Week 1 (08.24.21): DO IT!
- Get a UIC website: https://digital.uic.edu/ (more information and instructions for digital UIC, including Terms of Use: https://researchguides.uic.edu/digital-uic).
- When you fill out the request form, answer the following questions this way:
I would like an account in order to:
Built a portfolio website for the IDEA 410 capstone course.
Tell us more about how you plan to use the project:
I will use the website to document my capstone project. I will use it to log my progress, and as a presentation tool throughout the semester. (You can add any other information about how you want to use the website here.)
Once you get access to your website, name it something appropriate (using your own last name is usually a good rule of thumb). Remember: once your graduate from UIC, you can register another domain and migrate the website.
- Following the Digital UIC instructions, download the WordPress Content Management System to create your website. (If you want to use another system because you have experience in its —Omeka, Scalar, etc.—please let me know.)
- Download the Do It At Home text (in the “resources” section).
- Read the introduction, and select 3 projects.
- Present the results of those projects on your new website.
- Send the link for your website to tfunk4@uic.edu.
Week 2 (08/31/21): Introduction to the Digital Humanities
Arca, Untitled (2020)
Arca is a transgender Venezuelan experimental musician, singer, composer, record producer, and DJ based in Barcelona.
Shilpa Gupta, Untitled (2012)
Shilpa Gupta is an Indian installation and multimedia artist who lives and works in Mumbai.
I Live Under Your Sky Too, Animated Light Installation, 2004-present
https://shilpagupta.com/i-live-under-your-sky-too/
David Lamelas, 2012
David Lamelas is an Argentinian artist. A pioneer of Conceptual art, he was involved in Argentina’s avant-garde scene in the 1960s. Well known for his sculptures and films, Lamelas lives and works between Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, and Europe. Lamelas’ interest in film began during his studies in London. Among his best-known films are “Film Script”, “To Pour Milk Into a Glass”, and “The Dictator”. His films contain themes of time, space, surveillance, and popular culture.
Lucy Lippard, 2012
Lucy Lippard is an American writer, art critic, activist, and curator. Lippard was among the first writers to argue for the “dematerialization” at work in conceptual art and was an early champion of feminist art. She is the author of 21 books on contemporary art and has received numerous awards and accolades from literary critics and art associations.
“The general ignorance of the visual arts, especially their theoretical bases, deplorable even in the so-called intellectual world; the artist’s well-founded despair of ever reaching the mythical “masses” with “advanced art”; the resulting ghetto mentality predominant in the narrow and incestuous art world itself, with its resentful reliance on a very small group of dealers, curators, critics, editors, and collectors who are all too frequently and often unknowingly bound by invisible apron strings to the “real world’s” power structure—all of these factors may make it unlikely that conceptual art will be any better equipped to affect the world any differently than, or even as much as, its less ephemeral counterparts.”
Lucy R. Lippard, “The Dematerialization of Art,” in Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology, 1999.
Readings for next class:
What is the Digital Humanities?
https://whatisdigitalhumanities.com/
https://digitalhumanities.uchicago.edu/guides/what_is_dh
Digital Humanities Projects/Topics:
“How do we document life in a pandemic? UChicago Library wants your help” https://news.uchicago.edu/story/how-do-we-document-life-pandemic-uchicago-library-wants-your-help?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=UChicago_News_M08_11_2020
“How an alternate reality game helped build community during the pandemic” https://news.uchicago.edu/story/how-alternate-reality-game-helped-build-community-during-pandemic
“Humanities in a Pandemic: Resources for COVID-19” https://dhi.uic.edu/resources/covid-19-resources/
Detroit Urbex: http://www.detroiturbex.com/index.html
The Sifter: https://thesifter.org/
Digitizing Sleep Culture: https://sleepfictions.digital.uic.edu/sleep/digitizing-sleep-culture/index
Kindred Britain: http://kindred.stanford.edu/#
Xiangtangshan Caves Project: https://xts.uchicago.edu/
South Side Home Movies Project: https://sshmp.uchicago.edu/
Tools:
A huge list: http://dhresourcesforprojectbuilding.pbworks.com/w/page/69244319/Digital%20Humanities%20Tools
Some examples:
- Twine:
Rebecca Wilson. 2016. Ritual Recreation: http://socrates.acadiau.ca/courses/engl/jsaklofske/wilson/Ritual.html
Rebecca Wilson. 2016. Infinite: http://socrates.acadiau.ca/courses/engl/jsaklofske/INFINITE.html.
- N + 7 Machine: http://www.spoonbill.org/n+7/
Week 3 (09/07/21): Appropriation, Remix, and “COPY-IT-RIGHT”
- Read: Introduction, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2 (pgs. 1-62), Uncreative Writing, Kenneth Goldsmith
Week 3 Google Slides: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1l_em69_OCrNXYg8GvEU0Tiptcrgh1dXy/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112231946684803318553&rtpof=true&sd=true
- IDEAS Student Handbook; IDEAS Capstone Proposal Format Guide
For next week (due September 14):
1) Make sure you’re caught up with past weeks’ assignments. This includes:
– Complete 6 of the “Do It” projects, and post the documentation on your website.
– Make sure you have read the Introduction, and Chapters 1 and 2 of Uncreative Writing. (The .pdf is on the “Schedule” page under Week 2.)
2) Download the UIC IDEAS Capstone Student Handbook and Capstone Proposal Format Guide. Read each of those through, and take note of any questions you have regarding the format of the capstone and documentation/presentation.
3) Using the Capstone Proposal Format Guide, formulate a 1-page proposal using one of your “Do It” Projects. Following the format guide, complete sections 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6. (Don’t do a literature review or bibliography, sections 3 and 7). This means you will:
1. Come up with a Project Title.
2. Describe the purpose and objectives.
4. Describe your methods.
5. What will be your deliverables?
6. How do you plan to present this project?Keep in mind that this is a practice/thought experiment! You will not be required to complete this project, as it is a practice proposal (unless you decide you DO want to pursue this for your capstone).
4) Copy and paste that proposal onto your website, and send a .docx copy to tfunk4@uic.edu before class on Tuesday.
Week 4 (09/14/21): Research and Proposals for Creative Projects
“First, it’s okay to copy! Believe in the process of copying as much as you can; with all your heart is a good place to start – get into it as straight and honestly as possible. Copying is as good (I think better from this vector-view) as any other way of getting ‘there.’”
– NOTES ON THE AESTHETICS OF ‘copying-an-Image Processor,’ Phil Morton, 1973
WATCH:
ART21, “Chicago”: https://art21.org/watch/art-in-the-twenty-first-century/s8/chicago/
Consider: How do each of these artists approach their work? What is their “research”? What are their methodologies?
READ:
Writing a Compelling Proposal in the Arts or Humanities:
http://curartsandhumanities.org/writing-a-compelling-proposal/
RESEARCH:
Find (at least) 3 articles using the UIC Library database, and (at least) 2 books in the UIC library catalog pertaining to your proposal. Write a literature review, and create a bibliography for your proposal. Create a page for your literature review and bibliography on your website.
How to begin research:
https://library.uic.edu/
Use the “collections” page to look up specific topics:
https://library.uic.edu/collections
Look up Academic Journals by category:
https://i-share-uic.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/jsearch?vid=01CARLI_UIC:CARLI_UIC
Use a journal database to delve into specific topics:
https://researchguides.uic.edu/az.php
Example: Use JSTOR, a digital database for scholars, researchers, and students
https://about-jstor-org.proxy.cc.uic.edu/
Week 5 (09/20/21): Progress Journals/Blogs for Creative Projects
Why journal your progress? What does your process tell you about your project?
Progress Journal sample, with instructions on how to make
Confused by WordPress? Here are tutorials to help you get started: https://wordpress.org/support/category/basic-usage/
Some advice on keeping a journal for creative projects: https://medium.com/better-humans/replace-your-to-do-list-with-interstitial-journaling-to-increase-productivity-4e43109d15ef
Week 6 (09/28/21): Documentation
Anatomy of a Proposal:
Jared Kelley-Hudgins, Atmospheric Orchestra, Electronic Sensor Installation, 2018
Garden for a Changing Climate: Sustainability Fair, Lecture, Sound Performance
Gallery 400, Chicago, IL
List of to-do items to begin your capstone:
- Literature review and bibliography:
- Find at least 5 resources for your capstone proposal. At least 2 should be books, and 3 should be journal articles. You can also cite a variety of other sources: films and videos, audio/music, art, etc.
- The literature review will address 5 of your sources, each with 2 or so sentences describing how they are helpful for your project.
- The bibliography needs proper citations, either using MLA or Chicago Style. These are the webpages that detail how to cite your materials:
- https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html
- https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_general_format.html
- Send the document to me (tfunk4@uic.edu) as a .docx file.
- Proposal and Objectives:
- Your proposal should be at least two pages, double-spaced. Start the document by clearly stating what you plan to do. Describe the final outcome—this means both the thing you hope to complete by the end of the process, and what you will personally gain. Remember: the goal of the project is not the same as the work you will do. Ask yourself what your project will contribute to human thought, or society. Why is it important?
- This is a helpful get-started guide:
- Writing a Compelling Proposal in the Arts or Humanities:
http://curartsandhumanities.org/writing-a-compelling-proposal/
- Writing a Compelling Proposal in the Arts or Humanities:
- Send the document to me (tfunk4@uic.edu) as a .docx file.
- Organize your website:
- Create a header menu with the following pages:
- Proposal
- Literature Review and Bibliography
- Progress Journal (this should be the “Posts Page” as labeled in your Dashboard)
- You can include an “About” page for yourself if you wish. This may have a resume or cv with a bit about you.
- If you have any problems figuring out how to create the menu, please make an office hours appointment with me and we’ll work through it together.
- Create a header menu with the following pages:
- Start your Progress Journal:
- There is a default page on your WordPress website called “Blog” that is marked as a “Posts Page” (as mentioned above). You can rename this “Progress Journal” or “Progress Blog” and link it as a menu item.
- You should have had a blog post for last week, and one for this week. If you have not yet started, make two new posts.
- You will be posting AT LEAST ONE new blog post each week. You can certainly post more!
- Make a Timeline:
- Your timeline should include important milestones, including Week 15 of Spring Semester (that’s when the capstone deliverables are due), Week 15 of Fall Semester (the midway point), and midterms for each semester (Week 7 of Fall and Spring).
- Think of what you want to have accomplished for those weeks. Remember: this timeline is a skeleton and can be adapted, so be ambitious.
- Include at least two more milestones and what you will have completed by then. That makes at least 6 milestones total.
- Post your timeline on your “Proposal” page, under your Proposal and Objectives.
- Send your timeline to me (tfunk4@uic.edu) as a .docx file.
TLDR: List of to-do items to begin your capstone:
- Literature review and bibliography
- Proposal and Objectives
- Timeline
- Progress Journal (on website)
Week 7 (10/05/21): Methodology/Actions: “Best Laid Plans…”
Methodology/Actions: “Best Laid Plans…”
Helpful guide for how to approach methodology:
Some tips:
- Use bullet points for your methodology. Break each into discrete ideas, and be specific. Instead of “Interview neighbors,” detail the actions involved. For example, the above could be broken into “Design questionnaire for interviews, focusing on positive questions about community engagement. There will be twenty questions that go from general to more specific ways in which the interviewee shows civic pride.” The next bullet point could be “Interview neighbors with the questionnaire, and take audio recordings of the interaction. Each interviewee must sign a waiver so that their words can be used in future media.”
- Use strong “action words,” not passive voice. For example:
- DO USE: “Film press conferences for second half of documentary.”
- DO NOT USE: “I’ll try to film press conferences.”
- The methodology will be no more than a page or two of your proposal.
Week 8 (10/12/21): The 5-minute Elevator Pitch
Week 9 (10/19/21): Midterm Progress Report
Due: 5-minute presentation on your proposed capstone project.
Week 10 (10/26/21): “The Elevator Pitch” in action—Project Presentations
Week 11 (11/02/21): Bumps in the Road: How to Work out Technical, Conceptual, or Existential Problems
What should you do if you encounter blockages in completing your work? How do you deal with anxiety when approaching big projects? Here’s our class exercise in thinking through approaches to (very real) problems that may halt progress in our projects.
Take 10 minutes and write down three big questions or challenges affecting the completion of your capstone. These questions or challenges should be:
- Technical (e.g. “Where can I go to get prints of my digital photographs?” or “What software is the best to use for editing my footage?”)
- Conceptual (e.g. “Is the scope of my project too large, and should I concentrate on this smaller aspect?” or “Should my interviews include video of my subjects, or should I just include the audio to retain their anonymity? What does that add to/take away from the overall project?”)
- Existential (e.g. “What do I do with this project when I’m done?” or “What happens if I fail to complete certain aspects of the project, or if I have to adapt the project?”)
We will use class discussion to talk through how to approach these questions. It’s important to use your classmates, advisors, and professors as resources—they will not only be able to field technical or conceptual questions, but may have some insight into—or can commiserate with!—your anxieties.
- Side note: often the “existential” questions regarding projects aren’t about whether you fail to complete it, but what happens if you succeed. For example, one may ask, “What if I complete my project, but I’m unhappy with it?” or “How do I use this project to get a job?” These are very real and legitimate questions!
Reminder of the items you need on your project website:
1.) Proposal
2.) Bibliography/Lit Review
3.) Timeline
4.) Methodology
Week 12 (11/09/21): TBA
Week 13 (11/16/21): Social Practice Spotlight
Suzanne Lacy: Interdisciplinary Artist: https://www.suzannelacy.com/
Artist, educator, writer, and civil servant Suzanne Lacy has brought together each of her skill sets into an art practice that examines, exposes and ultimately seeks to rectify urban social issues. (Text from CreativeTime Summit: https://creativetime.org/summit/author/suzanne-lacy/)
The Oakland Projects (1991-2001)
https://www.suzannelacy.com/performance-installation#/the-oakland-projects/
A ten-year series of installations, performances and political activism with youth in Oakland, California.
Oakland, California—with its history of political activism, diversity and culture— was the site of a developing youth culture and politics in the 1990s. Between 1991-2001, Suzanne Lacy worked with scores of youth and adult collaborators to produce lengthy and large-scale public projects that included workshops and classes for youth, media intervention, and institutional program and policy development. The Oakland Projects are one of the most developed explorations of community, youth leadership, and public policy in current visual and public arts practice. The work was distributed on television, through lectures, in galleries, on documentary videos, and in articles and books.Text from https://www.suzannelacy.com/
The Roof is on Fire (1993-1994)
Suzanne Lacy, Annice Jacoby, and Chris Johnson
Youth, Cops and Videotape (1995)
No Blood/No Foul and the Oakland Youth Policy (1995-1996)
Suzanne Lacy, Annie Jacoby, and Chris Johnson
No Blood/No Foul installation in Tokyo (1996)
Expectations Summer Project (1997)
Suzanne Lacy, Lisa Finley, Amana Harris, Leslie Becker, Unique Holland, Annice Jacoby, Leukessia Spencer and Maxine Wyman
Expectations installation at Capp Street Project (1997)
Code 33: Emergency Clear the Air! (1997-1999)
Suzanne Lacy, Unique Holland, and Julio Morales
Eye 2 Eye at Fremont High (2000)
Week 14 (11/23/21): NO CLASS—ONE-ON-ONE MEETINGS
Overview of Important Due Dates:
November 30th, Final Progress Presentation (during class)
- The presentation should be approximately 5 minutes long
- The presentation should use slides (PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote, etc.) and not be presented directly from your project website
- Your presentation should cover your progress thus far, and also your plans for the next semester. (Pro tip: It may be helpful to screenshot content from your website to share what you have been working on.)
- Reserve some time in your presentation to reflect on how your project has changed throughout the semester—share how you initially imagined your project versus where you see it going now.
December 7th, Deliverables Due:
website with all documentation easily accessible, including:
- proposal
- bib/lit review
- timeline
- methodology
- slides from your final progress presentation (these can be posted on your progress journal)
- up-to-date progress journal
Pro tip: You can post the bib/lit review, timeline, and methodology all on your “proposal” page rather than giving each its own page. Just make sure to label each section clearly.
Week 15 (11/30/21): FINAL PROGRESS PRESENTATION
***Due 12/07/21: Updated website with all capstone documentation (proposal, timeline, methodology, lit review/bibliography) and up-to-date progress journal. Send a link via email to tfunk4@uic.edu.
