Ocean Justice

The world’s oceans are a remaining frontier. The oceans sustain all life on the planet yet little understood by science where exploitation, pollution and destruction of marine life remain rife. Ocean Justice aims to use digital media tools to make visible social, environmental and climate justice stories linked to the oceans.  Students will develop digital media-based projects on pressing environmental controversies, from overfishing to deep-sea mining and climate litigation in the context of real-world advocacy. It will draw on political and critical theory, science and technology studies, visual culture, and other cross cutting disciplines.  

Relevant competency  

The village, hosted by Trondheim Academy of Fine Arts (AD Faculty), is open to students from all academic disciplines at NTNU, but we believe it might be of particular relevance for students from disciplines dealing with political and spatial practices such as architecture, geography, remote sensing and spatial modelling, marine sciences, political science and journalism etc. Nevertheless, in the end it relies on a variety of different expertise and backgrounds to realize its goal, to push cross-disciplinary teamwork beyond its limits. Students will be encouraged to experiment with the scope of their disciplines while also being introduced to artistic research methods and media formats for public outreach.  

About the village  

Ocean Justice will engage students to address society’s core challenges such as inequality and the climate emergency in the context of the world’s oceans through the lens of contemporary media studies, spatial practice and visual cultures. It will look at how digital media, from satellite imagery to social media and open source investigation sources such as ship tracking data is transforming the pursuit of social and environmental justice in the hands of civil society.   

Participants will develop environmental investigations - on real world issues such as marine pollution, illegal fishing, resource extraction and climate related human rights violations – that are of local, regional or global importance under the guidance of village supervisors and with the input of external experts. Working in groups, students will work on  investigative stories, as self-defined projects related to the theme of Ocean Justice. Depending on the student mix, investigative methods could incorporate data science, marine/remote sensing, art, architecture and design, marine technology, geography etc.   

The course will develop a transdisciplinary program working in close collaboration with NTNU Oceans and with external partners so teams can either work in or simulate working in a field environment. Thus it will draw on a network of experts, institutions and platforms working at the cutting edge of media, ocean research and advocacy. In the process students will be introduced to new skills and knowledge, such as on concept building, research design, advocacy strategies, sound and video editing, open source intelligence (OSINT), storytelling through maps and narrative etc. In the end each group will produce a podcast and/or other digital media content that sums up their project findings including reports from the field, interviews, and reflections. Introduction to critical conceptual skills will complement student competencies in specific areas. Those coming from core science and technology disciplines will be encouraged to develop reflection on thinking, doing and imagining science for advocacy and communication.  

Assessment

In this village, the project report and the compulsory presentation of the project is replaced by an oral exam that counts for 50% of the grade. The oral exam is assessed according to the same criteria as the project report.

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