🗂️ [[Thinking in Public]], [[Bearing Witness]]
# Taxonomy of Witnessing
📰 **My own version of a critical response / critical reception framework, and part of the way I am [[bearing witness]].**
🕵🏻♂️ *Critical Reception*
✍🏻 [[Jeremy Neideck]]
![[Taxonomy of Witnessing.svg]]
## 📖 Overview
This is the structural element of the [[Thinking in Public|big idea]] of [[Bearing Witness]] that I am currently working with.
Initially, I was trying to find a more inclusive verb for the phrase "what did you see", which is one of the standard starting points for many forms of critical response frameworks (see [[Liz Lerman]] for example). As [[transforming idioms]] has been part of my [[creative practice]] for many years (due to [[Company Bad]] working toward [[brave spaces]] that attempt to minimise [[ableism]], [[transphobia]], and [[racism]]), I settled on using the verb [[witnessing]].
I am also drawn to the term because witnessing is not passive. In particular, being brought up as an [[evangelism|evangelical]] Christian, "to witness" has definite connotations of not only taking in the world around you, but setting an example for what the world can be.
## Utility
- The Taxonomy of Witnessing is a framework for:
- Meaning making
- Critical response
- Creative response
- A discursive model for critical feedback on student work.
- A reflective model for self-evaluation and awareness.
- A model for creation that recalls [[Participatory Action Research]] and [[Appreciative Inquiry]].
- A way of organising embodied studio practice.
## Results / Benefits
- Stalling default (good / bad) responses
- Discerning acts of witnessing
- Demystifies act of creation
- Shuts down negative self-talk
- Encourages ambiguity / liminality
- Models critical thinking
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## 📝 Notes
## ⚒️ Resources
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## Elements of the Taxonomy of Witnessing
The components of the taxonomy that can be used to [[Bearing Witness|bear witness]] are:
### Core Values
[[Core values]] generate the energy, or life force.
### Horizons
[[Horizons]] are where you are oriented toward.
Horizons probably operate on the timescale of at least a year.
### Waypoints
[[Waypoints]] are places you visit along the [[journey]] toward your horizons.
### Moments
[[Moments]] are a point in time. They might be a day, a week, or even a month.
#### Golden Moments
[[Golden moments]] are moments that you cherish.
## Tools and Tactics of the Taxonomy
The tools and tactics of this taxonomy are:
### Measurable Outcomes
Identifying [[measurable outcomes]], which can be a tool for taking [[qualitative]] and [[quantitative]] stock of your journey. These are best identified early. These are best measured once you reach a waypoint.
### Actions
[[Actions]] are the activities that you undertake day-to-day in service of reaching the next waypoint.
### Initiatives
[[Initiatives]] are a purposeful way of bundling your actions, to make sure they are working together to get you to the next waypoint.
#### Training
For the [[performance maker]], [[performer training]] is one of the most powerful and regular initiatives you could invest in.
### Projects and Outputs
A [[project]] or an [[output]] might be an initiative, or may be broken down into smaller, manageable initiatives.
### Intentions
[[Intentions]] are the moment-to-moment aspects of your journey that you are able to attend to on a daily, weekly, or month basis.
### Journaling
[[Journaling]] helps you to privately navigate the moments of your life, and are an ideal way to document your intentions and actions.
### Reflective Practice
[[Reflective practice]] helps you to understand *your* experiences, projects, and outputs, check in with your core values, and align your intentions to your horizons.
Reflective practice might start off [[private]] but it can also be undertaken as a collective and has the potential to be made [[public]] in the form of its own project or output.
Reflective practice is driven by [[prompts]], and may be in the form of:
- [[Reflective Dialogue]] (see [[Reflective Dialogue Template]])
- [[Evaluative Reflection]] (see [[Evaluative Reflection Template]])
- [[Critical Reflection]] (see [[Critical Reflection Template]])
- [[Extended Critical Reflection]] (see [[Extended Critical Reflection Template]])
### Critical Reception
Critical reception helps you to understand the *world around you*, including the core values and intentions of others, as witnessed in their projects and/or outputs.
Critical reception might start off [[private]] but has the potential to be made [[public]] in the form of its own project or output.
Critical reception is driven by [[prompts]], and may be in the form of:
- [[Critical embodiment]] (see [[Critical Embodiment Template]])
- [[Critical reading]]
- An important aspect of this is keeping [[source notes]]:
- [[Critical Reading Book Template]]
- [[Critical Reading Chapter Template]]
- [[Critical Reading Article Template]]
- [[Critical Witnessing]] (see [[Critical Witnessing Template]])
- [[Critical response]] (see [[Critical Response Template|Critical Response Template]])
- [[Critical analysis]]
### Generative Witnessing
[[Generative witnessing]] is the classic [[creative body]] cycle, and the mechanism of [[creative development]].
## Using the Taxonomy to Write the Now
This is a way of thinking about how bearing witness to you own life and practice can be made comprehensible to others.
### Atomic Notes
These are notes that represent ideas at their most fundamental.
### Molecular Notes
These are notes that are built up out of ideas at the atomic level that are linked together, or perhaps are a reflection or refraction of an atomic note.
### Compound Notes
These are notes that built up of ideas at the [[Index - Molecular Notes|molecular level]] that are linked together.
### Material Notes
This is material at a sufficient complexity that it it is most likely original to the author.
## ⛲ Sources
- Liz Lerman’s [Critical Response Process](https://lizlerman.com/critical-response-process/)
- Perpich Centre for Arts Education’s [Critical Response Protocol](https://cdn.ymaws.com/ipayweb.org/resource/collection/25263331-00F9-4E8F-B2AF-0678F2FFFB65/Critical%20Response%20Handout.pdf) adapted from Artful Tools
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# ⛵️Log
- 🖋️
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#
**Template**: [[Atomic Note Template]]
**Created**: [[2023-01-12|Thursday 12 January 2023]]
**Published**: [[2024-05-03|Friday 03 May 2024]]
**Updated**: 12:34 [[2024-05-05|Sunday 05 May 2024]]
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