More research into practice (of a different kind)

I am hono(u)red to have been invited to lead the closing service at the Annual General Meeting of the Scottish Unitarian Association, to be held in Dundee on Saturday, 28 June. My program(me) will focus on awe and wonder, and I’ll incorporate some things I’ve learned in my research. I’ve already signed up to do a service on that topic here in Newcastle in October, and although the service in Dundee will be somewhat shorter I should be able to use it as a foundation for the longer one. This is a different kind of research-into-practice, but I think it still qualifies. I’m grateful for community and connections outside of the university.

I’m very much looking forward to this event. I hope I can spend an extra couple of days in Dundee as well, as I’ve never been there and would love to explore.

Maybe I’ll use my new UK driving privileges and hire a car for a day or so. :-)

A multipurpose weekend in Edinburgh

I spent the weekend in Edinburgh. I went because I was giving a poster at the EuroIA 2013 conference and was spending Friday there. But the trip also allowed me to attend Saturday’s celebration of 200 years of Scottish Unitarianism, at St. Mark’s Unitarian Church — which is, fortuitously, just a block from where the conference was held.

My EuroIA poster (see image; sorry the photo is so poor but that’s a phone camera for you) explained how designing for spiritual experience is like designing a woodland clearing for watching the stars. It described my two research projects so far, and talked about how techno-spirituality needs more UX folks involved. It didn’t get as much attention as some of the other posters, but it got enough for me to be satisfied that I had begun to engage the UX practitioner community.

On Saturday I learned a lot about the history of Unitarianism in Scotland. In 1813, Parliament (the Scottish one, I think) repealed the law that made it illegal to express views that disagreed with the Christian concept of the trinity, and the Scottish Unitarian Association was founded one week later.

After the celebration I walked up to St. Giles High Kirk of Edinburgh (formerly called St. Giles’ Cathedral) and spent about 45 minutes absorbing the atmosphere and taking photos. When I was there in February I didn’t have my “real” camera with me and didn’t feel it was worth paying £2 for a photo permit. But this time I was prepared, and especially with the beautiful light at the time, it was well worth it. Here’s my favorite of the photos I took. (The others can be found on Flickr.)

I stayed over Saturday night and attended the service at St. Mark’s on Sunday (although I must confess I found it slightly weird to have a Unitarian church named for a saint) and enjoyed it very much. While in the company of the Unitarians, I spoke with representatives of the congregations in Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Edinburgh (I didn’t meet anyone that I knew to be from Dundee) and they are all interested in having me come and give my service on technology and spirituality to their congregations. Aberdeen is likely to happen sometime in March. I’d like to do Glasgow in May and then rent a car and head for Islay and Jura. It’s been far too long since I’ve been to the land whence the Buies came.

Public engagement, travel to interesting places, learning, and meeting lovely people — what more could I ask?

I think I’m getting a reputation

I was supposed to do a reading at yesterday’s service at Newcastle Unitarian Church. With three minutes to go, the speaker came up and asked me if I had received the reading, saying that he had posted it to me earlier in the week (by snail mail). I said no, it hadn’t arrived, and asked if he had another copy with him. He said he didn’t.

Oops.

He told me the author’s name and the book’s title, so I said “Well, I think we can save this.” I whipped out my trusty iPhone and googled the book.

Voilà! Up popped the author’s Wikiquote page, showing a well-known quote from him. The speaker said it wasn’t exactly the one he had in mind, but it represented the author’s thoughts very well and would do nicely.

When it came time for me to do my reading, the speaker introduced me and told the story, and when I got up front I prefaced my reading by saying, “Technology to the rescue!”

At coffee hour afterward, one of the attendees said he wasn’t surprised I used technology to do my reading and commented that he would have been surprised if I had done it any other way.

I think I’m getting a reputation. :-)

Beginning my “public engagement”

Several months ago I took a class on “public engagement and impact” of research at Northumbria. The university wants its research to become known to the public and to be useful to their lives. At this time I had already agreed to do a service on technology and spirituality at Newcastle Unitarian Church, and during this class I thought about how what they were saying could apply to that service.

A week ago yesterday, I gave the service. Attendance was slightly higher than usual, and the service was very well received. I was gratified to hear everyone’s comments. Almost immediately, the people who attended from the Stockton-on-Tees church invited me to give it there. Then yesterday we had a visitor from the Edinburgh church, and she said she’d bring it up to the committee on which she serves (which, if I understood correctly, is for the four Scottish congregations — Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, and I think Aberdeen) and commented that Glasgow would probably be very interested, as they are more humanist than the other congregations and also have no minister of their own. I could do Edinburgh in a day (the train takes only 90 minutes and costs me less than £20 round trip), but Glasgow would give me a jumping-off point for a short trip to the Hebrides (I’m thinking Islay, although Mull would take less time). I need a peat fire.

I met briefly with my supervisor on Friday, and he asked how it went. He wanted to know what the service involved, so I quickly ran him through the readings, the guided meditation, and the sermon. When I mentioned that the sermon included a brief description of the kinds of techno-spiritual products that my research has found and explored so far, he exclaimed that I’ve started my public engagement.

Which of course I knew. :-)

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Oh, and I have become a member of Newcastle Unitarian Church. I’ve been attending services regularly for eight months now, and I feel integrated into the congregation, tiny though it be — so a couple of weeks ago I decided to go ahead and apply for membership. Now I’m even more integrated. :-)

A Visit to Newcastle Unitarian

Spending the weekend in Newcastle gave me the opportunity to check out the Unitarian church here and see if it’s the kind of community I would feel comfortable joining. I was very surprised at how few people attended the service this morning — about a dozen. I’m used to seeing some 100-150 people in the congregation, but this congregation is clearly much smaller; they told me that sometimes they have as many as 30 but usually it’s more like 15.

The service this morning was much more theistic than I am used to (conducted by a visiting Quaker), and I felt a little uncomfortable with it. But the people were very nice, and when I talked to them about my concerns they said they have a wide variety of perspectives in their services, and two of them said they were a humanist and a pagan. (Seems there’s also a pagan event conducted in the fellowship hall once a month, and I’ll miss the next one by just a few hours.)

So I think it might be worth trying again.

I feel pretty sure that the Unitarian communities in the London area are more similar to the DC-area ones than is the Newcastle congregation. I wish I could try them out as well, but I’ve made other plans for next Sunday.

Not a deciding factor: Unitarian congregations in Newcastle and Leicester

Both Newcastle and Leicester have Unitarian congregations. I knew about Newcastle, of course, as the building is right next to the Northumbria campus and Gilbert showed it to me when I visited. I’ve just learned about Leicester’s as well.

• Newcastle Unitarian Church (see photos)
• Leicester Unitarians

So this won’t be a factor in my decision. This is good. :)