"Abandon normal instruments!" The Blogosphere: creative solutions to reaching bigger audiences

How does blogging help to maximize impact and open up new opportunities to disseminate research? Rebecca Edwards asked Kip Jones for his comments on a recent blog about the HSC ReThink Project that was featured in the widely read and prestigious LSE Impact of Social Sciences blog. How do blogging and social networking raise the game for academics and how can others at BU benefit from Jones’ experience on these platforms?

 

BECCA: Why did you decide to write about HSC’s “Big ReThink Project” on a public forum?

KIP: Gail Thomas and I initially wrote up HSC’s “Big ReThink Project” as an academic paper. I then began by shopping it around to various journals, more than a year ago. Too many of us have had the experience, I am afraid, of no response at all or waiting for months and then having to ask for a response from a journal editor. Generally, the answer at that point is often to submit the article for review, but it will be yet another six months to a year until possible publication. This is no longer acceptable in the world of rapid, electronic communication today. Since our Project itself was about alternative approaches anyway, I asked Gail what she thought about putting it up on a blog instead; her reply, ‘Go for it!’

BECCA: How did you get the article published on the LSE Impact of Social Sciences blog?

KIP: Some time ago now, Mark Carrigan, who was then editor of the London School of Economics & Political Science Impact of Social Sciences blog, asked me to contribute to their ‘Five minutes with …’ series. This invitation came out of the blue, but I think it was because he was aware of our film, Rufus Stone, and had read and heard about it on the Internet.  I was also asked to participate on a panel at LSE in their Beyond the Book series of seminars around the same time. I kept in touch with Mark following the initial LSE blog publication through Twitter and his own personal blog. I think it is particularly important to develop and maintain relationships, even though they are often completely virtual ones. When Gail and I decided to find a blog to publish our piece, I asked Mark whom I should now contact at LSE, and he recommended Sierra Williams. I sent Sierra the Abstract. She responded that the article would indeed be of interest, but it needed to be shorter and a bit less formal in style, and with pictures if possible. I subsequently edited it down to about half its original length—keeping the inspirational bit, with less of the outcomes of the Project. It was published on 16 August as “Bournemouth’s ‘Big ReThink’ Project: An Arts-based Model for Change in a University”.

BECCA: What has been the reaction to your article being published on the LSE Impact Blog?

Who has responded to the article on social media channels?

KIP: In just the first few days since publication, it has received attention through Twitter and Facebook, with links to other sites through pingbacks, retweets, Likes, and Shares. The link was also circulated globally on The Weekly Qualitative Report site and e-newsletter. Early responses have been from scholars, particularly in the social sciences, arts and education, and the PhD student online community.

BECCA: More generally, why do you find blogging a useful engagement exercise? How does it strengthen your academic credentials?

KIP: In addition to making periodic contributions to the BU Research blog, I maintain two blogs of my own: Rufus Stone the movie and KIPWORLD.  The Rufus Stone blog was set up before the film was made, so it is a good repository of the story behind the research that went into making the film and the production of the film itself. Pages on the blog are now heavily externally linked in articles, books and on other websites.  These days, current contributions are more about dissemination, the film’s continuing impact and future plans for screenings and trainings using the film.  

KIPWORLD is my personal blog where I write about projects that I am working on, but I also use it to develop my writing. A good example is a piece entitled, “How Breakthroughs Come: Tenacity and Perseverance”. First written for the blog over six months ago, it was recently reworked and now includes some reader responses to the earlier version. Through a Twitter connection, it has just been published for a third time on the Social Research Hub, a site particularly aimed at PhD students in the Social Sciences.

The early development of the background story for Rufus Stone was also carried out on KIPWORLD. I have recently written about this particular deviation from more traditional academic prose in an article, ‘Infusing Biography with thePersonal: Writing Rufus Stone’ for Creative Approaches to Research, which published on the same day as the LSE blog and has kept me quite busy on Twitter!

I average about one blog article a month of around 1,000 words in length for KIPWORLD. These are definitely not more typical ‘off-the-cuff’ or ‘stream of consciousness’ blogs, however!  I pore over and rework these pieces, sometimes for days, even weeks.

We are very much in a transitional phase in academic publishing and dissemination, brought about by the Open Access debates, etc. The power balance between academics and publishers is shifting and it is a good time to assert our case for more control over our outputs, how (and when) they are published and how accessible they are. Using the alternative of diverse outlets through weblogs, (both personal and more established), contributes to the potential of different methods of reaching wider audiences with our work, having it seen and, eventually, making a difference.

I will end by adding that writing a blog post can be just a first step; this needs to be followed up by links through social media and additional outlets in order to generate reach and insure impact! The ReThink Project reminded us that initiative and individual excellence are nurtured in small communities that support independence and autonomy. A centralised vision of the few may produce followers, but not leaders, and certainly not innovators in my experience.

“Abandon normal instruments”—Brian Eno & Peter Schmidt, Oblique Strategies

'Obiquity' by John Kay from the School of Life: worth a listen!

UPDATE:  

ReThink blog Goes Viral 

Sunday, 8th Sept 2013 

In less than two weeks, a report on Bournemouth University's arts-based model for change, the Big ReThink Project has gone "viral", averaging 100 views a day in just its first 20 days. The blog appeared on London School of Economics and Political Science prestigious Social Science Impact Blog on 16 August.

The article highlights a large, long-term project addressing staff concerns in Bournemouth's School of Health & Social Care, written by Dr Kip Jones, Reader and Prof Gail Thomas, Dean of the School. The project used a unique arts-based approach to change management to engage staff in the process.

As of today, the ReThink Project is currently 5th in the list of the past month’s twenty most popular London School of Economics Impact Blog posts by readership. The current number of views as of today is at 3400+ and continuing to rise.

Links to the LSE blog were initially circulated internationally by The Qualitative Report and news groups such as Performative SocSci, Auto-ethnography, ArtNet, Society for Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology, and Qualitative Research for the Human Sciences .

Pat Thomson, Professor in Arts Education, Creativity and Writing Research at the University of Nottingham then blogged her thoughts on the project on her own blog, Patter, commenting, "The process was not only novel but also seemed to me that it would be highly pleasurable to do".
 
The LSE blog has been highlighted on Active Learning in Higher Education and Creatively Teaching: Arts Education as well.

An article about the viral performance of the blog was published on the web-based Dorset Eye.

The ReThink blog was also highlighted on Sport Balla Trending News and repeated on Alpa Galileo media news.

Links to the Big ReThink blog have been circulating on many social media groups, including Twitter and Facebook and continue to raise interest in Bournemouth University's ReThink Project.

As of 7 October 2013, according to Google Analytics, the Bournemouth Big Rethink Project post has received 3,956 views.

Writing RUFUS STONE

The recent four-year research project entitled, “Gay and Pleasant Land?—a study about positioning, ageing and gay life in rural South West England and Wales” took place as part of the Research Councils UK funded New Dynamics of Ageing Programme on ageing in 21st Century Britain. The key output of this effort was the short professionally made, award winning film, Rufus Stone. An article published in Creative Approaches to Research unpacks the evolution of creating the film script, with a particular emphasis on the author’s relationship with the biographies, the filmmaking process and, indeed, his own story.

Through first person narrative and textural bricolage, Kip Jones recounts the processes that went into writing the background, treatment and working script for the film.  This included sifting through copious data, story meetings, writing back story and collaboration with the film’s director. In the final analysis, the author was dependent on auto-ethnography to bring the biographies of others to the screen.

Arts-based collaborative efforts require versatility and experimentation in approaches and a willingness to communicate across disciplines. Knowing when to ‘let go’ in partnerships is key to this process. The article responds to many of the issues, concerns and questions that have arisen at academic screenings of the film. It provides a valuable starting point for others interested in experimenting with arts-based dissemination of research findings. The originality of the use of auto-ethnography itself to report on this process is consistent with the principles of Performative Social Science, on which the project’s dissemination is based. 

"Infusing Biography with the Personal: Writing RUFUS STONE"

 Watch the film here:  https://vimeo.com/109360805

Blackout!

Suddenly, about 11 pm last night, the electricity went out in my flat. Boom! Everything shut down. This has never happened before. I remembered that I have a flash light (torch) somewhere, but also that I meant to get batteries for it.

I have one candle.  It's sort of a votive candle and scented. I fired it up and sat at my computer which, in good times and bad, makes me feel secure. (I could have used the Macbook, but I forgot that it works on batteries--I always plug it in. I wondered if Wifi works during an electrical outage? I guessed not.)

I looked out on the street and it was quiet.  There seemed to be some lights, but most of the properties were dark. Suddenly, a car pulled up and a young man got out and went to the side door at the MOT shop across the road. The top floor is supposedly a men's club of some sort, but he seemed to have a key. He entered quickly and went up the stairs where the lights then went on. Before last night, I hadn't known that someone lived there.  

I wasn't sure if the blackout was just in my flat or not. I spooked around the stairwell where the hall lights were still working. One flat had light under the door. I went down to the garage and looked at the row of electric meters. Two were dark, the others not moving. I came back upstairs and sat at the computer with my candle. The smell was beginning to sicken me. 
 
Finally, I called the electric company and was relieved to hear that there were several reports of outages in this area.  She said it would be fixed in a few hours. I said, 'Good, because the meters aren't turning and you're not making any money'. She laughed.  I went to bed then, feeling better that it wasn't just me and that someone got my little joke. 

I woke about an hour later when everything in the flat lit up again. 

Boom! Blackout over.

"How breakthroughs come: tenacity and perseverance"

The following is a repost of a blog written a while back that describes the process of creating, then publishing,'On a Train from Morgantown: a film script'  in Psychological Studies, an academic journal.



More than ten years ago now, when I was living in a bedsit in Leicester and had just finished my PhD, I decided to write a conference presentation about Ken Gergen and Klaus Riegel. Both scholars played important roles in the development of my thinking for my PhD thesis (Narratives of Identity & the Informal Care Role). During this time I came across a volume (Life-span Developmental Psychology Dialectical Perspectives on Experimental Research, edited by Nancy Datan & Hayne W. Reese, published by Academic Press 1977) that was a result of the Fifth West Virginia University Life-Span Developmental Psychology Conference held at Morgantown, West Virginia in 1976. The conference centred on the work of Riegel and the book included a chapter by Gergen.

My imagination got the best of me. What if these two, both influences on my own work, had a conversation following that gathering? As I recently explained, reported in a Times Higher Education article, "Gergen is a giant to our generation, so it was good to look back to a time when he was insecure...I wanted to examine how breakthroughs come, and the price people pay for them". Thus, “On a train from Morgantown” was born.

It seems a short time ago now, but we must not forget that in 2001 digital production was limited, at the personal computer level at least. I found video-cassette recorded footage of trains that would have been in service in West Virginia in 1976 then convinced a techy at my university to help me cut and edit it. I wrote a script (much like a radio play) and found people to record it on cassette tape (one in Germany, the rest in Leicester). I produced overhead projections for some of the visuals and created lots of sound files and edited music (again, on cassette) to fill out the imaginary train journey.

I packed up all these production materials and caught the ferry to Hamburg and then a train to Berlin and a conference at the Free University to present my grand production … to an audience that would include Mary and Ken Gergen. When my allotted time came, I spent it dashing about starting up a TV, co-ordinating a cassette player, an overhead projector, etc.—a bit like the Wizard of Oz behind his curtain. Ken Gergen responded quite emotionally following all of this. The mostly German-speaking audience seemed a bit confused by it all.

I recall this as a bit of madness on my part at the time, but also in many ways as the public birth of Performative Social Science, or at least the seeds for its future development. Being a visual person, I wanted to ‘show’ as well as ‘tell’--and this frustration became central to my efforts in developing a Performative Social Science (PSS).

Because publication is (is supposed to be?) the end-all of some academic lives, I began to think about how to possibly publish ‘Morgantown’. Because of my visual inclinations, I thought that a film script with all of its optical instructions might do the trick. So I wrote ‘Morgantown’ up as a screenplay, looking at many scripts in order to get a sense of how to present a visual story as text. A bit of a Pollyanna at publication at that time, I actually submitted the script to a few journals which I naively thought might be adventurous enough to publish it. They were not and it was rejected.

I put ‘Morgantown’ in a drawer somewhere and so it languished for almost a decade. About a year ago, the editor of a special issue on the work of Ken Gergen for Springer’s Psychological Studies contacted me and asked if I would be interested in submitting a paper for the issue. I responded that, yes, I do have something that may be fit for purpose. Go ahead, I told myself: ‘I dare you.’ I submitted the script for 'Morgantown'.



To my great surprise, the submission was accepted with no substantial changes and now is published as a film script (also available here) in the special issue on Ken Gergen in Psychological Studies. In my estimation, this represents a great breakthrough for Performative Social Science, or the use of tools from the arts in dissemination of social science research. It gives others a reference in support of their own work in moving academic publishers to being more open, even inviting, to alternative presentation formats.

‘Morgantown’ and its eventual acceptance holds a special place for me. In so many ways it represents ‘working in the dark’ against unknown forces and circumstances, but still being driven by our muses to create and invent. 'Morgantown' represents what I like to call ‘kitchen sink’ work—work produced because creativity compels us to find the means, the ways, the materials and then the outlets. This mirrors the way in which artists frequently work--something that social scientists and policy wags can learn a great deal from. The artist does not wait for someone, somewhere to establish a 'cultural value' for their outputs. They create and damn the consequences! I never want to forget that it is in these personal efforts the potential to make a difference lies.

Some of the responses to the publication of ‘Morgantown’ are repeated below. They convince me that efforts to open up channels previously closed to innovation and experimentation are not unfounded and offer support and encouragement to others:

· Congratulations. This is really amazing. Thank you for your courage. And for the work that you are doing for all of us.

· It’s just wonderful to see the glimpse of barriers breaking down between interdisciplinary research and innovative work. Well done!! It is happening a step at a time and we just need to keep on pushing those boundaries.

· Breaks the waves for academics like me dreaming of more than the written words to portray researched life

· I got very inspired, though, when reading about your publication as I share PSS' engagement and ambition to intensify publications moving in between arts/social sciences/performance …I say/shout "GREAT!!!" from Copenhagen! Thank you for sharing!!

· I continue to watch your career with great interest and derive much hope for my own work from your example.

· Fantastique!!! gives me hope

· Think it is really important to share this kind of news as it gives all of us who research in creative ways hope!

· A massive achievement in the current climate!

· This is fantastic … and I received this just perfect for our course in qualitative research methodologies where I am teaching narrative and performative approaches. Will use your article as a brand new example and hope to encourage some of our students to be more daring!

A Fog/Dog/Shag Story

I was a stranger in the city
Out of town were the people I knew …

PHOTO: eelco de wal

The grounds in front of the nation’s oldest hospital were covered in fog. Near the perimeter and behind some bushes, face-to-face, Jake lowered himself onto Steven as he unbuckled Jake’s belt and grasped his cock.  This was how it began.

A new world for both, their relationship lasted nearly three years. In terms of gay relationships at the time, this should be measured the way a dog’s age is calculated in human terms: multiply by seven.  Both computations are myths, however.

Later, Steven coupled with Aaron. They bought property, furnishings, organised dinner parties and attended many concerts and functions over the years. They are still together at that late stage in life  when couples dress, even seem to look, alike.

Jake moved from relationship to relationship, job to job, and was in and out of rehab several times. He is also a success—as an artist and as a scholar. He has lived in three countries and visited many more. He can get by in French, stumbles in Spanish and speaks Italian by quoting lyrics from operas that he knows. His life is one of many romantic encounters.

The story of Jake, a simple country boy who went to the big city to enrol in art studies, begins somewhat earlier, however.

In Jake’s first year at Art College, he met Bradley. Bradley had graduated from another of the city’s art schools that year, having just completed a year’s sojourn in Europe on a fellowship. He was a star of the student art world and the son of the owners of a very exclusive jewellery store. He was living at the time in a townhouse with the owner of the city’s trendiest and most popular gay bar. Bradley had a studio in the bar’s atelier. In fact, the first time Jake ever nervously entered a gay establishment was in the daytime when the bar was closed to help Bradley remove some paintings from his studio above the building’s three uninterrupted étages of gaiety.

Bradley was handsome, talented, sophisticated, and somewhat older than Jake and about to embark on a career move to a New York City West Side loft. He listened to show music openly and without embarrassment, which impressed Jake profoundly. Jake was not so sure of his own sexuality, but certain that Bradley was attractive. Bradley made overtures, but Jake shyly fended them off, nonetheless continuing to fawn over him at every chance he got. He was dazed and confused, but certainly smitten.

Jake offered to help Bradley make the move to his New York loft. They packed up a rental van and left for NYC and a real West Side loft situated in an old industrial building with worn wooden floors, lots of windows and little else. The grimness and decay of this particular West Side neighbourhood was never reflected in West Side Story that was certain.

Bradley had crammed the van with paintings, a chandelier, bags of clothes, a small refrigerator full of booze (from the bar it was assumed) and some mattresses. After the unpacking, drinking and merriment, they (Bradley, Jake, a young woman who always seemed to be hanging around him, and a male friend of Bradley’s from New York who came by the loft to help) settled down to sleep on mattresses on the loft floor. Bradley put himself on the mattress next to the girl because she was feigning fright at her first night in the “big city”. He put Jake on the mattress with the stranger. Jake knew little of the subtleties of social manipulation back then but was learning quickly that night.

Jake spent that long night on the floor attempting to impede this stranger's unwanted sexual advances. He was very upset with Bradley's exploitation by using him as some sort of thank-you gift for his friend's help. Better if Bradley had chosen Jake for himself .  In fact, he probably was ready to ‘give in’ to Bradley that night, he admitted to himself in retrospect.

With little sleep and cast off in such a cavalier way, he left New York for home on an early morning train. He never heard from Bradley again. Returning to his girlfriend, Jake turned his back on the complexities of  this world that he simply did not understand or find very attractive. A relationship with a woman seemed a simpler solution, except for the ever-increasing awareness of the painful dishonesty of the situation, of which he was becoming more and more conscious.

A few months later Jake picked up a newspaper only to see a photo of Bradley on the front page with the description, “Bradley, an artist whose mask was a sensation at the Truman Capote ball at the Plaza last night”. Bradley had “arrived” in New York.

Several years later, Jake found himself easily falling into Steven’s arms on that dark, foggy night. Much had transpired in the time in between—a time consisting of confusion, pretense and grasping at some sense of self in a hetero-normative world whilst coming to terms with a gay one.

What is the purpose of this story? Well, I suppose it is to say that being gay and stories about being gay are never straight forward (no pun intended) or simple. Our life stories are played out in an entrenched heterosexual culture and society, which often produces not only angst, insecurities and complexes, but also the variety and richness of alternative lives and lifestyles as solutions for many.

Before meeting Steven, very much confused and in a fog of his own making, Jake, his girlfriend and his mates made another trip to New York City.  This will be our story for next time.

 

Catch award-winner Rufus Stone at two local Dorset cinemas in June!

As part of Bournemouth University’s Festival of Learning, we are pleased to be screening Rufus Stone the movie, in the community for the community in June at the Lighthouse in Poole and the Rex in Wareham.

Come along and bring a friend!

The award-winning film Rufus Stone is a story of growing up gay and growing older in rural south west England, based on three years of in- depth investigation at Bournemouth University as part of the New Dynamics of Ageing national research programme.

Rufus Stone stars William Gaunt (The Champions)

Wed 5 June 2013

The Lighthouse
Poole’s Centre for the Arts

21 Kingland Road Poole BH15 1UG

Wed 12 June 2013

The Rex Cinema

14 West Street

Wareham BH20 4JX

Quotes from previous audience members:

“Love, sexual tension, betrayal, abandonment, anger, sadness all simmering under the façade of British politeness.”

“I really believe this film will encourage greater communication and encourage acceptance, reduce isolation and enhance quality of life for older lesbians and gay men in rural communities.”

“Actually a wider representation of the community’s cultural and societal norms and values. It will allow citizens who see the film to think reflectively on the ways their own lives are structured and impacted by the environment in which they live. It may also provoke a critical evaluation of their own and their community’s views on diversity.”

“What stood out for me in the film was simply the fact that rarely does one get the chance of seeing a love affair between two men portrayed on screen credibly and realistically, not to say very movingly.”

Details and directions on the registration blue links above.

He Removed His Cow from Her Field

Stories of Older Lesbians and Gay Men from Rural Britain

Cows gently grazing at one of the locations of the Rufus Stone shoot. © 2012 KiPjONES

I am pleased to announce that the on line research journal Forum: Qualitative Social Research (FQS) has published an article reporting on our project on LGBT ageing and rurality at Bournemouth University supported by Research Councils UK. The open access and pioneering journal FQS  affords us the luxury of telling four of the participants' life stores in full in the article.The four-year Gay and Pleasant Land? ... study built upon foundational Biographic Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM) interviews to then create the script for the short film, Rufus Stone.

The article is now published at: 
http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/1919

"Collecting Older Lesbians' and Gay Men's Stories of Rural Life in South West England and Wales: 'We Were Obviously Gay Girls ... (So) He Removed His Cow From Our Field'". Kip Jones, Lee-Ann Fenge, Rosie Read & Marilyn Cash, authors


 My thanks to my co-authors, the research team and the citizen advisors who contributed at every step along the way in making this possible. 

I am particularly proud of the fact that my writing has evolved through the processes of both writing for this blog and creative writing for the film's back story and treatment. These influences are particularly  evident in how I tell the stories in this article.

More than ever, I remain convinced that we as researchers are conduits for the life stories that our narrators give us and must honour that bond to the best of our ability. This spirit continued in writing and producing the film as well.

I hope that you will enjoy the article and have a chance to see the film if you haven't already.

“The Gold Rush to Dementia Studies”—advice to a PhD candidate

Enid Cronin as Flip’s mother in the award-winning short film, Rufus Stone. © 2012 Bournemouth University and Kip Jones.

An open response to a PhD candidate’s early proposal for a project investigating the use of technology to support and improve the well being of people with dementia.

I feel that your proposal deserves my full consideration and so, to this end, I contribute a conversation as another scholar who is not directly involved in the project. Although currently considered a ‘filmmaker’ by some, my scholarship remains within the disciplines of gerontology, sociology and social psychology. I remark on your proposal with one or more of those hats on.

The proposal certainly is an interesting one and the research plan quite detailed and ambitious. This last part of that sentence is the component that concerns me somewhat.  I will try to explain why.

The project seems to be (perhaps) a continuation of earlier work that you have engaged in (not always a bad idea). The proposal begins by expressing that the psychosocial may be a better realm in which to seek some answers to the complexities of those living with “so-called dementia” (my term).  It then goes on to detail a kind of “intervention” project with many components, which attempts to replicate studies such as RCTs, etc. (with baseline, during, ‘three-months following’ indicators, etc). The plan tries to predict any or all of the stumbling blocks and pitfalls that may or may not occur along the way (the “anxiety” approach to planning; I use it myself). 

Perhaps a better way forward would be to meet with voluntary agencies, stakeholders, carers, etc., hold confabs, focus groups, etc and then design a truly collaborative plan that engages these participants at every stage. My sense from the plan as well as the language of it and your background is that you are probably more comfortable with projects that involve working with people hands-on.  Conceivably, considering a more substantially qualitative approach and jettisoning the measurement approach would be more realistic and fitting for the project. Revising the research questions to ‘How?’ and ‘Why?” queries would more substantially reflect an interest in the psychosocial and be more appropriate in terms of exploring the results of the planned intervention in some depth in regards to meaning.  Methods such as Participant Action Research, where the plan of action and action itself evolves in an iterative or recursive way by means of a collaboration of researcher with a range of participants as equal partners, might be explored.  The study proposes rural “subjects”: getting to know rural life in this particular geography may also be helpful.

My second concern is for your “student experience” itself and what a meaningful PhD progression should be. At Cambridge recently, a friend who was paying a visit to his Alma Mater said, ‘They showed me that you could learn as much about the Russian revolution by reading Doctor Zhivago as by reading a history of the revolution”. His statement stuck with me; I think that this should be the spirit of the student experience at universities generally.

The “Gold Rush to Dementia Studies” currently in vogue benefits from years of much less currently trumpeted work at its foundation. Decades of pioneering work was accomplished by such luminaries as Lawton at the Philadelphia Geriatric Centre who ‘laid the foundation within the gerontology community upon which all scientists and planners think about the unique needs of people afflicted with Alzheimer's disease’. You mention Kitwood and I would also suggest Stuart-Hamilton: ‘Dementia is not a cut and dried business. We need to stop thinking about it as if a one size fits all explanation will ever suffice, and realise that beyond the illness, a vast range of factors all impinge to make the person with dementia what they are.’ (Stuart-Hamilton  2012, “The Gift of Ageing” Psychology Today). I would add modestly, also makes the person ‘who they are’—which then potentially challenges us to move into the realm of the study of personality and life histories.

I would suggest that you take the time (and breathing space) to both confront and interrogate the status quo in the field of so-called dementia and read laterally, not only for inspiration for your own project, but also to strengthen your scholarly skills.  For example, the etymology of the term “dementia” would be an interesting one to explore. It seems to have now occluded Alzheimer’s as the “popular” term. Yet, the types of “dementia” are quite varied, from alcohol-induced to Aids-related, and from Parkinson’s to Binswanger’s disease. If “dementia” is ‘a blanket term for a set of signs and symptoms’, it would be an interesting challenge to explore how the term is being used (or misused) and what are its origins. 

I know personally that I remain uncomfortable with a term that simply by adding the suffix “-ia” may be attempting to mask one route definition of the word demented: ‘behaving in a strange, stupid or crazy way because you are upset or worried.’  What carer is prepared to pejoratively label their loved one as “demented”?[1]  How does adding the softening suffix move us any further from that kind of assumption really? As an invented term in a parallel universe, ‘Dementia’ could just as easily be a new perfume by Katie Price. 

I suggest reading Susan Sontag’s Illness as a Metaphor as a starting inspiration for a consideration of so-called dementia as a socially constructed concept assembled by language and usage. I would recommend, along with reading within the scholarly publications on dementia, that you also widen your academic explorations and influences.  Consideration of films about carers of people with so-called dementia may enrich your approach (e.g., Amour, Away from Her, Iris, etc). Also reading novels, poetry and auto-ethnographic studies written by carers may prove beneficial. Writing personal reflections about these lateral encounters will produce powerful resources for your use later in writing the thesis.

Part of post-graduate level education is accepting that ‘not knowing’ is part of the process.  A PhD is not simply another examination of what you already know, even have learned.  It is training your self to be comfortable enough with not knowing to explore, investigate and hopefully discover, thus making your contribution to knowledge as a result.

I hope that some of this is helpful.

---

[1] The demise of the nomenclature,  ‘Spastic Society’, in the UK is an interesting example of language vis-à-vis use and misuse of terms. ‘In an attempt to show disability in a positive light … the society changed to its current name (Scope) on 26 March 1994’

Interfacing with older LGBT citizens Two-day Masterclass

Wed 17 April and Thurs 18 April Bournemouth University's Executive Business Centre 9:30 am to 15:30 pm

Now FULL! but you can add your name to the wait list by emailing with your name & location.

Who should attend:
Representatives from both statutory and voluntary groups are invited to Bournemouth for two days—to learn about our research, view the award-winning film, Rufus Stone, and take part in exercises drawn from the Method Deck-Methods to Diversity, a learning tool to inspire agencies, practitioners and communities to think about diversity within their ageing population. The two days will feature stimulating activities and informal discussions, the potential damage of discrimination experienced by many older gay and lesbian citizens, and what can be done about it.

What you will gain by attending:
Participants will go away from the two days of activities with new knowledge about growing older as gay or lesbian. They then will be equipped to return to their groups with training in organising their own meaningful exercises around interfacing with older gay and lesbian citizens in their organisations and reducing discrimination in their communities.

Participants will receive a complimentary copy of the Method Deck – Methods to Diversity and a DVD of the award-winning film, Rufus Stone, upon completion of the two-day training.



REGISTER AT: http://impactmasterclass.eventbrite.com/#

Costs: The cost of the Masterclass is covered by Bournemouth University, including lunches and refreshments.  Travel expenses and accommodation will not be reimbursed. 

Please insure that you will be able to attend for the full two days before registering for the event. Places are limited to 25 participants only.

Buzz around Rufus Stone continues to create academic, cinematic and community impact

“Anyone of any age and background can sit and watch this film, understand it, learn from it and emotionally connect to it”.— Dr Patricia Leavy in The Qualitative Report

The short film, Rufus Stone, (Kip Jones, Author and Executive Producer), seems to move from strength to strength. The movie was based on research as part of Research Councils UK funded research at Bournemouth University and a project of the national New Dynamics of Ageing programme.

Harry Kershaw, Martha Myers-Lowe & Tom Kane

Rufus Stone was screened as part of an ESRC Festival of Social Science event at BU in November for representatives of health and social care organisations. Participants went away from the day of activities with new knowledge about growing older as gay or lesbian in rural settings. Attendees each received a set of Method Deck cards produced by the research team to encourage their own groups in discussion and activities around these issues.

A Masterclass is in the planning stages for late April where representatives from both statutory and voluntary groups can come to Bournemouth for two days, learn about our research, view the film and take part in exercises drawn from the Method Deck. They then will be equipped to return to their groups with training in organising their own meaningful exercises around interfacing with older gay and lesbian citizens in their organisations. By partaking in the two days of activities, participants will receive copies of the Method Deck and the film. Stay tuned for details.

Freshers on HSC’s “Exploring Evidence to Guide Practice’ unit as well as Social Work students have had recent screenings as part of their learning experiences. There will be future opportunities for BU students to take advantage of this ‘home grown’ successful learning resource.

The film was screened in January at Birkbeck/University of London’s very modern Gordon Square cinema in Bloomsbury for their Doing Critical Social Research seminar series.  A lively discussion followed with what seemed a very appreciative audience.

Cambridge University welcomes Rufus to the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse cinema on the 22^nd of February at 4 p.m. as part of their Arts and Science Researcher Forum. A Q&A with Jones and Rufus Stone’s director, Josh Appignanesi, will follow the screening, BU’s Trevor Hearing will moderate.

There will be a screening of Rufus Stone in March at Talbot campus hosted by BU Media School’s Narrative Group. Following the film, Jones will discuss the use of narrative research, biography and autobiography in creating the film’s story and script.  Great chance to catch the film if you haven’t seen it already. 18 March, Kimmeridge (KG03) at 1 p.m.

Community screenings at local cinemas in Poole and Wareham are set for the BU Festival of Learning on June 5^th at the Lighthouse and June 12^th at the Rex. Both start at 1 p.m. with refreshments and conversation to follow. We are particularly hoping to draw crowds of a range of ages and backgrounds from local communities.

William Gaunt, Lin Blakley & Niall Buggy

For information, registration and/or ticket details for all future screenings, check the sidebar on Rufus Stone the movie BU microsite.

Buzz around the film has also hit the net. The Sociological Imagination features the trailer for the film on its pages and discusses ‘Turning Research into Film’. The Qualitative Report frequently features updates about Rufus Stone in its Weekly Report and recently ran a review of the film by author and educator, Patricia Leavy.

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) “Impact of Social Science” web pages recently interviewed Kip Jones about Rufus Stone. Topics covered include: “How did Rufus Stone come about?” “What is the relationship between the research and the film?” and “What advice to you have for social scientists interested in using tools from the arts?”
5 Minutes with Kip Jones: “we engage in the creative process and open new doors for communication”.

As well as winning two awards at the prestigious Rhode Island International Film Festival last summer, the film has also recently featured in the Torin (Italy) Film Festival and the UK Jewish Film Festival in London.

An academic article by HSC’s Kip Jones, Lee-Ann Fenge, Rosie Read and Marilyn Cash goes live in Forum:Qualitative Social Research, an on-line journal, shortly. The paper outlines the research behind the film, then presents in-depth life stories of four of the research participants.

Jones has also recently published , “Connecting Research with Communities through Performative Social Science”, which makes a case for the potential of arts-based social science to reach audiences and engage communities.

YOU can now watch the film online and for FREE at: https://vimeo.com/109360805