DML Conference 1st Draft

Here’s a quick blurb of a first draft for the DML Conference panel proposal… More to come later :):

Digital Media and Learning as a Post-Academic Field

DML, as with many new fields, finds itself in the interstices of traditional academic practices. It draws clearly from a range of disciplines old and new: sociology, anthropology, education, communication, computer science, psychology, and many others. As such, it brings together theories and methods that must be reinterpreted. Likewise, it brings together practices and makes space for new kinds of practices. Those most likely to engage in research involving learning with new media technologies are often working at the margins of existing institutional structures, and bring that experience to their research practices.

Our panel will discuss the role of post-academics–those who work both in institutions of higher learning and in their penumbra–in the development of the field of digital media and society. To what degree does studying these technologies and their role in learning require us to engage with them in our own research and teaching, and what does this practical engagement affect our ability to influence scholarly discourse within institutions? Speakers will engage questions of open scholarly communication, collaborative research, and the participation of our subjects, our students, our colleagues, corporations, and publics in practices that have traditionally been considered privileged and segregated.