[-empyre-] FW: FW: FW: Research in Practice, week three, January 21-28

[Adrian Miles]

On Friday, 25 January 2013 at 8:26 PM, Phi Shu wrote:

> Yes, but the point is, especially with regard to PhD examination, that the examiners are supposed to be expert enough in their field to discern whether or not a practice based output qualifies as research, and without having to read why this might be so in an accompanying document. Yes, they may need something in writing, because it is still required, but it is  ultimately the work that is judged. That was my experience of things, and I was led to believe it was how things were done when dealing with practice based doctorates, in my discipline, at my university. Of course another aspect of this is ensuring that an external examiner that supports this approach is selected, otherwise it might not be as straight forward. 
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This is interesting and again I'm thinking out loud here. If the examiners are to figure out if the work 'qualifies' as research what happens if it isn't? With an exegesis the examiner never has to wonder or decide if it is research or not, only (!) the merit of the research. The advantages of this can be that if the art work/s are failures (for whatever reason) it might not mean failing the PhD. 

On the other hand if the PhD is treated as a qualification, and this is what is in spite all the nonsense about how important it is (as a former supervisor of mine many years ago counselled, "it is only a licence to drive on the academic highway") then if the art work itself is the only thing judged what does it become a qualification for? 

Does anyone care to chance wondering if music and code work are sufficiently 'writing' like (they would appear to have reasonably well defined rules of what I'll lazily for a Saturday morning before a family picnic call grammar) that the 'score' can be read critically? 

-- 
an appropriate closing
Adrian Miles
Program Director Bachelor of Media and Communication (Honours)
RMIT University - www.rmit.edu.au
http://vogmae.net.au/



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