Dr Iakovos Panagopoulos, Academic Scholar at the Dept. of Audio & Visual Arts, published his research on the Tejon Native American Tribe in California in the "Frames Cinema Journal". The research was conducted with the research laboratory StoryLab in California during the period 2018-2019.
Summary
In 2018 and 2019, StoryLab (Skills Training for Democratised Film Industries) organised two trips to the Wind Wolves Preserve in Bakersfield, California. The coordinator of both trips was Prof. Erik Knudsen, the founder of StoryLab and ethnomediaology methodology and I was the principal investigator of these trips. Ethnomediaology is an interdisciplinary approach inspired by practices in ethnomusicology and autoethnography. Ethnomediaology involves the active and immersive participation of researchers in a research culture and its processes, using this profound personal engagement as a basis for knowledge generation, data gathering and evaluation. The use of mobile phones was highly significant to these specific workshops since they were the essential tool that enabled participants to shoot their final films. Also of note is the fact that it was the first time that StoryLab participants had used mobile phones so extensively to film their final stories. StoryLab workshops are based on ideation techniques and the creation of stories. During the above workshops we decided to create a final form of these stories and the use of mobile phones proved invaluable in the process and gave the opportunity to participants to continue using the mobile phones for filmmaking even after the duration of the workshops. This paper uses this case study and my personal perspective to demonstrate the way that ethnomediaology can offer solutions to local communities and participants who want to share their own stories. The significance of this case study is demonstrated by the final products and the impact interviews of the participants, as well as the process of brainstorming and evidence gathered in the workshops.
See "Frames Cinema Journal" website: Returning to your Roots: Use of Mobile Shooting in an Ethnomediaology case study with the Tejon Native American Tribe in California
See "Research Gate Project": StoryLab California
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