I think Adrian and Jeremy's manifest(o) comes at a critical moment in the development and use of ICTS (or networked technologies of information and communication - NTICs - as we are starting to say here in Internet Studies). Two situations have arisen at Curtin University recently that might place some weight behind this kind of document. Firstly, driven by an intensely conservative 'risk management' agenda, the University is implementing classic control strategies on the use of NTICs in the university (ie nothing can be published on the web without it conforming to a university standard, nothing can be done with the Internet unless it is 'core business' - narrowly defined, etc). A consequence of legal action (both current and potential) relating to intellectual property, defamation, and so on, these policies actually go much further and impose all sorts of restrictions that, essentially, treat the web as a corporate information tool (ie the Curtin website is design solely by and for corporate marketing and communication). As an example, it would be impossible in the current climate to even begin toa argue for the use of Wikis, blogs, or other such tools for teaching or research. Everything has to be either (a) locked down and only altered internally or (b) run within WebCT/blackboard (where noone can look at it except students who have signed a document saying they won't do bad things). Just in case staff might utilise the Internet to get around this restriction, a policy places staff in breach of their conditions of employment should curricular materials appear on anything but a Curtin server! Secondly, driven by economic crises in university funding here in Australia, local servers are being turned off or limited in some areas because, it is said, 'this department / faculty / etc cannot afford to maintain a server'. Ideas for the innovative use of NTICs therefore must be directed centrally where they usually run foul of corporate thinking such as 'we have decided that the university standard approach is to use ColdFusion, therefore we don't permit and won't allow PHP websites'. It should further be pointed out that almost all decisions relating to information services at Curtin are made, largely, by technocrats without consultating academic staff. The very idea that NTICs are not just a 'tool' to manage things better but are, in fact, the object of creative and critical learning, research and production and an environment in which we create, learn, think, explore is being lost. Does anyone else have examples of corporatist university restrictions and (more usefully) how people might evade them? Cheers Matt -----Original Message----- From: Adrian Miles To: AOIR list Sent: 8/04/04 12:34 Subject: [Air-l] manifest(o) hi all below is a manifesto written by myself and Jeremy Yuille for how we wish and intend to use university facilities in our teaching. it is a manifesto for ourselves, for our students, and the IT staff that we work with. comments, additions, amendments welcome. Adrian Miles and Jeremy Yuille. MANIFESTO FOR RESPONSIBLE CREATIVE COMPUTING v.0.3 [april 7 2004] *context* We teach students who work in the creative industries. In creative computing contexts the products and processes of these industries are soft artifacts. They may be ideas, interfaces, or media. All remain malleable , before, during and after completion. Their graduate computing context consists of small enterprises where IT skills are distributed amongst the work group. These skills are informal and self developed. There is no IT department and IT systems are self managed. It is common for graduates in these industries to be self employed. This manifesto defines how we use computers in teaching and learning for creative industries in these contexts. *manifesto* Creative computing is being creative with a computer/network, not being creative on a computer/network. Creative computing requires computer and network literacy. This literacy is analogous to, and as significant as print literacy. Computer literacy is not the same as knowing how to use professional software. Network literacy is not the same as knowing how to Google. Network literacy is the ability to engage with and represent yourself within the network. Computer literacy is synonymous with network literacy. This literacy is demonstrated in the responsible use of computers which understands that the network includes social, ideological, legal, political, ethical and ecological contexts. Computer literacy requires basic understanding of the principles of human-computer interaction. This literacy is demonstrated in the ability to transfer knowledge between computing environments. These literacies are learnt by doing. Breaking, gleaning and assembling is a theory of praxis for these literacies. Learning happens when things work, different learning occurs when things dont work. These literacies are an essential requirement for responsible creative computing in pervasive digital networks. cheers Adrian Miles ................................................................. hypertext.rmit || hypertext.rmit.edu.au/adrian interactive networked video || hypertext.rmit.edu.au/vog research blog || hypertext.rmit.edu.au/vog/vlog/ _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l