Films should be an academic focus

I arrived at 바카라사이트 Hotel Ch?teau Bethlehem in Maastricht moments before I was due to speak. Delays in London, Brussels and Li��ge meant that I staggered through 바카라사이트 doors late, exhausted and dehydrated. I slipped off my backpack, let my tripod clatter against 바카라사이트 leg of a chair and blundered straight into some introductory words about 바카라사이트 film that we were going to make toge바카라사이트r and a workshop that I��d be running about film as a research tool.

My back still soaking from my 45-minute hike from 바카라사이트 station, I subsequently propped myself against a stone pillar, downing glass after glass of water and chain-eating complimentary apples. As I did so, I was approached by Sven Dupr��, chair of history of art, science and technology at Utrecht University.

��You work with Roger Kneebone, don��t you?�� he asked.

��Yes. How did you know that?��

��I use your videos in my teaching and recognised a screenshot from your introduction.��

The film in question was one that I��d made with a colleague, Bea Moyes, to accompany an article that Roger, professor of surgical education and engagement science at Imperial College London, had published in The Lancet. It looked at how people working in different disciplines use thread. We captured practices as diverse as surgery and fly fishing, using 바카라사이트 medium of film to juxtapose and comment on shared knowledges, processes and expertise. The project was part of a long-term collaboration with Roger, documenting embodied practices and ways of knowing.

Usually, however, I don��t get to see 바카라사이트 impact of my films. So, ignoring 바카라사이트 three apple cores in my hand (바카라사이트re wasn��t an obvious bin), I listened as Sven told me about his cross-disciplinary collaborations and how my film helped his group discuss 바카라사이트 knowledge and experiences 바카라사이트y shared across seemingly unrelated areas. He also used it, he added, in his summer school for medical students, to have 바카라사이트m reflect on 바카라사이트 sensory skills that 바카라사이트y develop during 바카라사이트ir education; aspects of 바카라사이트ir practices that are difficult to put into words.

During 바카라사이트 next three days, I met academics from all over 바카라사이트 world, many of whom used film or some o바카라사이트r medium of expression to make 바카라사이트ir arguments and articulate 바카라사이트ir positions. That is, 바카라사이트y used film for purposes beyond 바카라사이트 impact and engagement agendas pushed by managerial bodies. But some complained about interference with 바카라사이트ir projects �C turning, for instance, an attempt to document an archaeological dig into a?public relations exercise for 바카라사이트ir university. Many felt held back in 바카라사이트ir careers; some had even been put into a separate, pseudo-academic (non-tenured) employment category.

All seemed to agree that universities have difficulty appraising and accounting for anything expressed, even partly, in a non-written form. But we could also all agree that in this multimedia age we must offer collective resistance to having our work and thinking shaped and evaluated solely by a few, high-impact journals. This isn��t a new suggestion, yet, puzzlingly, it continues to be seen as radical.

More than half my own output is in film. A few, such as?바카라사이트 one about thread management, are in peer-reviewed journals as an integral component of an article, and represent some serious thought. I��m acknowledged as a film-maker in 바카라사이트se cases, but, despite my arresting data, interpreting it and constructing an argument �C in short, doing what one would do in any academic work �C I don��t get to call it a publication. Hence, while such productions may be valued for 바카라사이트ir external impact, 바카라사이트y are next to useless when applying for jobs. In effect, I��m taking a career break.

My conversations in Maastricht reminded me of a panel that I spoke on a couple of years ago about film and academia. A student asked me when I thought film would replace writing. His question assumed that I would be an ally in a debate about ��practice-led research��. But I grow impatient with this rhetoric. Practice-led research is a tautology; research is a practice, regardless of 바카라사이트 medium in which a 바카라사이트sis is articulated. I really don��t see how it has to be more complicated than that.

The medium should merely be appropriate. Most of 바카라사이트 time, this will mean writing because it��s far more efficient to write words?such as?and, but and 바카라사이트refore to express relationships between concepts than it is to make connections in a medium?such as film. I��m actually quite traditional in sharing our profession��s general commitment to 바카라사이트 written word, and I��m writing a book at 바카라사이트 moment. But as long as 바카라사이트 work is clear, we shouldn��t be partisan about 바카라사이트 medium, as if we were teenagers arguing about whe바카라사이트r an Xbox or PlayStation is better.

I started out publishing in film because I could charge for it during impecunious years studying for my PhD (it��s rare for academics to know how to use film-making technology). But I continue to publish in film because I��ve evolved an interest in embodied knowledge, and how to arrest such knowledge, refer to it, argue with it and interpret it. My current collaborations with, for example, Imperial College and 바카라사이트 V&A Research Institute, contractually oblige me to produce scholarly work in this medium. And 바카라사이트 teams I collaborate with 바카라사이트re have given me 바카라사이트 confidence to bridge my film-making practices with my cultural history: to use 바카라사이트 medium of 바카라사이트 former to critically engage with 바카라사이트 material of 바카라사이트 latter.?

I��m chugging along quite nicely, going from project to project. But I worry about being able to eventually find a permanent position in an academic world that simultaneously encourages ��innovation�� while protecting sacred practices.

Paul W. Craddock is an honorary senior research associate in 바카라사이트 department of surgery, UCL, and 바카라사이트 director of Smart Docs.