From: Anna Biller (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Dec 06 2009 - 18:30:54 PST
Yes, can't teachers fail students who won't read assigned texts?
Aren't the teachers, by not insisting that students read books, partly
creating the situation in which students remain anti-intellectual? I
can't think of how many students would have read texts when I was in
school if they didn't HAVE to...
On Dec 6, 2009, at 6:05 PM, Rob Gawthrop wrote:
> How about failing the students.
>
> Rob
>
>
> On 06/12/2009 23:31, "Beth Capper" <email suppressed> wrote:
>
> How about...
> make your books available as downloadable pdfs!
>
> On Sun, Dec 6, 2009 at 4:20 PM, Patricia R. Zimmermann <email suppressed
> > wrote:
> I hesitate to dive into this "book" issue for film classes, but
> nonetheless,given the Web 2.0 zeitgeist, I must.
>
> I totally agree with Tony about books. The undergraduates I teach at
> Ithaca College have actually often gone to our dean to complain that
> I actually USE books in my classes (for those who don't know me, I
> teach history/theory, not production). The norm for theory classes
> in liberal arts at most schools is 5-8 books--and all the students
> do in cinema studies courses is complain and then take action
> against this. The few overachievers who buy books are all focused on
> getting into graduate PHD programs.
>
> The sad aspect of this anti intellectualism is that students are
> shooting themselves in the head and the foot by not reading. They
> are entering industries and arts cultures with highly education,
> liberal arts, humanistic thinkers with analytical edge. By not
> reading they are tracking themsevles into the hidden class system of
> the media ecology.
>
> That said, I do think that the current contradictions of this moment
> in higher education offer all us new ways to imagine inviting
> students into a larger disciplinary based conversation that is both
> legacy and innovative. Here are some ideas I've culled from
> colleagues that I'm going to steal to propel more engagement:
>
> 1. Use websites on the syllabus and have students INTERACT with the
> website
>
> 2. use blogs and require blogging and require linking
>
> 3. require students to participate in and comment on smart blogs in
> our field (there are a lot, in fact, I have one myself)
>
> 4. Use blackboard and post your websites
>
> 5. Do webinars and conference calls (it's free, they dial in) with
> people in the field who have knowledge you want them to know. I
> taught a course a few years ago and we had Scott MacDonald as a
> "course listserv" guest. I taught a course in film festivals,
> online, this summer, and we did four conference calls withpeople in
> the field, requiring students to read the websites and bios BEFORE
> the networking call)
>
> 6. About ten years ago, our own Tony Conrad had me on a conference
> call with his class to discuss an article I had written. I think he
> had me call into a phone line he put on speaker phone. I had a
> blast. I didni't have to travel to Buffalo, and I enjoyed it and
> felt comraderie with Tony.
>
> 7. Use Wikis to engage dialogue
>
> 8. Use teleconferencing to bring in conversations with people around
> the world
>
> 9. If you can't find a book on a topic, that means your class it
> breaking new ground. Treat it like a film festival and bring people
> involved in those organizations or those films into your class via
> all of the above--see if your school can get them some minimal
> honoraria or trade them something.
>
> 10. Be optimistic, have fun, let go of old assumptions, invent new
> ways to invite students into the field through engagement.
>
> All for now--good luck. Pedagogy is changing, and it's really been
> an eye opener for me. We no longer need to wait for books to be
> available, since most books now don't fit most film classes, they
> are monographs.
>
> Thanks, Tony, for making me think.
>
> Patty Zimmermann
>
> -------
> Patricia R. Zimmermann, Ph.D.
> Professor, Cinema, Photography and Media Arts
> Roy H. Park School of Communications
> Codirector, Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival
> Division of Interdisciplinary and International Studies
> 953 Danby Road
> Ithaca College
> Ithaca, New York 14850 USA
> Office: +1 (607) 274 3431
> FAX: +1 (607) 274 7078
> http://faculty.ithaca.edu/patty/
> http://www.ithaca.edu/fleff
> BLOG: http://www.ithaca.edu/fleff10/blogs/open_spaces/
> email suppressed
>
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Sun, 6 Dec 2009 16:35:17 -0500
> >From: Experimental Film Discussion List
> <email suppressed
> >)
> >Subject: Re: looking for good intro text
> >To: email suppressed
> >
> >Hi Bernie--------
> >
> >You will probably not like this message.
> >
> >But yesterday I received my copy of a new Taschen book, Art Cinema
> >(9783822835944), that takes a swipe at the huge project of
> connecting cinema, in
> >its origins and full sweep as art, with the contemporary art media.
> In it you
> >will find Bresson, Pipilotti Rist, Aernout Mik, Len Lye, Muehl,
> Sharits, Arrabal,
> >Tracey Moffatt, Dreyer, Greenaway, etc. etc. (but no community-
> based video at
> >all). Of course this book is a failure, but it connects viscerally
> with things
> >students are interested in (sex, surrealism, movies), and is loaded
> with pix and
> >lite on text. In fact, I will consider it as a textbook for certain
> of my own
> >classes.
> >
> >That said, my experience has been that students don't buy books any
> more,
> >especially big beautiful picture books--- however useful. I used
> Michael Rush's
> >book Video Art as a text, and I felt that nobody in the class owned
> or really
> >read it very much. The fact is that students will access a
> compilation of
> >websites more readily than they will use reserve texts at the
> library, even when
> >in the library itself. The only books that average students
> regularly acquire are
> >"textbooks" they are required to swallow page by page, in business,
> science, and
> >pre-med courses. Except among over-achievers, books are over.
> >
> >:-)
> >
> >-----------t0ny
> >
> >
> >
> >On Sun 12/06/09 10:22 AM , Mark Webber email suppressed sent:
> >> bernard
> >>
> >> this sounds something like a book i've been working on for a few
> >> years, and i'm afraid it is still a few years away.
> >>
> >> my project is an oral history of the development of 'avant-garde'
> film
> >> from the 50s to the 70s, predominantly covering the US situation,
> >> which will be told in the words of those directly involved. it is
> more
> >> of a social / cultural history of the ways in which the films were
> >> made, shown, distributed and discussed rather than a study of the
> >> films themselves.
> >>
> >> i've conducted 70-80 new interviews to date. eventually, copies
> of the
> >> complete interview transcripts and recordings (many of which are
> 3-4
> >> hours long) will be deposited at archives in new york and london,
> >> where they will be available for other researchers.
> >>
> >> details below of a related (free) event in new york this evening.
> (not
> >> sure if it's just me, but i didn't receive part 1 of the this weeks
> >> listings)
> >>
> >> mark
> >>
> >> ...
> >>
> >> UNDERGROUND NEW YORK
> >> New York Gershwin Hotel
> >> Sunday 6 December 2009, at 7:30pm
> >>
> >> In the 1960s, filmmakers investigated new forms of production in
> >> dialogue with radical shifts in art, music, performance and popular
> >> culture. Following the example of the Beats, the counterculture was
> >> alive with protest, freedom of expression and the breaking of
> taboos,
> >> and from the Film-Makers� Coop to Andy Warhol�s
> Factory,
> >> portable 16mm cameras were bringing a whole new way of seeing to
> the cinema
> >screen.
> >> These heady days of �underground film� were captured
> by
> >> Gideon Bachmann in a spirited broadcast for German television.
> Rarely seen
> >> today, it is one of the few surviving documents to show aspects
> of New
> >> York�s independent film community during this exhilarating
> >> period.
> >> UNDERGROUND NEW YORK (PROTEST WOF�R)
> >> Gideon Bachmann, 1967, black & white, sound, 51 minutes
> >>
> >> Shirley Clarke grows carrots on top of the Chelsea Hotel and meets
> >> Jonas Mekas and Michelangelo Antonioni at the Film-Makers�
> >> Distribution Center. Allen Ginsberg, Susan Sontag and Tuli
> Kupferberg
> >> protest for peace before being shipped off to the Department of
> >> Correction. USCO freak out in their intermedia church and Maurice
> Amar
> >> stages a happening at the Movie Subscription Group. Gideon Bachmann
> >> goes on location with Adolfas Mekas in New Jersey, George Kuchar in
> >> the Bronx, and Carl Linder in his bedroom. Bruce Conner dances in a
> >> diner, and Andy Warhol fakes it for television.
> >>
> >> Presented by Mark Webber, the Gershwin�s outgoing artist in
> >> residence, who is currently researching an oral history of avant-
> garde cinema
> >> from the 1950s through the 1970s. Some of those interviewed for the
> >> project will be present.
> >>
> >> Free Admission.
> >> Arrive 7:30pm. Screening 8pm.
> >>
> >> at
> >>
> >> The Gershwin Hotel
> >> 7 East 27 Street (between 5th & Madison)
> >> New York, NY 10016.
> >>
> >> Subways: R, W, 6 at 28 St or F, V at 23 St.
> >>
> >> On 4 Dec 2009, at 09:02, FRAMEWORKS automatic digest system wrote:
> >>
> >> > Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2009 19:25:44
> >> -0800> From: Bernard Roddy OO.COM <http://OO.COM> >> Subject:
> looking for good intro text
> >> >
> >> > Greetings, frameworkers:
> >> >
> >> > Can anyone think of an introductory text that
> >> combines a history of > experimental film and video IN THE U.S.
> with a
> >> strong discussion of > the history of artists' organizing,
> writing, and
> >> distribution IN THE > US?
> >> >
> >> > For Great Britain there's David Curtis' A
> >> History of Artists' Film > and Video in Britain. This has the
> distinct
> >> advantage of combining > film and video art criticism with
> strong (and
> >> introductory) writing > about the social history behind
> production,
> >> distribution, and > critical reception. It includes discussion of
> >> "little magazines," > the "schooling" of film artists,
> >> institutional support for artists' > work in film such as the
> Experimental
> >Film Fund
> >> and the Arts > Council, as well as issues motivating and
> >> confronting artists' > organizations like the London Filmmakers'
> >> Co-op.>
> >> > I'd love to find something like this for the
> >> U.S. It would include > a history of things like Canyon Cinema
> and the
> >> Film-Makers' Co-op, > Cinema 16 and Anthology Film Archives, in
> >> addition to offering a > critical context for student work.
> >> >
> >> > Thanks in advance.
> >> >
> >> > Bernie
> >>
> >>
> >> __________________________________________________________________
> >> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at om>.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >__________________________________________________________________
> >For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
> Email has been scanned for viruses by Altman Technologies' email
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>
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.