Intro Interdisciplinary Research

Why should we collaborate? What does successful collaboration look like? What does it take to do it?

—————————————————————

How does technology impact our understanding of community? What values are embedded within or do we assume about technological means of communication?

—————————————————————

How do social movements and communities operate in “online spaces”? Do various platforms create different nuances in how we communicate? What affect does this have on the communities and on how we research these communities?

—————————————————————

What means do social movements require to affect change? Do the different social media platforms and various digital apps play a role?

—————————————————————

Students in this Lab will learn about interdisciplinarity, how to begin interdisciplinary work, and the skills of collaboration that it requires through readings, discussions, and experimental exercises. Students can expect to devise interview questions, discuss the importance of interdisciplinary work with people from a wide range of disciplines, create a Lab wiki, work with a librarian to learn how to use the Library to your advantage, write an annotated bibliography, and develop with your team an interdisciplinary research impact project. What students learn about interdisciplinarity will be applied to a current social challenge: social movements and digital culture. Student teams practice their new knowledge and skills to pursue their chosen inquiry paths. For example, what are the ethics of studying people’s activities online? Do algorithms amp up or limit certain narratives and, if so, how? How do different platforms affordances impact the way social movements interact with each other and with the larger community?

Collaborations

• The instructional team is organizing panels of faculty who engage in interdisciplinary research to answer your questions.
• Consultants to help you with your inquiries into social movements and digital communities are also being organized to provide additional insight into how to conduct interdisciplinary, collaborative research.