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26.08.22 |
VIRTUAL MOBILITY for NaUKMA students, focused on Ethnographic Methods and Virtual Environments / Digital Anthropology in collaboration with HMKW Berlin (University of Applied Sciences)
DEADLINE IS EXTENDED THROUGH 30 SEPTEMBER 2022!!!
OPEN CALL to join the VIRTUAL MOBILITY for the NaUKMA students focused on Ethnographic Methods and Virtual Environments / Digital Anthropology in collaboration with HMKW Berlin (University of Applied Sciences) M.A. in Visual and Media Anthropology, from October to December 2022.
5 scholarships available for M.A. NaUKMA students, with 200 euros per month for the duration of the 3-months long project and a Virtual Reality Meta Quest 2 Headset (rented for the duration of the project at no additional charge).
“LION: Digital Learning Environments in the Metaverse for Social, Cultural, and Media Studies” is a virtual mobility project funded by DAAD: “Ukraine Digital: Ensuring academic success in times of crisis”, offering an Elective Course Package (Digital Anthropology, Virtual Environments, Immersive Storytelling) to Master students at NaUKMA interested in exploring ethnographic fieldwork methods (qualitative data collection) in digital environments and learning to use innovative computer-assisted research techniques. Please find the course description below.
Students who do not receive the scholarship can still enroll in course offerings. Scholarship holders will be required to recognize at least one LION project course at NaUKMA through the virtual mobility instrument (please contact Larysa Chovnyuk, larch@ukma.edu.ua on the recognition procedures and / or check information on the NaUKMA International Office web-page). Other students, who will be enrolled to the LION course(s) are strongly advised to consider their recognition at NaUKMA.
Application Procedure for Enrollment and Scholarship:
Please send a Motivation Letter with mentioning of the course(s) you are interested to register for and a CV to maltsevaks@ukma.edu.ua (Kateryna Maltseva) and larch@ukam.edu.ua (Larysa Chovnyuk).
Preference is given to the M.A. students from the NaUKMA Faculty of Social Science and Social Technologies (with a preference to the Sociology department), but the project is open to anyone who shows a demonstrated interest in working with virtual reality technology and ethnographic methods.
Deadline to apply: by September 30 (extended)
Courses offered:
Digital Anthropology
Blake Kendall and Hanna Dosenko
BLOCK COURSE (Online)
15 ECTS credits (can be recognised at NaUKMA with fewer credits)
Technology infiltrates nearly every aspect of our lives. You are likely reading this on your computer or smartphone, from a digital file that you downloaded. This course will push you to critically consider technologies that are ubiquitous—and often invisible—and how they affect both individual identity and social life. We will begin this course with an examination of what we mean when we talk about digital anthropology, and how scholars throughout the twentieth century have addressed disruptive technologies. We will then study case studies that examine various aspects of the intersection between culture and technology. The goal of this course is for students to conduct (audio) - visual fieldwork in an online community of their choice. In doing so, they will be able to practice ethnographic fieldwork methods, such as participant observation and various interview techniques, in digital environments.
Immersive Storytelling
Felix Gaedtke, Gayatri Parameswaran, and Janina Findeisen
SELF PACED (Online)
15 ECTS credits (can be recognised at NaUKMA with fewer credits)
Immersive technologies such as virtual and augmented reality are becoming important tools for storytellers. The power of these technologies offers exciting opportunities and poses difficult challenges. On the one hand it gives users an unprecedented level of agency and on the other hand, it raises questions about the ethics of ‘experiencing’ and ‘witnessing’ other realities.
This course considers best practices for immersive storytelling within the context of current technological advances. Using case studies, we understand different workflows for producing virtual and augmented reality works. The course begins with an introductory class, which introduces participants to selected works on virtual reality headsets (Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift S and HTC Vive). The goal of this course is to introduce students to current trends in the field of immersive storytelling and to offer practical experimentations with a relatively new but growing medium.
Virtual Environments
Heike Philp and Daniel Wood
BLOCK Course (Online and VR)
15 ECTS credits (can be recognised at NaUKMA with fewer credits)
In this course we will analyze and discuss the current state of virtual environments and immersive technology from an anthropological perspective. Will the Metaverse be able to become a new digital environment for social life? What kind of knowledge and research methods can digital anthropologists contribute to the creation of new digital spaces? This course takes place with avatars in different existing virtual environments such as Horizon Workrooms, Horizon Worlds, Open Sim, Frame VR, Decentraland, Virbela, Altspace VR, Second Life, with the opportunity to join courses from VR headsets or a browser. After this course students will be well versed in the history and current state of Virtual Reality and their meaning for societies. Students will become adept at navigating an avatar in a virtual environment, learn building in a sandbox and producing machinimas. Students will gain an extensive understanding of virtual reality, NFTs, blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, and an insight into the values and needs of virtual communities. Students' acquired skills and knowledge can serve as a foundation for future scholarly research or in an applied-context enables collaboration with programmers and technology platforms to build inclusive futures that are beneficial for societies.
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1615 - Kyiv-Mohyla brotherhood school, later turned into Collegium, was founded
2012 - NaUKMA is a classical university with six faculties (Humanities, Social Sciences, Law, Economics, Computer Sciences, Natural Sciences). During the twenty years since its re-establishment, Academy has initiated reforms in higher education, was the first university in Ukraine to introduce the bachelor, master and PhD programs, a curriculum in Liberal Arts Education, and a system of entrance tests
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