Interconnected - Actors, Objects, and Ideas on the Move

GRAINES Summer School, St Andrews, 7-10 June 2015

Tag: homework

#2.5 Weeks to go – Read, Play, Share & (Inter-)Act

May 20, 2015 /

We are getting closer – roughly 2.5 weeks to go and we will meet for INTERCONNECTED at St Andrews.

Thank you first of all for the fantastic posts on your projects, your interests and key readings. The quality of posts and projects is outstanding and we are very much looking forward to learning more with and from you here at St Andrews. It is a pleasure to see the willingness to share and add your views, expertise and voices. This is something we would like to transfer into the actual three days we will have together – and ideally beyond.

Now, as you see the core programme for Monday and Tuesday is pretty much set. We have a number of workshops where we will be working as a large group, though most workshops will have an element of smaller groups allowing for discussion and interaction built into it. We also have Philipp Ther’s key note lecture for Monday evening. Tuesday AM we decided to offer two alternative workshops, one by Roberto Sala related to databases, the other – more reading and discussion focused, by Ulrike Lindner on the movement of actors and ideas in imperial contexts. For all these workshops you find key readings under programme and / or readings. For some workshops, like the Monday AM by Andrew Pettegree & Arthur der Weduwen or by Roberto Sala on databases Tuesday AM there are additional tasks (see under programme and “play” with the USTC database and the www.lonsea.de).

The general idea is that we have most of Monday and Tuesday together as a larger group (though we will split up here and there), allowing us to learn together and discuss more general issues around networks, connections and their relation and relevance to transnational history.

Wednesday is kept open – deliberately so. This is the day we seek to organise around your expertise and around ideas stemming from the concept of an “unconference” during which we will break up into smaller groups. This is the day when we need your initiatives, your willingness to share, your offers to present (your topic, a text, an idea, a problem, a tool or piece of software). Some of you may have been to an “unconference”, for instance a THATCamp. If not feel free to browse the links for ideas.

On the general idea of an “unconference”: They are rather spontaneous, they are based on the idea of sharing & creating knowledge. They are open in their format of discussion group, reading groups, making and sharing. Roughly around 1.5hrs. There is also something they are NOT: they are not based on the more traditional format of panels and long papers, followed by Q&A. So, those of you who have kindly offered to present something, please bear this in mind. We will try to slot you into the unconference day but with short & sharp presentations (in the region of 7-10 mins MAXIMUM). Please do bear this in mind.

Our suggestion for “Homework 2.0” for the next 10-14 days is the following.

More Homework

More Homework

1) Start READING what is on offer so far relating to the workshops.

2) Start PLAYING with USTC, lonsea.de or GIS for Historians if you wish to learn more on mapping and visualisation of networks. There (most likely) be a St Andrews-led contribution on this for the “unconference”.

3) (INTER-)CONNECT – Start or keep READING the project posts and around the suggested reading. Ideally, start making connections – intellectually connecting your project to any of the others, see similar problems or overlapping questions. From there, ideally, WRITE another POST or COMMENT that relates your project to another. It could be the start for a contribution to our “unconference day”.

4) SHARE AND CONTRIBUTE – Make yourself familiar with the ideas of an “unconference” and try to come up with a potential contribution for Wednesday. More on this HERE.

5) Finally, get started with your running regime for the early morning runs – 7am sharp it will be. (By the way: this was shot at St Andrews West Sands.)

If he can do it - you can do it

If he can do it – you can do it

 

This is (pretty much) it. Any questions and comments are welcome. We will let you know the precise venue and meeting for the Sunday evening drink in the coming days.

Best wishes from sunny St Andrews (today),

the GRAINES team

P.S. Follow, share, interconnect via Twitter #Graines2015

#5 Weeks to Go

May 4, 2015 / / 0 Comments

5 more weeks to go and we will welcome you at St Andrews to the 3rd GRAINES summer school on the theme “Interconnected”. With the organisation well under way and practical elements safe in Giada’s hands, we would like to start focusing on content and programme from now on.

Under Programme you will have seen that we have a sort of “skeleton” programme with some more traditional fixtures of summer schools: a workshop led by St Andrews colleague, Professor Andrew Pettegree, on early modern news networks; a workshop & reading group by Professor Fabricio Prado on early modern Atlantic trade and economic networks; or a key note lecture by Professor Philipp Ther on neoliberal networks around 1989. There are a few more, though subject to minor changes.

However, in the spirit of our GRAINES summer schools in the past and in the vein of our Call for Participation, we would like to give you room and space to actively participate and shape the content of the summer school, to share your research, practices, approaches & thoughts with the group.

It was great to see in all applications the willingness to share and contribute. We have suggestions for presentations (more a bit later, but be prepared they will be at the shorter end) as well as contributions to writing & reading groups (again, the format will follow a bit later).

As a first step towards shaping the programme further, but also to allow you to start interacting before the actual physical summer school (we only have 3 days together), we would like to invite you this week to start with some “Homework” (and there is more to come).

This weeks “Homework” (ideally by Monday 11 May) is the following:

Homework

Homework

Write one Blog Post, around 600-800 on your project. You can of course go back to your abstract and slightly remodel & rewrite it (it can be shorter than 600 words, but please no longer than 1,000 words; please include up to 5 essential readings around network, transnational history that are key to your work – share what you read and what drives your research).

In your Blog ideally introduce your topic, yourself, your potential contribution during the summer school AND (in addition to your brief bibliography) pick your most influential reading (monograph, article – please add bibliographical details: author, title, year, journal, pages) and very briefly introduce it and why it is key to your work in terms of inspiration around networks.

How does this work? We have added you to the WordPress website as editors. Many of you may be familiar with all this, it is very straight forward. On the right hand side you find the Log-in. Log-in, go via Dashboard to Posts. Click “Add New”. Create a nice headline, title and off you go: Write or paste your contribution AND Publish. You can always go back and edit later.

On your selected key readings. These will be part of the selected bibliography, the Reader, for the summer school. We will pick a few key readings around workshops that ideally all of us will have read. Other ideas for reading will be simply shared and participants can chose according to interest and research focus.

If you have a PDF of a journal article, you can add it under “Media” (add Media) and create a link on your Blogpost. Or you can send it to us via graines.interconnected@gmail.com and we can upload it for you and make it available.

Never written a Blog Post before? Do not worry! Blog rules are some ideas (Rules!) or some ideas from a recent module we taught this term. The IDEA is that we all get to know each other and our research focus and interests before we actually get together at St Andrews. Once we have all your Blog Posts by Monday 11 May, you can start reading and, ideally, networking by commenting on other participants’ research.

Please do get in touch via the usual email above if anything is unclear or should you have any technical problems in accessing the WordPress site.

Thanks a lot. Best wishes on behalf of GRAINES and the local organisers,

Bernhard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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