Media Factory’s Shared Vision Illuminated

Media Factory’s Learning Café workshop on 31 October 2008 created new guidelines for the content of media research and teaching.

Media Factory’s vision combines a cultural and technological approach. Changes in media occur through the possibilities provided by technology, but in a social and cultural-societal context, Professor Maija Töyry (TaiK) and Director Seija Kulkki (Centre for Knowledge and Information Research, CKIR, HSE) summarised the core idea of the workshop. Through its visionary work, Media Factory is searching for its own strength in the global media research field.

At the visionary workshop on 31 October, around thirty media researchers and teachers commented on and discussed the presentations held by the Media Factory research, teaching and laboratory work groups. The presentations crystallised the co-operative possibilities of the universities. The most important question put to the debaters was: what can we create together that is unique and interesting also at international level? The workshop, which utilised the Learning Café method, also created new guidelines for the content of media research and teaching and for the structures integrating the two.

Professor Tapio Takala (TKK) presented the “United Laboratories with Interoperability” idea, which means the networking of laboratories specialised in a human-oriented research approach. Dean of the Media Lab, Teemu Leinonen (TaiK) wants a “Hands on – minds on” experimental approach for all levels of teaching. The laboratories can offer strong support for the development of experimental teaching. At the same time they offer junction points for the co-operation between different kinds of research, according to Seija Kulkki.

For more information: Pirkko Kasanen, co-ordinator, pirkko.kasanen(at)koordinet.fi