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Honors in Amsterdam Collaborative Research Space
Emerging e-research practices are changing key aspects of the interaction and character of scholarly work. Presently, academic understanding of their potential is quite limited. This unique program is an international collaboration involving faculty, undergraduate, and graduate students in a collaborative Summer School of the Virtual Knowledge Studio (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), the Honors Program of the University of Washington (Seattle), and the International School for the Humanities and Social Sciences (University of Amsterdam).
Details of each of the three summer programs along with student research projects can be found on the following pages:
- Spring/Summer 2010- Urban Lab Amsterdam: Culture, Technology, and Environment
- Spring/Summer 2008- Urban Native, Digital City - Interdisciplinary e-Research
- Spring/Summer 2007- Pragmatic Tolerance & Urban Culture in Amsterdam: Interdisciplinary e-research practices
- Spring/Summer 2006- Paradox and Progress: Exploring Urban Culture in Amsterdam through Interdisciplinary e-Research
Contents |
The Honors Program and Study Abroad
In the Honors Program of the University of Washington, studying abroad is more than just visiting another country; it's engaging in global citizenship. By capturing the collective wisdom of students and faculty who have participated in and/or developed Honors study abroad programs, we have developed a framework approach to International Engagement. This framework operates on a continuum with possibilities that range from fully-structured programs with minimal up-front investments of time and effort to open-ended independent research approaches for those who prefer to carve their own path. The "Honors In Amsterdam" program was developed as a research-based study abroad experience, whereby students develop research proposals in Seattle, which are then carried out in Amsterdam.
In the spring quarter, students take an introduction to interdisciplinary research methods in the humanities and social sciences. Students form self-selected groups in order to collaborate on a research agenda they will carry out in Amsterdam over the course of a month. Once on the ground in Amsterdam, students will attend talks given by local scholars and activists, and receive guidance and support from both their University of Washington teachers and University of Amsterdam hosts in pursuing their research. Research topics over the past years have included studies of health care and the Muslim community, the culture of squatting, Amsterdam fashion, New Media, transit systems, and the health information needs of prostitutes. Students receive 15 credits total: 3 in the spring, and 12 in the summer.
The Virtual Knowledge Studio
A core feature of the Virtual Knowledge Studio in Amsterdam, is the integration of design and analysis in a close cooperation between social scientists, humanities researchers, information technology experts and information scientists. This integrated approach provides insight in the way e-research can contribute to new research questions and methods. Each summer since its inception, the VKS invites student researchers to conduct urban research in Amsterdam with instruction on the theoretical underpinnings of e-research. The use of e-research practices requires that students pay particular attention to the way questions about society are embedded in assumptions about reality. As such, we explore the epistemological connections between data gathering methods and knowledge production.
The emergence of e-research as a collaborative practice in social science and humanities makes international and interdisciplinary research all the more powerful as it removes barriers of time and space that once hindered similar collaborations. We will exploit research methods from three domains: international research, urban studies, and e-research practices. We seek to examine a variety of socio-cultural topics in the urban context of Amsterdam, with a reflective eye on the process as well as the findings. Inspired by the Virtual Knowledge Studio, this study incorporates social science and humanities interdisciplinary research with methodological exploration of digital data-gathering devices and e-research techniques. The methodological framework utilized in this study is based on the assumption that technologically mediated research influences not only the method of data collection and analysis but also the character and process of knowledge production.
Our aim is to develop innovative social science methods by employing digital technologies in a reflexive research design. Data collection and analysis techniques will include still image photography, sound and voice recordings, short video clips, and the use of geo-location tagging (eg. Google Earth and Geographical Information Systems software. We seek to examine a variety of socio-cultural topics in the urban context of Amsterdam, with a reflective eye on the process as well as the findings.
University of Amsterdam ISHSS
Once in Amsterdam, students live in the University of Amsterdam dormitories and attend talks given by local scholars and activists. They receive guidance and support from both their University of Washington instructors and University of Amsterdam hosts in pursuing their research. From the ISHSS website:
The Summer Institute at the International School for Humanities and Social Sciences (ISHSS) in Amsterdam offers a variety of intensive summer courses and tailor made programmes (in cooperation with host universities abroad) in the fields of social policy, migration, sexuality and culture, addiction studies and European politics. All of our programmes are taught in English.
With over 10 years experience in programme development, the Summer Institute is capable of offering high quality short-term study abroad programmes at a reasonable cost. With insiders’ knowledge of the city of Amsterdam and an impressive list of guest speakers and faculty, we have developed programmes that offer a truly authentic Amsterdam experience.
Engaging the City with Social (e)Research
Because of the highly mediated context of online interaction, Internet research scholars have found it necessary to revisit many of the basic questions of research. Going ‘back to the basics’ in this manner has refocused the attention of research design onto the research question—thus providing a valuable starting point in developing a course for teaching research. The development of Internet research methods for the study of online interaction provides a foundation for engaging students in the theory behind research. A basic understanding of research is overlooked when simply teaching research methods. Similarly, using collaborative technologies in the context of teaching research requires a strong focus on the theory in practice. Students in this program use collaborative technologies as a platform for learning and conducting research as well as a means to bridge between the two segments of the program; spring in Seattle and summer in Amsterdam.
The Virtual Knowledge Studio will play a key role in co-developing methodologies and collaborative analytical techniques that will inform the execution of student research projects. The research projects, as well as the coursework at the University of Amsterdam, will retain a contextual grounding within the unique setting of Amsterdam. Experts from UvA will provide instruction on contemporary social issues within these broad topic areas while the UW instructors will facilitate student research projects and provide instruction on broader notions of knowledge production in research. Specifically, students will maintain individual blogs and collaborative wikis throughout the full 14 weeks of the program. These e-Research practices serve to augment data gathering and will be incorporated into research designs. With approved research designs, students’ arrival in Amsterdam marks the start of the field research component of the program. Findings from data gathered using a variety of urban and digital methods will be presented by the students groups as a central part of this panel.
Student Research Projects
Students in the program engage the city of Amsterdam through the use of innovative social science methods by employing digital technologies in a reflexive research design. Data collection and analysis techniques will include still image photography, sound and voice recordings, short video clips, and the use of geo-location tagging (eg. Google Earth and Geographical Information Systems) software. The fourteen-week program is two-fold, occurring both in Seattle and Amsterdam. In the spring quarter, students prepare research designs at the University of Washington.
During the summer portion of the program in Amsterdam, in small-group research teams students will employ the research designs developed in spring to engage in self-directed research as a means to learn about Amsterdam's history, art, architecture, public policy, and urban culture. Accomplishment of the small-group research projects will result in a collection of digital content that is used to create multimedia presentations. Additionally, the collective data repository and individual project findings will be the basis for a multimedia aggregation that reflects a meta-level synopsis of the overall program. Student researchers will present the finding of their research as well as the intricacies of their methods.
Details of each of the three summer programs along with student research projects can be found on the following pages:
- Spring/Summer 2008- Urban Native, Digital City - Interdisciplinary e-Research
- Spring/Summer 2007- Pragmatic Tolerance & Urban Culture in Amsterdam: Interdisciplinary e-research practices
- Spring/Summer 2006- Paradox and Progress: Exploring Urban Culture in Amsterdam through Interdisciplinary e-Research
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