The Wales-Wide Web

"Many countries celebrate International Women's Day on March 8th. This year, we'd like to encourage the whole edublogging community to celebrate the women edubloggers in their lives - friends, mothers, sisters, daughters, online colleagues and co-workers. Please join in the party on this special day with at least one post about women who edublog. It might be a profile, interview, overview of their blog - or just a round up link-fest of all your favourite women edubloggers. ", she wrote.

Here is my contribution. I have known Daniela Reimann for over ten years and have always been impressed by her work. All too often non English language projects are ignored in the mainstream blogosphere.

Anyway - here is an interview in which Daniela explains her work.

1. Could you explain your project and the work you are doing?
I am working in the field of digital media art education, focusing on integrated aesthetics, design and computer science in education.

Let me start to introduce my projects to explain in more details. “Theory and Practice of integrated Arts, Design and Computer Science in Education (ArtDeCom)” was a model-project funded by the German Bund-Länder-Commission and the Land Schleswig-Holstein from 2001-2003.

MediaArtLab@School is dealing with creative use of hypermedia and mixed reality systems in aesthetic research projects at school and university level. It is actually the follow-up project to ArtDeCom and is run by the Laboratory School of Art and Media Education at the UNESCO Project School Flensburg. We run both projects in co-operation with an institute of computer science.

2. Who do you work with?
I basically work together with my students as school kids. I also work with the teachers involved in the school projects or teacher further training courses. Also I co-operate with computer science researchers involved in the KiMM project. In terms of discussion of my research, I exchange with people in informal networks I develop such as the ISEA Pacific Rim New media education working group as well as with colleagues in Linz media arts and arts education.

I am developing co-operation with the department of computer science at the University of Applied Science of the University of Flensburg (3D/saces identities/games).

3. How did you get involved in the work?
Coming form a visual arts and education background I did a European post-graduate studies programme in the pedagogy of media technology in the mid nineties. I worked in the field of interactive multimedia and learning systems and since 1998 at university institutes.

4. Why do you think this work is important?
I think this work is important because it is basic research in the area of digital media and it’s currently an innovative approach which is recognised internationally. It is a new approach to media education, based on the key disciplines and it aims to go beyond the teaching of separate subjects towards a project based orientation of learning scenarios. And last but not least, I see the pupils involved as well as the art education students are very happy.

5. What do the students learn from your project?
I hope they learn about the different uses of the computer as a shapable and programmable medium and algorithmic machine which can be controlled and linked to aesthetic design processes by the kids themselves. It is not a technology driven approach but a content driven approach related to the project and the idea behind it. The aesthetic-artistic context , e.g. when developing interactive installation or an interactive environment for play, rather than technical systems as an end in itself (as often realise din computer education) is actually the key to it. Also the key to get involved those girls as well as pupils with little interest
computers. The students as well as pupils get fun working with the media we give them.

6. Do the girls and boys approach the work in different ways? If so why do you think this is?
Yes. e.g. concenring games: The simple shooter is not attracting girls as it attracts boys. So what does attract the girls? Will be addressed in they follow-up project?

7. What do you hope to get over through your Web site ?
I think my Web site for me is a means to express my professional identity and of course a sort of passion for it. (which is, I think the special craziness of us, we are research victims / addicts.)

The Web log on media arts and education to me is a means to develop discussion in non formal ways, to meet people I do not meet because I spent most time in the office busy writing papers, reports etc etc. Also I like the idea of publishing what I want. At the moment though it is too time consuming to run properly

8. What are the main barriers to your work
Main barrier – interesting one. The gap between artist , media technology
and education is huge.

A second barrier is people who are either not interested in the area or mainly competitive.

9. What do you hope to do in the future?
I would like to run my own mobile/flexible sort of media art lab institute with people I like to work with and who are interested to exchange, not only keen on the career purposes.

I love to work with the kids and students at all age levels.

Technorati Tags: "International Edublogging Women's Day 2006"