Watch: Video of Johanna Drucker’s Signature Lecture on “The Current Value(s) of Academic Work”
Johanna Drucker, Distinguished Professor and Breslauer Professor in the department of information studies at UCLA, gave an online talk September 15, 2020 on “Rethinking Assumptions: The Current Value(s) of Academic Work.” The lecture and discussion was hosted by the Office of the Provost, the Willson Center, the UGA Libraries, and the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences as part of the UGA Signature Lectures series.
Drucker is internationally known for her work in the history of graphic design, typography, experimental poetry, fine art, and digital humanities.
Abstract: Events of the last half year have changed the way we work. They have also shifted the frameworks within which we conceive of the value(s) of the intellectual activities to which scholars have long been committed. Social and economic impacts on higher education are apparent, no matter where one sits on the ideological spectrum. Six months ago, this talk would have focused on visual epistemology, digital humanities, aesthetics and other issues crucial to knowledge production. Now it feels urgent to address the very foundations on which we frame and justify the work we are doing. Drawing on personal and professional experience, this talk is an invitation to think collectively about the values on which our work proceeds.