New Work in the Cultural Sciences Groups of Eight

New Work in the Cultural Sciences John Hartley Curtin University, Australia, and Cardiff University Wales It is my pleasure to introduce this issue of Cultural Science Journal, which is devoted to work by emergent scholars in cultural sciences, and issue-edited by two of them: • Thomas Petzold: Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB Berlin: www.wzb.eu/en/persons/thomas-petzold); Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG: www.hiig.de/en); and CCI (www.cci.edu.au . • Krystina Benson: Assistant Professor in Public Relations, Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, Bond University, Australia (http://works.bepress.com/krystina_benson/). The other authors are: • Wen Wen: Lecturer, Institute for Cultural Industries, Shenzhen University, China (www.szu.edu.cn/szu2007/doce/fd_detail.asp?DcoID=468&id=495). • Burcu Şimşek, Lecturer, Department of Communication Sciences, Department of Communication and Society, Hacettepe University, Turkey (www.iletisim.hacettepe.edu.tr/pdata/index.php?page_id=173). • Shannon Wylie: Editor in Chief and Social Media Manager, Sukar.com and Souq Fashion, United Arab Emirates (see: www.linkedin.com/pub/shannon- wylie/24/3a/a14); and Creative Industries Faculty, QUT (www.qut.edu.au/creative-industries). • Sandra Contreras: Okukan School of Shitoryu Karatedo, Brisbane, Queensland (www.okukan.org/index.html; www.facebook.com/okukan/info); and CCI: (cci.edu.au/node/1282). • Woitek Konzal: Entertainment Architect, UFA-LAB Berlin (www.ufa- lab.com/en). • Henry Siling Li: Deputy Director, Centre for International Courses and Programs, Department of International Exchange and Program Development, China Executive Leadership Academy Pudong (CELAP: 218.78.215.163:8080/). Groups of Eight These eight scholars represent a broad range of cultural backgrounds. They have studied and worked in many different countries: two are from China, two from Germany, and one each from Turkey, Venezuela, Canada and Australia. They are currently working in Germany, China, Australia, Dubai and Turkey in both academic and industry positions. Their Journal of Cultural Science Vol 5, No 2(2012): New work in the cultural sciences 3 http://cultural-science.org/journal 1 background qualifications span the humanities and social sciences, from English Language to Management Science. What they have in common is that each author has recently completed a PhD at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (the CCI: www.cci.edu.au) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), under my supervision. This „group of eight‟ shares with another group of the same name – the Go8 (www.go8.edu.au) – these laudable qualities and aims: to use intensive research excellence and comprehensive professional education to: • Enhance the contribution of [members] to [their] nation‟s social, economic, cultural and environmental well-being and prosperity; • Extend the contribution of [members] to the generation and preservation of the world‟s stock of knowledge; • Strengthen [a country‟s] capacity to engage in and benefit from global developments, respond to global and local challenges; • Expand opportunities for [a country‟s] students, regardless of background, to participate in higher education of world class. („Welcome to the Group of Eight‟: www.go8.edu.au/) It seems you don‟t have to be a land-grant settler university to aspire to collective excellence and mutual support in the growth of knowledge for social benefit, national advancement and personal opportunity. Other models of a „group of eight‟ seem to exist… In that spirit, we tried an experiment with this issue of the Cultural Science Journal, which was to ask the authors to referee each other‟s articles. All eight authors reviewed two of the other papers. There are some challenges in that process, including the problem of expertise – none of the authors was an expert in the topic of another‟s research. Nor could we adhere to the standard science model of „double-blind‟ refereeing. Another challenge was practical coordination – getting this collection together has taken time, because everyone was busy packing up and moving on with life, to another place or another context. In the end, issue editors Thomas Petzold and Krystina Benson pulled everything together. Part of the reason for wanting to produce this issue was to do just that: to pull everything together. Here was a diverse group whose collective efforts represented a significant contribution to the growth of knowledge, and who would soon be dispersed and moving on in terms of their curiosity as well as their careers. Of course, each of their PhD dissertations is available online (via QUT ePrints), but such work is not entirely individual – it is produced in the context of other work and other researchers who sometimes share ideas, sometimes the lunch-bag. Places, Publics, Platforms The eight topics are therefore predictably diverse but unpredictably connected: they range across historical and contemporary activities in creative cities; digital storytelling; war propaganda; love in advertising; online inter-language relations; transmedia entertainment; and online spoof videos. Journal of Cultural Science Vol 5, No 2(2012): New work in the cultural sciences 3 http://cultural-science.org/journal 2 There are many ways to group such interdisciplinary work and to demonstrate connections. One way is like this: I. Places 1. Wen Wen: „Scenes, Quarters and Clusters: the Formation and Governance of Creative Places in Urban China.‟ 2. Burcu Simsek: „Enhancing Women‟s Participation in Turkey through Digital Storytelling.‟ 3. Shannon Wylie: „Fashion meets journalism: Mapping and evaluating Australian fashion media.‟ II. Publics 4. Krystina Benson: „The Committee on Public Information: A transmedia war propaganda campaign.‟ 5. Sandra Contreras: „Project 27: Insights Into a Production-centred Study on Art Direction and Love.‟ III. Platforms 6. Thomas Petzold: „36 Million language pairs.‟ 7. Woitek Konzal: „Entertainment Architecture: Constructing a Framework for the Creation of an Emerging Entertainment Form.‟ 8. Henry Siling Li: „The platform of spoof videos: The case of Tudou.com.‟ I. Places As far as „Places‟ go, they may be real locations such as cities and nations, or a rhetorical „place‟ that partakes of the situated, the symbolic and the digital all at once, such as the public sphere. Cities have attracted intense interest in recent years as crucibles for creativity (see the previous issue of Cultural Science Journal [5:1]: cultural- science.org/journal/index.php/culturalscience/issue/view/10 ). Many urban authorities seek to enhance the cultural appeal of their city – and thence its performance – by promoting creative clusters. But can creative places be planned, or must they evolve spontaneously in their own way? What kind of intervention is required – top-down economic policy, or bottom-up productivity, from artistic practices to street culture and music scenes? Wen Wen poses these questions in her research into one of China‟s most „cultural‟ cities, Hangzhou, which is a „second tier‟ city rather than a great metropolis. How are creative scenes, city quarters, and Journal of Cultural Science Vol 5, No 2(2012): New work in the cultural sciences 3 http://cultural-science.org/journal 3 economic clusters „managed‟ to best effect when they are essentially beyond organisational control? Cities have long been assumed to be the seat of the public sphere, especially that Habermasian space for discourse founded in a vision of civil society that was inventing itself in 18th-century London‟s coffee houses. But in these days of ubiquitous media and global digital connectivity, the public sphere no longer needs a seat. It might be found among groups who assemble online as well as in the Town Square. And we‟ve become habituated to the disruption caused to classic notions of public and private by feminism and other „new social movements‟ of the later 20th-century, based on class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. Thus it is now possible to seek the public sphere in everyday household activities, previously regarded as private, and in virtual communities based on affinity of identity rather than civic responsibilities. Burcu Şimşek takes up these continuingly turbulent issues, in her study of one way in which diverse feminist public spheres may be built in Turkey, studying how her own practice in combining activist organisations, facilitated workshops and digital storytelling sought to make a „place‟ for women to tell their own stories in their own ways within the context of social change. She works through some of the organisational, educational, technological and political issues arising from this newly emancipationist vision of a public sphere; one that has moved from the coffee house to the kitchen … and thence to a new „seat‟ – narratively connected and activist social networks. The classic locus of a public sphere is the nation, and much work has been done on the relationship between journalism and democracy in the development of national public life. But fourth-estate or „watchdog‟ journalists (and scholars) are often strongly dismissive of media content devoted to consumerism and private life. However, a vigorous media sector has grown up in the mediation of fashion and style; so much so that this sector is providing new opportunities for journalists, even while others suffer attrition. Shannon Wylie has mapped the extent of the fashion media in Australia, including 376 home-grown and imported titles. Given the

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