‘Civilisation’

Kenneth Clark‘s television series Civilisation was written and filmed in the year of my birth, 1968. It is not funky, fashionable, contemporary, postmodern or politically correct but I recommend you view or read the book for a stimulating ’personal view’ of ‘civilisation’.

Of course, when you view it now there are passages that make one cringe and would not be broadcast today. It is dated, understandably, in a number of ways but I dearly love Kenneth Clark and often think of his insights - and tweeds.

The series has had a limited renaissance recently, on the 40 anniversary of screening in the UK and US.

The book and the series open with a passage that has resounded with me, as a student of history, until this very day and I oft remember it (from page 1):

What is civilisation? I don’t know. I can’t define it in abstract terms — yet. But I think I can recognise it when I see it…Ruskin said: “Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts, the book of their deeds, the book of their words, and the book of their art. Not one of these books can be understood unless we read the two others, but of the three the only trustworthy one is the last.” On the whole I think this is true. If I had to say which was telling the truth about society, a speech by a Minister of Housing or the actual buildings put up in his time, I should believe the buildings.

Here’s the opening and the above quote from the series:

more about “Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation“, posted with vodpod

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The series concludes with Clark defending the young people of the late 60s for their critical thinking and quest for knowledge. He defends, what one assumes contextually as their challenges to authority, as essential to maintaining civilisation. His is not a conservative view, that we need to do something to arrest the supposed decline, but one of hope for the future.

more about “YouTube – Kenneth Clark – Hope in tod…“, posted with vodpod

 

I hoped you enjoyed this walk down memory lane. Does anyone else have fondness, or loathing, for the series?

I’d like to re-read and re-view both Ways of Seeing and The Ascent of Man as they are seminal for me too, maybe next holidays.

Multitasking

The PBS public affairs series Frontline recently aired, Distracted by Everything, the first episode in digital_nation – life on the virtual frontier about multitasking.

Henry Jenkins has a word of warning about the program though, he suggests the documentary ‘panders to the biases’ of viewers. His analysis of how students multitask is important and comments about the dangers of envisaging a ‘national norm’ sage.

My own position on multitasking depends, of course, on context.

Personally, if I really need to complete a task quickly, and well, it is best to focus on the job at hand. I rarely do this though. Usually, I multitask. Word processing, email, twitter, Facebook, the kids, my partner, music, iPhone, occasionally tv in the mix too. Basically, it makes life more pleasant. I ‘work’ on several things at once. I am listening to the end of the documentary as I type now – and tweeting.

I use my iPhone in meetings and while at conferences but put it aside when I really need to concentrate or etiquette demands. I find the (hyper)connectivity makes me feel happy.

In my classes, students are not permitted to listen to music or use their phones. It is a simple rule. Students compose, discuss, listen, create, read, collaborate, present, synthsesise, analyse, evaluate and laugh. We usually have internet access. They are free to listen to music in their own time and multitask all they want and often, other teachers permit this in their classes too but I have felt for many years that we can do without this in my English class. We need to concentrate!

Fascist?

Personally, I prefer to read a novel in quiet but that is for my own enjoyment more than anything else. I used to always play music reading but not anymore. Often though, I have a break and use my iPhone to check twitter, Facebook and email – or look something up.

Screenshot from the documentary

The conclusion, increasingly being reached, maybe simplistically, is that multistaskers are bad at multitasking. Read more here and here. However, I suspect that, like most things, it is in the balance.

Your views on multitasking?

Us Now

Us Now is a film I am particularly keen to see as it explores the power of mass collaboration and the internet on the way we govern our affairs.

more about “Us Now “, posted with vodpod

 

Growing-up online documentary

This PBS FRONTLINE documentary screened earlier in the year may be of interest. I found it pretty sensational but the chapter on high schools coping with the ‘revolution in classrooms’ and how many teachers were struggling to cater to this generation is worth watching. The anti-plagiarism site Turnitin must be doing a raging business in the USA. I loved it where the students commented about the ‘fakes’ who have 2000 Facebook friends as noone really has that many friends, 200 is max. This made me feel better about my ‘mere’ 26 Facebook friends and acquaintances.