<editorial board> zero issue: draft intro

Sat Dec 5 12:39:27 CET 2009

Hi Brett...

Thanks for this. It looks a great way of dealing with the 'crisis' issue.

In response to Nirmal, if it's felt a reference to some of the other 
experiments with new and alternative models for the university currently 
being conducted is needed, then a note could perhaps be added to the 
following sentence:

'The articles collected in this zero issue also highlight emergent 
claims for new educational models and practices of self-managed 
knowledge production.'

This note could run something along the lines of 'Other examples of such 
experiments with new educational models, indicative of a wider desire 
for change, include EXCO: The Experimental College of the Twin Cities 
(http://www.excotc.org/); the Imaginary Border Academy 
(http://borderacademy.org); University of Openness 
(http://uo.twenteenthcentury.com/index.php/AboutUo); Worker's Punk 
University 
(http://www.culturalprofiles.org.uk/slovenia/Units/5837.html); 
University of the Poor (http://universityofthepoor.org/).

I'm sure there are even more that could added if necessary and 
appropriate, not least with examples taken from the list on the 
Edu-Factory site:
http://www.edu-factory.org/edu15/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64&Itemid=70

Gary

Brett Neilson wrote:
> Hi Gary, Nirmal ...
>  
> Does this added language in the first paragraph of the anomalies section capture the issues you raise. If not can one of you rewrite some more?
>  
>
> Far from approaching the crisis as a dialectical synthesis of danger and opportunity, edu-factory points to the profound ambivalence and uncertainty marking the contemporary moment of global transition. We have to careful not only about the spirit in which we appropriate the term crisis but also attentive to the multiple agendas that the term has been made to meet. These range from a revolutionary desire for crisis, as if it promises an insurrectionary moment more than reactionary tendencies, to governmental logics that posit crisis as a means for justifying actions that might otherwise be difficult to carry out. On the one hand, it is necessary to ask what the declaration of a crisis conceals, modifies or amplifies of the underlying conditions to which it seeks to draw attention. On the other hand, there is a need to interrogate the multiplication of crises, if not their constancy as a mode of motivating and justifying governmental interventions in the present order of people and things. The writings collected in this zero issue point to perilous futures: the drop in the quality of living conditions of millions and millions of people around the world, the decomposition of labour, and the so called war among the poor. At the same time, they point to the possibility of radical change. The crisis has created a sort of social battlefield upon which these poles of experience take their uncertain shape.
>
>  
> Brett
>  
>
>  
> ________________________________
>
> From: agu-bounces at listcultures.org on behalf of Nirmal Puwar
> Sent: Thu 3/12/2009 10:16 PM
> To: Edu-Factory Editorial Board
> Cc: Edu-Factory Editorial Board
> Subject: Re: <editorial board> zero issue: draft intro
>
>
>
> I like the suggestions Gary - perhaps you could pen a paragraph with this
> information.
>
> I also agree that we should re-consider using the word 'crisis' - it is
> really becoming a little too over used, an empty generalisation. And even
> tired to the extent it is a wishful mantra perhaps.
>
> nirmal
> On Thu, December 3, 2009 10:49 am, Gary Hall wrote:
>   
>> Looks good.
>>
>>
>> Myself, I'm still wondering to what extent there is a crisis, and for
>> whom, and whose language it is we're adopting when we speak of their being
>> a 'global economic crisis'. (After all, it could be argued that in the UK,
>> many of those who are reasonably well paid, didn't loose their jobs, and
>> don't depend on income from investments, are actually better off
>> financially, since their mortgage rates have declined dramatically.)
>>
>> However, I agree with the suggestions made so far. It'd be good to
>> include a little more about the current struggles around the university.
>> And possibly about some of the other experiments with new
>> and alternative models for the university that are being conducted, many of
>> them online. They may not always be that interesting politically, but they
>> do seem indicative of a wider desire for change.
>>
>> Gary
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> gerald raunig wrote:
>>     
>>> congratulations for getting it out in 2009! will there be any hints or
>>> small texts included about the very actual occupations and struggles
>>> from zagreb to vienna and california ....? g.
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>>>> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
>>>> Von: agu-bounces at listcultures.org
>>>> [mailto:agu-bounces at listcultures.org] Im Auftrag von
>>>> info at edu-factory.org Gesendet: Dienstag, 1. Dezember 2009 23:19
>>>> An: agu at listcultures.org
>>>> Betreff: <editorial board> zero issue: draft intro
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Dear all,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Please find attached the draft of introduction for the zero
>>>> issue of edu-factory web-journal. Please read, comment, and revise it.
>>>> The layout and the pdf of the various articles
>>>> will be ready very soon.
>>>>
>>>> All the best,
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> edu-factory collective
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>         
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> agu mailing list agu at listcultures.org
>>> http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/agu_listcultures.org
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>> --
>> Gary Hall
>> Professor of Media and Performing Arts
>> School of Art and Design, Coventry University
>> Co-editor of Culture Machine
>> http://www.culturemachine.net <http://www.culturemachine.net/> 
>> Co-founder of the Open Humanities Press
>> http://www.openhumanitiespress.org <http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/> 
>> My website http://www.garyhall.info <http://www.garyhall.info/> 
>>
>>
>> Latest book: Digitize This Book!: The Politics of New Media, or Why We
>> Need Open Access Now
>> http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/H/hall_digitize.html
>>
>>
>> Book Series
>> http://liquidbooks.pbworks.com/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> agu mailing list agu at listcultures.org
>> http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/agu_listcultures.org
>>
>>
>>     
>
>
> Dr Nirmal Puwar
> Department of Sociology
> Goldsmiths, London University.
> Co-organiser of Methods Lab
> http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/methods-lab/
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Gary Hall
Professor of Media and Performing Arts
School of Art and Design, Coventry University
Co-editor of Culture Machine 
http://www.culturemachine.net
Co-founder of the Open Humanities Press
http://www.openhumanitiespress.org
My website http://www.garyhall.info

Latest book: Digitize This Book!: The Politics of New Media, or Why We Need Open Access Now 
http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/H/hall_digitize.html

Book Series
http://liquidbooks.pbworks.com/