Collaborative Ethnography as Open Science : W alking with Jack Nicholson

1. Collaborative Ethnography as Open Science: Walking with Jack Nicholson François-Xavier de Vaujany PSL, Université Paris-Dauphine devaujany@dauphine.fr Researchseminar at Católica Lisbon School of Business & Economics, April, 24th

2. Introduction: The Passenger (1975) • The Passenger (Italian: Professione: reporter) is a 1975 drama art film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. • The film is about an Anglo-American journalist, David Locke (Jack Nicholson) who assumes the identity of a dead businessman while working on a documentary in Chad, unaware that he is impersonating an arms dealer with connections to the rebels in the current civil war.

3. Introduction: The Passenger (1975) • Back to ethnography and auto-ethnography: the researcherremains at the center of the stage. Fieldworkis an immersion. But at the end,s/hewrites and publish the story alone, afterfieldwork • Whatiscollaborative ethnography? Both the immersion and the continuousco-construction of a narrative with and for the society, community or group explored. Very close to the spirit of open sciences and citizen sciences.

4. 1. Interestinglessons for the practice of collaborative ethnography • By means of a movie I use for some of my teachings, the Passenger directed in 1975 by Michelangelo Antonioni, I would like to come back here to three key issues about collaborative ethnography: “reversibility” of the conversation, “silence” and “depth” (more than “perspective”), “encounters” and travels. • Those are topics which particularly resonate with the work of the philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty and the writer, poet and pioneering aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

5. 1. Interestinglessons for the practice of collaborative ethnography Identity and reversibility … identities are made reversible in the flow of the conversation Encounters and travels Depth and silence … foster happening, learning, narrative structure … becomemeaningful in the narrative Three major topics in thismovie, threestakes for collaborative ethnography & open science

6. 1. Interestinglessons for the practice of collaborative ethnography • Collaborative ethnography is not about ‘applying’ a research protocol. Sometimes, the use of logbooks in the context of ethnography or organizational ethnography turns to a ‘tool’ and a ‘control system’ (even an ‘auto-control system’). • I believe that collaborative ethnography is not only about co-producing the narration and the experience. It is most of all about openness to true encounters, surprises, drifts, and loss of control. Conversations just flow and become reversibilities (you could be me-I could be you).

7. 1. Interestinglessons for the practice of collaborative ethnography (Click on the picture to launch the video)

8. 1. Interestinglessons for the practice of collaborative ethnography • Like ethnography and maybe beyond it, collaborative ethnography is or should remains an open, endless, surprising trip. Exactly like the one done in the all movie by David Locke who becomes Robertson after his death. It is strongly about identity. One should be able to plunge into others’ identities. But not at the risk of identity loss or schizophrenia. David always knows who he is and he needs this to really be in a process of becoming and to become who he is. • Collaborative ethnography is also a particular relationship with apparent passivity and silence which Merleau-Ponty (1945, 1964) found intriguing. The discussion between Robertson and Locke illustrates this passivity-activity chiasm in collaborative ethnography. Robertson finds the desert beautiful. It is “so still. A kind of waiting.” Locke prefers “men” to “landscapes” (watch the video on the next slide):

9. 1. Interestinglessons for the practice of collaborative ethnography (Click on the picture to launch the video)

10. 1. Interestinglessons for the practice of collaborative ethnography Antoine de Saint-Exupéry had also this particular relationship with desert and silence. According to him,  silence is always full of something. If is not filled with people and actions now, it is just the precious, perfect stage waiting for an imminent action later. But when? Collaborative ethnography is also about temporal openness, patience, temporal ambiguity. Like the desert, it seems first filled with our sole presence but soon, we feel what has happened, what is happening and most of all, what could happen. It is about accepting a more or less transitional loneliness in a different community of destiny.

11. 1. Interestinglessons for the practice of collaborative ethnography Lastly, collaborative ethnography is about “depth” more than “perspective”. Points of view matters, but most of all, it is the flow of the narrative, the happening that matters. The subjects (this includes the collaborative ethnographer) are settled by the narratives and the events much more than the subjects settle what is happening. The last scene (more than 7 minutes long…) of The Passenger is fascinating. It is fully reversible with the introductory scene about the death of Robertson:

12. 1. Interestinglessons for the practice of collaborative ethnography (Click on the picture to launch the video)

13. 1. Interestinglessons for the practice of collaborative ethnography Hotel rooms are similar to the ones of the beginning of the movie. The imminent death of Locke is not at all the center of scene and yet, it is settled by the amazing long take offered by Antonioni. All what is captured here by two gyroscopic cameras is about depth, the layers of the event settling this final, reversible, drama. All actors, all objects seem to collaborate to produce the narrative. This does not mean that a pivot is not necessary. Obviously, Antonioni is there and even prepared things. But he just let them flow, he let them drift in the story.

14. 2. Collaborative learningexpedition: in the footsteps of Jack Nickolson • Open Walked Event-Based Experimentations (OWEE), these collaborative learning expeditions, inspired both by collaborative ethnography and open science, experimented since 2016, have been an opportunity to explore further the collaborative side of ethnography with co-produced articles, shared log books and collaborative use of social media.

15. 2. Collaborative learningexpedition: in the footsteps of Jack Nickolson Collaborative ethnography Open Science/ Citizen Science Reversibilities and knowledgecommons

16. 2. Collaborative learningexpedition: in the footsteps of Jack Nickolson Traditionalacademicevents: networking, no reversibility and no politicalperformativity. A missedopportunity?

17. 2. Collaborative learningexpedition: in the footsteps of Jack Nickolson OWEE: Extension, communication of the collaborative learningexpedition on social networks. Assemblage of past and future events in the narrative

18. 2. Collaborative learningexpedition: in the footsteps of Jack Nickolson 1.The starting-point: openingloop at Betahaus 2. Then, visit of an incubator, also a co-working space (Rainmaking loft) 3. Visit of makerpsaces (e.g. Kaos), a greatencounter Public transportations The street Liminal spaces 4. Visit and workshop, FabLabBerlin. Improvised slots.

19. Conclusion: open science in practice as a partnershipwith collaborative spaces and public spaces • Collaborative ethnography is very close to the spirit of open science and citizen science • With collaborative learning expeditions, collaborative ethnography could be a way to co-produce knowledge commons in partnership with collaborative spaces and third-spaces • In synergy with traditional ways of writing and communicating science, it could be a way to come back to what universities (e.g. Bologna university in the Middle Age) were originally: institutions at the heart of the city, part of the consciousness of the city.