First year here

What would new students need to know?

• Where's our desk? Where do the other students sit? Most of us are together but there are others on another floor with the real academics.
• Who's in charge? It used to be the tartar of a secretary and then the director, but the secretary has moved on to better things. We miss her because she used to be the one who told us where to find things, how to get things done, and when to get our assignments or reports in.
  
• Where do we go for the B852 seminars?
• Are there tea making facilities?
• Can we photocopy? Where? In colour? And how do we get a printer from our desktops?
• There's a shower! - Where?
• How do I claim expenses?
  
• How do I get my access badge? I need it for library access and to access the bike shed.
• How do I post stuff?
• What's the browsery?
  

Answers to these and other as yet unthought of questions are coming in the video we are making as part of the participatory video workshops.

Participatory video competition

Participative video is where you give the cameras to the participants, show them how to do it, and send them off to create. The OU technology department provides a series of seminars, run by Chris High, to practise, plan and design videos. The sessions are fun, and at the end of the year there's a competition. This year there were three entrants, and the winner might yet appear on YouTube.

There's an example at the Candace web site researching the usefulness of a chocolate teapot. Scroll down. It is also on YouTube here.

Unlike the competition entries I'm glad to say, there's no swearing. All three competition entries used the f* word, as if it were normal conversation. I can only forgive it because the students were not native English speakers, and must have been listening to too much post-nine o'clock television. But I do wish someone would point out how offensive it is.

I've a colleague who is researching pre-teenage boys and is thinking of getting them to video themselves. I bet that will go down well because they'll enjoy playing with the toys.

But I don't think it'll work for my research because

• some people don't like being recorded
• public servants are shy or scared of evidence that could be against them
• consultants would want anonymity too
  
• PV doesn't seem useful to my research

PV might work in action research, if I were participating in a consultancy project where using PV might help to demonstrate and develop relationships.

Participatory video

Chris High runs a series of work shops on participatory video. As this involves participants in film-making I cannot see how it will fit in with my research. Can I get clients to film themselves? Get them to film themselves accounting for their use of consultants?

Last night on BBC there was a documentary on public accountability, specifically of the accountability of MPs. Unfortunately a number of MPs being filmed took exception to the interviewer's suggestion that MPs lie, and asked that the filming be stopped. So how could I get clients who are politicians to agree to be filmed? I recorded only the voice of the politician I interviewed for my Master's and when she saw the transcript she withdrew permission for me to use anything from it.

So I can't see me getting access from PV. But I'll find out more before I reject it.