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London Summer School: The Arts and Digital Culture

Posted January 24, 2016

Pratt School of Information with King’s College London (KCL) Department of Digital Humanities  – London Summer School – The Arts and Digital Culture

Immerse yourself in the arts and digital culture of London GLAM! (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums)

This 3-credit two-week course runs from June 26-July 8 with July 11 and 12 optional conference days at EVA London 2016. The program features visits to London’s world-class cultural institutions with curatorial talks and current exhibitions, a Symposium at KCL, and lectures by KCL Department of Digital Humanities faculty, and other international leaders in the field of the arts and digital culture. Applications are now being accepted.

This course builds on graduate programs related to the fields of digital culture and the information society at both Pratt’s School of Information–M.S. in Museums and Digital Culture and M.S. in Library and Information Science–and KCL’s Department of Digital Humanities–M.A. and Ph.D in Digital Humanities, M.A. in Digital Culture and Society, M.A. in Digital Asset and Media Management, and M.A. in Digital Curation. Our interdisciplinary approach makes connections across the full range of GLAM institutional activities from digital curation, preservation and digital media to emerging digital tools and technologies, and significantly, including the design of gallery shows and exhibitions both onsite and online with the goal of enhancing user engagement, education, and participation. Students will explore how the digital life of GLAM institutions has moved to the heart of institutional purpose and mission, driving research in new ways to integrate digital media in physical space, to expand digital content and to enhance web design and interaction in virtual space, and visitor experience and education.

View from the Tate Modern Museum members’ café on a rainy day, summer 2015. Note the construction cranes defining the skyline–with the Tate now an integral part of the new London Landscape–its current construction project will more than double the size of the museum! [Photo by T. Giannini]

Visits to cultural institutions include: 

  • The Maritime Museum via boat on the Thames
  • The British Library, a full day with curatorial lectures, Conservation Centre, and current BL Exhibition
  • A day trip to Oxford visiting the Bodleian’s new Weston special collections library and gallery exhibition, the Ashmolean and Museum of the History of Science
  • Symposium on Digital Culture at KCL with leading academics
  • The Tate Britain in the morning, then a boat across the Thames to the Tate Modern for exhibitions and talks

Course activities include:

  • Guided tour of Oxford and lunch at the Oxford pub, Eagle and Child.
  • Lunch at the Tate Modern
  • Lunch at KCL following the Symposium<
  • First day reception
  • Course dinner at a restaurant (TBA)

Extend your London learning experience with these exciting optional activities linking with the EVA London 2016 Conference:

  • July 11: Pre-EVA one-day conference on the arts and digital culture at the British Computer Society (BCS) July 11: 9:30 AM coffee; 10 AM-12:30 PM – talks by academics and leaders in practice; 12:30-2 PM – lunch at the BCS, 2-4:30 PM – workshops with student participation.
  • July 12: Students may attend or present at the July 12 EVA London Research Workshop (free workshop attendance depends on acceptance of a presentation)
  • July 12-14: Students may choose to attend the full EVA Conference at the student rate.

People

Stuart Dunn: Lecturer, Centre for e-Research, Chair of Postgraduate Board of Examiners Admissions, Tutor M.A. Digital Humanities.

Stuart Dunn graduated from the University of Durham with a Ph.D in Aegean Bronze Age Archaeology in 2002, conducting fieldwork and research visits in Melos, Crete and Santorini. Having developed research interests in GIS, Stuart subsequently became a Research Assistant on the AHRC’s ICT in Arts and Humanities Research Program. In 2006, he became a Research Associate at the Arts and Humanities e-Science Support Centre at King’s College London, and Research Fellow in CeRch. Stuart manages and contributes to several projects in the area of visualization, GIS and digital humanities.

Mark Hedges: Mark is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Digital Humanities, teaching on a variety of modules in the M.A. in Digital Asset and Media Management. His original academic background was in mathematics and philosophy, and he gained a Ph.D in mathematics at University College London, before starting a 17-year career in the software and systems consultancy industry, working on large-scale development projects for industrial and commercial clients.

Jonathan Bowen: A British computer scientist, he is Chairman of Museophile Limited and an Emeritus Professor at London South Bank University, where he headed the Centre for Applied Formal Methods. He has been a Professor of Computer Science at Birmingham City University, Visiting Professor at the Pratt Institute (New York City), University of Westminster and King’s College London, and a visiting academic at University College London. He was educated at the Dragon School, Bryanston School, prior to his matriculation at University College Oxford (Oxford University) where he received an M.A. degree in Engineering Science. His research interests range from software engineering to museum informatics.

Tula Giannini: Dean and Professor, Pratt School of Information, Giannini holds a Ph.D in historical musicology from Bryn Mawr College, an M.L.S. from Rutgers University, and a B.M. and M.M. from the Manhattan School of Music. At Pratt she put in place cultural informatics as conceptual framework for programs and introduced Pratt’s Advanced Certificates in Archives and in Museum Libraries, and dual-degree with Pratt’s Department of Digital Arts (M.S.L.I.S. and M.F.A. in Digital Arts).  In fall 2015, she introduced an M.S. in Museums and Digital Culture. Her research focuses on information and digital culture across libraries, museums and archives with special attention to digitization, curation, access and use of special collections materials. She designed and directed the IMLS funded Project CHART, which created, Brooklyn Visual Heritage with the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Historical Society and Brooklyn Public Library where it is currently supported.  Her research focuses on museums, libraries and archives in the digital world, at the intersections of physical and digital arts, culture and curation, and their interactions with digital life.

Required Course Project: Students develop a topic related to arts and digital culture about which they create a digital online project. Importantly, student topics are drawn from course study and experience.  Students keep a daily digital journal of their experiences, observations and reflections. Through digital capture, students gather and digitally curate images and research data around which they create a project narrative that conveys their topic perspectives within the the context of current research in the field. We recommend WordPress or a similar program as a project platform.

Application – Apply now for summer 2016

The program is open to: students enrolled in Pratt’s School of Information, students in graduate programs at other institutions studying in related fields, and students who hold bachelor’s degrees and wish to pursue studies in fields related to the arts and digital culture of today’s information society.

We encourage applicants to apply as early as possible as a maximum of 16 students will be accepted into the program.

Complete the application form.

For currently enrolled Pratt students

Please return the completed study abroad application along with your resume and a brief statement of purpose to Quinn Lai, Advisor for Academic Programs ([email protected]) or drop it off at the School of Information office (PMC 601).

For non-Pratt students

Please return the completed study abroad application along with your resume, a brief statement of purpose, an official undergraduate transcript indicating a bachelor’s degree was conferred or your most current graduate transcript, as well as a $50 check made out to Pratt Institute. Mail your application and supporting materials to Quinn Lai, Advisor for Academic Programs, Pratt Institute – School of Information, 144 West 14th Street – 6th Floor, New York, NY 10011.

Scholarships available for Pratt School of Information Students

**School of Information students are automatically considered for tuition scholarships at the time of application.

Program costs for 2016

1. Tuition and fees for Pratt Institute students

  • Tuition (3 credits; $1,229/credit): $3,687
  • International program fee: $300
  • Study abroad insurance: $50
  • Total = $4,037

Tuition and fees for non-Pratt Institute (visiting) students – add a $50 application fee

Please note:

  • Tuition for the London 3-credit course is the same as that of all School of Information courses.
  • Financial Aid: Students wishing to receive federal financial aid during the summer must take a minimum of 6-credits (two 3-credit courses). To meet this requirement, we recommend taking another course in the summer.

2. Other program costs:

  • Travel: Students arrange their own travel to London. Average RT airfare is about $1,200. For local travel in London, the Underground and buses are most convenient. We recommend that students use the Oystercard available for purchase at all Underground stations.
  • Housing: Students make their own housing arrangements. We generally recommend University of London Housing which is very reasonable. The School of Information office can advise and help you on housing. University housing for the two-weeks is about $1,000.
  • Meals: Students cover the cost of meals in London except for those meals noted above witch are provided by the program. The cost of meals varies greatly. There are many good inexpensive choices including an English pub.

Questions?

For further information or questions, please fee free to email Tula Giannini, Dean, [email protected]  

Opportunities for Current Students