visuals_ in_ socialscience.ppt

8/13/2019 visuals_ in_ socialscience.ppt

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More Than Just a Picture:Creating and using visuals in

social science research

Jennifer [email protected]

M.A. Visual Anthropology, 1993Ph.D. Candidate, Anthropology

University of Southern California

www.cool.org/visualworkshop
http://www.cool.org/visualworkshop/http://www.cool.org/visualworkshop/


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Talk Outline

o Workshop Purpose

o Definitions

o Representation Across Mediao Rhetoric

o Filmmaking

o Informatics

o Documentary / Visual Anthropologyo Putting it all into practice: Home Economics

o Practicum in documentary video


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Workshop Purpose

o Theproliferation of digital technologieshasincreased the ease with which graduatestudents use self-made still, moving, and

interactive images to support their research.o Despite this trend, images are often added to

dissertations, presentations, and publicationsas an afterthought.

o This workshop will encourage us to thinkcritically and creativelywhen we use visualimages moving, still, and interactive inour research by exploring the use ofphotography, film, and interactive media.


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Information Hypermedia Stable, established

Mature Relatively centralized

Formal

One-to-many

Top-down publication

Unified layers (bits linked to atoms)

Writing presented per publication

Largely mono-media (text) with

separate repositories for different

media/genres (pictures, artifacts)

Unstable, emerging

Immature Relatively decentralized

Informal

Many-to-many

Distributed publication

Discrete layers

Write once publish anywhere

Highly multimedia & intermedia

(text, image, audio, video,

multiple document formats;

multilingual, modular)

Digital technology


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By Visuals I Mean

o Photographs, film/video (sound and image),any recording made with a camera as data tobe studied

o Research mediao using (audio)visuals to record data

o Still images, films, videos, PowerPointpresentations, any visual media made to

convey or illustrate the insights andanalyses of academic research.o Rhetorical media

o using (audio)visuals to make argument


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Research & Rhetorical Media

o Can the boundaries be traversed?o Absolutely. Two modes are mutually informative.

o But important to consider each mode separately.

o Research media fall under methodso Generally, these are techniques, forms, and

norms of data capture established withindisciplines and sub-fields.

o Rhetorical media fall under___?


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Basic Premise of this Talk

o No image is understood outside a discourse.

o Discourse/Context may mask itself (art)

o Discourse/Context may be explicit (newspaper)o The question is, how to craft your images so

they are consistent with the discourse in

which you operate?


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Representation Across Media

o As scholars, you already have mastery incertain forms of communication, in particular,reading and writing texts.

o Whatever the medium, thoughtful acts ofrepresentation begin with these basicquestions:

o What do I want to say?

o Who is my audience?

o What is the best way to say it?


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What do I want to say?(Content)

o Whats my main message, or thesis?

o Whats my goal or purpose in making these

photographs; this video, slideshow,webpage, or other media presentation?

o Whats my investment in the subject?

o With what authority do I speak?


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Who is my audience?

o What knowledge can I assume of myaudience?

o

What ideas/information need to be presentedexplicitly?

o What issues or objections might they have tomy argument?

o What are their values, goals, and interests?

o How do might these relate to my message?


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Whats the best way to say it?(Form)

o Choose medium, genre, format:

o Oral: lecture, discussion, informal speech

o Written: essay, book, email, lettero Pictoral: photos, illustrations, diagrams, graphs

o Mixed & multimedia: PowerPoint presentation,film, video, website, other new media

o Match tone & formality to audience & content.


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My Frameworks

o Rhetoric

o Filmmaking

o

Informaticso Documentary / Visual Anthropology


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Drawn from my experience

Visual anthropologyo M.A. Visual Anthropology, USC, 1993

o Home Economics: a documentary of suburbia, M.A. Film

o The Experts of Everyday Life: "The Experts of Everyday

Life: Cultural Reproduction and Cultural Critique in AntelopeValley," M.A. Thesis

Film, documentary multimedia, Internet and webproduction:

o Synapse Columbusproject & Computer Curriculum Corp.

o Cyborganic, Netscape, Disney/ABC Cable Networks

Teaching film production, written, oral, and graphiccommunication:

o Assistant Lecturer, Freshman Writing, U.S.C.o Lecturer, Cinema Dept., San Francisco State

o Lecturer, Information & Computer Science, U.C. Irvine
http://www.cyborganic.org/people/cool/http://www.cyborganic.org/people/cool/Thesis/thesis.htmlhttp://www.cyborganic.org/people/cool/Thesis/thesis.htmlhttp://www.cyborganic.org/people/cool/Thesis/thesis.htmlhttp://www.cyborganic.org/people/cool/Thesis/thesis.htmlhttp://www.cyborganic.org/people/cool/Thesis/thesis.htmlhttp://www.cyborganic.org/people/cool/Thesis/thesis.htmlhttp://www.cyborganic.org/people/cool/


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Rhetoric

Representation is a rhetorical act


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Rhetoricalin a classical sense


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Rhetoricalin a modernist sense

o Its never just a pipe.

o The images you make arenot prima facie evidence.

Even the most straightforward illustration involvesinterpretation andconstruction.

Although we often hear that data speak for themselves, their voices can besoft and sly.

Frederick Mosteller, Stephen E. Fienberg, and Robert E.K. Rourke,

Beginning Statistics with Data Analysis, 1983, p. 234.


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Rhetoricalin a postmodernist sense

Viewers make meaningo Reception, cultural construction

The treason of images

o A picture may be worth ten thousand words,buto You, the producer, dont get to choose

any of those wordso They may not even be in your language

Power/Knowledgeo All acts of representation are partial,

situated, interested, and occasionedo Creating, using, and reading visuals in

social science requires attention to thesecontexts


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Filmmaking

Two parables, an aphorism, and three aspects


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Kuleshov Effect


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Cocktail Party Effect

o The ability in perception to select one desiredsound from a background of ambient noise.E.g., at a party, where many voices speak

simultaneously, we can 'focus' our ears onone conversation and filter out voices andsounds which are equally strong.

o A microphone cannot filter noise from signal

thus and, placed at the party, records ababble of sounds.

o Perception is interpretation.


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Youve got to have a reason

o Apply Dmytryks aphorism to every :

o Cuto Frameo Shoto Choice of media (film stock, video, etc.)

o Contrast with:

o Laying down music and cutting to the beat.

o Deciding you must cut to a new image everyx seconds

o Shooting footage without a clear purpose, shooting

everything in master shots, just getting coverage.

Rule 1: Nevermake a cut without a positive reason.

Edward Dmytryk, On Film Editing


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Intersecting Aspects

o Technicalo Subject is in frame, in focus, and well illuminatedo Camera, sound, and editing as craftsthat support

narrative and aesthetic aspects.

o Narrativeo Film time is not clock time. It is story time, time iscondensed, expanded, elided.

o Narrative time is configured. Time governed by plot.o Plot: drawing a sense of whole out of a chronologyo Characters: agents who both act and suffer

o Classic Three act structure: beginning, middle, and endo Aesthetic

o Technical craftsmanship does not detract from message.o Form and content work togethero Be especially aware and reflexive of the aesthetic to

which you appeal.


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Informatics

Tufte: Scientific principles ofInformation design


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Edward Tufte

o Professor emeritus of statistics, graphic design, andpolitical economy at Yale University

o Expert in informational design & graphics

1983 1990 1997 2006


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Information GraphicsGreatest Hits


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Tufte: clear and preciseseeing, thinking, saying

if displays of data are to be truthful andrevealing, then the logic of the display designmust reflect the logic of analysis.

Visual representations of evidence should begoverned by principles of reasoning aboutquantitative evidence. For information displays,design reasoning must correspond to scientificreasoning. Clear and precise seeing becomes

as one with clear and precise thinking.

Edward Tufte, Visual Explanations, 1997, p. 53.


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Tufte: Scientific Principles

Displays should be documentary, comparative,causal and explanatory, quantified, multivariate,exploratory.

o Document sources and characteristics of the data.o Insistently enforce appropriate comparisons.

o Demonstrate mechanisms of cause and effect.

o Express those mechanisms quantitatively.

o Recognize the inherently multivariate nature ofanalytic problems.

o Inspect and evaluate alternative explanations.


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Documentary &

Visual Anthropology

The documentary tradition

Ethnographic film

Image ethics and epistemologies


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The documentary tradition

o Some of the first films were ethnographic(1890s-1930s)

o City symphony films (early 20th century)

o Portable Sync Sound 16mm (1960s),technology gets smaller, more automatic

o Cinma verit, direct cinema


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Ethnographic film

o Positivism & scientific filmso Observational cinemao Anthropologys Crisis of Representationo Reflexivity, beyond observational cinemao Ethics

o Rights of the subjecto Questions of audience, royalties, etc.

o Politics and epistemologies of representationo The New Ethnography and New Wave in

Ethnographic film.


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New Ethnography

o Dialogism, dialogic relationship betweenethnographer and informant(s)

o Ethnographies of the particular (present

ethnographer and subjects as specificindividuals in specific social contexts

o Reflexivity

o Subjects speak for themselves

o Conscious focus on narrative structure (e.g.Geertzs fictions, anthropologicalrepresentations are made not found)


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Putting it all into practice

Home Economics


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Home EconomicsPicture/Camera

o Filmmaker in the frame, but off to the side, not atthe center

o Framing of whole bodies in the environment

o Set camera up, off to the side, so anthropologistand informant can talk face to face.o Keep the equipment in the background

o Create casual atmosphere, kitchen conversations

o Juxtaposition of interview (portraits) and montageof the build environment (landscapes)

o Hand-held shots of home interiors, emphasizedomestic, everyday life.


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Home EconomicsSound

o Inclusion of long takes presents subjects asexpert witnesses

o Music played in model home sequences is

the actual music played in the models.o Hard cuts on audio in these shots.

o Music played in scene of low-incomehousing was actual sound from the footage.

o Hard cuts on audio in these shots.


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Home Economicsethics & politics of representation

o Key informants saw final cut of film before they wereasked to sign release forms

o Goes against what they teach at the Cinema School. Its

risky and can backfire, but also builds trust.o Permission to film models and construction site

came from the housing developer

o Workers not asked to sign a release

o Guerrilla filmmakingo Billboards shot without permissions

o Low income housing in long shot, reflects social distancebetween filmmaker and these subjects


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Home Economicsas a work in the Anthropological Tradition

o Examines the ideals and norms ofhomeownership

o Explores specific cultural meanings of homeo What the native thinks hes up to (Geertz)

o Seeks to show the logic and validity of aparticular way of life


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Home Economicsas Cultural Critique

o Homeownership in contemporary Americansociety is often achieved at the expense ofthe very values a home is said to represent.

o Informants as expert witnesses who testimonyshow both the values and meanings ofhomeownership and the ways those values areundermined by commuting, work, and other

structural forces of the society.


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Home EconomicsAschs Ethics of Ethnographic Filmmaking

Applied (in some way)

Know your subjects

Reflexivity (backgrounded)

Shoot whole events Support film with

documentation

Seek feedback from subjects

Seek feedback from sample

audiences Distribute film properly

Publish guide/monograph todistribute with film

Not Applied

Reflexivity (foregrounded)

Make an uncut version for

scholarly research Make royalty agreement with

people filmed

Shoot whole events (focus was

on discourse, not events)

On-going commitment to

indigenous population


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practicum

Documentary Motion Pictures


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Pre-production

o Crew or one-man band?

o Practice. Video tape is cheap.

o Choose a cinematic subject

o Audience, genre, format, mediumo The more you know about the final destination,

the better you can shoot for it.

o

Camera (and other equipment) size andfootprint in relation to filmed event andlogistics in the field, or on location.


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Shooting

o Focus, exposure, and compositiono These all need to be intuitive

o Auto-focus: set and hold

o Play with focus, exposure, composition.

o Fold out LCD screens are great for composition, but no use forexposure or focus.

o Frame your subject tightly enough so its clear where the viewershould look. Crop out moise.

o Use a tripod whenever possibleo Camera movement can be hard to intercut.

o Other benefits? (Face to face communication)o If shooting handheld, bone-to-bone contact or shoulder brace?

o Good sound (professional mic)

o Always shoot for real.


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Shooting

o Let takes run long, heads and tails

o Log and label all footage on the spot

o Let moving objects exit frame before you cut

o Practice as though tape were cheap, shootas if it were very expensive.

o Hang around and shoot a lot of film.

o Invisibility via ubiquitous presence (of camera)o Dont try to sneak shots!

o Do put tape over red camera rolling lights


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Editing

o Creating film time and space

o What one thingare you trying to say?o Images denser and more concrete than text.

o Story and character

o Build your story in sound and image (ratherthan voiceover and inter-titles).o

The clearer your aims in shooting, the easier thisis to do in the editing room.


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Examples for Discussion


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Miles Coolidge

Safetyville

America by Numbers

Garage Photos

Associate Professor, Studio

Art, U.C. Irvine


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Michael Wesch

o YouTube video by AnthropologyProfessor

o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

o Wired Rave Award

o http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/multimedia/2007/04/ss_raves?slide=18&slideView=7

o Entirely word-driven

o Cut to music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOEhttp://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/multimedia/2007/04/ss_raves?slide=18&slideView=7http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/multimedia/2007/04/ss_raves?slide=18&slideView=7http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/multimedia/2007/04/ss_raves?slide=18&slideView=7http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/multimedia/2007/04/ss_raves?slide=18&slideView=7http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/multimedia/2007/04/ss_raves?slide=18&slideView=7http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/multimedia/2007/04/ss_raves?slide=18&slideView=7http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

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visuals_ in_ socialscience.ppt