The Salon in April: Ethical Choices in Visual Culture Research - an afternoon symposium - Wednesday 4 April 2012

Oh, Salonnieres, we are moving up in the world! I am pleased to let you know that we are holding our first ever joint research event on the 4th of April, looking at visual culture and ethical research. This is a bit of a hot topic in the 1616 office (to the point that we gesture vigorously with teaspoons and speak through our mouthfuls of cake!) so we raised the issue at The Salon AGM and next thing you know: we've got an afternoon symposium jointly organised with IDeograms (Interdepartmental Group for Research into the Arts Media and Society)! We are very excited about this event and cannot wait to discuss issues of digital research, visual culture, and academic ethics with you, so here is all the information you will need: 

The forthcoming afternoon symposium on visual culture and ethical research is of vital importance not only to those who use visual culture within their research but also to those students and staff who have questions about academic research in a digital age. It is also an issue of particular importance to University of Leicester students. The University of Leicester is one of the first institutions is one of the first to embrace the possibilities of digital research by putting all doctoral theses online, but what does this mean for students and researchers?   

The event has been organised jointly by the Department of History of Art and Film’s postgraduate seminar group, The Salon, and the Interdepartmental Group for Research into the Arts Media and Society (IDeoGRAMS), to consider some of the legal, ethical and moral questions involved in using visual material in an academic context.  In an age when the internet allows access to more and more visual material, much of which has been previously unavailable, academics have an increasingly rich seam of visual sources to tap into.  But as responsible scholars, should we really assume that just because something is available it should be used?  For example, what happens if we are unable to establish provenance for the material, or its originator is clearly not the rights holder?  What is the legal position and what ethical choices do we face? 

These are some of the questions that this seminar is designed to engage with.  Contributors will include Gareth Johnson, Document Supply & Leicester Research Archive Manager, who will address some of the issues surrounding copyrighted material and fair dealing and Dr. Natasha Whiteman from the Department of Media and Communications, who will lead us through the ethical and moral maze we might encounter when using visual media.  There will also be time set aside for a more general discussion of the topic, which will give attendees an opportunity to raise their own questions.  This is an interdisciplinary event open to all staff and students who engage with visual material in their work and we hope to be able to bring as many perspectives to the table as we can. 

The afternoon will conclude with a summing up by Professor Kevin Schürer, Pro-Vice-Chancellor with special responsibility for Research and Enterprise. 

The symposium will take place on Wednesday 4 April 2012 from 2.00- 5.00pm at Bankfield House, 132 New Walk.  If you would like more information, please don’t hesitate to contact either us at the blog or by email. You can reach us at tothebourgeois at gmail dot com, or at vrb3 at le dot ac dot uk.  

We would encourage you all to attend this Salon and IDeoGRAMS event. It promises to be an interesting and productive afternoon involving staff and students from across the University, and will directly address questions of academic practice that may affect your own studies and research.

This is the first, but we hope not the last, joint research event for the Salon, and we would love to see as many people there as possible, not least because we feel that digital humanities is an area which raises questions and issues, but is, undoubtedly, here to stay. In the words of the late, great Mrs Merton, 'Let's have a heated debate!', but with academic rigour. And cake, obviously.