Should academics make videos? Response to Ghosts of the Future

Published wi h C ea i e Commons licence: A ibu ion–Noncomme cial–No De i a i es Should academics make ideos? Response o Ghos s o he Fu u e Sa a Koopman Tampe e Peace Resea ch Ins i u e, Uni e si y o Tampe e, Finland sa [email protected] Abs ac This is a e iewe ’s esponse o a ideo submission o ACME by Kel in Mason. Keywo ds ideo; academic ideo; ideo abs ac s Should academics make ideos? Wha so o ideos? Wha abou ac i is -academics doing esea ch wi h and o a social mo emen ? Should ou ideos be any di e en ? Mos o my e iewe sugges ions we e, as Kel in Mason cha ac e izes hem in his esponse, echnical. I sugges ed edi s in he hopes ha mo e people would wa ch he ideo, and ully hea and unde s and he ideas, wo ds, and he plays on wo ds. His esponse is disa mingly hones . He did no go back and make hese edi s because he was al eady a he limi o his echnological capaci y. ACME: An In e na ional Jou nal o C i ical Geog aphies, 2017, 16(1): 156-160 157 Videos a e a powe ul way o us as academics o engage b oade audiences, and simply o engage wi h each o he di e en ly. Bu making ideos is one mo e skill o us o lea n, in all ou non-exis en spa e ime, wi h all ou spa e esou ces. Reco ding equipmen and edi ing so wa e can ge se iously p icey. Ye he e is a g owing end online owa ds quick and di y ideos simply sho wi h a phone and ba ely edi ed, simply using ee so wa e o c op he in and ou poin , and add a logo sc een a he beginning. I ecen ly spoke a CEDLA, he La in Ame ican S udies Cen e a he Uni e si y o Ams e dam. As pa o he alk hey asked me o do his 3 minu e ideo o hem. They asked o desc ibe mysel i s and wha my alk had been abou , and hen asked me jus one ques ion, and ga e me a ime so ha I would no go o e . They asked me o do his a e my alk, while I was s ill jazzed abou he discussion and in answe mode. Be o e a i ing hey had sen me his an as ic desc ip ion and how- o o wha hey we e doing, pu ou by he g oup ak o, which has now pu up o e 1,000 sho ideo in e iews wi h hei pa ne s a ound he wo ld. As hey pu i , hese ideos b ing he issues and he people hey wo k wi h o li e. They emphasize ha o ge iewe ship ideo should be a ound 3 minu es, and no go o e 4. I am su e you ha e no iced ha his is he maximum leng h o mos o he ideos ha ge ci cula ed on social media, and many a e e en sho e . Ye TED alk ideos a e longe . They a e 18 minu es, supposedly so ha he ime spen can be jus i iable as a co ee b eak. Mason’s ideo, Ghos s o he Fu u e, is 20 minu es long, and so I sugges ed se e al places ha i could be cu back, as well as places ha he could ha e added mo e explana ion abou wha he p o es was abou and pic u es o he ac ions he was desc ibing. His esponse ha he does no ha e he echnical capaci y o do his is pe ec ly legi ima e. E en i he did, as ak o pu s in on hei how- o si e: Any hing ha ge s in he way o p oducing apid- i e ideo is ge ing in he way, ull s op. You don’ ha e ime o complexi y – ideo is a sideline o you. I ’s no you eal job. Edi ing is he enemy I you wan o ind a way o ea you ime, ge in o edi ing ideo – how he hou s will ly by! I p opose ha we be ealis ic abou wha we can expec om ou sel es and each o he when we make ideos. Bu e en ough ideo is powe ul, and we could make be e use o i as a ool o connec ing di e en ly and mo e b oadly. ACME is pa icula ly well placed o be on he leading edge o his, being an online only jou nal. Ha ke (2007) published a piece in ACME as an ex ended engagemen wi h a ideo a piece. I includes se e al ideo clips, and is he i s academic a icle I e e ead which did ha . A he ime Ha ke old me ha ACME was he only ou le whe e he could do ha . I hough ha by now I would be seeing much mo e use o ideo inside a icles. Maybe we a e in imida ed by he idea ha hey need o be polished and well edi ed. I app ecia e how Ca olin Schu includes in he a icles (2013; 2012) Should academics make ideos? 158 sho one o wo minu e ideos om he ieldwo k, and hen goes on o analyze he scenes ha hey depic . He ideo is a bi choppy, clea ly aken by hand in he mids o p o es s and allies, and he edi s a e minimal, simply he i le sc een and cu in and ou sugges ed by ak o. Ye he ideos con ey a powe ul sense o he scene she is analyzing, and a e pa icula ly use ul because she is discussing pe o mance and emo ion. Would i ha e wo ked o Mason o w i e a mo e con en ional a icle ha included some o his ideo as sho clips in e spe sed h oughou ? As I unde s and i , he is ying he e o ge he iewe o slow down, be aken in by he momen , and ge a glimpse o awe and anscendence. In heo y a ull ideo is mo e capable o doing ha han an a icle wi h sho clips, hough sadly I doub ha many, academics o o he wise, will ha e he ime and pa ience o si h ough 20 minu es o some hing his slow and expe imen al. As an ac i is who has pa icipa ed in p o es camps, and p o es s in on o mili a y bases, I ca e deeply abou mo e people knowing abou and unde s anding hese so s o ac ions, so I wan ed he p osaic de ails o be clea e a he s a o he ideo so ha iewe s would ge a be e sense o wha was being p o es ed and how – he basic who is whe e doing wha and why. I had my doub s ha i was en i ely clea ha his was an academic ac ion (and wha ha means), inside a la ge peace camp, ou side a iden base. In pa icula I wan ed mo e on wha an academic in e en ion looks like and wha i migh ake o o ganize one ou sel es. Bu wha is mo e e ec i e o mo emen building, lea ning he logis ics o holding an academic wo kshop ha simul aneous se es as a p o es blockade, o being emo ionally d awn in? I do no ha e a single answe . Ul ima ely I wan o encou age us all o use mo e ideo, in mo e ways, so ha we can each mo e people, and mo e mo e hea s and minds. This is pa icula ly impo an o hose o us who conside ou sel es ac i is -academics and wan o os e social change. O en we a e collabo a ing wi h social mo emen s ha a e way ahead o us on ideo use. One simple hing we could all do, whe he o no we a e com o able aking ideo while doing ieldwo k, is o do sho ideo abs ac s o ou a icles. As a membe o he In e na ional Ad iso y Boa d I pushed o An ipode o do mo e ideo abs ac s o a icles. Righ now I am a aid ha mos o hese a e oo long ( hey seem o a e age i e and a hal minu es a he han he magic h ee). They also end o be made by academics simply alking o hei lap ops and by hei eye mo emen s clea ly eading a p epa ed ex om hei sc een, which can make hem qui e li eless. I would sugges ha ins ead you ask a iend o in e iew you wi h hei phone, whe e hey simply ask you who you a e, and hen wha he main a gumen s in you a icle a e, wi h a big ime on a sc een behind hem so ha you can keep i igh a ound h ee minu es. O i you p e e o ead a ex I sugges ha you use slidesha e o show images a he han you speaking, as his one does. As geog aphe s we gene ally do a good job o coming up wi h images o ou ACME: An In e na ional Jou nal o C i ical Geog aphies, 2017, 16(1): 156-160 159 con e ence p esen a ions (d ama ically be e han some o he ields do). We could ecycle hese images o a sho ideo abs ac once he a icle is ou . You could also simply ha e a iend eco d a ideo o you speaking a he con e ence. The ideo o Simon Sp inge p esen ing ‘Fuck Neolibe alism’ (2016), which is qui e oughly sho by hand wi hou a ipod, has 2,886 iews. You could also simply open you lap op and poin i owa ds he speake and eco d a p esen a ion ha way. These ideos do no need o be polished o edi ed. Do no hold you sel o he p oduc ion s anda d o he An ipode lec u e ideos o he AAG plena y ideos, hough hese a e a g ea esou ce ( ideos o he acme lec u es appa en ly coming soon). You could hen e en include a link o you ideo in he published e sion, as Raghu am (2016) does in an ea ly oo no e. Making ou con e ences mo e widely accessible like his is all he mo e impo an in an e a o a el bans and clima e c isis. Inc easingly we can ge unding o ou ideo wo k i we build i in o ou g an applica ions as wha in Canada is called ‘knowledge mobiliza ion’. Canadian geog aphe s ha e e en go en Canadian Social Sciences and Humani ies Resea ch Council (SSHRC) unding o hi e ilmmake s and make en i e p o essional documen a ies. An example o his is he powe ul 45 minu e documen a y Gua dians o E e ni y: Con on ing he Toxic Legacies o Yellowkni e’s Gian Mine, which A n Keeling go he unding o and made in collabo a ion wi h a ilmmake and wo local social jus ice o ganiza ions. I is ully online he e. Jessica Dempsey and Rosema y Colle d go SSHRC unding o hi e an anima o and a p oduc ion company and make, in collabo a ion wi h he en i onmen al o ganiza ion he ETC g oup, he an as ic sho anima ed ideos “Wha is Syn he ic Biology?”, “Animal T a ic” and “En e p ising Na u e,” he las o which is based on Dempsey’s book by he same name (2016). This is cu ing edge ac i is - academic wo k, ha is made o spu con e sa ions and ac ion abou hese opics. I comes wi h a websi e ha includes discussion ques ions and a glossa y as eaching esou ces o using hese ideos in he class oom. We could all use mo e ideo o ge he wo d ou , bu I do no hink i makes sense o mos o us o lea n deep ideo shoo ing o edi ing skills. Ins ead I hope ha we will inc easingly be able o ge unding o hi e ideo di ec o s, edi o s, and anima o s. Alongside ha mo e polished wo k we ou sel es can make mo e ough sho ideos, o ou ieldwo k, alks, and as sho in e iews abou ou a icles. I is my hope ha Mason’s Ghos s o he Fu u e is a he o e on o a g owing use o ideo in ou ield. Re e ences Dempsey, Jessica. 2016. En e p ising Na u e: Economics, Ma ke s, and Finance in Global Biodi e si y Poli ics. John Wiley & Sons. Should academics make ideos? 160 Ha ke , Ch is ophe . 2007. “‘A Close and Unb eachable Dis ance’: Wi nessing E e y hing and No hing.” ACME: An In e na ional E-Jou nal o C i ical Geog aphies 6 (1): 51–72. Raghu am, Pa a i. 2016. “Loca ing Ca e E hics Beyond he Global No h.” ACME: An In e na ional Jou nal o C i ical Geog aphies 15 (3): 511–33. Schu , Ca olin. 2012. “Visual E hnog aphy o Pe o ma i e Geog aphies: How Women Poli icians Pe o m Iden i ies on Ecuado ian Poli ical S ages.” Geog aphica Hel e ica 67 (4): 195–202. ———. 2013. “Towa ds an Emo ional Elec o al Geog aphy: The Pe o ma i i y o Emo ions in Elec o al Campaigning in Ecuado .” Geo o um 49 (Oc obe ): 114– 26. doi:10.1016/j.geo o um.2013.05.008. Sp inge , Simon. 2016. “Fuck Neolibe alism.” ACME: An In e na ional Jou nal o C i ical Geog aphies 15 (2): 285–92.