Public Sociology
Meets Agile
Development
TAPS, OCTOBER 30, 2014 (ANISHA DATTA & DAVID THUSS)
THE PUBLIC SOCIOLOGY PART PRESENTED BY - DR. ANISHA
DATTA (SOCIOLOGY @ KING’S)
Public Sociology

The practice of sociological research, teaching and service that
attempts to engage a wide audience for a normative and
productive end

Michael Burawoy “endeavors to bring sociology into dialogue with
audiences beyond the academy, an open dialogue in which both sides
deepen their understanding of public issues…In foregrounding its public
engagement, sociology, thereby, rediscovers its originating and often
repressed inspiration”

Long tradition in the history of Sociology

In recent times, made popular by Burawoy
Public Sociology in Pedagogy

The Assignment – Create a Visual Sociology Piece & Post it on the
blog titled

A SOCIOLOGY SPECTACLE http://asociologyspectacle.ca/

Involved – Capture with your camera/smart phone a sociological
concept – Caption the picture to explain the concept

Time: 3 weeks – go around the city

Privacy Issues - Permission sought – photographing people and posting

47 posted out of 73 – issues such as – a same sex couple
Public Sociology in Pedagogy

An effort - A Sociology Assignment that can Engage first year
students - ‘Active Learning’

Digital natives – to get them excited – can be creative and original,
showcase their learning outcomes

Another effort - The public sociology enterprise can be carried into
the classroom and beyond – Students create content for Public
Sociology

A hands on approach – Towards High Impact Pedagogical Practices

How to observe the everyday social world with the sociological lens –
the visual image

How to think sociologically – the text of the caption
A SOCIOLOGY SPECTACLE – Some
examples

Laura Hopkins

Craig Roseberry

Katherine Bigham

Shu Lin
http://asociologyspectacle.ca/
Pedagogical Values in
Click – Connect – Caption


What do we look for?
Comprehension, Application & Awareness


High Engagement – Fluent with Social Media, Involves the social space they inhabit,
Students are in control
Click – Connect – Caption: The Teacher’s viewpoint

The Image & its Caption – speak louder than a 1000 word essay

High effort & motivation – my work will exist in the cyber public sphere

The Creative Kick – Beyond those dry words
A Student’s Viewpoint

What was different about the assignment compared to assignments
from other first year assignments?

“I was more engaged into the steps of this assignment. Whenever
you are to write an essay all the steps and stages are the same. I
liked the different aspect of this assignment where we could be
more hands-on and show our assignment visually instead of a
written summary.” Katherine Bigham (Sociology 1020-574, 2013-14)
A Student’s Viewpoint

Did you feel excited that your visual sociology assignment (i.e. your
unique way of looking at the social world as a student of sociology)
is now part of the digital public sphere?

“I did enjoy the visual part of the assignment as it was something
unusual while completing an assignment. It was a nice way of
presenting our new experience of our social world and gave all of
the students an opportunity to view other people's pictures which I
thought was fun!” Katherine Bigham
What did I learn?

What captures my student’s sociological
attention – the content created

A high impact pedagogical practice – The
nature of the assignment

The experience quotient – Refinement of
pedagogy
Acknowledgement – Thank You!

David Thuss for emailing me to present a paper on A Sociology
Spectacle

Katherine Bigham for sharing her responses

The TaPS team for organizing the event

David & Scott at IT for their tech. inputs

All students from Sociology 1020-574, 2013-14 at King’s for their
enthusiastic support & sincere contributions