This is a presentation that Pekka Ihanainen and I did discussing aesthetic literacy, which we define as the ability to enact learning in open spaces through a process of aligning and attuning oneself to the open environment.

1. A E S T H E T I C L I T E R A C Y
W O R K S H O P :
H E L S I N K I , F I N L A N D
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 - 2 1 ,
2 0 1 5
P E K K A I H A N A I N E N &
M I C H A E L G A L L A G H E R

2. • Make use of open
space & enact lifelong
learning systematically
Emphasize process over
output; stimulate
learners to be self-
organized and self-
sufficient in their
learning
Model pedagogical and
personal (lifelong
learning) applications
A I M S

3. 1. Learning and
research
Academic and
artistic
Informal and formal
Intentional and
serendipitious
M E T H O D O L O G I C A L
C H A R A C T E R I S T I C S

4. 1. Aesthetic Literacy
Autoethnography
Fieldwork Activity with
Technology
Composition
Reflection and
Dissemination
Iterative Techniques
M E T H O D S

5. an ability to identify learning potential
in everyday and open environments
and to methodically enact a process
of learning through them.
Aesthetic literacy, broadened from its
specific artistic focus as a capacity for
“reading” or making meaning from
artistic (everyday) material
(discussed in Gale, 2005 as the
“living of lyrical moments”), is
positioned as a means of making
meaning in open environments, to
begin to enact lifelong learning in
these open spaces.
M E T H O D S :
AE S T H E T I C
L I T E R AC Y

6. Aesthetic Literacy:
Learners align themselves to the
possibility of learning in an open
environment (a trust in their own
capacities for finding learning
material in their open, lived worlds),
and then attune themselves to
their specificities of their
environment for learning
(acknowledging that each location
is a constructed, specific set of
attributes- learning in a museum as
opposed to the subway as opposed
to an open field, etc.).
M E T H O D S

7. Align
Attune
Sense

8. Discussion
What do you see?
What do you feel?
(What's the
difference?)

9. Discussion
Cognitive Emotional

10. Discussion
What are we
connecting this to?
What is our frame
of reference?

11. a combination of both autobiography and ethnography in
that it is self-reflection and writing that explores the
experience of the researcher within a particular
environment in an attempt to connect that experience to
broader cultural, social, political or other meanings.
Subjectivity is assumed and reflected upon.
Objectivity is impossible. Rigor and transparency mitigate
this.
M E T H O D S : A U T O E T H N O G R A P H Y

12. How would you report
this?
How would you
compose this?
(What's the
difference?)
D I S C U S S I O N :
A U T O E T H N O G R A P H Y

13. What can we connect it
to?
What are the learning
advantages in making
this connection?
What are the costs of
this connection?
D I S C U S S I O N :
A U T O E T H N O G R A P H Y

14. M E T H O D : F I E L D W O R K W / T E C H N O L O G Y
1. http://www.clarkart.edu/exhibitions/monet/sketchbooks/
2. http://darwin-online.org.uk/
3. http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/Laurentian_Library.html

15. What technologies do we
have?
What data can we
capture with each?
How does that kind of
data affect our overall
understanding of space?
D I S C U S S I O N : F I E L D W O R K W / T E C H N O L O G Y

16. Consider the power of each (audio,
video, imagery, text).
How can we tell the story of one
without the other?
What modes are you attracted to?
http://michaelseangallagher.org/wp
-content/uploads/2015/01/Ambient-
street-sounds-of-Seoul_-protest-
music-togetherness.mp3
D I S C U S S I O N : F I E L D W O R K W / T E C H N O L O G Y

17. Who is watching us?
What
autoethnography are
they writing?
What is our role in
their narrative?
D I S C U S S I O N : F I E L D W O R K W / T E C H N O L O G Y

18. A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones. Signals,
impressions, landmarks, directions, ephemeral.
M E T H O D : C O M P O S I T I O N

19. M E T H O D : C O M P O S I T I O N
Postcards or Impressions

20. M E T H O D : C O M P O S I T I O N
Knowledge representations

21. Tools? Apps? Methods?
M E T H O D : C O M P O S I T I O N

22. Trust and
discussion
Transparent vs.
introspective and
private?
Circulation
through networks,
communities
M E T H O D : R E F L E C T I O N A N D D I S S E M I N A T I O N

23. How do you
share?
How do your
researchers
share?
How do your
students share?
M E T H O D : R E F L E C T I O N A N D D I S S E M I N A T I O N

24. R E F L E C T I O N
Pause.
Reflect.
Apply.
Iterate.

25. S P A C E V S .
P L A C E
F O C U S O F I N V E S T I G A T I O N

26. S P A C E V S .
P L A C E
F O C U S O F I N V E S T I G A T I O N
What's the
difference?

27. F O C U S O F I N V E S T I G A T I O N
What types of
spaces and
places exist?

28. F O C U S O F I N V E S T I G A T I O N : S P A C E
Physical?
Digital?
Hybrid?
Material?
Mobile?

29. F O C U S O F I N V E S T I G A T I O N
What role does
technology have in
transforming space
into place?

30. F O C U S O F I N V E S T I G A T I O N
Mapping
Geographical
Emotional
Cognitive
Social
Imaginary

31. M A P A N D A E S T H E T I C L I T E R A C Y V I S U A L I Z A T I O N

32. Tools?
Methods?
Feedback?
M E T H O D : R E F L E C T I O N A N D D I S S E M I N A T I O N