Last week, I was introduced to Matthew Rampley’s exploration of visual culture. In his discussion of architecture, Matthew observed:
Architecture needs to be thought of less as a set of special material products and rather more as range of social and professional practices that sometimes, but by no means always, lead to building. (2005) (My emphasis.)
His mention of practices caught my attention, particularly as I was thinking about how we use space and place in convivial ways.
Two other papers this week have focused my attention on social practices and intersubjectivity.
The first is written by Daniel Dominguez (2017) and discusses web skill acquisition in open learning environments in the context of learner autonomy. Daniel considers “the heuristics and linking the practices of individuals using the web and the skills they develop from these practices” (2017:103). He observes “the new competencies the web offers for people to be active in constructing new pathways for social participation and, especially, learning”.
The second paper is written by Gary Schaal, Roxanna Kath and Sebastian Dumm (2016) on the topic of interpreting data visualisations. They present a hermeneutic methodology “for interpreting visualizations that aims at intersubjective acceptance”. Their paper is in German. My limited technical German led me to reflect on the points they made about the visualisation process:
- Data sampling
- Algorithmic analysis of the sampled data
- Choice of visualisation for the algorithmic analysis
- Hermeneutic interpretation of the chosen visualisation
Their own learning journey has been enriched by the work of Don Ihde, part of which has focused on science’s way of seeing that can be explored by visual hermeneutics.
Matthew, Daniel, Gary, Roxanna and Sebastian raise some very important issues for me as I continue my journey of open sharing in digital habitats. They remind me that as we share our work and induct students into digital connections, we can (and must) take a reflexive approach to what we are doing about our occupational social practices.
Photo Credit
Mara Averick’s notes (Twitter)
