Konstnärliga forskarskolan Workshop: Language as a protocol for sharing, and
crowdsourcing as a tool for democratising democracy. 1 ECTS-credit
Konstnärliga forskarskolan Workshop: Språk som regelsystem för delaktighet och
crowdsourcing som verktyg för att demokratisera demokrati. 1 högskolepoäng
Education level:
Third cycle course
Approval:
This course was established 2013-01-10. The course syllabus was approved 2012-01-10 by the
board of Konstnärliga forskarskolan, Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts, Lund University. The
course syllabus is valid from 2013-01-10
Course description:
This course is an exploration of the role of language and crowdsourcing for democratic processes:
about sharing in the urban and other commons, possible constitution making processes and ideas
and practices in a radically democratised democracy. The course includes two days of lectures and
workshops with Smári MacCarthy at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm, partly together
with students from the post-master course "In Search of Common Ground"
of RESOURCES.12/LAB at Mejan Arc/Royal Institute of Art
The course will be taught in English and finishes with an individual written portfolio assignment
Advancement in relation to the degree requirements:
The course can normally be included as a part of a general degree at third cycle level.
Entry requirements:
Acceptance at third cycle level education in the area of the arts, or equivalent.
Learning outcomes:
After completed course the student should be able to:
• outline the contemporary discussion on sharing and crowdsourcing in relation to
democratic processes.
• discuss and evaluate some current practices and potentials of direct forms of democracy.
• demonstrate the capacity to review and assess the potential relevance of this discussion
and these practices to her own artistic field and practice.
Assessment:
Learning outcomes will be assessed through a written portfolio assignment, describing the three
most important issues the student will bring forth in future research.
Course content & learning activities:
The course consists of full time particpation in two days of lectures, seminars and workshops
together with Smári MacCarthy. Reykjavík based Smári McCarthy is (among other things) a
information activist, writer, hacker, free software developer and freedom fighter. He is executive
director at the International Modern Media Institute (IMMI) and co-founder of the Icelandic
Digital Freedoms Society, in which role he co-drafted the legislative framework to support
investigative journalism and independence of online media in Iceland. Smári co-founded the
Constitutional Analysis Support Project (CAST), an NGO support group using a variety of
textual and semantic analysis techniques aimed at building Iceland's new constitution. He is
actively engaged in crowdsourcing democracy in an attempt to make it more - or even radically democratic, as with his proposal for the Shadow Parliament Project, and the Shadow City which
made it to a working democratic tool for the city of Reykjavík; both participatory backdrops for
major political changes on Iceland in recent years.
The first day of the workshop, 17 January 2013 will be in collaboration with the post-master
course "In Search of Common Ground" of RESOURCES.12/LAB at Mejan Arc/Royal Institute
of the Art. The topic is "A Language of the Shared" - the role of language as tool/protocol for
sharing. “ and the day will start with a talk by Smári McCarthy, while the afternoon will have a
more hands-on character, simulating a constitution making process in a workshop format.
The second day of the workshop, 18 January 2013, will focus on imagining a radically
democratised democracy, through principles like mediating, proxy-voting, or crowdsourcing, and
drawing from existing experiences of the potential of such more direct forms of democracy. With
the seminar participants will delve into these potentials and their implications for a (future proof)
society.
Grading system:
Fail (U) or Pass (G)
Reading list or other media:
http://www.smarimccarthy.is/
https://immi.is/
Course evaluation:
Course evaluation will be based on the portfolio assignment
Examiner:
Visual artist and professor Donatella Bernardi (Royal Institute of Art)