FSU Libraries Office of Digital Research & Scholarship Annual Report: 2020-2021

The Office of Digital Research and Scholarship partners with members of the scholarly community at FSU and beyond to engage with and act on innovative ideas in teaching, research, and creative activity. We privilege marginalized voices and unique contributions to scholarly discourse. We support interdisciplinary inquiry in our shared pursuit of research excellence. We work with scholars to explore and implement new modes of scholarship that emphasize broad impact and access.Our dream is to create an environment where our diverse scholarly community is rewarded for engaging in innovative modes of research and scholarship. We envision a system of research communication that is rooted in open, academy-owned infrastructure, that privileges marginalized voices, and that values all levels and aspects of intellectual labor. In addition to the accomplishments related to our core work areas outlined in this report, we also developed an Anti-Racist Action Plan in 2020 and continue to work on enacting and periodically revising and updating the goals outlined therein.

Walter White: From «Apply Yourself» to «Say my Name». Aspects of Political Theory in «Breaking Bad»

This text should be understood as an interdisciplinary inquiry into one of the most successful US TV series: Breaking Bad (BB). I use political theory analysis, plot analysis that one could understand as textual analysis of the story, and my interpretations of the series’ main characters. In the first chapter, I present a summary of the story of Walter White and how his decisions affect his family. In the second chapter, I analyse BB according to Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan. What Hobbes meant with his famous saying that man is man’s wolf, thus a deadly reciprocal threat of all against all comes to life in Walter becoming a full-fledged criminal, murder and deception now the tools of his new chosen craft. Walter is breaking bad, ignoring societal norms and ethical values, pursuing relentlessly his plans of making money for his family, enjoying his new self as a powerful provider because that is what men do: they provide. The third chapter is dedicated to an analysis how Hannah Arendt’s definitions of power, strength, authority, violence and judgement can explain Walter’s change from Paulus to Saulus. In the conclusion, I shall present my thoughts about the series and answer the following research questions: first, why is the global public still so smitten with Walter White? Second, what can one learn from BB for our contemporary conditio humana in the 21st century? Third, is Walter White the master of his life, thus self-determined (Selbstbestimmung), or is he dominated by forces outside of his own free will (Fremdbestimmung)?

Collapse of Holocene mangrove ecosystems along the coastline of Oman

Sedimentological, geochemical, and paleontological investigations of the coastline of northeastern Oman have provided the authors with an in-depth insight into Holocene sea levels and climate conditions. The spatial distribution and species assemblage of mangrove ecosystems are analyzed. These ecosystems are sensitive to changes in sea level and precipitation and thus reflect ecological conditions. The close proximity to archaeological sites allows us to draw conclusions regarding human interaction with the mangrove ecosystems. Our interdisciplinary inquiry reveals that the mangrove ecosystems along the east coast of Oman collapsed ~6000 cal yr BP on a decadal scale. There is no sedimentological evidence for a mid-Holocene sea-level highstand. The ecosystem collapse was not caused by sea-level variation or anthropogenic interferences; rather, it was the consequence of reduced precipitation values related to a southward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. This resulted in a decrease of freshwater input and an increase in soil salinity. Further, the aridification of the area caused increased deflation and silting up of the lagoons.

Interdisciplinary Inquiry-based Teaching and Learning of Sustainability in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabian citizens, including university students, are in an interesting and precarious situation – they care for sustainability, but their economy thrives because of oil production. This study used an author-developed instrument to briefly explore 135 Saudi university students’ (nine disciplines) knowledge, awareness, evaluation and convictions of how to facilitate the nation to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) per Vision 2030 despite living in an oil-based economy. Within this context, the paper then reports 31 female Saudi pre-service teachers’ (also university students) experience with and reaction to using inquiry-based learning (IBL) to teach sustainability. Their feedback as emergent educators is invaluable for Saudi initiatives concerned with Education for Sustainability (EfS). Study participants were from Saudi’s Eastern Province (convenience and snowball sampling) with data collected in fall 2019. Recommendations include integrating IBL into teacher education, supporting IBL with Saudi cultural and religious practices, and communicating anthropogenic impact to Saudi citizens.

Law, Narrative and Critique in Contemporary Verbatim Theatre

The present article undertakes an interdisciplinary inquiry into contemporary British verbatim theatre as a site of interplay between law, art and politics. Focusing on the example of Matt Woodhead and Richard Norton-Taylor’s 2016 play Chilcot, documenting the public inquiry into the UK’s role in the 2003 Iraq war, the authors explore the work as a space of legal and political critique, and ask how the specific theatrical and narrative affordances of the verbatim form shape its critical substance.

Rethinking Filter: An Interdisciplinary Inquiry into Typology and Concept of Filter, Towards an Active Filter Model

This work aims to re-investigate different aspects of a variety of filters and filtration processes within diverse realms of knowledge from an interdisciplinary point of view, and develops a comprehensive Active Model of Filter that accommodates the phenomena in its entire diversity and complexity. The Active Filter Model proposes to take Filter—from various fields and scales operating at material and symbolic level—not as mere objects, but as difference-producing phenomena that need to be addressed as complex active systems within event-based boundaries. The model underlines a systemic, operative, performative, and negentropic nature to the phenomena that invites one to; recognize various elements and intra-actions within a filter system; follow chains of operations and processes that render the activity; take the performative and ecology building aspect of the filter activity into consideration; and acknowledge the negentropic, order-producing nature of filtering phenomena. The Active Filter Model is meant to serve as a foundation for further analysis and synthesis in various fields dealing with Filter, and the research approach is put forward as a paradigm for how seemingly disciplinary concepts such as Filter can be rethought through interdisciplinary methods, and mutually complement research questions within active matter, biology, information philosophy, data science and sustainability discourses.