I recently had the opportunity to co-teach a workshop on “The Importance of Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Tackle Societal Challenges” at Venice International University. It took place from September 18 to 22, 2017 and brought together a fascinating group of faculty and students.
I joined a team who developed an idea for a web platform to address the challenge of promoting participation in the electoral process. Rather than focus on “get out the vote” campaigns, our team was ultimately concerned with all the disinformation that spreads through social media and disreputable news sites. We designed a platform to facilitate community participation in discussions around contemporary issues. Of course, the most important part of the experience was realizing how much we all take for granted the assumptions of our own disciplines and national/regional contexts. What sounded liberatory to one group was oppressive to another. I look forward to trying to develop similar opportunities at home! I may even assign some students Pechua Kucha presentations in the future – something I definitely hadn’t been sold on before this.
