Personal Project Research Articles

STEM students’ career choice for teaching: studying career choice processes using personal projects

ABSTRACT Understanding how teaching interest and motivation develop during the academic STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) study program is essential to design effective interventions to increase teacher recruitment. This article describes a new approach to study STEM teachers’ career choice processes. The retrospective method, which is based on personal projects analysis, focuses on the career choice process of STEM teachers during the academic study program as well as on their current personal values and goals, and the interconnection between these two. Evaluation took place in a small-scale explorative study with recently graduated STEM teachers. The results illustrate that the methodology provides insight into STEM teachers’ career choice processes in a personally salient and ecologically valid way. The use of personal projects provides structure and focus, but also enables large-scale data collection. Therefore, this research methodology could be positioned to complement survey studies and narrative inquiry.

The Artwork as Assemblage. New Materialist Perspectives on Aesthetics

To analyse an artwork using the philosophical theory of the assemblage is to expand one’s view of how artworks can be interpreted. In the various and often wildly differing concepts of new materialism, the assemblage acts as a way of describing the agency of matter in general. Following Deleuze and Guattari, who provided various definitions of the assemblage, the new materialist perspectives emphasize, for example, the active linking of heterogeneous parts and a dynamic conjunction of semi-autonomous formations that articulate new affiliations of entities and discourses.
 In this essay, Xinhao Cheng’s multimedia installation The Naming of a River, 2014 to 2018, is described as an assemblage, thereby significantly widening how it is interpreted as the artwork. Cheng describes the manifolds of time-space-dimensions in his simultaneously scientific and deeply personal artistic research project on the Panlong River.
 In the context of an assembled assemblage theory, formed by combining new materialist perspectives, The Naming of a River can be thought of as existing in an innumerable manifold of different versions. With each new connection made, the entire artwork changes completely. The relations exist not only between the material artefacts of the installation and the artist, but also between the institution, the recipients, and the river. The artwork is a self-productive setting that transcends spaces and times, an interpretation derived from approaches by Manuel DeLanda and Karen Barad. In this process, our understanding of what an artwork can be is significantly challenged.

On the Supervisee's Future Orientation

While exploring the supervisee's implicit contribution to therapeutic interactions, the supervisor can focus on the supervisee's future orientation instead of exploring transference manifestations that might arouse the supervisee's anxiety. I suggest that future orientation is shaped by an implicit urge described in the analytic literature as an unconscious hope to elicit yearned‐for psychological nutrients from the environment. In parallel, existentialist literature describes an urge to exercise the freedom to live an authentic life and actualize fundamental personal projects, sometimes against cultural and societal convictions and conventions. Furthermore, frustrating the urge that shapes future orientation might lead to a limited situational crisis described differently by the two schools of thought. While reconstructing the supervisee's therapeutic experiences, the supervisor can discern this urge in the components or response patterns of the supervisee's situational crisis. I will suggest that the supervisory dyad's capacity to formulate the implicit urge that shapes the supervisee's future orientation creates a continuous temporality and enlivens the supervisory and therapeutic processes.

Primary care institutional characteristics associated with hypertension awareness, treatment, and control in the China PEACE-Million Persons Project and primary health-care survey: a cross-sectional study

Since 2010, China has made vast financial investments and policy changes to the primary care system. We aimed to assess how hypertension awareness, treatment, and control might be used to assess quality of primary care systems, which reflect the outcomes of public health services and medical care. We used The China Patient-centred Evaluative Assessment of Cardiac Events Million Persons Project, a government-funded public health project that focuses on cardiovascular disease risk in China. We linked primary care institution characteristics that were captured in the survey between 2016 and 2017 to the participant-level data gathered in baseline visits between 2014 and 2021. Participants were included if they had hypertension and lived in the towns or streets that took part in the primary care survey. Participants were excluded if they had missing data for blood pressure measurement, history of hypertension, sex, or age. Primary care institutions were excluded if the catchment area had fewer than 100 participants with hypertension. Hypertension awareness was defined as the proportion of participants with hypertension who self-reported a hypertension diagnosis. Hypertension treatment was defined as the proportion of participants who currently use antihypertensive medications among those who were aware. Hypertension control was defined as the proportion of participants with an average systolic blood pressure less than 140 mm Hg and an average diastolic blood pressure less than 90 mm Hg over two readings among those who were treated during the study. All patients were included in the analysis. This trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02536456. Between Sept 15, 2014, and March 16, 2021, we assessed 503 township-level primary care institutions for eligibility. 70 institutions were excluded as they could not be linked with individual data or because their catchment area had fewer than 100 participants with hypertension. We analysed 433 township-level primary care institutions across all 31 provinces of mainland China, including 660 565 individuals with hypertension in their catchment areas. Across townships, age-sex standardised hypertension awareness varied from 8·2% to 81·0%, treatment varied from 2·6% to 96·5%, and control proportions varied from 0% to 62·4%. Hypertension awareness, treatment, and control were significantly associated with the following institutional characteristics: government funding through balance allocation (ie, institutions have their human resources funded by local government, but need to be self-supporting in other aspects; awareness odds ratio 0·88, 95% CI 0·78-0·99; p=0·027), having financial problems that interrupted routine service delivery (awareness 0·81, 0·72-0·92; p=0·0007, control 0·84; 0·75-0·94, p=0·0034), setting performance-based bonus (treatment 1·39, 1·07-1·80; p=0·013), basic salary defined by number of patient visits (control 0·85, 0·76-0·95; p=0·0053), using electronic referrals (treatment 1·41, 1·14-1·73; p=0·0012, control 1·17; 1·03-1·33, p=0·014), implementing family physician contract services (awareness 1·13, 1·00-1·28; p=0·045, control 1·30; 1·15-1·46, p<0·0001), and proportion of physicians who are formally licensed (awareness per 10% increase 1·04, 1·01-1·08; p=0·019, treatment 1·08; 1·02-1·14, p=0·0077; control per 10% increase 1·07, 1·03-1·10; p=0·0006). The role of primary care role in hypertension management might benefit from new strategies that promote best practices in institutional financing, performance appraisal, service delivery, and information technology. Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Innovation Fund for Medical Science, and the National High Level Hospital Clinical Research Funding. For the Chinese translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.

Having less: A personal project taxonomy of consumers' decluttering orientations, motives and emotions

AbstractThis study examines consumers' orientations toward decluttering and what differentiates consumers' engagement with decluttering as a routine social practice. An internet survey was conducted with a convenience sample of 172 adult consumers who recently engaged in home decluttering projects. Cluster analysis used appraisals of personal project dimensions to create a taxonomy in which we identified three orientations toward decluttering: disengaged, enthusiastic, and challenged. Subsequent analyses compared appraisals of success and affective and motivational differences across the three orientations. Findings reveal that decluttering is enjoyable, easy, and most successful for consumers with an enthusiastic orientation who intrinsically value decluttering and link it to self‐identify. Those who lack time or adequate control experience more stress and less success. Circumstances, and especially normative pressures, seemed to drive these orientations. All orientations experienced relatively high positive emotions after decluttering, which substantiates the positive influence of decluttering on emotional well‐being.

Addressing pedagogical tensions in emotional education at university

As higher education teachers we undertook a self-study research focused on emotional education, during two school years. The analysis of the students’ portfolios and the teachers’ fieldnotes provide evidence to problematize some tensions and challenges identified along the process, namely for integrating personal, cultural and institutional dimensions, facing the unpredictability of a participative process and opening new paths. Students valued the work centred on their own goals, the building of a personal learning project in conjunction with a class collective project, the relational practices based on an ethics of care, the diversity of mindfulness and meditation proposals, amongst others.

The Many Cri(s)es of Mia In memoriam, to Rodica

Abstract Developed as a character in 2011, Mia is part of the world’s first breast cancer trilogy. Mia i is a personal and professional project because the play’s roots are subjective (I lost my mother to breast cancer thirty years ago), as well as objective (I hold a PhD in Medical Humanities with publications at the intersection between the arts and medicine). This article focuses on the many cri(s)es that Mia faces as a woman. She is in her early thirties when she is diagnosed with breast cancer. The treatment is aggressive and, consequently, not only does she lose one of her breasts (via mastectomy), but she cannot keep a pregnancy. We meet Mia outside of the white and somewhat terrifying hospital walls, that is, we meet her at home, and because of that, we have the illusion that she is in a protected space. We soon discover otherwise.

Everyday Creativity in Pandemic: A Systematic Review

Abstract The article presents a systematic review of scholarly papers referring to everyday creativity in times of COVID-19. We reviewed 30 papers published between May 2020 and June 2022. We searched in SCOPUS, Google Scholar, JSTOR and PsycINFO, using combinations of the following keywords: Creativity, Pandemic and COVID-19. We follow the PRISMA guidelines for conducting systematic reviews. We established four general inclusion criteria and selected quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-design empirical papers. Three experts evaluated whether the papers met the established criteria. We analyzed the selected research qualitatively through encodings and method of constant comparisons. We built four general categories whose purpose is to systematize the main results of the papers: Creativity and Health, Increase in Creative Actions, Motivations, and Creative Growth. The analyzed papers show relationships between creative actions, well-being, and coping. The data showed increases in creative actions in times of pandemic. Enjoyment, seeking contact with others, and coping appear as the main reasons for the development of creative actions. The results highlight the importance of creative adaptation in the construction of new personal and professional development projects.

‘Returning’ to Barbados as a Second-Generation Caribbean-Briton: getting back, or getting ahead?

This article offers an analysis of two biographic interviews carried out in 2021 with second-generation Caribbean-Britons with a project of return to Barbados. These interviews are part of a wider PhD research project on the nature and scope of the transnational ties established by next-generation Caribbean-Britons with contemporary Jamaican and Barbadian societies, which relies on 60 interviews of adult (21+) members of the second and third generations. These two interviews suggest that the next generations have reinvented the project of ‘return’ to the ancestral homeland which has been passed down to them by their elders. They have used transnational living – and projects of returning to the Caribbean in particular – as a way of getting ahead in their lives and of making the most of their dual heritage, while adapting to external macro-constraints. This article first provides a description of the socio-political and legal macro-context in which these personal projects of return emerged, before offering a comparative and context-based analysis of the two interviews.

Cardiovascular disease prevention and mortality across 1 million urban populations in China: data from a nationwide population-based study

China has been undergoing a rapid urbanisation. There are substantial disparities between old and new urban citizens in access to health care. We aimed to compare cardiovascular disease prevention and death risks among four distinct urban groups. Urban residents aged 35-75 years living in 96 prefecture-level cities from 31 provinces in mainland China were enrolled in the national population-based cohort China Patient-centered Evaluative Assessment of Cardiac Events Million Persons Project. They were categorised into four groups by their former and current places of residence as follows: old-urban in situ residents (local residents in established urban areas since birth), new-urban in situ residents (local residents in newly urbanised areas established during urbanisation), urban-to-urban migrants (migrants from other urban areas), and rural-to-urban migrants (migrants from rural areas). We excluded participants with missing data for former and current places of residence, medical history, socioeconomic status, or lifestyle information. After adjusting for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, relative risks (RRs) of cardiovascular disease prevention indicators and hazard ratios (HRs) of cardiovascular mortality and all-cause mortality of the other three population groups were estimated by modified log-Poisson models with robust standard error and Cox proportional hazard models, with old-urban in situ residents as the reference group. From Sept 1, 2015, to Aug 17, 2020, 1 339 329 residents were enrolled, 270 606 were excluded for missing data in key variables, and 1 068 723 were subsequnetly included in the study. Compared with old-urban in situ residents, new-urban in situ residents were less likely to adhere to a healthy diet (RR 0·72 [95% CI 0·62-0·83]), while no significant results were observed in rural-to-urban migrants; new-urban in situ residents were less likely to use statins as primary prevention (RR 0·60 [0·46-0·79]), angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs; RR 0·78 [0·65-0·93]) and β-blockers (RR 0·68 [0·53-0·88]) as secondary prevention; and rural-to-urban migrants were less likely to use aspirin as a primary (RR 0·67 [0·46-0·96]) and secondary (RR 0·71 [0·54-0·94]) prevention and statins (RR 0·70 [0·51-0·97]) and ACEIs or ARBs (RR 0·68 [0·50-0·93]) as secondary prevention. Furthermore, in people diagnosed with hypertension, new-urban in situ residents were less likely to have their blood pressure controlled (RR 0·79 [95% CI 0·72-0·87]), while no significant results were observed in rural-to-urban migrants. New-urban in situ residents had higher risk of cardiovascular mortality (HR 1·16 [95% CI 1·05-1·29]; p=0·005) than did old-urban in situ residents, after a median follow-up of 2·7 years (IQR 2·0-4·2). New-urban in situ residents and rural-to-urban migrants both showed poorer utilisation of primary and secondary prevention medications than did old-urban in situ residents, while new-urban in situ residents also had lower adherence to healthy lifestyles and higher death risks. Comprehensive measures should be taken to strengthen the primary health-care system in newly urbanised areas, and promote interprovincial medical insurance reimbursement. Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Innovation Fund for Medical Science and the National High Level Hospital Clinical Research Funding. For the Chinese translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.

From the Rock to the Grave Plate: Image of the Stone in V. Shalamov’s Lyrics

Purpose. The article detects and examines the main directions of interpreting the image of the stone in V. Shalamov’s poetic heritage. Results. This image acquires the significance of one of the most important symbols reflecting key features of the world outlook of the “Kolyma Notebooks” author. Using the hermeneutic and comparative analysis methods, we distinguish in a wide range of ontological interpretations of the image of the stone in Shalamov’s lyrics two opposite vectors. One is connected with the paradoxical convergence of the image of stone and the image of man, when the stone turns out to be a kind of projection of personality, endowed with thoughts and feelings, and sometimes the lyrical hero perceives the stone as his double, his “second self”. Another vector is characterized by a sharp contrast between the “human nature” and “the stone” as something dead and frozen, hostile to person and to life as a whole. Conclusion. To sum up, the image of the stone belongs to the core of Shalamov’s poetic world and has a great worldview meaning. The essential features of Shalamov’s poetic thinking are revealed through the prism of this image: objectivity, certainty of images, perception of reality objects in their integrity and clarity of faces. These features connect Shalamov’s consciousness with the acmeistic tradition. The work is based on the materials stored in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Arts besides Shalamov's published texts.

The need for appropriate 'age-balanced' controls and transparent reporting in Chinese famine studies: a re-analysis of the China Patient-centred Evaluative Assessment of Cardiac Events million persons project.

We read with interest the study by Chen et al.1 on an increased risk of adulthood cardiovascular diseases (CVD) after prenatal Chinese famine exposure. We re-examined the data with alternative analytical strategies of using different age-balanced controls and found that overlooking the assumption of a linear relationship between age and CVD among non-famine controls can lead to biased results. We encourage more rigorous epidemiological research methods and greater transparency in disclosing data and findings in future studies. First, Chen et al.1 compared CVD among famine births of 1958–1961 to those among ‘age-balanced’ controls of pre- and post-famine births (1949–1958 and 1963–1972) and found an increased CVD risk (odds ratio, OR = 1.28, 95% CI 1.16–1.41). This estimate was made with adjustments for age, sex, BMI, and others. In contrast, we calculated the crude OR based on CVD cases and the population at risk in Figure 1, which is smaller (OR = 1.03, 95% CI 0.94–1.13). This discrepancy between crude and adjusted ORs should be disclosed and explored because it is unclear the adjustment for which covariate(s) led to a bigger effect estimate.2,3 It is also questionable to adjust for BMI when examining the famine-CVD association because BMI can be the mediator and/or effect modifier in this relationship.2

Association between sociodemographic status and cardiovascular risk factors burden in community populations: implication for reducing cardiovascular disease burden

Background:We aimed to evaluate the burden of cardiovascular (CV) risk factors in the community populations of Guangdong Province and its association with sociodemographic status (SDS).Method:The data were from the community populations of Guangdong Province who have participated in the China PEACE Million Persons Project between 2016 and 2020 (n = 102,358, women 60.5% and mean age 54.3 years). The prevalence of CV risk factors (smoking, drinking, overweight/obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes mellitus) and its association with SDS (age, sex and socioeconomic status [SES]) was evaluated cross-sectionally.Results:The prevalence of overweight/obesity was 48.9%, hypertension 39.9%, dyslipidemia 18.6%, smoking 17.2%, diabetes mellitus 16.1% and drinking 5.3%. Even in young adults (aged 35–44), nearly 60% had at least 1 CV risk factor. Overweight/obesity often coexisted with other risk factors, including smoking, hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes mellitus. The proportion of people with no risk factor decreased with increasing age. Women were more likely than men to have no CV risk factor (29.4% vs. 12.7%). People with ≥ high school degree were more likely than those with < high school to have no risk factor (28.5% vs. 20.4%), and farmers were less likely than non-farmers to have no risk factor (20.8% vs. 23.1%).Conclusion:The burden of CV risk factors is high and varied by SDS in the community populations of Guangdong Province. Cost-effective and targeted interventions are needed to reduce the burden of CV risk factors at the population level.

6자유도 오픈소스 로봇팔의 기구학 해석 및 시뮬레이터 개발

With the advancement of three-dimensional printing technologies and the disclosure of the technology under open source, an environment has been created where individuals can easily handle cutting-edge technology handled by expert groups. However, it is still difficult to use the available information without background knowledge of engineering technology. A robot model that can be used for educational and personal projects was selected among the open-source robot arms to assist users in utilizing the benefits of this technological trend. The kinematic analysis, trajectory generation, and position error analysis of the robot arm were performed, and a robot simulator that simulates and operates the robot via communication was developed. Tests including multiple-degree-of-freedom motions demonstrated the feasibility of the developed robot simulator and open-source robot arm for advanced applications.

Study protocol for an adapted personal project analysis to measure vertical inter-goal relations on physical activity and diet

BackgroundThe promotion of multiple healthy lifestyles has been implemented as part of public health efforts to prevent and reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases. However, these interventions have shown a heterogeneity in their effectiveness. The pursuit of multiple daily goals may influence overall progress in achieving health goals. Horizontal inter-goal relations can be conflicting (due to time constraints) or facilitating (due to goal compatibility) and impact progress towards goal achievement. Personal values also play an important role in health promotion. Personal values direct attention towards accomplishing a higher-level goal through goal setting. Identifying the conflicting or facilitating relationships between health goals and personal values would provide insights in how individuals value health and the personal values that may support the adoption of a healthy behavior. The health goals that this study will focus on are physical activity and a healthy diet.MethodsParticipants between 18 and 30 years old residing in Belgium and interested in a healthy diet and/or physical activity, will be recruited. The study will be a mixed-methods research study based on an adapted personal project analysis for goal elicitation, goal appraisal, and rating of inter-goal conflicting or facilitating relations on a cross-impact matrix. The main objectives include examining the conflicting and facilitating relations between health goals and personal values. Secondary objectives include: examining correlations between horizontal and vertical goal relations; and the goal self-concordance score as a method of data triangulation of facilitating relations between goals and personal values.DiscussionThis study will provide insights into how the emerging adult population relate healthy behaviors, specifically physical activity and a healthy diet, to their personal values. The degree to which individuals are able to pursue a health goal is also influenced by other life goals, and therefore the conflicting and facilitating relations between health goals and other life goals will also be examined. This study contributes to multiple health behavior change theories and has implications for the formulation of interventions for the promotion of healthy behaviors.

Prenatal exposure to the Chinese famine of 1959-62 and risk of cardiovascular diseases in adulthood: findings from the China PEACE million persons project.

Much remains unknown about the role of prenatal exposure to environmental stressors in the development of cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The current study aimed to investigate whether exposure to famine early in life was associated with a higher risk of CVD in adulthood. Among 71 667 men and women participated in the Patient-centred Evaluative Assessment of Cardiac Events (PEACE) Million Persons Project in southern China, specific years of birth were used to define two cohorts: the exposed group (born during the famine of 1959-62) and the non-exposed group [born before the famine (1949-58) or after the famine (1963-72)]. Multivariable-adjusted generalized linear models were used to examine the associations of famine exposure with the risk of developing CVD, as well as with the 10-year CVD risk defined by well-established risk scores. Compared with the non-famine group, early-life exposure to the Chinese famine was significantly associated with increased risks of total CVD (odds ratio, OR = 1.28, 95% confidence interval: 1.16-1.41), coronary heart disease [OR: 1.23 (1.07-1.41)], acute myocardial infarction [OR: 1.32 (1.01-1.70)], heart failure [OR: 2.01 (1.53-2.60)], and stroke [OR: 1.28 (1.12-1.45)] in adulthood. In those without established CVD, early-life exposure to the famine was associated with higher levels of total cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, waist circumference, risk of diabetes, and therefore 10-year CVD risk. Early-life exposure to the Chinese famine is associated with an elevated CVD risk later in life, independent of known risk factors.

Association between famine exposure in early life and risk of hospitalization for heart failure in adulthood.

BackgroundFew studies have reported the association of early life exposure to famine with the risk of heart failure. The current study aimed to investigate whether exposure to famine in early life is associated with a higher risk of hospitalization for heart failure in adulthood.MethodsWe used data from participants included in the sub-cohort of the China Patient-centered Evaluative Assessment of Cardiac Events Million Persons Project in Guangdong Province. Specific years of birth were used to define the famine-exposed group (born during the famine of 1959–1962), the pre-famine group (born before the famine [1954–1957], and the post-famine group (born after the famine [1964–1967]). Multivariable-adjusted generalized linear models were used to examine the associations of early life famine exposure with the risk of hospitalization for heart failure.ResultsA total of 36,212 participants were enrolled in this analysis with a median age of 57.4 years and 37.5% of them were men. Compared with the post-famine group, famine births and pre-famine births were associated with increased risk of heart failure (OR: 1.96 [1.56–2.48] and OR: 1.62 [1.07–2.47], respectively). When compared with the age-balanced non-exposed group, the famine-exposed group was also significantly associated with increased risk of heart failure (OR: 1.32 [1.11–1.57]). The associations were stronger in participants with better economic status and in participants with hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia (P for interaction < 0.05).ConclusionEarly life exposure to the Chinese famine is associated with an elevated risk of hospitalization for heart failure in adulthood.

Using QI Methodology to Improve a Program's QI Curriculum: An Educational Improvement Project.

We utilized The Model for Improvement and sequential PDSA cycles, testing curricular components for improvement. Measures were analyzed annually (2014-2020). The curriculum includes modules and didactic workshops for foundational knowledge, rapid personal improvement projects for putting knowledge into practice, and experiential learning through developing and leading QI projects. Graduating residents reporting proficiency in practicing QI principles increased from 4 (44%) to 11 (100%). The average QI Knowledge Application Tool-Revised score increased from 50% to 94% (95% CI, 37-51). Resident QI projects completing at least 2 PDSA cycles increased from 30% (n = 3) to 100% (n = 4), P = 0.0005, while projects achieving improvement increased from 40% (n = 4) to 100% (n = 3), P = 0.002. Patients were also positively impacted, with 63% (n = 3) of clinical QI projects that measured patient-centered outcomes achieving improvement and 69% (n = 11) of clinical QI projects improving clinical processes. This study developed a curriculum that successfully prepares residents to practice QI principles and lead multidisciplinary QI projects while demonstrating patient impact and behavior change. It offers an example of curriculum development and evaluation aided by QI science.

Comprehensive analysis of microsatellite polymorphisms in human populations.

Microsatellites (MS) are tandem repeats of short units, and have been used for population genetics, individual identification, and medical genetics. However, studies of MS on a whole-genome level are limited, and genotyping methods for MS have yet to be established. Here, we analyzed approximately 8.5 million MS regions using a previously developed MS caller for short reads (MIVcall method) for three large publicly available human genome sequencing data sets: the Korean Personal Genome Project, Simons Genome Diversity Project, and Human Genome Diversity Project. Our analysis identified 253,114 polymorphic MS. A comparison among different populations suggests that MS in the coding region evolved by random genetic drift and natural selection. In an analysis of genetic structures, MS clearly revealed population structures as SNPs and detected clusters that were not found by SNPs in African and Oceanian populations. Based on the MS polymorphisms, we selected MS marker candidates for individual identification. Finally, we applied our method to a deep sequenced ancient DNA sample. This study provides a comprehensive picture of MS polymorphisms and application to human population studies.

Computer Musicking as Onto-Epistemic Playground On the Joy of Developing Complexity Literacy and Learning to Let Others Be

Theories across sciences and humanities posit a central role for musicking in the evolution of the social, biological and technical pat- terns that underpin modern humanity. In this talk I suggest that contemporary computer musicking can play a similarly critical role in supporting us through contemporary existential, ecological, technological and social crises, by providing a space for reworking our relationships with each other and the world, including the technologies that we make. Framed by Gregory Bateson’s analysis of the fundamental epistemological error which leads to interrelated existential, social and ecological crises, I will draw upon a range of personal projects to illustrate the value of computer music practices in learning to think better: from cybernetic generative art, through ecosystemic evolutionary art and feedback musicianship to the need for interactive approaches to algorithm interpretation in ma- chine listening to biodiversity. I will illustrate how computer musicking can help in three ways: firstly by developing complexity literacy, helping us to better understand the complex systems of the anthropocene; secondly by providing a space to explore other modes of relation through learning to let others be; and thirdly to clarify the importance of aligning technologies with and not against, the biosphere. As pre-historic musicking made us human, so contemporary computer musicking can help us learn to think through the challenges we face today and be better humans tomorrow.