1. School of something
FACULTY OF OTHER
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
Digitised Life Stories in OpenLIVES
Antonio Martínez-Arboleda
Principal Teaching Fellow in Spanish
Digital Learning Champion
JISC RSC Yorkshire and Humber Festival
Leeds Metropolitan University-12 June 2014
©University of Leeds

2. 1. Academic work of Humanities students: the essay
2. The JISC-funded OpenLIVES project
3. OpenLIVES at the University of Leeds: the production of our
students
4. Digital Humanities
5. OpenLIVES Leeds: a Critical Pedagogy?
6. Sources and knowledgements
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
Outline

3. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS

4. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS

5. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
What added social
value can student
production have?
Who do
students write
for?

6. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS

7. Do students deserve a
better academic voice
and presence?
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS

8. Can the internet and
digital production
be the solution?
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS

9. OpenLIVES
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS

10. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
OpenLIVES project (2012). An open collection of
research data and teaching materials relating to Spanish
migrant stories. JISC
OpenLIVES project (2012). An open collection of
research data and teaching materials relating to Spanish
migrant stories. JISC
Alicia Pozo-Gutierrez, University of Southampton, “Tales of return: The memories and
experiences of Spanish returnee migrants from France and Great Britain (1950s-1990s)”

11. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS

12. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
Se rompía y todos los dátiles al suelo, con un polvo, te puedes imaginar el piso de polvo del puerto,
grasa y polvo, pues los hombres venían con una escoba de esas que usan los barrenderos y hacían
un montón lleno de porquería y nosotros… estábamos como tigres al acecho para caerle encima y
yo una cosa, lo pensé después, esos hombres dejaban caer a propósito, sí, eso siempre me ha
emocionado [se emociona, llora] Yo veía que de verdad no tenía por qué caerse la caja esa.
A: La voluntad de ayudar a los niños.
G: Eso iba muy bien pero no era suficiente.
Oral History in HumBox and OpenLIVES
[…] El mayor tendría catorce, Claudio, me acordaré
toda la vida porque ese era un gánster. Niños
españoles. Y nos pusimos a robar comida en el
Puerto de Marsella [Francia], a robar, a robar comida
y qué hacíamos, cuando estaban descargando los
barcos que venían de Argelia, qué se yo, y traían
naranjas, dátiles, eso era lo que nos gustaba más a
nosotros, otra cosa no nos interesaba, pero de vez
en cuando se caía una caja de esto, un guacal, una
caja de esas de madera, que tenía dátiles,
tremendo, ¡pok!

13. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
Students will acquire the necessary skills and attributes to build their own
professional digital profile, to become responsible digital scholars and
make tangible contributions to the Global Learning Community.
Some skills in the OpenLIVES module
a) Oral History interviewing and coding (Research
Methods);
b) Documentary scripting and production,
including using the software audacity;
c) OER Literacy, including Publishing and
Licensing;
d) Team Work and Project Management;
e) Spanish Language for Specific Purposes

14. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
The module promotes critical and ethical understanding of all the social,
epistemological and educational issues related to student research and
production. This means that in the subject the following areas are covered:
OER and Open Practice from a social, educational and political point of view;
Economic migration in Spain in the 21st
Century, mainly in comparison with
1960’s economic migration;
The economic, political and social situation in contemporary Spain;
Ethical protocols for research;
Oral History, from a social, scientific and ethical point of view;
The documentary genre and modes of expression.
OpenLIVES “contents”

15. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
OpenLIVES Leeds: Student production
21-31 January 2013
A series of brand-new life story interviews with Spanish economic
migrants who live in Leeds.
These interviews are conducted in Spanish by the students (one
interviewee per each three students).
They are meant to be digitised and shared as OER by the students
themselves at the end of the course, although they are carried out half
way through the course. These outputs are not formally assessed.

16. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
OpenLIVES Leeds: Student Production
April and May 2013
A 2,500 words (around 20 minutes) audio documentary in
Spanish, one per student, to be submitted in its final version at the
end of the course. The documentary incorporates soundtracks from
the original OpenLIVES collection of interviews as well as from any
brand new interviews conducted by the students themselves. Free
student voice and mode of expression.
•The draft script of the documentary counts 40% towards the overall
mark of the module (April) ;
•The second and final version, submitted in an audio file following
feedback on the draft script, is submitted in an audio file and counts
30% (June).

17. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
OpenLIVES
Leeds
HumBox OpenLIVES
Original Interviews
(OCT-NOV 12)
used for teaching
Academic
Research Report
(DEC 12)
New Interviews
by Students
(JAN 13)
Documentary
Script (APR 13)
Student
Documentary
Audio File
(MAY 13)
Oral Research
Presentation
(FEB 13)
WORLD

18. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
Humanities question, discover and make
sense, through critical analysis, of human
beings and the worlds of ideas and work
that we have built together. In Digital
Humanities, those processes of knowledge
construction are carried out digitally. That
makes DH radically different.
There is not such a thing as a
cyberspace, a distant location
where we travel in order to scape or
discover. Now digital things are
spilling into our physical world and
transforming our existence.

19. Pedagogía
Crítica
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
…to acquire consciousness about the practices whereby
hegemonic culture is supported and justified,
in order to achieve a greater degree of personal and social
emancipation through a liberating praxis of critical thinking
and action
A way of learning that empowers individuals to improve
their lives and the lives of others’ around them, making
them more dignified and fulfilling.
Critical pedagogy: Theory and educational
methodology aimed at helping students …
…to understand their own reality and the reality of
other people as members of a social group and
culture

20. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
ConnexionsCollaboration
Sharing
Generosity
Transforming
Open
Practice

21. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
Academic responses to HE marketisation
Molesworth, M., Scullion, R., and Nixon, E. (eds)
(2011). The Marketisation of Higher Education and
Student-as-a-consumer. Routledge. London and
New York.

22. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
Foto de Alberto Amortegui ©
Economic Migration and Crisis

23. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS

24. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
Criticality: Research and Dissemination Ethics

25. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
With the reproduction
and digital
dissemination of
digital work we can
reinforce and
accelerate its
‘transformativeness’
Benjamin, W. (1936). The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.
http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm [cited 23 January 2013]
“the instant the criterion of authenticity ceases to be applicable to
artistic production, the total function of art is reversed. Instead of
being based on ritual, it begins to be based on another practice –
politics” Benjamin, W. (1936)

26. Criticality is not just about the
message, but the genre, mode of
expression, audience and
platform for the academic work.
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
Benjamin, W. (1934). ‘The author as producer’ in New Left Review I/62, July-August 1970.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/theatre_s/postgraduate/maipr/currentstudents/teaching_1112/warwick/st2/kobialka_reading_-
_benjamin_w_-_the_author_as_producer.pdf [cited 23 January 2013]
The “bourgeois apparatus of production and
publication can assimilate an astonishing number of
revolutionary themes, and can even propagate
them without seriously placing its own existence or
the existence of the class that possesses them into
question” Benjamin, W. (1934)

27. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
Student as a receiver of
education
Student as
consumer

28. Activate and understand
Associate ideas
Reflect
Collaborate
Create
Disseminate
Transform
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS

29. Pictures from Flicker.com CC BY-NC-SA
-Henna Lion (vegetables)
-AndyRobertsPhotos (vegbox)
-DoraExplorer (crystal ball man)
-Alaska_Dude (people in streetshow)
-Chris Willis (Close-up Bees) – 2 pictures
-Christof Bodzin (Horse)
-Sergi MD (young people demo)
-David Masters (suitcase)
-Vancouver film school (boy headphones)
-xpgomes2 (food stall)
-Jonathasmello Logo Recursos Educacionais Abiertos (REA)
-Alvy Alvaro Ibáñez (Madrid city)
-Fancydiamondsnet, (Diamond)
-Photo Phoenix (Woman choosing)
-marsmettn tallahassee (moral compas)
-enokson (student with laptop)
-John (Arts and Computers, artist laptop)
-Doyle Saylor (Walter Benjamin)
School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
Pictures, screen captures, audio and text from HumBox.ac.uk CC BY-NC-SA
Interview to Germinal Luis: OpenLIVES project (2012). An open collection of
research data and teaching materials relating to Spanish migrant stories. JISC
Pictures from Flickr.com CC BY-NC-ND
-Terence cloth (Bryn Mawr Mural South 01 and 7)
-La Mindi (5 petals iris)
- raoultrifan (cat reading online news)
- tim riley (essay time: my desktop)
- joshua aguilar (high school all over champion academic
competition)
- sheham peruma (18 365 day)
- phillipe leroyer (student demo in france)
Pictures from Flicker.com CC BY-NC-SA
-Dan mason (Ethics)
-Luis Pérez (Colibri bird)
-Thompson Rivers University (Sustainable Beef Lunch and Learn,
students poster)
-monika (first rows empty)
- liquidbones (redbook note 2009 p.20)
- cerfon (papierverwerking)
- wonderline (reading)
-Stop that pigeon Studious spider
-ChirsL_KA (people hands together)

30. School of Modern Languages and Cultures
FACULTY OF ARTS
Collection of Teaching materials and student produced documentaries and interviews at www.humbox.ac.uk
Hybrid Pedagogy http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/articles/journal/critical-pedagogy/
Benckler, Y, (2011).The Penguin and the Leviathan: How Cooperation Triumphs over Self-Interest. Crown Business. New York
Benjamin, W. (1934). ‘The author as producer’ in New Left Review I/62, July-August 1970.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/theatre_s/postgraduate/maipr/currentstudents/teaching_1112/warwick/st2/kobialka_reading_-_benjamin_w_-_the_author_as_producer.pdf
[cited 23 January 2013]
Benckler, Yochai. (2006). The Wealth of Networks, How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom. London: Yale University Press.
Benckler, Yochai, (2011). The Penguin and the Leviathan: How Cooperation Triumphs over Self-Interest. New York: Crown Business.
Benjamin, W. (1934). ‘The author as producer’. New Left Review I/62, July-August 1970.
<http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/theatre_s/postgraduate/maipr/currentstudents/teaching_1112/warwick/st2/kobialka_reading_-_benjamin_w_-_the_author_as_producer.pdf>
(21-4-2013)
Buttigieg, Joseph (2011). “Liberation begins with critical thinking”. Zuckert, Catherine H. (ed.) Political Philosophy in the Twentieth Century: Authors and Arguments. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. pp.
Gramsci, Antonio (2007) Buttigieg, Joseph (ed.) Antonio Gramsci: Prison Notebooks. Chichester: Columbia University Press.
Chandler, Daniel (1997). “An Introduction to Genre Theory” <http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/intgenre/chandler_genre_theory.pdf> (21-4-2013).
Giroux, Henry A. (1998). “Literacy and the Pedagogy of Voice and Political Empowerment.” Educational Theory 38. Winter 1988, No 1: pp. 61-75.
Haug, Wolfgang Fritz (2011) “From Marx to Gramsci, from Gramsci to Marx: Historical materialism and the philosophy of praxis”. Green, Marcus E. (Ed) Rethinking Gramsci.
London: Routledge. pp. 205-216.
Kotz, David M. (2009), “The Financial and Economic Crisis of 2008: A Systemic Crisis of Neoliberal Capitalism”. Review of Radical Political Economics. 2009 41: pp. 305-317.
Rrp.saegepub.com <http://rrp.sagepub.com/content/41/3/305.full.pdf+html> (21-4-2013)
Martínez-Arboleda, Antonio (2013). “Liberation in OpenLIVES Critical Pedagogy: Empowerability and Critical Action”. Caracteres. Estudios culturales y críticos de la esfera
digital vol. 2 (1) (21-5-2013) Pp. 112-127.http://revistacaracteres.net/revista/vol2n1mayo2013/liberation-in-openlives-critical-pedagogy-empowerability-and-critical-action/
McDonough, Terrence (2006). ‘Social Structures of Accumulation: An excerpt from the Introduction of his book, Social Structures of Accumulation: The Political Economy of
Growth and Crisis. Edited by David M. Kotz, Terrence McDonough, and Michael Reich, Cambridge University Press, 1994’. Longwavepress.com.
<http://www.longwavepress.com/longwave_social_cycles/schssa.htm> (21-4-2013)
Molesworth, M., Scullion, R., and Nixon, E. (eds) (2011). The Marketisation of Higher Education and Student-as-a-consumer. Routledge. London and New York.
Neary, Mike & Winn, Joss (2009). “The student as producer: reinventing the student experience in higher education”. Ed. Bell, Leslie, Stevenson, Howard & Neary, Mike. The
future of higher education: policy, pedagogy and the student experience. London: Continuum. pp. 192-210.
Neary, Mike (2012). “Teaching Politically: Policy, Pedagogy and the New European University”. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies (JCEPS). Volume 10, Number 2:
Student as Producer (2010). studentasporducer.lincoln.ac.uk <http://studentasproducer.lincoln.ac.uk/> (21-4-2013).