"There is more to life than increasing its speed" - Mahatma Gandhi
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THE SLOW SCIENCE MANIFESTO
We are scientists. We don’t blog. We don’t twitter. We take
our time.
Don’t get us wrong—we do say yes to the accelerated science
of the early 21st century. We say yes to the constant flow of peer-review
journal publications and their impact; we say yes to science blogs and media
& PR necessities; we say yes to increasing specialization and
diversification in all disciplines. We also say yes to research feeding back
into health care and future prosperity. All of us are in this game, too.
However, we maintain that this cannot be all. Science needs
time to think. Science needs time to read, and time to fail. Science does not
always know what it might be at right now. Science develops unsteadily, with
jerky moves and unpredictable leaps forward—at the same time, however, it
creeps about on a very slow time scale, for which there must be room and to
which justice must be done.
Slow science was pretty much the only science conceivable
for hundreds of years; today, we argue, it deserves revival and needs
protection. Society should give scientists the time they need, but more importantly,
scientists must take their time.
We do need time to think. We do need time to digest. We do
need time to misunderstand each other, especially when fostering lost dialogue
between humanities and natural sciences. We cannot continuously tell you what
our science means; what it will be good for; because we simply don’t know yet.
Science needs time.
—Bear with us, while we think.
THE SLOW FOOD MANIFESTO
The Slow Food international movement officially began when
delegates from 15 countries endorsed this manifesto, written by founding member
Folco Portinari, on December 10, 1989.
Our century, which began and has developed under the
insignia of industrial civilization, first invented the machine and then took
it as its life model.
We are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same
insidious virus: Fast Life, which disrupts our habits, pervades the privacy of
our homes and forces us to eat Fast Foods.
To be worthy of the name, Homo Sapiens should rid himself of
speed before it reduces him to a species in danger of extinction.
A firm defense of quiet material pleasure is the only way to
oppose the universal folly of Fast Life.
May suitable doses of guaranteed sensual pleasure and slow,
long-lasting enjoyment preserve us from the contagion of the multitude who
mistake frenzy for efficiency.
Our defense should begin at the table with Slow Food.
Let us rediscover the flavors and savors of regional cooking
and banish the degrading effects of Fast Food.
In the name of productivity, Fast Life has changed our way
of being and threatens our environment and our landscapes. So Slow Food is now
the only truly progressive answer.
That is what real culture is all about: developing taste
rather than demeaning it. And what better way to set about this than an
international exchange of experiences, knowledge, projects?
Slow Food guarantees a better future.
Slow Food is an idea that needs plenty of qualified
supporters who can help turn this (slow) motion into an international movement,
with the little snail as its symbol.
SLOW SCHOLARSHIP
You have likely heard of the “Slow Food Movement” -- the
momentum of diners, chefs, gardeners, vintners, farmers and restaurateurs who
have taken a critical look at how our society has shifted to a position where
for most, food is something to be consumed, rather than savoured, to be served
up and eaten “fast” on the way to doing something else. “Slow Food,” by
contrast, is something to be carefully prepared, with fresh ingredients, local
when possible, and enjoyed leisurely over conversation around a table with
friends and family.
“Slow Scholarship” is a similar response to hasty
scholarship. Slow scholarship, is thoughtful, reflective, and the product of
rumination – a kind of field testing against other ideas. It is carefully
prepared, with fresh ideas, local when possible, and is best enjoyed leisurely,
on one’s own or as part of a dialogue around a table with friends, family and
colleagues. Like food, it often goes better with wine.
In the desire to publish instead of perish, many scholars at
some point in their careers, send a conference paper off to a journal which may
still be half-baked, may only have a spark of originality, may be a slight
variation on something they or others have published, may rely on data that is
still preliminary. This is hasty scholarship.
Other scholars send out their quick responses to a talk they
have heard, an article they read, an email they have received, to the world via
a Tweet or Blog. This is fast scholarship. Quick, off the cuff, fresh -- but
not the product of much cogitation, comparison, or contextualization. The
Tweetscape and Blogoshere brim over with sometimes idle, sometimes angry,
sometimes scurrilous, always hasty, first impressions.
Slow Scholarship emerges from my own experience of taking 17
years from the start of a Ph.D. to the publication of the book which had its
origins in the dissertation. It was when this book won the Harold Adams Innis
prize for the best book in the Social Sciences in Canada, that I began to
reflect on the benefits of the long journey, the many rewrites, the
reconsideration, and the additional research that took place in those years.
Then I noticed a couple of M.A. theses that I was an examiner of, which took three
to five years, were remarkable pieces of scholarship, many times more valuable
than the one and most two year MA theses, and I have begun to see other fruits
of slow scholarship.
In a scholarly world where citation indices which count how
many times an article is cited, not whether it is cited as a good or bad
example, the thoughtful, reflective, write a book only a few times in a long
career scholar, has lost prestige and, because pay is often linked to frequency
of publication, money. Slow scholarship is a celebration of those authors who
create a small but mighty legacy.
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THE SLOW MEDIA MANIFESTO
The first decade of the 21st century, the so-called
‘naughties’, has brought profound changes to the technological foundations of
the media landscape. The key buzzwords are networks, the Internet and social
media. In the second decade, people will not search for new technologies
allowing for even easier, faster and low-priced content production. Rather,
appropriate reactions to this media revolution are to be developed and
integrated politically, culturally and socially. The concept “Slow”, as in
“Slow Food” and not as in “Slow Down”, is a key for this. Like “Slow Food”,
Slow Media are not about fast consumption but about choosing the ingredients
mindfully and preparing them in a concentrated manner. Slow Media are welcoming
and hospitable. They like to share.
1. Slow Media are a contribution to sustainability.
Sustainability relates to the raw materials, processes and working conditions,
which are the basis for media production. Exploitation and low-wage sectors as
well as the unconditional commercialization of user data will not result in
sustainable media. At the same time, the term refers to the sustainable
consumption of Slow Media.
2. Slow media promote Monotasking. Slow Media cannot be
consumed casually, but provoke the full concentration of their users. As with
the production of a good meal, which demands the full attention of all senses
by the cook and his guests, Slow Media can only be consumed with pleasure in
focused alertness.
3. Slow Media aim at perfection. Slow Media do not
necessarily represent new developments on the market. More important is the
continuous improvement of reliable user interfaces that are robust, accessible
and perfectly tailored to the media usage habits of the people.
4. Slow Media make quality palpable. Slow Media measure
themselves in production, appearance and content against high standards of
quality and stand out from their fast-paced and short-lived counterparts – by
some premium interface or by an aesthetically inspiring design.
5. Slow Media advance Prosumers, i.e. people who actively
define what and how they want to consume and produce. In Slow Media, the active
Prosumer, inspired by his media usage to develop new ideas and take action,
replaces the passive consumer. This may be shown by marginals in a book or
animated discussion about a record with friends. Slow Media inspire,
continuously affect the users’ thoughts and actions and are still perceptible
years later.
6. Slow Media are discursive and dialogic. They long for a
counterpart with whom they may come in contact. The choice of the target media
is secondary. In Slow Media, listening is as important as speaking. Hence
‘Slow’ means to be mindful and approachable and to be able to regard and to
question one’s own position from a different angle.
7. Slow Media are Social Media. Vibrant communities or
tribes constitute around Slow Media. This, for instance, may be a living author
exchanging thoughts with his readers or a community interpreting a late
musician’s work. Thus Slow Media propagate diversity and respect cultural and
distinctive local features.
8. Slow Media respect their users. Slow Media approach their
users in a self-conscious and amicable way and have a good idea about the
complexity or irony their users can handle. Slow Media neither look down on
their users nor approach them in a submissive way.
9. Slow Media are distributed via recommendations not
advertising: the success of Slow Media is not based on an overwhelming
advertising pressure on all channels but on recommendation from friends,
colleagues or family. A book given as a present five times to best friends is a
good example.
10. Slow Media are timeless: Slow Media are long-lived and
appear fresh even after years or decades. They do not lose their quality over
time but at best get some patina that can even enhance their value.
11. Slow Media are auratic: Slow Media emanate a special
aura. They generate a feeling that the particular medium belongs to just that
moment of the user’s life. Despite the fact that they are produced industrially
or are partially based on industrial means of production, they are suggestive
of being unique and point beyond themselves.
12. Slow Media are progressive not reactionary: Slow Media
rely on their technological achievements and the network society’s way of life.
It is because of the acceleration of multiple areas of life, that islands of
deliberate slowness are made possible and essential for survival. Slow Media
are not a contradiction to the speed and simultaneousness of Twitter, Blogs or
Social Networks but are an attitude and a way of making use of them.
13. Slow Media focus on quality both in production and in
reception of media content: Craftsmanship in cultural studies such as source
criticism, classification and evaluation of sources of information are gaining
importance with the increasing availability of information.
14. Slow Media ask for confidence and take their time to be
credible. Behind Slow Media are real people. And you can feel that.
Stockdorf and Bonn, Jan 2, 2010
Benedikt Köhler
Sabria David
Jörg Blumtritt
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Also see the following related posts in Virtue Ethics Info Centre:
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