MRI Acquisition of Instruments for Advanced Research in Visual Anthropology

加州州立大学奇科大学人类学系利用国家科学基金会的重大研究仪器拨款，将购买一台4K数字电影摄像机和一个由高性能计算机、服务器和外围设备组成的集成系统，以创建视觉人类学高级实验室。这个设施将是世界上致力于人类学电影制作的最先进的实验室。CSU、CHICO人类学系的本科生、研究生、外部研究人员和教职员工将在视觉人类学研究项目上进行合作。研究将包括人种学、考古学、生物学和法医人类学以及博物馆研究。数字电影技术的进步正在给电影制作带来革命性的变化，并有可能给视觉人类学领域带来革命性的变化。紧凑而坚固的相机系统可以承受人类学田野研究的严格要求，同时生成最高质量的图像。数字格式促进了这项研究成果的传播、介绍和存档。学生将被整合到由教员和外部研究人员领导的研究团队中，在那里他们将接受必要的培训，以构思和执行人类学纪实研究项目。通过使研究人员能够发现那些只能在视听模式下观察到的文化方面，这项新技术为视觉人类学作为一门学科带来了变革的潜力。为了促进视觉人类学中的知识和理解，有必要制作出尽可能高质量的电影。高制作价值对于视觉人类学的双重目标至关重要，即制作用于科学分析的视觉文件和用于广泛传播的纪录片。数字影院技术将人类学家从电影摄制组施加的限制中解放出来。视觉记录将由在传统人类学方法和电影制作方面都接受过严格培训的研究人员制作。这些技术的使用有可能改变视觉人类学领域的研究，通过创建迄今无法达到的数字纪录片。该项目通过将尖端研究工具交到学生和教职员工手中来促进知识和理解。人类学系的大多数学生是妇女和代表人数较少的少数群体成员。这个项目将为他们打开其他地方没有的前沿研究机会。它通过创建一个高水平的视觉人类学教学和研究培训设施来促进研究和学习。这将极大地加强人类学系和整个大学的研究和教育能力。视觉人类学项目特别适合广泛传播，因为电影在世界各地的教室和会议上为大量观众放映。结果还将通过电视广播、数字图书馆、专业会议和互联网传播。这种广泛的传播使视觉人类学非常适合人类学的传统社会使命，即在世界各地教授尊重和容忍文化多样性。在一个因缺乏跨文化理解而导致冲突四分五裂的世界里，这对社会来说是一种好处。

With a Major Research Instrumentation grant from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Anthropology at California state University Chico will acquire a 4K digital cinema camera and an integrated system of high-powered computers, servers and peripheral devices to create an Advanced Laboratory for Visual Anthropology. This facility will be the most advanced laboratory dedicated to anthropological cinema production in the world. Undergraduate students, graduate students, outside researchers and faculty at CSU, Chico's Department of Anthropology will collaborate on visual anthropological research projects. Research will encompass ethnography, archeology, biological and forensic anthropology and museum studies. Advances in digital cinema technology are revolutionizing motion picture production and hold the potential to revolutionize the field of visual anthropology. The compact and robust camera system can withstand the rigours of anthropological field research, while producing images of the highest quality. Digital formats facilitate the dissemination, presentation and archiving of the results of that research. Students will be integrated into research teams led by faculty and outside researchers where they will receive the training necessary to conceive and execute anthropological documentary research projects. By enabling researchers to discover those aspects of culture only observable in an audio-visual mode, this new technology holds transformative potential for visual anthropology as a discipline. In order to advance knowledge and understanding within visual anthropology, it is necessary to produce motion pictures of the highest possible quality. High production values are essential to visual anthropology's twin aims of producing visual documents for scientific analysis and documentaries for wide dissemination. Digital Cinema technology frees the anthropologists from the constraints imposed by the film crew. Visual documentation will be produced by researchers who have rigorous training both in traditional anthropological methods and in cinema production. The use of these technologies holds potential to transform research in the field of visual anthropology by creating digital documentaries of a hitherto unattainable quality.This project advances knowledge and understanding by putting a leading-edge research instrument in the hands of students and faculty. The majority of students in the Department of Anthropology are women and members of underrepresented minority groups. This project will open up leading-edge research opportunities to them that are not available elsewhere. It promotes research and learning by creating a facility for high-level teaching and research training in visual anthropology. It will represent a dramatic enhancement of the research and education abilities of the Department of Anthropology and the University as a whole. Visual anthropological projects are uniquely suited for wide dissemination, as films are screened for large audiences in classrooms and conferences throughout the world. Results will also be disseminated through television broadcast, digital libraries, professional conferences and the internet. This broad dissemination makes visual anthropology well-suited to anthropology's traditional social mission of teaching respect and tolerance for cultural diversity throughout the world. This represents a benefit to society in a world riven by conflict born of a lack of intercultural understanding.