art History. You will be supported as you read, discuss and integrate these strands of knowledge to critically reflect on the challenges and opportunities Digital and Immersive Arts offers to both the individual psyche and wider culture.

The programme leader, the module tutors and your project supervisors will all play a role in guiding you throughout the module. You will be guided by tutors with relevant expertise in the intersecting disciplines within the field of Immersive Arts and are either experienced practitioners, researchers or practitioner-researchers. The seminars will provide key moments for tutor and peer feedback on your ideas and will form the basis on which you will be develop your research. Further academic support is provided via e-Learning tools, such as discussion groups, blogs and wikis. Additional contact with tutors will also be available during office hours by arrangement.

Additional support is provided through the English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) module where English is not your first language.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:

• To gain the knowledge in order to introduce appropriate research methodologies, using informed critical approaches and resources relevant to practice. (KU1)
• To demonstrate awareness of inter- disciplinary fields which support and challenge Immersive Arts. (KU3)

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:

• To demonstrate systematic analysis of practical and theoretical positions and processes and make clear arguments in written form. (IPSA2)
• To evidence a creative and innovative approach to the creation of new knowledge that directly reflects the key concerns of digital and immersive arts. (IPSA3)


Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

• To evidence effective inter-personal and organisational skills, including project planning, live presentation, and time management. (PVA1)
• To demonstrate an understanding and critical engagement with the challenges faced by contemporary culture due to challenges facing contemporary culture including the climate crisis, Late Capital and the encroachment of digital technology. (PVA3)

Formative

Formative assessment will be carried out during the seminars and reading groups where you will discuss artworks, literature, issues and themes which intersect Immersive Arts. Peer and tutor feedback will support critical investigation and dissemination of ideas through presentations.

Summative
In semester one there will be two submissions:

1. Short Essay: A traditional 2500-word research essay systematically analysing the critical challenges of digital and immersive arts within the contemporary context.

2. Visually Rich Research Report: this report should evidence an equivalence in effort, time and the level of research achieved to that of the 2500-word essay. You will produce a research report that combines a professional use of image, moving image, audio and text and establishes your personal critical approach to a key issue of digital and immersive arts. This submission may take various forms including, but not limited to the following: a portfolio, a rich-media presentation, or an annotated video.

In semester two you will have one large submission. You will be given the choice between the following options:

1. Long Essay: A traditional 5000-word research essay systematically analysing the critical challenges of digital and immersive arts within the contemporary context.
2. Visually Rich Research Report: this report should evidence an equivalence in effort, time and the level of research achieved to that of the 5000-word essay. You will produce a research report that combines a professional use of storytelling, image, moving image, audio and text and establishes your personal critical approach to a key issue of digital and immersive arts. This submission may take various forms including, but not limited to the following: a portfolio, a rich-media presentation, or an annotated video. The report will be supplemented by a 500-word written personal reflection.
3. Public Engagement Report: this report should evidence an equivalence in effort, time and the level of research achieved to that of the 5000-word essay. This report is an illustrated, and/or rich-media document that proposes a clear rational for a public engagement activity (e.g., a self-initiated project with a collaborative element, an exhibition, a symposium, or an arts-activist community event). This document should clearly be supported by professional use of communicative / scene setting images and/or rich media indicating how the public would engage with your selected setting/problem/topic. This submission may take various forms including, but not limited to the following: a portfolio, a rich-media presentation, or an annotated video. The report will be supplemented by a 500-word written personal reflection.

These submissions will:

• Demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the diverse fields of knowledge. (KU1)
• Demonstrate the integration of these diverse fields of knowledge to critically discuss an aspect of Digital and Immersive Arts. (KU3, IPSA2, IPSA3)
• Lay the foundations for the dissertation in semester 3. (PVA1)

N/A

IA7001
IA7002

Contemporary culture is being transformed by technologies which increasingly enfold the individual within networks of digital information and experience. During the first technological phase participants passively engaged with digital information via the computer screen. During the second technological phase mobile phones freed the individual to move away from their computers whilst remaining within the web of media. In the emerging technological phase of immersion, the individual is more fully integrated into the digital as the experience shifts from engaging with a screen to enfolding forms embodied of digital experience.

This module offers a structured introduction to the ideas which can be employed to both support and interrogate the impact of digital enfoldment on the individual psyche and wider culture. These fields of knowledge include Philosophy, Media Theory, Art Theory and Art History and you will be guided and supported as you integrate these ideas to critically address the role of Immersive Arts within contemporary culture. You will also be given the opportunity to participate in research organisations at Northumbria such as The Cultural Negotiation of Science (CNoS). This will provide you with a direct perspective of the conceptual, ethical and practical implications of digital and immersive arts within cross-disciplinary research.