Saturday, February 26, 2011

Istanbul: Qualitative Computing: Day 2 Session 3

Istanbul: Session 5


Day 2


The wonderful Elif co-chair of the conference and a faculty member at Ankara University. 
















I am the first presenter.  My talk was titled:












"The Journal Project:  Qualitative Computing and the TechnologyAesthetics Divide in Qualitative Research"

My sincere thanks to everyone in the audience for your gracious and supportive remarks.  Thanks especially to Rose and her suggestions around fractiles and related issues.  You've all been a great help to moving this idea forward. 




Visual Culture in Religious Architecture by Lillia Chernobilsky of the University of Buenos Aires

Religious architecture—design of sacred spaces. Functions are critical to religious architecture. They combine different kinds of artistic and symbolic meaning. Each building is a announcement of God.

Each building has to have a demarcation between the religious and non-religious.

Over time these spaces may not be profitable in the city centers and the role changes. New functions overlay the old functions.

Her paper focuses on the image—why is the image so important?

Visual culture—studies the social construction of the visual and the visual construction of the social. There is no culture that does not present itself visually.

Main goals:

-compare and describe 5 most represented religions in Argentina…in this presentation Catholicism and Islam

-establish difference and similarities between architectonic images and the religious beliefs pertaining

Religions in Argentina:

No official religion, but Catholics dominate (76.5)

She shows a diagram of the classical form of a cathederal and a mosque…what are the spaces, seating arrangements, windows, arches, etc.

She starts with a Mosque in Buenos Aires (the largest Mosque in Latin America)

She shows analysis with Atlas-ti software…showing the spaces outlined for us to focus on.

-the trees in the garden

-arches along a walkway

-the brand new mosque in BA…arches in new relationships in a new design

-minarets; a common feature in a mosque; highest point in the mosque…often highest point in the area; generally have a pointed roof (she shows various minarets—different designs but a shared archetectual ethic).

-domes; In her many pictures you can see the visual coding in Atlas-ti…demonstrating the critical features.

-she shifts to the inside where the Imman stands; a pulpit

-she shows the calligraphy

-the abulation area; water for cleansing

[I am thinking about what it would look like, for instance, to look at the code for minaret—all the minarets would be extracted…hm…]

Then she shifts to Catholic cathederals

-towers

-nave

[the software is really seamlessly integrated with the presentation—it’s a great example for how to bring it together without making it the special attention.]

-alters

-details that show up with analysis; symbols of state within the religious architecture

-stained glass; many religious scenes

-ribbed vault

Conclusions:

-Muslim religion is where the faithful comes to contact God. Decoration focuses on the inner space, one cannot use iconic representation; abstract, calligraphy, no benches or chairs in prayer space

-Gothic architecture:

+must be sustainable, have terticality; and have iconography

Shares two examples of small, humble churches.





Comparative Cause Mapping and CMAP3 Software in Qualitative Research by Mauri Laukkanen of the University of Eastern Finland


This is the paper that is a corollary to the workshop he did yesterday on this software.

My wrist is wearing out so I may go light on this one, because I put up notes on yesterday’s workshop.

-idiosyncratic causal mapping; mapping of one individual’s beliefs (He describes a study that someone did of Frederick Taylor’s thinking.)

-comparative causal mapping; compares beliefs across individuals or organizations

-he shows a method where he fills in various pieces (words) and then asks the respondent to draw the relationships as they understand them (the causal links)…I think this could be interesting to use



Questions

-suggestions: Katherine Hales and fractiles; they want to associate sciences and humanities

-the fractile geometry of nature – this is a book

-where did you go with curating? Where is it taking you?

-why/how can you think of QDAS as aesthetic? Can you say it has beauty?

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This a photo of the sheep I found in the first restaurant I visited in Istanbul:


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