[Xmca-l] Re: some videos for a general audience

[Helen Beetham]

The two minute explainer videos are a wonderful idea.
As a researcher I would be really interested to hear (and share) some two-minute, practical accounts of using CHAT in research settings. After years of working in the field and using (and recommending) AT as an analytical frame to other researchers, I’m finding that in order to submit something for a PhD I have to write an extraordinary long and detailed justification for its use, via critical theory, philosophy of language, and even evolutionary biology. The reason I think it’s so powerful a tool - and the reason I think it’s so controversial - is that it falls between sociological methods/explanations that tend to be hyper local and resist any systematic account of the relationships between agency, material artefacts, and cultural-historical systems - and more cybernetic or systematic accounts that dissolve human agency and meaning-making in the ‘factors’ and forces acting on a situation. AT comes through the middle - but exactly how it does that seems to me very particular to the context of study. I’d be interested in any thoughts or practical experiences - and apologise for any mistakes or naivity of my own understanding.

The XMCA archives are a mine of useful discussion, but there are few really seminal articles - to someone not centrally involved it’s sometimes hard to make the link between the philosophy and the method.

In solidarity
Helen

Helen Beetham, Researcher and Consultant
@helenbeetham  helenb33
helen.beetham@gmail.com
h.a.beetham@wlv.ac.uk
digitalthinking.org.uk <http://digitalthinking.org/>





> On 7 Feb 2020, at 01:41, Anthony Barra <anthonymbarra@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Ok, thanks Andy.  Good idea. 
> 
> And then after that we can have another chat, if we can think of a worthy topic. 
> 
> Anthony
> 
> On Thu, Feb 6, 2020 at 6:17 PM Andy Blunden <andyb@marxists.org <mailto:andyb@marxists.org>> wrote:
> Totally wonderful questions, Anthony, questions which beautifully illustrate the creativity of collaboration!
> 
> I will record them on my webcam and edit them and send them to you, rather than doing it by Skype. Allow me a couple of weeks though. The first requires a thought-out concise answer, and the other 2 require a lot of thought.
> 
> Thank you!
> 
> Andy
> 
> Andy Blunden
> Hegel for Social Movements <https://brill.com/view/title/54574>
> Home Page <https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm>
> On 7/02/2020 4:34 am, Anthony Barra wrote:
>> Hi Andy,
>> 
>> I have two potential topics in mind, if you would find either (or both) of them suitable -- both with an audience of non-experts in mind:
>> 
>> Topic 1 - a layman's explanation of the concept of the social situation of development through the eyes of an expert;
>> 
>> Topic 2a - Thus far, what have been the worst, and the best, real-world outcomes from Marx's methods of analysis?  Of Vygotsky's?  Can these questions be objectively answered?
>> Topic 2b - Why should - or how could - a skeptic or critic of Marx's economic analysis have faith in Vygotsky's psychological analysis?
>> 
>> My motivations: for reasons I'm not totally sure of, I am a slow learner -- and at times feel like my understanding is progressing in reverse.  Topic 1 is a component of cultural-historical theory I don't yet feel comfortable with; Topic 2 is something I personally am curious about, and it is also a topic I can't speak productively about in conversations with peers and friends.  Lastly, I am motivated to continue building my youtube channel <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV_JLMKIELbpjSH3nbmISoQ/about>, in hopes that it will be a helpful resource to others who have been captured - and confused - by Vygotsky and his ideas.
>> 
>> Thank you,
>> 
>> Anthony 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Thu, Jan 23, 2020 at 11:30 PM Andy Blunden <andyb@marxists.org <mailto:andyb@marxists.org>> wrote:
>> I really like what you've done to make those two-minute quickies, Anthony.
>> 
>> I'd be up for some more 2-minute Q&As if you are. And I've got  better internet connection these days, too.
>> 
>> Send me a list of topics/problems/questions and I'll pick something.
>> 
>> The fact is: people don't watch hour-long youtube videos. Sadly. You have the solution. :)
>> 
>> andy
>> 
>> Andy Blunden
>> Hegel for Social Movements <https://brill.com/view/title/54574>
>> Home Page <https://www.ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/index.htm>
>> On 24/01/2020 2:20 pm, Anthony Barra wrote:
>>> Good evening,
>>> 
>>> I'd like to share a small project I've been working on recently, in an attempt to better understand Vygotsky's ideas and implications.  
>>> 
>>> Short clips are here, averaging about 2 minutes apiece: http://tiny.cc/dra4iz <http://tiny.cc/dra4iz>
>>> 
>>> Longer ones are here, and I am very grateful to Andy, Nikolai, and Peter for their generosity: http://tiny.cc/bpa4iz <http://tiny.cc/bpa4iz> 
>>> 
>>> Thank you, and have a great day.
>>> 
>>> Anthony Barra

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