[SSC] SSC Digest, Vol 14, Issue 17

Mon Feb 13 07:59:44 UTC 2012

Dear All,
I like the shape of the logo and lettering in either version, but the black on white is a bit stark. I would prefer a primary colour as background with white letters.
I have not booked Mint Lane. Either Sandie or Joss or myself usually do this. I am out of office today, so would be grateful if someone else could book or confirm the booking.
Unfortunately, I will not be around for the start of the meeting on Wednesday. I am going to be in Manchester with some Postgrad students but hope to get back before the end and join in the discussion about issues raised by Sarah below, and other matters.
Best wishes,
Mike

Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2012 01:04:34 +0000
From: samsler at lincoln.ac.uk
To: ssc at lists.aktivix.org
Subject: Re: [SSC] SSC Digest, Vol 14, Issue 17

Thanks for this, Richard and David. 
I also think either of the lettered symbols are fine.
I’ve made some comments on the press release below, which also incorporate thoughts on the open day as David has invited.
** Also, a reminder that our next meeting is on Wednesday, February 15th from 7:30-9:30 p.m. – I think at the Mint Lane place, but has anyone checked and confirmed this is still the location? We will be dedicating the meeting to the curriculum, which is hugely important, so please come if you can or send your thoughts if you can’t make it! ** 

As we have agreed to use the word ‘scholar’ rather than ‘academic’, and I wonder whether we should avoid the word ‘venture’, shall we change the wording of the paragraph to ‘…managed on democratic principles with all students and scholars having equal involvement in how the Centre is organised’ or ‘in the Centre’s work’?

The statement as yet says nothing about the social science element of the Social Science Centre – what it means or why it matters. Is it just a cooperative experience of higher education, or is it a project to organise higher learning and research in social science cooperatively in order to do other things that cannot easily be done in other contexts (whether this be for issues of intellectual substance, pedagogical relationships, access, etc.)? We might include the line from the website: ‘the subjects taught at the Centre are the core subjects in social science: Sociology, Politics and Philosophy’ – although at previous meetings it’s clear that our sense of what constitutes social science is actually much broader.

We are still having, or have yet to have, conversations about the practices of assessment and evaluation, and about what the work in the centre will actually look like (maybe coherent long courses organised in semesters, maybe not, or not entirely). As far as I understand, whilst wanting to understand and be understood, we are also not hoping to replicate what happens in ‘mainstream universities’. I think this term does make sense on the website, where the spirit of the SSC is clear, but the meaning may be lost in a very brief press release. Could we consider saying: ‘All SSC courses are taught by experienced educators [again allowing space for those who are not professional academics to teach and review work, as I believe we’ve discussed already] who have an interest in…’ and then say something about why people are teaching? We could in this way get away from reasserting the status of ‘national and international reputations’ and start to articulate something more meaningful that does not give people with ‘reputation’ an already higher status in the cooperative.

We might want to make the open day a bit more open, in so far as the whole Centre is meant to be open and does not necessarily need an ‘open day’ in the way universities do. I think using that language could be misleading, unless we say what is actually open about or opening on that day. Rather than saying people can come if they are interested in courses, could we invite people to a day to find out about plans for the SSC, and to come and talk about membership in the centre, studying, doing research, and getting involved in designing curricula and etc.? Part of the open day could be about explaining and introducing some of the major ideas in the model that is being proposed itself (what are the current problems of higher education, what a cooperative is, crash courses in pressing debates in the fields of study or etc. etc.) as well as public talks and workshops that relate to what people plan to do. What would be ‘launched’ would then be us being in public, doing things in public, and the concept and project of the SSC, rather than a fully-formed institution (which is what it sounds like has been being talked about for the past month or so). 
Another idea for an open day is to think about how we might open up more, finding out what is going on in Lincoln that we might tap into, or opening spaces for public discussions about social science. If ‘open’ then perhaps we should consider being in open spaces, or opening spaces that aren’t so open, in addition to working in The Collection on the day? There aren’t that many of us at the moment -- and it would be useful to know how many people are actually going to be involved on the day -- so we need to think about what is actually possible.
Best,
Sarah

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Sent: Sun 12/02/2012 12:00
To: ssc at lists.aktivix.org
Subject: SSC Digest, Vol 14, Issue 17

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: Stuff. (Joss Winn)
   2. Re: Fwd: Logo and venue. (Joss Winn)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:40:26 +0000
From: Joss Winn <joss at josswinn.org>
To: ssc <ssc at lists.aktivix.org>
Subject: Re: [SSC] Stuff.
Message-ID: <DBB56CCB-20E3-40E6-9D2D-E7774F3BA58D at josswinn.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

I like this. I don't think it's necessary to say 'the centre is managed on democratic, non-hierarchical principles with all students'. I'd drop 'non-hirearchical' for the Press Release and make it 'the centre is managed on democratic principles with all students...' for simplicity and clarity. We can talk about the non-hirearchical nature of the SSC at the Open Day.

I think The Collection is an excellent venue. The Angle coffee house is too small, if we're hoping to attract 20+ students, although I wasn't at the last meeting when this was discussed, so you probably have good reason for proposing it.

Thanks for moving this forward, David.

Joss

On 9 Feb 2012, at 18:01, David McAleavey wrote:

> Dear All,
> 
> Press Release
> 
> Richard has prepared a press release, the details about the day/venues will change - this is a work in progress. Comments welcome.
> 
> 
> The Lincoln-based Social Science Centre (SSC) provides an opportunity for students and academics to have a special co-operative experience of higher education. Run as a 'not-for-profit' co-operative, the centre is managed on democratic, non-hierarchical principles with all students and staff having an equal involvement in how the venture operates All SSC courses are taught and assessed at the same level as similar courses in mainstream universities in the UK and are taught by experienced academics, including professors and lecturers with national and international reputations.
> An open day for all those interested in the courses (at the equivalent of BA, MA and PhD levels) to be launched by the SSC in September 2012 is to be held at the Collection, Danes Terrace, Lincoln LN2 1LP starting at 2 pm on April 21. A social will be held in the evening (starting 8 pm) at the Angel Coffee Caf?, Free School Lane, Lincoln LN2 1. For more information contact:
> 
> 
> Open Day - Venue
> 
> The picture attached is of the studio at The Collection.
> 
> Please give some thought to how you think we should organize our first Open Day. The spaces we choose, and how we choose to use them, will need to be carefully considered.
> 
> Logo Design
> 
> Please let me have your stuff (photographs, songs, drawings, objects...) by 25th Feb.
> 
> Apologies in advance (15.02.2012).
> 
> Respectfully yours,
> 
> David McAleavey
> 
> 
> <2012-02-08 12.48.13.jpg>_______________________________________________
> SSC mailing list
> SSC at lists.aktivix.org
> https://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/ssc

------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:42:15 +0000
From: Joss Winn <joss at josswinn.org>
To: ssc <ssc at lists.aktivix.org>
Subject: Re: [SSC] Fwd: Logo and venue.
Message-ID: <226217C3-2A8D-4165-85A6-4E8391928397 at josswinn.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="windows-1252"

They're good. If no-one objects to them in the next week, I'll create a header image for the website from one of them.
Thanks again, David.

Joss

On 11 Feb 2012, at 14:41, David McAleavey wrote:

> Dear All,
> 
> Comments welcome.
> 
> David
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Jamie Dobison <jamie.dobison at breakyoursocks.com>
> Date: 11 February 2012 11:50
> Subject: Re: Logo and venue.
> To: David McAleavey <davidmcaleavey at virginmedia.com>
>
>
> Hiya mate, apologies for lateness once again.
> Regards
> Jamie
>
>
> On Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 11:14 AM, David McAleavey <davidmcaleavey at virginmedia.com> wrote:
> Morning Jamie,
> 
> Positive noises but no consensus,,, could you create a 'simple logo' (see below), until we get a chance to run a proper studio session?
> We need something for our wordpress site, possibly a facebook site, flyers and other stationery... you know the score.
> 
> Respectfully yours,
> 
> David
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: David McAleavey <davidmcaleavey at virginmedia.com>
> Date: 5 February 2012 10:33
> Subject: Logo and venue.
> To: ssc <ssc at lists.aktivix.org>
>
>
> Dear All,
> 
> The Logo Project
> 
> Thank you for your feedback. Opinions are generally positive, but there is no consensus about which of the design routes we should follow. It was decided at the meeting yesterday that we should ask Jamie to generate a simple logo (the letters SSC in white within a black circle), until we have an opportunity, as a group, to revisit the logo project.
> 
> Please forward to me any images, photographs, objects? that you associate with the SSC project. I will collate and deliver to Jamie, as well as distribute for discussion among our members; I will also make sure they?re available for our future design studio (date to be decided).
> 
> I have attached the list of ideas that was generated at one of our previous meeting.
> 
> Open Day Venue - The Collection, Lincoln
> 
> Photographs of the venue to follow.
> 
> Please give some thought to how you think we should organize our first Open Day. The spaces we chose, and how we chose to use them, will need to be carefully considered.
> 
> Respectfully yours,
> 
> David
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Jamie Dobison
> (+44)7926744146
>
> This message and its attachments are confidential and may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for delivering the message to the intended recipient, please email the sender and delete this message and any attachments from your system. Further, you should not disclose, copy, distribute or use this message and any attachments.
>
>
> <ssc.png><ssc1.png><ssc simple ideas.pdf>_______________________________________________
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End of SSC Digest, Vol 14, Issue 17
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