Cindy Sherman: Photos & Film

I first learned about Cindy Sherman a few years ago when I took a feminist methodologies course. We were using her work to learn how to analyze our data (i.e., photos) using a photovoice approach. (For more information on photovoice, this site has information about the creators of this method - Caroline C. Wang and Mary Ann Burris.)

Until the end of December 2008, a collection of Sherman's latest photos were exhibited at Metro Pictures in New York. While I was not able to view the collection in person, the kind people at New York Art Tours made it possible for me to vicariously experience the photos. The video tour for Sherman's work is available here.

Tomorrow (Friday, March 27), the new documentary, Guest of Cindy Sherman, will open in New York and in selected cities (read: The Film Center, Santa Fe). Co-directed by ex-boyfriend Paul H-O, this film has generated quite a bit of controversy. In fact, Sherman has spoken out against the documentary and does not want to be associated with it. For those who do not live in a community that will show Guest or who are looking for an alternative view of Sherman and her work, Culture Monster recommends the 2005 short, Cindy: The Doll is Mine - directed by Bertrand Bonello and starring Asia Argento. You can watch this film in its entirety here. Time to break out the popcorn!

Games for Education and Social Change

Mary Flanagan, a professor of film and media studies at Dartmouth College, believes that video games can be used in the classroom. At present, Flanagan is involved with the Games for Learning Institute to examine ways to effectively use video games to teach math and science to middle school children. If that isn't enough, she is also the director and founder of a research group at Dartmouth that designs social activist games - Tiltfactor.

While there are substantial barriers to the adoption of games for educational purposes - the steep learning curve being a big one - Flanagan contends that there are benefits to the students. She notes that games enable players to make decisions, engage in exploration activities, and experiment with novel approaches to problem-solving in a "safe" environment. The work Flanagan does is also attempting to capitalize on what young people do when using technology - searching and socializing. Overall, Flanagan and the Games for Learning Institute hope to better understand what makes video games engaging and what aspects of them players like.

Only the "Best" Scientific Work

This article, which highlights the work of Dr. Ioannidis (an epidemiologist at Ioannina School of Medicine, Greece) and his colleagues, suggests that research published in the top journals may be wrong. After reviewing 49 articles that had been cited by more than 1,000 other scientists, Dr. Ioannidis discovered that the findings of almost one-third had been refuted. Further, he notes that there is a bias toward positive rather than negative findings. One example can be seen with recent research on antidepressants - studies that showed positive results from these drugs were published, whereas those that showed negative results were not.