In Part 4 of this study guide you will be looking at various activities undertaken by MIDAS to explore and understand themes that emerged from the MIDAS project both methodologically and in relation to the digital body. The aim in doing this was to explore the synergies and differences across the Digital Arts and Social Science that help us to think about methodological innovation –

Learning objectives

• Engage with MIDAS activities designed to support thematic analysis across the case study sites
• Examine the value of these approaches methodologically
• Critically explore Digital Arts and Social Science collaborations
• Reflect on the methodological themes emerging in the MIDAS project

Overall study questions

1. How can we foster thematic analysis across different research sites?
2. What are the opportunities and challenges presented by cross collaborations between Digital Arts & Social Science?
3. What are important methodological themes that inform us about methodological development and/or innovation?

Exercise 1: 

a) Read about the MIDAS Agenda Setting workshop 1 here

b) Look at this table of methods, theories and use of technology from across the sites.

Where would your own work fit in this table or does it sit across more than one column/row?

c) Reflect on tools like word clouds for highlighting key concepts and providing the basis of comparison across sites. Look at the examples below and see if you can map them to an Arts or Social Science case study site.

 

Check out your answers on this page

Exercise 2: Explore examples of collaborations across Digital Arts and Social Science

Listen to the following talks

a) Susan Broadhurst on Bioart

b) Veronica Ranner on Fertilised Futures

c) Heidi Hinder on Craft and Technology

Think about the following questions:

1. Can you identify any methodological synergies across these examples?
2. What are the key methodological challenges that emerged in these examples?
3. What insight do these examples give into notions of the ‘digital body’
4. How might you apply one or more of these ideas or methodological approaches to your own research?

Exercise 3: Methodological Crossings – themes

Building on research from MIDAS and existing literature a continuum of methodological innovation was developed that attends to how methods are moved across research contexts and disciplines. This continuum is used to frame the analysis of MIDAS examples and provide a grounded account of methodological innovation across the arts and social sciences.

a) Read this overview of methodological crossings from MIDAS

b) Read this article that details the process and outcomes TO BE ADDED

Think about the following questions:

1. What does methodological explicitness mean? Where does your research sit in terms of methodological explicitness? What are the benefits and limitations of this for your work?
2. What is your position as a researcher – objective/subjective? What impact does each stance have on methods, the research design and research outcomes?