Blog

The Speculation and Innovation conference is now coming to a close with a final plenary session. Brad haseman discuses what events might be possible in the future. For example, there might be further seminars, such as a one-day seminar on categories and research points to supervisors of practice-led research, or seminars aimed at how we can construct programmes to induct research students into research practices relevant to practice-led research. Other suggestions for future action would be to rework expectations of the exegesis in creative practice as research higher degree projects (to find a better word), or a project to build structures across institutions in the creative arts, media, and design sector to advocate quality at a national level.

We're starting on the final plenary sessions at SPIN now. The first speaker here is Toss Gascoigne from CHASS, the Council for the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Toss notes the fact that the HASS sector is wildly underrepresented within the government sector - while there are organisations representing the sciences and other areas, and an Australian Chief Scientist, there is no such representation for the HASS field. Toss and his organisation are working on changing this, and some of their work was presented yesterday already (see [weblink:178]). Unfortunately, of course, the HASS sector is also measured in terms of its validity using science-derived rules (publications output etc.), and CHASS has been asked by the federal government to provide alternatives to such measures. Toss also points out the continuing need for organisations in the HASS sector to become members of CHASS and take part in its decision-making and advisory processes.

My colleague Chris Barker is next, and begins with a reflection on his reflective work as a practitioner. Reflection enables unfocused intention, soul-sustaining idle activity, focused action in 'the craft', and novelty in practice. Chris has worked in animation in various roles, and now reflects on the changes in animation which have influenced his experience. His aims in reflective practice have been to introduce a methodology that was more like his previous creative practice, to allow for the emergence of surprising, new, and innovative content, to facilitate higher-order reflective behaviours, to have fun in the process through exploring the unknown, and to use the process to interrogate the idea of reflection-in-action.

The next session begins with a presentation by Luke Jaaniste, Damien Barbeler (who couldn't be here), and Toby Wren; I'm actually chairing this session so we'll see how much of it I can blog. They're coming from a musical background in composition and performance, and their interest is mainly in how music and performance links to other discursive fields. They were part of a group called Compost through which much of their work has taken place, and note that through this they've situated themselves outside of the academy. Their work shows a shift from an arts production group to a practice-led research model, and they're also suggesting that their work is in actuality a form of scientific test through which various types of data can be researched within a site. this involves a move from a premiere performance model to a multiple version approach. Such an approach then also enables increased feedback from the new music industry, and means that it can compete for research rather than pure arts funding - this also enables research and development work rather than simply the work of setting up and conducting a performance.

Up next at SPIN is Rod Wissler, Director of Research and Research Training at QUT - he begins by stressing again the question of innovation in addition to a focus on artistic practice; this also enables artistic practitioners to measure the impact of their work. He notes the long-term impact, for example, of a work such as James Joyce's Ulysses on the Irish economy, even though such impact would have been entirely impossible to forecast at or before the point of publication of the book. This is a problem for artists attempting to claim their relevance and significance, of course, and points to the continuing need for advocacy by bodies such as CHASS.

SPIN 2005 is now into its third day, after the conference dinner at Brisbane's Rugby Club last night (not as strange as that may sound...). The day starts with a keynote session involving Kate Oakley (currently also an Adjunct Professor at QUT) and Rod Wissler from QUT. Kate starts off the session, speaking on 'evidence-based policy making'. She points to recent policy documents in the UK which provided a great deal of data about the success or failure of policies, but are remarkably non-convictional. Indeed, this is something of a reaction against the 'conviction politics' of the 1980s and 90s, and is driven also by greater international tranparency (and hence comparability). Partly because of this, citizens are also more demanding and less deferent to their experts and political leaders, and more directly in touch with evidence about policy outcomes (of which there is a greater supply). Ultimately, Kate points to something of an ideology of managerialism - so ideology hasn't vanished altogether in policy-making, but a new form of ideology has emerged here.