Applied Humanities: Transforming Humanities Education

In the first of four panels celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Comparative Media Studies (CMS) program at MIT, panelists reflect on the wide range of projects and media studies offspring that have emerged from this innovative program. Major CMS themes include the development of community, creation of a deeper understanding of collaboration, working across disciplines, participatory culture, and collective intelligence. Panelists discuss the MIT approach to applied humanities, and share insights on education, game design, public media and visual information. William Uricchio moderates. Scot Osterweil brings his background as a theatre major to the effort of game design, citing the need to engage the user, not just create games that are based on reciting facts—just as an actor has to engage in audience in something deeper than lines of a script. Kurt Fendt’s background teaching German language and literature, combined with work with many German artists has informed his current approach to working in digital media. He is concerned with how to engage students in the process of actively creating media, not just using it. Peter Donaldson cites Shakespeare’s works as multi format productions whose performances can travel across cultures and time as well as across media. Rekha Murthy finds that her real life experience coupled with her CMS education has enabled her to have a broader understanding of the world, and channel it into her work in public radio in new ways. As public broadcasting morphs into public media, significant identity questions emerge that require deeper thinking to sort out the huge challenges in her field. Today she values the contextualization and opportunities for reflection that CMS has afforded. Matthew Weise who attended film school before CMS admits to always struggling with the notion of the humanities. He comes to terms with a definition that “humanities are things that make me feel more human” and provide inspiration to wan...

Channel: MIT World Video Length: 0s Date Found: Fri, Sep 03 2010 7:49 AM Category: Science Date Produced: Mon, Jun 28 2010 12:00 AM View Count: 0