Re: [Yasmin_discussions] serious discussion of STEAM

Dear Yasminers,

I agree with Glenn's observation that great Euro-ethnic art of previous centuries has reflected a sympathetic dialogue between medium and creator, and that's the path I pursued originally when following my father's footsteps as an oil painter. Yet it's a luxury I had to abandon once I turned to new media, because there simply is no single medium for a given piece. A video installation by Pipilotti Rist or Nam June Paik changes its monitors, decks, and even video standards when it travels from Chicago to Hamburg to Seoul. Internet artists get used to having their art look different in Firefox versus IE, on Mac versus Windows, on a 4k screens or an iPad. I once conducted a study to see how many times a typical computer-based installation changed over a year and a half, and the answer was 22. [1]

Art can still depend on material properties [2], but the work is neither an experience wedded to particular atoms nor is it a platonic concept transferred from the artist to the viewer through the vehicle of the work. Rather, in the age of variable media, an artwork consists of the successive triangulation of its various material substrates with experiences it has produced in viewers over time.

This is not due to a preoccupation with the new and shiny, but a fundamental dynamic of keeping art alive—one that has prehistorical roots in the earliest artmaking. [3] I see this as an advantage rather than limitation. For example, the variable media approach requires artists to adopt a fluidity of practice closer to that of scientists, because it values ongoing investigation rather than unchanging products hung on the wall or set on a pedestal.

Speaking of ongoing investigations versus unchanging products, I don't think we'll get very far in the attempt to establish similarities between art and science by scrutinizing their end products. With a couple of exceptions, every science textbook I've seen presents established theories in a manner without any resemblance to how they were actually discovered. Science proceeds not by tidy summaries or efficient deductions, but by puzzlement (Einstein), distraction (Archimedes), irreverence (Feinman), recalcitrance (Avogadro), accident (Fleming), and serendipity (Penzias and Wilson).

In particular, as much as we might prefer our science free of metaphors and analogies, they have played an important role in the history of mathematical and scientific discoveries. [4] Kekule discovered the benzene ring after a dream about atoms dancing. Math is full of homologies: exponentiation is to multiplication as multiplication is to addition.

It shouldn't come as a surprise if the unruly mindset that is a precondition for many scientific discoveries also helps artists do their thing. Psychologist Irvin Child correlated students' aesthetic judgment--as determined by a preference for artworks appraised to be stronger by experts--with their performance on certain personality tests. [5] Some of the strongest correlations were independence of judgment, tolerance of complexity, and appreciation of disorientation.

Child measured independence of judgment by sitting the subject in a room surrounded by peers who secretly work for the researchers, then showing a slide of one short line segment next to a second, slightly longer one. When asked to identify the longer one, each of the "plants" in the room deliberately lie and say the first is longer. Subjects who disagree openly with their peers get high marks for independence of judgment, while those who ignore the visual evidence in favor of peer pressure are judged conformists.

Child evaluated tolerance of disorientation by asking his subjects to don glasses that turned the world upside-down. While many subjects react with dismay and can't wait to pull them off, those with high aesthetic judgment respond with delight at this disorienting view of the world, and run off to explore their surroundings.

Ironically, the current state of STEM education in the US seems almost deliberately designed to eradicate independence of thought and appreciation of disorientation. Teaching to the test leaves no time for open-ended conceptual or experimental exploration. Students are evaluated based on whether they know the "right answers," rather than whether they can ask good questions.

If anything, our schools favor the "planning ability" and "conscientiousness" that Denis Dutton claims are evolutionarily programmed into our sense of beauty. To me, Dutton's conclusions about what makes great art sound even more uninformed than his skepticism about climate change. [6] I think our science education also suffers from an overemphasis on buttoned-down criteria like his. While memorizing the organelles of a cell or the isotopes of carbon is useful for being a scientist, it is no preparation for the mental activity taking place in those moments whereby the field of science is advanced, and in many cases likely indeed to discourage kids who might otherwise bring a creative mindset to the field.

So if we accept that STEAM creativity is nourished by the unruly attitudes Child identified, how would we change education to nourish the mental process needed for both art and science?

Cheers from snowy Maine.

jon

[1] "Death by Wall Label," http://thoughtmesh.net/publish/11.php.

[2] Rosalind Krauss was onto something in using the term "post-medium" to denote medium specificity that couldn't be reduced to atoms. But I believe the later term "post-media" (and even worse, "post-Internet") is little more than a reactionary justification for falling back to a materialistic art market.

[3] See "Unreliable Archivists" in my book with Richard Rinehart, Re-collection: Art, New Media, and Social Memory (http://re-collection.net).

[4] If you want to detach a particular literary device from science, I recommend metonymy ("This splinter of the cross was near Christ so must have healing properties").

[5] For a related study involving questionnaires rather than live experiments, see Irvin L. Child and Rosaline S. Schwartz, "Personality and the Appreciation of Art," Art Education (National Art Education Association), Vol. 20, No. 1 (Jan., 1967), pp. 33-35, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3190945.

[6] For a scathing refutation of Dutton's formula for what makes a great landscape painting, see Komar + Melamid's "The Most Wanted Paintings," http://www.diaart.org/program/exhibitions-projects/komar-melamid-the-most-wanted-paintings-web-project.
_______________________________________________
Yasmin_discussions mailing list
Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions

Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin

SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/

Re: [Yasmin_discussions] where is science-based art headed?

*brief comment*

maybe one possible response to Julia's question 'where is science-based art
headed?' is towards a more pluralist epistemology for phenomena typically
studied by artists and scientists, more education that blends methods and
approaches of art and science and more 'ways of knowing' being accepted
into culture at large?

all best,

Gemma


Dr Gemma Anderson
Artist and Lecturer in Drawing at Falmouth University
Honorary Research Fellow, Egenis, University of Exeter
Drawing Research Associate, The Big Draw, UK

http://www.gemma-anderson.co.uk/
www.cmadc.uk
http://www.isomorphology.com/
https://falmouth.academia.edu/GemmaAnderson
@Isomorphology
_______________________________________________
Yasmin_discussions mailing list
Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions

Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin

SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/

Re: [Yasmin_discussions] serious discussion of STEAM

Glenn is getting at something here which has been on my mind a lot as of
late - where is science-based art headed?

1. There is a lot of reason to believe that the physicality of a medium
will remain important, even if post-media/web-art/etc. become as popular an
art form as oil painting. One example of support comes to mind in the study
of e-readers, and how everyone (publishers, authors, book stores) thought
that e-readers would put physical books out of market, when in fact people
are reading physical books more
<http://www.geekwire.com/2015/paper-back-real-books-rebound/>! Just like we
appreciate professional athletes for their physical prowess, I think we
will always appreciate a painter who can, in whatever style they may be
working in, exhibit the same type of mastery (this is a point that Denis
Dutton made a while back
<https://www.ted.com/talks/denis_dutton_a_darwinian_theory_of_beauty>). I
think we see a lot of artists who engage with science using high technology
to do so because high tech and science are so physically linked, but the
concepts of science, as they predominate our media, are seeping down to
traditional medium artists more and more every day. While science-based art
still has this kind of novelty aura about it (outside of the inner circles
we Yasminers are occupying), art about science someday (hopefully soon)
will be just as common as art about war, politics, etc.

and I'll skip to point 3 -

3. I was recently part of an exhibit called "Visual Inquiries
<http://www.pace.edu/dyson/news-and-events/visual-inquiries>" at Pace
University - this was a science-based art show, and all of the work
happened (as part of the curator's vision) to be very traditional art.
Painting, sculpture, drawing. This fact started a discussion in the gallery
about the difference between high tech and traditional art - which leads to
my thoughts here. I think that the allure of high-tech anything is very
real - it's shiny, blinky, interactive, etc - but this is most often a
one-trick pony sort of deal. These pieces, in my experience, are very
popular when first seen but then fall quickly into the past. Perhaps this
is because technology is always evolving, and in order for tech pieces to
be impressive/important (I'm talking here about pieces made after artists
like Nam June Paik, who will always be important because of the historical
context of his work) the tech has to keep up - artists who use high tech
face the same tech obsolescence issue that consumers face where we are sick
of something that's 1 or 2 years old because the next best thing is already
out. To Glenn's point, creating a real work of Fine Art would be quite the
amazing feat here given art's traditional set of elements interacting in a
composition - I can see here how the conversation could lead into social
practice, but that is a can of worms in itself... But to wrap up, back
around to my first point, once we get past and/or harness technology, and
once we get past the novelty of art about science, I think some really
important, lasting (in the Mona Lisa sense) pieces will be made.

*Julia Buntaine*
*Neuroscience-based art: www.JuliaBuntaine.com
<http://www.juliabuntaine.com>*

*Innovator-in-Residence at Rutgers UniversityDirector at SciArt Center
<http://www.sciartcenter.org>*
*Editor-in-Chief of SciArt Magazine <http://www.sciartmagazine.com>*


On Fri, Dec 30, 2016 at 2:14 AM, Glenn Smith <gsmith@space-machines.com>
wrote:

> Dear Yasminers,
>
> Julia Buntaine has expressed a very important idea in connection with
> STEAM, and one which might constitute a Yasmin topic in and of itself:
>
> Additionally, there is the idea that restrictions and set limits (money,
>> time, space, etc) actually breed creativity, because if all possibilities
>> were open, where would creativity be?
>>
>
> Yes, as artists working with technology and science, we are excited to
> have a seemingly unending supply of new tools and imagery; but unless and
> until each of us have the discipline to focus on a specific subset thereof,
> it is unlikely that we will be able to exercise our creativity in some
> meaningful fashion -- and which for many of us is synonymous with being
> able to create truly important and memorable works of art -- as per the
> following series of propositions:
>
> 1. Although there is actually talk of "post-media" art (and I, for one, am
> starting to be instantly suspicious of any term that begins with "post"),
> one can argue that 99.9999% of humanity will continue, as they have for the
> last one hundred thousand years, to understand and respond to art as an
> engagement with some specific realm of physical reality -- i.e., a medium!
> -- be it cords stretched across a sounding board, or oil paint applied to a
> taut canvas, or wet plaster built up over a wire armature.
>
> 2. An examination of a representative sample of works by great artists
> will reveal, even beyond a preoccupation with a specific medium, moments of
> intimacy with that medium which tend to be inseparable from that which we
> experience as "art with a capital 'A' ", and in respect to which (and out
> of my embarrassment at belaboring the obvious) I will offer but a single
> example: that apparent slathering of wet plaster forming the visage of
> Giacometti's "Man Pointing" [1] -- but which visage expresses not only an
> extraordinary nobility, but also the sense of a gaze far, far into the
> future of our species.
>
> 3. It seems unlikely that such moments will occur often in the practice of
> an artist who seeks to tame a circus-tent's worth of technological
> wizardry; and it seems unlikely as well that such circus-tent environments
> lend themselves to that which is a related characteristic of great art: a
> sense of composition among and between a definitive set of elements.
>
> Regards,
> Glenn
>
> [1] http://www.space-machines.com/art_as_phenomenon/giacometti_m
> an_pointing_detail_394x600.jpg
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Yasmin_discussions mailing list
> Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
> http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions
>
> Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin
>
> SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the
> page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and
> password in the fields found further down the page.
> HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter
> your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on
> the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
> TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest
> Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
> If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to
> http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/
>
_______________________________________________
Yasmin_discussions mailing list
Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions

Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin

SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/

[Yasmin_discussions] serious discussion of STEAM

Dear Yasminers,

Julia Buntaine has expressed a very important idea in connection with
STEAM, and one which might constitute a Yasmin topic in and of itself:

>Additionally, there is the idea that restrictions and set limits
>(money, time, space, etc) actually breed creativity, because if all
>possibilities were open, where would creativity be?

Yes, as artists working with technology and science, we are excited
to have a seemingly unending supply of new tools and imagery; but
unless and until each of us have the discipline to focus on a
specific subset thereof, it is unlikely that we will be able to
exercise our creativity in some meaningful fashion -- and which for
many of us is synonymous with being able to create truly important
and memorable works of art -- as per the following series of propositions:

1. Although there is actually talk of "post-media" art (and I, for
one, am starting to be instantly suspicious of any term that begins
with "post"), one can argue that 99.9999% of humanity will continue,
as they have for the last one hundred thousand years, to understand
and respond to art as an engagement with some specific realm of
physical reality -- i.e., a medium! -- be it cords stretched across a
sounding board, or oil paint applied to a taut canvas, or wet plaster
built up over a wire armature.

2. An examination of a representative sample of works by great
artists will reveal, even beyond a preoccupation with a specific
medium, moments of intimacy with that medium which tend to be
inseparable from that which we experience as "art with a capital 'A'
", and in respect to which (and out of my embarrassment at belaboring
the obvious) I will offer but a single example: that apparent
slathering of wet plaster forming the visage of Giacometti's "Man
Pointing" [1] -- but which visage expresses not only an extraordinary
nobility, but also the sense of a gaze far, far into the future of our species.

3. It seems unlikely that such moments will occur often in the
practice of an artist who seeks to tame a circus-tent's worth of
technological wizardry; and it seems unlikely as well that such
circus-tent environments lend themselves to that which is a related
characteristic of great art: a sense of composition among and between
a definitive set of elements.

Regards,
Glenn

[1]
http://www.space-machines.com/art_as_phenomenon/giacometti_man_pointing_detail_394x600.jpg


_______________________________________________
Yasmin_discussions mailing list
Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions

Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin

SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/

[Yasmin_discussions] Ethnocomputational creativity in STEAM education

Here's a publication link which includes an article .pdf
that may be of interest to some on the Yasmin list.

Ethnocomputational creativity in STEAM education:
A cultural framework for generative justice
Creatividad etnocomputacional en la educación STEAM:
un marco cultural para la Justicia Generativa
by Audrey Bennett, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Wishing you all the best for the holiday season and 2017.
Richard

--------

We have just published Teknokultura last issue on Generative Justice,
coordinated by Ron Eglash and Chris H. Gray. I hope you find it
interesting:

http://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/TEKN/issue/current

Vol 13, No 2 (2016) Generative Justice

---------------------------------------------------------------
Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director
1st-Mile Institute 505-603-5200
Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504,
rl@1st-mile.org www.1st-mile.org
---------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________
Yasmin_discussions mailing list
Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions

Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin

SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/

Re: [Yasmin_discussions] serious discussion of STEAM

To respond to Glenn & Ruth's comments -

Thank you so much for your input - I look forward to implementing some of
these ideas! Some more thoughts along the 1-2-3 points....

1. I love the idea of coming in the first day with presenting a favorite
art work. While I do agree with Ruth, that the "A" does not have to stand
for visual art only, as a classroom exercise choosing one form of art -
visual since it is my area of expertise - will create a comparative
situation that could be very intersting to explore. Discussing the choices
they made, why, the differences between what is presented, etc. should be
very revealing and helpful groundwork for the course. Ruth, I welcome input
from you about this! Please feel free to email me directly - my course is
Jan 3-13th.

2. The back and forth about creativity here has really shed light on the
different definitions of what it means to be creative! No, you don't want a
doctor getting creative during surgery - but you do want a doctor who may
come up with creative alternatives to surgery, for example. I think we've
all experienced the sometimes frustratingly-uncreative side of western
medicine. I think as its base, creativity speaks to a mindset that can go
beyond pure training, that can incorporate experience, gained expertise,
independent findings, perspectives from other fields. There is a great art
example of this, which is when you learn to draw. Learning to draw is much
like learning a science - there is a way to shade, a way to draw
proportionally, with perspective, etc. In a class full of freshman drawing
students the drawings will all pretty much look the same (to a degree). It
is only after learning the skill set necessary to depict something that you
can successfully deviate from that with added 'style'. Of course, as an
artist or researcher, the room to be creative is much larger than other
jobs. While each have their limitations on creativity (properties of
materials, gravity, the scientific method, etc.) really 'great' works of
art or discoveries in science are borne of creative thinking. Additionally,
there is the idea that restrictions and set limits (money, time, space,
etc) actually breed creativity, because if all possibilities were open,
where would creativity be?

3. I am definitely going to have the students draw what they see through a
multi-media notebook they'll be keeping during the course - something like
drawing the science they experience, and writing about the art they
experience, trying to use the descriptive methods of both fields in reverse
- this will be supplemented by reading parts from John Berger's "ways of
seeing," where he introduces the idea of understanding what you see and why
- what contexts you bring into a seeing, or art seeing, situation. My hope
is to provide a bit of visual training so that students, art students or
otherwise, can approach their visual world with a critical eye. The lack of
a critical eye is why so many people may like art, but not feel they can
have an opinion about it. I find this fascinating, and terribly sad, since
art is for "the people" above all else, therefore any opinion about it is
valid - however educated it may be. A critical mind is also essential -
especially in science, when there are so many contradictory findings every
day (ex. what is healthy to eat), and I hope to help students develop this
as well by encouraging them to reach their own informed opinions about art,
or science. I think that this sort of critical thinking is relevant,
necessary, in all STEAM fields.

*Julia Buntaine*
*Neuroscience-based art: www.JuliaBuntaine.com
<http://www.juliabuntaine.com>*

*Innovator-in-Residence at Rutgers UniversityDirector at SciArt Center
<http://www.sciartcenter.org>*
*Editor-in-Chief of SciArt Magazine <http://www.sciartmagazine.com>*

On Wed, Dec 21, 2016 at 11:54 AM, ruth <rcatchen@gmail.com> wrote:

> I would like to respond to Glenn's comments and will provide more
> information about STEAM after the holidays. I am currently traveling and in
> the air as I write. In addition, Julia, I will contact you as I have done a
> lot of teaching (P-20) using STEAM as the protocol and my ideas may be a
> bit different than what you plan so far, or at least worth a look to
> integrate into what you already have. As well, I am excited to learn about
> what you are doing and what you find to be successful. Please feel free to
> contact me.
>
> I will respond to Glenn's comments through his numbering to simplify.
>
> 1. I like the idea of selecting an art work to write about or reflect on as
> a piece of self-identity. I do, however, do not believe that visual art is
> the only way to implement STEAM or add the arts to STEM, even though the
> connections through design thinking, sketches to plan or brainstorm design
> ideas, making, etc., are fairly obvious. I use these protocols all the time
> and have used art work for students to observe, enhance their observation
> skills (to better scientific observation), and/or recognize patterns. I
> think it is valuable for a student to connect his or her self and their own
> self expression to a work of art. I do not believe that this is the only
> way to do this - certainly the same can be said for a piece of music or
> finding a way to physically manifest something you see or hear (such as
> dance). Students could also write their own reflection in the form of a
> play or monologue or integrate all of the vehicles of self-expression. I do
> agree that many students have not had an opportunity to value or invest
> themselves in any aesthetic thinking. Unfortunately with the focus on STEM,
> Mathematics, Science, AP classes etc. time for this goes too far from the
> checklist and probably not valued. It may be considered only for those with
> "talent" rather than cultivating discipline, aesthetic thinking or critical
> judgment. My son, now a sophomore in college and a computer science major,
> continually bemoans his lack of liberal arts education and experience and
> exposure to the arts and humanities, which he believes would greatly
> enhance his perspective and personal growth. Some of this was his own
> choice, but guided by the powers that be in an effort to become a national
> AP scholar and garner merit awards. This exposure to the arts and using the
> arts as a way of doing or understanding and experiencing is a different
> approach than our test happy public schools generally advocate. Perhaps
> there needs to be a discussion and promotion as to why this is "value
> added." So yes, how to integrate the arts into your life for a wide variety
> of benefits is well-needed. Also, I must say that this is not a substitute
> for arts education, each a valid content area on their own.
>
> 2. There is a frank need for a discussion about creativity and what it is
> and what it means as well as a discussion about embedding it in the
> way-to-do. I believe the ability to be creative is on the top of my
> personal list. At the same time, most jobs do not allow for creativity, as
> Glenn suggests, how creative do you want your doctor to be? Or is this more
> about an approach or perspective? Even if valued, including in education,
> use of creativity or creative thinking has to be appropriate.
>
> 3. I am a proponent of "Drawing as a Way of Knowing" and using sketches to
> either plan or brainstorm work or demonstrate knowledge. Simple sketches
> can be valuable and we must teach that this is not a work of art but rather
> a skill to communicate that all students, like speaking and writing, should
> have. Drawing is integral to STEAM.
>
> More to come...I hope this makes sense as there are many distractions.
>
> Ruth
>
>
>
>
> [image: --]
>
> Ruth Catchen, M. Music, MA
> STEM/STEAM Curriculum and Program Development, Teacher Professional
> Development
> http://www.stemartseffect.com/
> http://www.theartseffect.com/
> http://ruthcatchen.wordpress.com/
> @ruthcatchen
> 719.660.2705
> <http://t.sidekickopen68.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lC8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nM
> JW7t5XYg3N1HhHN5vMG7WdVcClW5vfRWq56dywDf4NrTl402?t=http%3A%
> 2F%2Fabout.me%2Fruthcatchen%3Fpromo%3Demail_sig&si=
> 6671496990162944&pi=1fc82731-fbd2-4b4a-93cd-945d3c2daa04>
>
>
> <http://t.sidekickopen68.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lC8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nM
> JW7t5XYg3N1HhHN5vMG7WdVcClW5vfRWq56dywDf4NrTl402?t=http%3A%
> 2F%2Fabout.me%2Fruthcatchen%3Fpromo%3Demail_sig&si=
> 6671496990162944&pi=1fc82731-fbd2-4b4a-93cd-945d3c2daa04>
> [image: http://]
> <http://t.sidekickopen68.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lC8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nM
> JW7t5XYg3N1HhHN5vMG7WdVcClW5vfRWq56dywDf4NrTl402?t=http%3A%
> 2F%2Fabout.me%2Fruthcatchen%3Fpromo%3Demail_sig&si=
> 6671496990162944&pi=1fc82731-fbd2-4b4a-93cd-945d3c2daa04>
>
>
>
>
> "Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."
> Albert Einstein
>
> On Tue, Dec 20, 2016 at 11:16 PM, Glenn Smith <gsmith@space-machines.com>
> wrote:
>
> > Dear Yasminers,
> >
> > Please critique the following thoughts I am going to share -- at
> > her invitation -- with Julia Buntaine as she prepares to teach a
> > brand new STEAM course at Rutgers this coming semester;
> > and please add your own -- she is going to be in uncharted
> > waters!
> >
> > 1. It would seem to me to be a very useful thing to ask each of
> > your students, as an initial exercise, to identify one work of art
> > which really means something to them -- and here I am
> > assuming a work of visual art, as this seems to be the context
> > of our efforts, and also because that branch of the arts which
> > is the most "out there"; and the point being, of course, to
> > establish that art -- whether or not it can be integrated into
> > their professional careers -- is an important part of their lives.
> > This will also give you an opportunity to find out where each of
> > your students is coming from aesthetically, and there should
> > be no pressure on them to choose a Picasso or Giacometti;
> > but you may be shocked to find that some of your students
> > -- even at Rutgers! -- have never been given the opportunity to
> > develop an aesthetic sensibility, and to which extent you will
> > be attempting to fly a kite on a windless day. I.e., the
> > assumption is that this is NOT a course in "Art Appreciation"
> > -- that should be a given!!!!! -- but rather a course about
> > integrating art into one's professional career.
> >
> > 2. I would also establish some formal occasions for a frank
> > discussion about the extent to which "creativity" as such can
> > actually be integrated into professions which otherwise require
> > a great deal of deal of training and effort. An engineer or
> > designer of course has the opportunity to be creative; but a
> > career as an airline pilot is an entirely different story! The
> > current movie "Sully" notwithstanding, the pilot is NOT
> > expected to be creative, but rather to be able to apply "by the
> > book" responses which exist -- and in detail! -- for a huge range
> > of contingencies; and it is no wonder, therefore, that the extent
> > of depression among airline pilots is now becoming news. And
> > -- let us be honest -- are not professionals like doctors and
> > accountants bound to a great extent by the same standards?
> > I.e., none of us want a "creative" doctor -- we want, rather, a
> > doctor who can apply the very latest "best practices" as defined
> > by his or her profession.
> >
> > 3. That having been said, I have been very taken by Dr. Gemma
> > Anderson's post on "Drawing as a Way of Knowing" -- and I am
> > realizing that this is a hugely under-appreciated aspect of
> > artistic talent, i.e., the masterful hand on the OUTPUT side as
> > a function of the all-seeing and discriminatory eye on the
> > INPUT side -- and what profession could not benefit from
> > clearly-delineated views of what is being faced? So, therefore,
> > it might be an interesting exercise for you to ask your students
> > to produce a sketch depicting an actual or typical situation with
> > which they might deal in their respective professions; or -- as
> > explained to me by a quite astute businessman -- it is critical,
> > if your organization is to take advantage of a given opportunity,
> > to be able to step up to a blackboard and depict that opportunity
> > in a sketch.
> >
> > And so, Julia, maybe the simple blackboard -- and the line
> > drawing!!! -- will become the focus of this and future courses!
> >
> > Regards,
> > Glenn
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Yasmin_discussions mailing list
> > Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
> > http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions
> >
> > Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin
> >
> > SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the
> > page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and
> > password in the fields found further down the page.
> > HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter
> > your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on
> > the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
> > TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set
> Digest
> > Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
> > If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to
> > http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Yasmin_discussions mailing list
> Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
> http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions
>
> Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin
>
> SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the
> page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and
> password in the fields found further down the page.
> HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter
> your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on
> the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
> TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest
> Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
> If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to
> http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/
>
_______________________________________________
Yasmin_discussions mailing list
Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions

Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin

SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/

[Yasmin_discussions] serious discussion of STEAM

Dear Yasminers,

Please allow me to mention a previously undisclosed circumstance
which might permit me to speak with a bit of gravitas here, and with
the goal of getting the focus back on that class full of the
"standard-brained youngsters of today" (to repeat Vladimir Nabokov's
delicious phrase) which Ms. Buntaine will be facing in but a few
weeks time: my own lovely wife Dianna was diagnosed with small-cell
carcinoma of the lungs on St. Patrick's day of 2014 -- and of which
condition she has apparently been cured, if the latest PET scan be
any indication, and this through the magnificent efforts of the staff
of the Ochsner Hospital system of New Orleans.

I was therefore very much in tune with Salvatore's post to the effect
that a mysterious and frightening disease such as cancer rocks one's
entire world -- and in tune as well with his idea that one is
inevitably thrown back on the consolations that it is the sacred duty
of art -- and art alone -- to convey.

At the same time -- and as a former English Lit major who had the
opportunity to study under the high priest of formalism, Cleanth
Brooks -- I share Ken Friedman's anger with regard to Post-modernism,
which seeks to declare that our precious cathedral of truth and
beauty has no more value than which a Jerry Springer audience might
assign to it: f*ck you and the horse you came on!!!!

And therefore Ruth Catchen's post is much welcomed as a way forward
(although with what effect on Leonardo's status as a journal of the
visual arts "yet to be determined"): if we are to factor in the
dramatic arts, there can be no more fertile ground than the field of
medicine, and with which Ms. Buntaine, in the heart of
pharmacological America, is rightly concerned; and in support of
which contention, I offer this account of Dianna's diagnosis and
recovery, and in which account the dramatic arts along with the great
Thomas Merton play a major role -- and which account is in search of
formal publication:
http://www.birds-of-the-air-press.com/Hagiographic_Ver_3.pdf.

Regards,
Glenn

_______________________________________________
Yasmin_discussions mailing list
Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions

Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin

SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/

[Yasmin_discussions] YASMIN discussion: how does STEAM improve the way that science and engineering is taught ?

Hi Yasminers,

I have another very interesting example of STEAM methodology to learn
science, art and place it in society.

In 2015, joint with Luca Forcucci, who is following and participating in
this discussion, and with many more friends, enjoyed the second edition of
the Djerassi Scientific Delirium Madness (an art & science international
residency). There we had the opportunity to be the first public to see the
dance and theatre play "The Daughters of Hypatia: Circles of Mathematical
Women" by Karl Schaffer, Laurel Shastri, Jane Real, Saki, Lila Salhov. Here
i leave a youtube video and some notes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5KTwI7k3A0

http://www.schafferstern.org/pdf/2014.09.30NewsRlseDaughtersofHypatia.pdf

This is a great example of how to learn in a different way, with
embodyment. During the residence it was great to see that with our bodies
in movement we can learn concepts of symmetry, mineralogy, sound patterns,
deep physics like Noether Theorem, ..., or even nanostructured quantum dot
light emission.

I think this art & sci example and other like citizend science or do it
your self science that i mention in last e-mail are not only STEAM
educational resources, and could be contextualized in a more general
framework. In the Quantum Move example, with the help of the people
participation, they finally obtain a set of data that was better suited to
model the movement of cold atoms in light traps with enhanced properties.
This means that the "dialogue" with people through this gamming platform
lead to a new results that can not be held otherwise. They published their
findings with this citizend science methodology in Nature. Here i leave the
paper:

Introduction to the paper:

http://www.nature.com/news/human-mind-excels-at-quantum-physics-computer-game-1.19725

The paper itself:

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v532/n7598/full/nature17620.html

This is very important. This means that research methodology can be
adapated through STEAM/S strategies. This is totally new epistemology, as
people intuition was included in the science modeling.

In my point of view, this links with social and political reflections.
There are many new political expression, maybe following 60´s actions, that
points towards people empowerment, from the popular base through higher
spheres. Spanish 15M movement is an example. Maybe a basic reference would
be the books and ideas from Wolfgang Fritz Haug, which being totally
reductionist can be summarized with methodology with praxis (no more void
theories, we need to construct from the bottom and with the people, with
reference to Brecht and Gramsci) and active dialogues (which remember me
the Bhom dialogue). Of course, his work is focused to discover a new
lecture from Marx´s Capital. However, this methodology is extremly simmilar
to many of the STEAM, Citizen Science, Do It Yourself Science and Art & Sci
interactions, constructed always with actives dialogues and working
perpendicular from any rigid academic excenario (many times working even
with hack-labs, fav-labs, co-working spaces, and so on).

As Fritz Haug points in this magnific interview (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYAvrXZ9Ye0&feature=youtu.be&t=1h8mhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYAvrXZ9Ye0&feature=youtu.be&t=1h8m,
starting at 1h 08 min, and in spanish), it is very important to develop
these active dialogues and transform the typical danger that is always
present when new platform arises versus old ones (like STEAM Vs STEM), into
an active danger. May be here our danger is toconfront the rigidity CV
carrers to be part of a more flexible and dialogic CVs, but remeber that
everything is connected, so danger is weakness of the democracy, Trump,
inequality, and so on. Fritz Haug uses the methaphore of "surfing" the
danger. The danger is present, as happens with the wather wave, but can be
used this energy to go forward.

In the context of STEAM initiatives, i think it involves research
practices, change of epistemologies, and of course societal issues, as in
many ways we are making expressions of new dialogic societies, political
structures and, of course, dream to another economies. Education, in all
expresions (formal education, participation, collaboration, ...,) will be
the core and the root.

Best,

Guillermo.
_______________________________________________
Yasmin_discussions mailing list
Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions

Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin

SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/

[Yasmin_discussions] St(r)eams cell(s)

Dear Yasminers,

Here are some thoughts regarding the on going topic STEM to STEAM.

Art and science may be both studying life with different methodologies,
meanings and languages. Technology allows to improve such quest. Since the
12th century people like Omar Khayyám were already mastering mathematics,
astronomy, poetry and philosophy and Marcel Duchamp was lately inspired by
Henri Poincaré. It might be that specialization had improved the schism
between art & science. It might be that technology and specialization have
somehow separated those disciplines, like for example architects use to
master structural design until approximately the industrial revolution.
However the Spanish architects Santiago Calatrava or Gaudi master both (art
& science), because they probably studied both.
The following are field notes collected while collaborating with
neuroscientists.

1) Language seems to me the most important. The use of an appropriate
terminology from the field (art or science) one wants to collaborate with
is crucial in order to be as precise as possible in term of exchange. The
mastering of the language and words of a discipline is paramount when
developing a project in interdisciplinary studies. Therefore scientists
should study the language of art, and artist the language of science they
chose to collaborate with.

2) The experience of the artist going to the lab is one possibility. What
about the scientist going to the artist studio? A third one is to put
together artists and scientists in the same 'retreat' and let them discuss
informally.

4) Art and science collaboration is a niche or perceived as such. Many
examples have shown science vulgarized by art in order to provide
scientific results to a broader audience. What if questions emerges from an
horizontal collaboration? Meaning that the input from a scientist or an
artist into the field of the other shall ask new questions.

5) I am not sure if there is a proper methodology, since, if I may,
scientists tend to dismantle a phenomenon in thousand of pieces in order to
study each piece to understand the big picture. Whereas artists tends to do
the reverse.

6) Examples of *détournement *of technology for the arts abound. One
example from
my field would be Alvin Lucier using Alpha wave and EEG measurements
emerging from study of black out appearing in pilots after long flights.
The physicist Edmond Dewan proposed to Lucier to compose with his EEG
device.

7) Funding should be included in large initiatives like already present in
Europe, Switzerland and USA. The large amount relates to the necessity to
have proper
scientists dedicating their time for the research as a team and to have
access to labs (the reverse is true also for the artists).

The role of the artist may be to bring another angle of view in scientific
research (and vice versa), otherwise driven into one single direction. Not
necessarily as a naive view, but with the eye (or ear) of an external
observer who has mastered a language. My experience with the above is that
long term collaboration in a lab is the most efficient way to develop art
and science collaboration and ideas. However ideas not necessarily emerge
in the lab. In addition, results may appear after several years of
collaboration. As a last word, inspiration, improvement and curiosity from
one another is the richest experiences that may emerge from such
collaborations.

Best
Luca
---
www.lucalyptus.com
_______________________________________________
Yasmin_discussions mailing list
Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions

Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin

SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/

[Yasmin_discussions] Frames and Understanding: What Do We Really Know?

Dear Yasminers,

Glenn Smith wrote on the issue of expertise by writing, "none of us want a 'creative' doctor — we want, rather a doctor who can apply the very latest 'best practices' as defined by his or her profession."

Salvatore replied, "As a matter of fact when you realize that 'disease' and 'cure' do not begin and end in the hospital or in the lab, and that, for example, when you get cancer you don't get it alone – your friends and relatives become ill as well, because their lives change completely; your students become sick, too, because you can't teach them anymore; your grocery store becomes diseased, because you can't shop there anymore; your entire nation gets sick, because they pay the taxes for your national health system; all in a sequence of different psychological, cultural, financial, economic, social, relational manifestation of the disease which are all 'cancer': where does the disease 'end'? – creativity, art and their interweaving and collaborating with sciences and technologies become more than welcome and, let me use a strong word, 'necessary'."

On one hand, I can agree with this from the perspective of a broad perspective. On the other, I'd have to argue that the frame of this statement is unclear.

It's easy for a design professor to redefine disease, especially someone who does not seem to have any serious interaction with the genuinely creative work being undertaken by designers who do work with hospitals to understand and improve cancer care. There are such people. The depth of knowledge and the resources required to work seriously on these issues are significant …

As Jeremy Bernstein wrote in his essay on Einstein, ( 27) "All of us who have tried to work in a deep science know just how hard it is to get to the frontier — just how much devoted training is involved."

The flow of metaphorical assertions — e.g., "your grocery store becomes diseased, because you can't shop there anymore" — tells us nothing about cancer, and it does nothing to help us cure an individual human being who suffers from a disease that we do not yet fully understand. The human species managed to eradicate smallpox in the late 20th century through a combination of scientific research, medical work, and public policy.

A couple of years back, Don Norman wrote an important blog post on CORE77 titled "Why Design Education Must Change."

Don's point is that designers receive a broad, creative training with a focus on making things. Designers are successful at using imagery and metaphor, and they apply practical skills in making artifacts. At they same time, designers tend to overestimate what they know drastically. They tend to believe that creativity, good will, and ingenious metaphor permit them to understand and even to solve the kinds of problems that defeat experts. Because of this, they can also overestimate their skills and capacities. This leads to problematic research among academic designers, and to serious failures when designers impose unsuitable solutions on the real world.

This is not the limited commentary of a mono-discipline scientist. Donald Norman is professor emeritus of psychology and cognitive science at the University of California at San Diego where he served as chairman of psychology before helping to develop the field of cognitive science and served as founding chairman of cognitive science. He is a working engineer and former professor of engineering at Northwestern, as well as a member of the National Academy of Science. He was a Vice President of Apple for five years, then vice president of Hewlett-Packard. Now, after unretiring for the fourth time, he is director of DesignLab at UCSD. Everyone in the design field knows his book, The Design of Everyday Things. If there is anyone who thoroughly understands the STEM agenda and the creative agency of the STEAM agenda, this is such a person. If you'd like to read Don's post, you find it here:

http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/why_design_education.html

When we discuss matters of fact, it helps to define facts a bit more clearly. It is not a fact that the friends and family of someone with cancer become ill in the same sense that the person with cancer becomes ill. Their lives do, indeed, change, but not completely. Rather these changes involve varying degrees of change in much the same way the there are different kinds and degrees of relationships between and among them. Students do not become sick, despite the distress some may feel at missing a teacher. Other students may actually do better if the change brings them to teachers better suited to their needs and development.

As the metaphor stretches to the breaking point, it takes on a kind of poetic intoxication. The notion that one's grocery store becomes diseased is too far a stretch for me to accept. What if a family member continues to shop at the same store? What if one is merely one among ten thousand customers who shop at the store every week? Most cities no longer have the small local grocery stores where the lone shopkeeper and an assistant or two knew a single customer whose daily visit and a chat made a difference to neighborhood life. It's different world. Perhaps the grocery stores, supermarkets, and hypermarkets where many of us shop are diseased, but it's not because one customer contracts cancer.

The notion that an entire nation gets sick because everyone pays taxes into the health care system to support a cancer patient makes no sense. Or, perhaps, it makes a kind of poetic sense … but then, the entire nation must always be sick because the health care system is always at work helping those who contract a disease. If each entire nation is always sick, then how do we define health? Or do we believe that our entire nation is also healthy because the majority of citizens is healthy? Or do we believe that our entire nation is at peak physical fitness because our best athletes win the world championship in one sport or another. Can we then trust statistics for a nation with a star program for athletes — healthy nation! What if the same nation has poor health care and poor public health — sick nation?

Metaphor only stretches so far. Can anyone seriously claim that an entire nation is sick because taxes support a health care system that inevitably and always cares for sick people? I think — in fact — that the opposite case is true. Nations with good public health care systems are generally healthier than nations without good public health care systems. This is precisely because we all support the health care system with taxes. In turn, the health system cares for us when we contract an illness. Of course, that's just my opinion as a Swede.

For the most part, I've avoided Yasmin debates because I see views on art much as I see views on religion. In free societies, we are free to choose the gods we wish to worship just as we are free to hold any opinion we may choose to hold about art. That said, religious choice is different to the science of theology. One may choose one's beliefs. If you wish to believe that God sends angels to earth with every full moon, feel free. If you wish to believe that God is an eternal monkey king riding on a sacred elephant that stands on the back of an enormous turtle, feel free. That would make no sense to a theologian. Theology has something to do with historical evidence, the hermeneutic disclosure of sacred text, and the theological analysis of specific issues.

Once we get to a serious discourse on STEM and STEAM, we require a serious vocabulary and robust thought. If we want new ideas rather than hot moist air, we require a serious debate.

At this point, I'm going to say that the serious debate asks questions about creativity, about the spectrum across which creativity functions, and the issue involves the kinds of creativity we want. Glenn is right: "none of us want a 'creative' doctor — we want, rather a doctor who can apply the very latest 'best practices' as defined by his or her profession." I may want a doctor that listens, an empathic doctor who likes human beings, even a doctor who likes me. And I want my doctor to be aware of best practice, up to date on medicine and changing, evidence-based health treatment.

Let's be clear: I do not want my physician to treat my atrial fibrillation with moxibustion and a lecture on how this means that the prime minister must be sick as well. Rather, I prefer a doctor to try a new treatment for atrial fibrillation that did not exist twenty years ago when I was first diagnosed. The treatment did not help, but it did not hurt. At the same time, he replaced one medication with another that reduces my chance of heart attack and stroke by 90% against the older medicine. And I like the fact that a full cardiological team worked on me during the treatment. This does not mean the nation was sick. It means that a senior cardiologist, a junior cardiologist, two cardiological anesthesiologists, and a cardiological surgery nurse applied their best efforts to a non-invasive procedure that works for some people with the problem that I have, without working for all of us.

This kind of debate on matters of fact reminds me of a university professor I knew back in the heady days of post-modernism. It was his claim that all reality was a matter of social construction, that all facts were illusions, and that the world was what he declared it to be. One month, his paycheck come up short. His vocabulary shifted to that of a trade unionist talking about the value of the paycheck, the responsibility of the employer, and something that sounded a great deal like the neoconservative argument for sound currency. I do not suggest that we need to get that deeply into foundations of reality here, or the nature of facts. This was an example on the shift in vocabulary that takes place when people who argue for the fluidity of facts meet what sociologist Herbert Blumer described as the obdurate nature of reality in their personal experience.

Glenn makes more sense to me than Salvatore. Before accepting Salvatore's reply, I asked what kind of physician I want, and I asked what kind of health care system works best for my needs.

To apply this to STEM and STEAM, I'd argue for a responsible vocabulary that reflects the deep creativity of those who understand, work in, and occasionally manage to improve the world.

Yours,

Ken

Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Tongji University in Cooperation with Elsevier | URL: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/

Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| University Distinguished Professor | Centre for Design Innovation | Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne, Australia

Email ken.friedman.sheji@icloud.com | Academia http://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn

_______________________________________________
Yasmin_discussions mailing list
Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions

Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin

SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/

[Yasmin_discussions] Response to Chris Freemantle

Languages of the sciences and the arts...

I write in response to Chris Freemantle's response to Julie's point
about language: "Whilst dictionaries and translation are obviously
vital, it does depend on what sort of activity is aimed at, what sort
of position is sought (and the time available - more time can equal
more mutual understanding)."

As scientists and as artists we hold a range of beliefs, and the more
time we make available to listen to each other, the greater chance
there is for recognising mutual interests, and forging the symbiotic
relationships necessary for survival in our world of diminishing
resources.

An artist who collaborates with scientists to reveal answers to
questions and to test hypotheses, my experience is that many
scientists are also artists - at least those who choose to work with
me! Clearly there's some self-selection happening here, and a
suggestion that science alone cannot render the whole big picture
overview of our place in the natural world. That's certainly the case
with purely industry-driven scientific research these days.

As an artist of European and Indigenous Australian ancestry, I work to
bridge the gap that I perceived persists within our post-Colonial
culture worldwide, between the two ways of being in the world. I see
attention to language as key to reconciliation within our selves as
well as within our community.

Now we have new words like 'Ecoart', that I understand (correct me if
I'm wrong!) identifies art that is grounded in the actuality of changes
happening in the natural world in (including us). Is it like 'Living
Data', 'for making known different ways we come to understand and
respond to climate change'?

I'd like to hear from anyone who identifies what they're doing with this
new language project I'm developing, or who knows of anything like this
already happening:

http://www.livingdata.net.au/content/language/language.php

Cheers,
Lisa

---------------------------

Lisa Roberts

Living Data Program Leader

Visiting Fellow
University of Technology Sydney
Faculty of Science

Visiting Scientist (a.k.a. Artist)
Australian Antarctic Division
Krill Biology

PhD (Media Arts), MA (Animation/Interactive Media),
Dip. Aboriginal Studies, Dip.Ed. (Art/English), Dip. Art

LisaRoberts.com.au
AntarcticAnimation.com
LivingData.net.au

Mob.0428 502 805

`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸.•´¯`•...¸><((((º>

_______________________________________________
Yasmin_discussions mailing list
Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions

Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin

SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/

Re: [Yasmin_discussions] serious discussion of STEAM

I would like to respond to Glenn's comments and will provide more
information about STEAM after the holidays. I am currently traveling and in
the air as I write. In addition, Julia, I will contact you as I have done a
lot of teaching (P-20) using STEAM as the protocol and my ideas may be a
bit different than what you plan so far, or at least worth a look to
integrate into what you already have. As well, I am excited to learn about
what you are doing and what you find to be successful. Please feel free to
contact me.

I will respond to Glenn's comments through his numbering to simplify.

1. I like the idea of selecting an art work to write about or reflect on as
a piece of self-identity. I do, however, do not believe that visual art is
the only way to implement STEAM or add the arts to STEM, even though the
connections through design thinking, sketches to plan or brainstorm design
ideas, making, etc., are fairly obvious. I use these protocols all the time
and have used art work for students to observe, enhance their observation
skills (to better scientific observation), and/or recognize patterns. I
think it is valuable for a student to connect his or her self and their own
self expression to a work of art. I do not believe that this is the only
way to do this - certainly the same can be said for a piece of music or
finding a way to physically manifest something you see or hear (such as
dance). Students could also write their own reflection in the form of a
play or monologue or integrate all of the vehicles of self-expression. I do
agree that many students have not had an opportunity to value or invest
themselves in any aesthetic thinking. Unfortunately with the focus on STEM,
Mathematics, Science, AP classes etc. time for this goes too far from the
checklist and probably not valued. It may be considered only for those with
"talent" rather than cultivating discipline, aesthetic thinking or critical
judgment. My son, now a sophomore in college and a computer science major,
continually bemoans his lack of liberal arts education and experience and
exposure to the arts and humanities, which he believes would greatly
enhance his perspective and personal growth. Some of this was his own
choice, but guided by the powers that be in an effort to become a national
AP scholar and garner merit awards. This exposure to the arts and using the
arts as a way of doing or understanding and experiencing is a different
approach than our test happy public schools generally advocate. Perhaps
there needs to be a discussion and promotion as to why this is "value
added." So yes, how to integrate the arts into your life for a wide variety
of benefits is well-needed. Also, I must say that this is not a substitute
for arts education, each a valid content area on their own.

2. There is a frank need for a discussion about creativity and what it is
and what it means as well as a discussion about embedding it in the
way-to-do. I believe the ability to be creative is on the top of my
personal list. At the same time, most jobs do not allow for creativity, as
Glenn suggests, how creative do you want your doctor to be? Or is this more
about an approach or perspective? Even if valued, including in education,
use of creativity or creative thinking has to be appropriate.

3. I am a proponent of "Drawing as a Way of Knowing" and using sketches to
either plan or brainstorm work or demonstrate knowledge. Simple sketches
can be valuable and we must teach that this is not a work of art but rather
a skill to communicate that all students, like speaking and writing, should
have. Drawing is integral to STEAM.

More to come...I hope this makes sense as there are many distractions.

Ruth

[image: --]

Ruth Catchen, M. Music, MA
STEM/STEAM Curriculum and Program Development, Teacher Professional
Development
http://www.stemartseffect.com/
http://www.theartseffect.com/
http://ruthcatchen.wordpress.com/
@ruthcatchen
719.660.2705
<http://t.sidekickopen68.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lC8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7t5XYg3N1HhHN5vMG7WdVcClW5vfRWq56dywDf4NrTl402?t=http%3A%2F%2Fabout.me%2Fruthcatchen%3Fpromo%3Demail_sig&si=6671496990162944&pi=1fc82731-fbd2-4b4a-93cd-945d3c2daa04>

<http://t.sidekickopen68.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lC8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7t5XYg3N1HhHN5vMG7WdVcClW5vfRWq56dywDf4NrTl402?t=http%3A%2F%2Fabout.me%2Fruthcatchen%3Fpromo%3Demail_sig&si=6671496990162944&pi=1fc82731-fbd2-4b4a-93cd-945d3c2daa04>
[image: http://]
<http://t.sidekickopen68.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lC8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7t5XYg3N1HhHN5vMG7WdVcClW5vfRWq56dywDf4NrTl402?t=http%3A%2F%2Fabout.me%2Fruthcatchen%3Fpromo%3Demail_sig&si=6671496990162944&pi=1fc82731-fbd2-4b4a-93cd-945d3c2daa04>

"Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere."
Albert Einstein

On Tue, Dec 20, 2016 at 11:16 PM, Glenn Smith <gsmith@space-machines.com>
wrote:

> Dear Yasminers,
>
> Please critique the following thoughts I am going to share -- at
> her invitation -- with Julia Buntaine as she prepares to teach a
> brand new STEAM course at Rutgers this coming semester;
> and please add your own -- she is going to be in uncharted
> waters!
>
> 1. It would seem to me to be a very useful thing to ask each of
> your students, as an initial exercise, to identify one work of art
> which really means something to them -- and here I am
> assuming a work of visual art, as this seems to be the context
> of our efforts, and also because that branch of the arts which
> is the most "out there"; and the point being, of course, to
> establish that art -- whether or not it can be integrated into
> their professional careers -- is an important part of their lives.
> This will also give you an opportunity to find out where each of
> your students is coming from aesthetically, and there should
> be no pressure on them to choose a Picasso or Giacometti;
> but you may be shocked to find that some of your students
> -- even at Rutgers! -- have never been given the opportunity to
> develop an aesthetic sensibility, and to which extent you will
> be attempting to fly a kite on a windless day. I.e., the
> assumption is that this is NOT a course in "Art Appreciation"
> -- that should be a given!!!!! -- but rather a course about
> integrating art into one's professional career.
>
> 2. I would also establish some formal occasions for a frank
> discussion about the extent to which "creativity" as such can
> actually be integrated into professions which otherwise require
> a great deal of deal of training and effort. An engineer or
> designer of course has the opportunity to be creative; but a
> career as an airline pilot is an entirely different story! The
> current movie "Sully" notwithstanding, the pilot is NOT
> expected to be creative, but rather to be able to apply "by the
> book" responses which exist -- and in detail! -- for a huge range
> of contingencies; and it is no wonder, therefore, that the extent
> of depression among airline pilots is now becoming news. And
> -- let us be honest -- are not professionals like doctors and
> accountants bound to a great extent by the same standards?
> I.e., none of us want a "creative" doctor -- we want, rather, a
> doctor who can apply the very latest "best practices" as defined
> by his or her profession.
>
> 3. That having been said, I have been very taken by Dr. Gemma
> Anderson's post on "Drawing as a Way of Knowing" -- and I am
> realizing that this is a hugely under-appreciated aspect of
> artistic talent, i.e., the masterful hand on the OUTPUT side as
> a function of the all-seeing and discriminatory eye on the
> INPUT side -- and what profession could not benefit from
> clearly-delineated views of what is being faced? So, therefore,
> it might be an interesting exercise for you to ask your students
> to produce a sketch depicting an actual or typical situation with
> which they might deal in their respective professions; or -- as
> explained to me by a quite astute businessman -- it is critical,
> if your organization is to take advantage of a given opportunity,
> to be able to step up to a blackboard and depict that opportunity
> in a sketch.
>
> And so, Julia, maybe the simple blackboard -- and the line
> drawing!!! -- will become the focus of this and future courses!
>
> Regards,
> Glenn
>
> _______________________________________________
> Yasmin_discussions mailing list
> Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
> http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions
>
> Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin
>
> SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the
> page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and
> password in the fields found further down the page.
> HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter
> your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on
> the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
> TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest
> Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
> If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to
> http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/
>
_______________________________________________
Yasmin_discussions mailing list
Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions

Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin

SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/

Re: [Yasmin_discussions] STEM to STEAM: knowledge, inconsistencies and risks

In response to Julie and Marco's response, coming to you from Ayr in SW
Scotland

I was introduced to Basarab Nicolescu's ideas on multi- inter-
trans-disciplinarity by David Haley. I find them useful because they
allow for benefits in different configurations. As I understand it he
argues that multi-disciplinarity is when people work together to exclude
the gaps (eg in a hospital where surgeons, nurses and cleaning staff all
aim to provide a safe bug free environment - there is mutual
understanding for a purpose. Inter-disciplinarity involves the exchange
of methods and understandings (you can see this is not part of the
hospital example). Eventually this leads to new hybrid disciplines.
Trandisciplinary is something different again and I think of it
personally as starting from the context and draws disciplines in based
on the context. It also perhaps assumes that the inhabitant's knowledge
is valid and equal (post-colonial?).

I think this can begin to address Julie's point about language. Whilst
dictionaries and translation are obviously vital, it does depend on what
sort of activity is aimed at, what sort of position is sought (and the
time available - more time can equal more mutual understanding).

Interestingly I'd like to challenge Marco on his statement (which I'm
paraphrasing) , 'artists don't have hypotheses and scientists don't have
aesthetics'. I think conceptual art and much post-conceptual art is
hypothesis driven. I think all ecoart is hypothesis driven, admittedly
not exactly in scientifically rigorous terms - and that is a good thing
- artists can hypothesise in ways that scientists are excluded from -
the Harrisons talk about precisely this in relation to the Mountain in
the Greenhouse where they extrapolated the consequences of temperature
rise beyond where the scientists could.

I can't speak for scientists and aesthetics...

In the end STEM to STEAM has to be about acknowledging the need for
multiple perspectives plain and simple. There was a gut wrenching piece
of radio yesterday on the BBC. It was exploring how Australian First
Nation People unable to tell their stories or be listened to in any
conventional way adopted Country and Western music. Obviously most of
what they were singing was pretty conventional C&W about love and stuff,
but we heard one piece about dying and suicide in prison which was just
terrifying. Ways of understanding the world are what make us human, and
suppressing them is catastrophic.

Chris
On 20/12/2016 21:40, Julia Buntaine wrote:
> In response to Marco's post -
>
> There are a few problems which I'm constantly trying to grapple with - let
> me preface this by saying that I went to a college (Hampshire College)
> where you design your own curriculum and are only evaluated, not graded. In
> most cases, every student has a cross-disciplinary education and graduates
> knowing the LANGUAGE of multiple disciplines. Which brings me to my first
> point, something many in this group have probably already discussed:
>
> 1. How do we get over the language problem? Even if (and they are) art and
> science are compatible, their specialization has led to unique language (or
> not unique, but with different meanings).
>
> Should we devise a list of words, from each STEAM discipline, that everyone
> 'should' know the definition of? Is this even possible? I'm going to do
> this for my upcoming STEAM course at Rutgers, I will be happy to share the
> results with anyone interested (julia.buntaine@gmail.com).
>
> and I think Marco's point about being weary is critical - specialization of
> disciplines has led to crucial advancements in the fields, and we cannot
> let the fields dilute one another, only enhance. So where is this line, and
> who draws it? Is there an overarching guide to be found, or need it be on a
> case by case basis always?
>
> and -
>
> 2. How can we get STEM to value art beyond the "invite the artist in to
> paint the rocket" scenario?
>
> I think this lies in emphasizing that all fields in STEAM rely on
> creativity as their foundation. Recognizing this may lead to more evolved
> viewpoints from each of the S T E A M for one another.
>
> *Julia Buntaine*
> *Neuroscience-based art: www.JuliaBuntaine.com
> <http://www.juliabuntaine.com>*
>
> *Innovator-in-Residence at Rutgers UniversityDirector at SciArt Center
> <http://www.sciartcenter.org>*
> *Editor-in-Chief of SciArt Magazine <http://www.sciartmagazine.com>*
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 20, 2016 at 3:21 PM, Marco Donnarumma <lists@marcodonnarumma.com
>> wrote:
>> Dear Yasminers, and all involved in the discussion,
>>
>> Thanks for launching and contribute to this discussion. I'll skip the info
>> about me, for Roger was so kind to forward my previous email which included
>> links etc. Here I'd like to follow up on a couple of points which emerged
>> so far.
>>
>> While we may all agree that art and science contribute to create knowledge,
>> it is important to recognize that they contribute to *different kinds* of
>> knowledge.
>> Roger (2006) wrote one of my favourite quotes in this regard: 'Most science
>> is normative and need make no appeal to extra disciplinary sources for its
>> advancement'. The kind of knowledge an artist is interested and invested in
>> is different from the one a scientist is concerned and work for. It is, of
>> course, a matter of methodologies, history of practices, contexts and,
>> perhaps more importantly, questions, which originate in and evolve through
>> different means: artistic aesthetic and scientific hypothesis. An artist
>> does not need a hypothesis to make a good artwork, in the same way as a
>> scientist does not need an aesthetic to make good science.
>>
>> Thus, crucially, we should be wary of the re-staging of normative science
>> in artistic endeavour, as well as the functional uses of art to enhance
>> scientific or technological productivity; art & science is about 'working
>> outside current paradigms, taking conceptual risks', citing Roger again.
>> The unique possibility available to us today is that we can merge
>> disciplines towards new practices of experimentation. This, however, has to
>> be done mindfully, for it will likely result in contrasts and
>> dissimilarities which are not easily defended and sometimes must be taken
>> for what they are: inconsistencies. This is, after all, one of the aspects
>> that contributes to the richness of art and science practice itself.
>>
>> Importantly, this does not signify an incompatibility between art and
>> science; rather, it indicates an intrinsic complementarity, which we may
>> trace back decades and centuries ago. Art & science, it was already hinted
>> at, is nothing new. Through deeply transdisciplinary approaches, especially
>> in education, such complementarity can be fully investigated, leveraged and
>> developed further.
>> This mode of transdisciplinarity, what Roger calls 'deep art-science
>> coupling', requires the artist-researcher to have an in-depth knowledge of
>> all the fields being engaged with. This is necessary to highlight
>> contrasts, exploit complementary aspects and generate connections among
>> science, art and theory.
>>
>> To conclude, what I find exciting today is that we (artists and scientists)
>> have the overt possibility to formulate questions *together*; sometimes we
>> even get money to do explicitly so. Being a practitioner artist with a
>> scientific or transdisciplinary degree is less rare today than it was a few
>> decades ago, but more importantly, we get more easily to sit together
>> around the same table. So the issues become: Assuming that art and science
>> work through and for different kinds of knowledge, how do we go about
>> asking questions? How do we combine our methodologies in ways which are, at
>> once, non-exclusive, respectful and risky?
>>
>>
>> Malina, R.
>> 2006. Welcoming Uncertainty: The strong case for coupling the contemporary
>> arts to science and technology. In Artists-in-labs : Process of Inquiry, J.
>> Scott, ed., P. 15. Wien: Springer
>>
>>
>> --
>> Marco Donnarumma, Ph.D.
>> *Performing bodies, sound and machines*
>> http://marcodonnarumma.com
>>
>> Research Fellow at Universität der Künste Berlin
>>
>> *Human-Machine Configurations (2016-18)*
>> https://www.udk-berlin.de/en/research/graduate-school/
>> fellows/marco-donnarumma/
>>
>> Studio
>> Einsteinufer 43, Raum 212
>> 10587 Berlin, DE
>> m: +4915221080444
>> 4w33534643646
>> --
>> _______________________________________________
>> Yasmin_discussions mailing list
>> Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
>> http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions
>>
>> Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin
>>
>> SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the
>> page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and
>> password in the fields found further down the page.
>> HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter
>> your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on
>> the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
>> TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest
>> Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
>> If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to
>> http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/
> _______________________________________________
> Yasmin_discussions mailing list
> Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
> http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions
>
> Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin
>
> SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
> HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
> TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
> If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/

--
Chris Fremantle
Independent Producer and Researcher

chris@fremantle.org
+44 (0)7714203016

http://chris.fremantle.org
http://ecoartscotland.net
http://uk.linkedin.com/in/chrisfremantle/
http://www.orcid.org/0000-0002-5818-8208
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Chris_Fremantle2

Producer on LAGI Glasgow http://www.landartgenerator.org/glasgow

Producer for Wide Open
All Our Stories Art and Therapeutic Design Strategy for NHS Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary
Nil by Mouth: Food, Farming, Science and Sustainability
http://creativefutureshq.com/projects/nil-by-mouth-food-farming-science-and-sustainability/

Producer for Ginkgo Projects
Therapeutic Design and Art Strategy, New South Glasgow Hospitals
http://www.ginkgoprojects.co.uk/projects/new-south-glasgow-hospitals

Producer on SITED+ Programme - researching sited work in Scotland
http://www.sited.info

Senior Research Fellow/Co-I for Design in Action
Co-Investigator on Design in Action http://www.designinaction.com
Co-Investigator on Cultural Leadership and the place of the artist https://ontheedgeresearch.org/category/leadership/
http://graysartschoolaberdeen.com
http://www.rgu.ac.uk

Convenor Art Focus Group for Ramsar Culture Network http://www.ramsar.org/activities/art-architecture

_______________________________________________
Yasmin_discussions mailing list
Yasmin_discussions@estia.media.uoa.gr
http://estia.media.uoa.gr/mailman/listinfo/yasmin_discussions

Yasmin URL: http://www.media.uoa.gr/yasmin

SBSCRIBE: click on the link to the list you wish to subscribe to. In the page that will appear ("info page"), enter e-mail address, name, and password in the fields found further down the page.
HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE: on the info page, scroll all the way down and enter your e-mail address in the last field. Enter password if asked. Click on the unsubscribe button on the page that will appear ("options page").
TO ENABLE / DISABLE DIGEST MODE: in the options page, find the "Set Digest Mode" option and set it to either on or off.
If you prefer to read the posts on a blog go to http://yasminlist.blogspot.com/