Talk:Dramaturgy

Wikiversity

Kort and Reilly discuss the benefits from using story telling as a tool for passing knowledge to learners. Can we make use of story telling as a tool for communicating a complex body of information that is of great importance to the Wikiversity community? The motivation for making such an attempt is the reaction shown at the community review where a page section was created called "Need for a synopisis". I agree that a synopsis would be useful. A short abstract was provided when the community review of "problematic actions" was started, but after 10 days the review is not quite in mature form. However, it might now be possible to write a synopsis. Can story telling help create a narrative that will engage the audience?

Does the format of a "community review" defeat efforts to fully engage the audience with story telling? Can a review of "actions" include the complex relationships between the actors and the actions? Is there an existing story, a familiar plot structure that can stimulate reactions and provoke the audience to corrective action for the problems that have deflected Wikiversity from its mission?
--the winner..... Beetlebaum 05:10, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

The "Community Review" is an adversarial proceeding, comprised of a litany of complaints and allegations of wrongdoing, haphazard defenses and dismissals, and some unethical deletions of otherwise valid complaints. What the adversarial review does is sharpen up the conflict so that it can better be understood. However the "Community Review" is not an instance of Action Research and is more likely to exacerbate and compound the problems rather than to solve them.

It would have been more accurate to entitle the "Community Review" by it's true purpose, a expression of indignation. To that end, one of my didactic characters, Montana Mouse, sought to plant that idea...

Preamble to the Declaration of Indignation

We hold these Truths to be Self-Evident — That all Scholars are Created Equal and are Endowed by their Creator (and by the WMF Mission Statement) with Certain Unalienable Rights, and that among these are Login, Edit, and the Pursuit of the Ground Truth.

--Montana Mouse 11:58, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

The purpose of a story is to successfully communicate an idea or insight that cannot readily be communicated through an adversarial proceeding such as the one manifested by so-called "Community Review."

--Moulton 22:53, 26 July 2010 (CDT)

I'm thinking of a kind of "dialog" where "problematic actions" are one "voice", with links to the community review, and the second "voice" is provided by links to the specific proposals for change. It seems like there needs to be a third "voice", that of "Wikiversity past", the dead community members in a kind of chorus, revealing what Wikiversity was in the "good old days". --the winner..... Beetlebaum 05:10, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

• The third voice might be the Greek Chorus (the non-participating "audience") who are attending the drama, reacting to it, and anticipating the climactic ending. --Moulton 10:29, 27 July 2010 (CDT)

Trevrizent said, "Through your tenacity of purpose you have changed the law." That power is within us.
--the winner..... Beetlebaum 15:26, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Drama Theory, Dramaturgy, and the Bardic Arts

The topic of this page section originated on another page.

• Moulton, can you explain the distinction between "drama theory" and "dramaturgy"? Where is the "Dramaturgy Workshop"? --JWSchmidt 20:02, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

Drama Theory encompasses theory and analysis of drama. It need not include a laboratory workshop section.

Dramaturgy includes lots of laboratory workshops in enacting drama, with less emphasis in the mathematical aspects of the underlying Drama Theory. You have to understand that Drama Theory includes a fair amount of mathematics. Dramaturgy usually doesn't go that deep into the analytical theory of dramatic structures.

The term "Dramaturgy" is widely used in Europe. In the US, we are more likely to use the term "Drama Theory" (which is an extension of "Game Theory").

There is also the term The Bardic Arts which is more about producing educational stories and dramas. Drama Theory, Dramaturgy, and the Bardic Arts are all very similar. It just depends on the focus or objective of the course. In Drama Theory, you would study Clancy's Theorem and the Vexagon Diagram. You might not spend much time on that in a Dramaturgy Workshop or in a course to develop the Bardic Arts. The Bardic Arts is more about StoryCraft and StoryTelling.

The Dramaturgy Workshop is synonymous with the English Wikiversity. About two years ago, the English Wikiversity was expanded and transformed from a traditional Online Learning Community into a Dramaturgy Workshop specializing in Post-Modern Theater of the Absurd.

Moulton 20:59, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

I doubt if all members of the Wikiversity community recognize Wikiversity as synonymous with a Dramaturgy Workshop. It might be constructive to explore this idea at Dramaturgy Workshop. --the winner..... Beetlebaum 22:27, 8 August 2010 (UTC)

• Yes, there could be a subpage here, Dramaturgy/Workshop, to do exactly that. —Moulton 06:43, 10 August 2010 (UTC)