[SSC] Media/Representation (Lincolnshire Echo)

[Michael Neary]

Dear Sarah and David and all,
I would like to find a way of taking your suggestions about talking with the media forward.   In the meantime, or at the same time and as part of this process, the Lincolnshire Echo would like to meet with us on Thursday for an interview. 
I suggest that we form a small group to meet with the journalist so we can agree what how we wish to present the SSC.  Given the time frame in which we are working this would need to be tomorrow, or before the meeting with the Echo on Thursday. I am very happy to join this meeting, but would not want to be part of the interview group. Any volunteers?
What do you all think?
Best wishes,
Mike
Date: Fri, 6 Apr 2012 19:48:53 +0100
From: simonewright73 at googlemail.com
To: ssc at lists.aktivix.org
Subject: Re: [SSC] SSC Digest, Vol 16, Issue 9

Hi all,
Thanks for the notes, Joss. 
Working practices
I would add to number 15 on sustainable practices and relationships that in addition to the logistics of how much time people spend working with the SSC and the formal distributions of labour, there are more subtle things we could be attending to in order to shift from thinking about ourselves and our work as individualistic towards something more cooperative. In addition to recognising that many members will be doing this in addition to other activities, we can use the opportunities we have in this experimental space to problematise and really think critically about what it means to work at all, what sorts of work are made visible and which kinds are just absorbed back into people’s private worlds, and etc. Not becoming exhausted will require more than making sure we do not have too many demands on our time, and there are ways that we can build relations of mutual aid that benefit everyone. Recognising that people’s individual contributions may be quite fluid in form and frequency could therefore also be paired with an attention to how we might best enable one another to do as much as possible and by desire. It does occur to me upon reflection that while the formal structure of the SSC gives the organisation stability, this does not yet necessarily say anything about the sustainability, inclusion or exclusion of the members of the group themselves. 

One concrete suggestion that came out of this discussion was to allow some time in each meeting for everyone who wants to check in about the work they’re doing and roles they’re playing to do so.

Curriculum
I missed the first part of the meeting when the open day and curriculum were discussed; however, would suggest that we keep these questions somewhat open. My feeling is that the framing of terms and classes, with set amounts of time per each and etc., is both premature and closing at this point. Although we could as ‘why not’ have terms and classes/learning spaces/times/experiences/whatever defined in these ways, I can’t see any convincing reason why we should at this point. While it does not prevent more creative and serious thinking about the questions of what the times and spaces of higher learning might need to be within the SSC, it certainly does not encourage it. We say that language is difficult and I agree we should not use the term ‘module’ (given the origins and the politics of the term in this context), but then we do use the term. I think we need to talk about this, really, beyond the logistics before setting logistics in place that will begin to shape the knowledge we create about what we’re doing. Where, for example, does ‘two hours’ come from? Why ‘credits’? 

For the open day, can we at least say that some classes will run within this sort of framing, if that’s what people want to do, and that there may be others that take different forms? 

Media/representation
On the Lincolnshire Echo interview – this seems to me part of an ongoing conversation that we’re having about representation, collectivity and individual identities and orientations. I like David’s suggestion that we could have an alphabetical or otherwise random rota of people willing to speak to others (media in particular) about the SSC if asked. That already frames it differently. However, I think that we would miss something if we were to become comfortable with this, as problems of power can’t be neutralised by randomness. Those who don’t feel comfortable speaking for various reasons will unlikely volunteer, or be invited by others to speak. The media may gravitate to those with hegemonic gravitas, or by age, presumed social capital, etc. It may be helpful at some point for those who are interested to organise some explorations around power and privilege. And there are still questions to be asked about how we come to some understanding of our own position on representation itself – what forms include, what forms exclude, which reproduce existing expectations about individualised work and responsibility and which invite us to consider how we could communicate otherwise. 

Although it is not practicable for every occasion, I would like to propose that as many opportunities as possible be offered up for collective discussion -- e.g. with an interview, could they send some questions in advance that we could discuss and then an individual or pair might feed back about, as well as reply for themselves? Could we have a discussion at some point about representation as such? And could we perhaps have a workshop on engaging with media and publics, perhaps with help from some of our more experienced colleagues in other groups?

Apologies for the long message. 
Best,
Sarah


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