Try to answer this question by detailing any historical, political, social, cultural, technological, or other contextual determining factors that frame or lie „behind‟ your chosen subject and, in a nut shell, make it what it is. Thinking about this question should allow you to understand your subject in a deeper way. This may involve asking questions like:
What historical events have had a significant impact on your chosen subject? How? (imperialism, slavery, colonialism, war, diaspoara, natural disaster, human geography etc.)
- The Renaissance
- Reformation
- The age of enlightenment
- Scientific Revolution
- The basis for modern knowledge based economy
- The mass spread of learning
What political events are significant to your chosen subject? (legislation, political ideologies, political systems, revolutions etc.)
Netherlands Print Rebellion - shaped print culture - got rid of censorship of information.
Print - Also manipulates the masses - propaganda and the war.
Political Campaigns.
What cultural attitudes inform my subject?
Print is something which affects pretty much every culture and has i someway sculpted how it is today.
Print made it easy for lay audiences to gain knowledge splitting the cultural barrier between the rich sholars and the working men. This had a huge impact on the human race resulting in a mass awakening, with information becoming more and more readily available on political matters, scientific and many other topics.
Is my subject culturally specific, and if so, how?
Not particularly
What are the economic factors that influence my chosen subject?
Print has made the economy boom, more and more people were becoming educated which in turn helped society change and develop, there was also the money being made from the mass production of books and also the new jobs needed to produce the amount of printed material.
The rapid economic and socio-cultural development of late medieval society in Europe created favorable intellectual and technological conditions for Gutenberg's invention: the entrepreneurial spirit of emerging capitalism increasingly made its impact on medieval modes of production, fostering economic thinking and improving the efficiency of traditional work-processes. The sharp rise of medieval learning and literacy amongst the middle class led to an increased demand for books which the time-consuming hand-copying method fell far short of accommodating
Is my chosen subject related to any technological advances in society?
Probably the biggest technological advancement since the invention of the wheel which has changed the world drastically.
The invention of the Gutenberg Press has influenced every printed or digital medium we have today. Including the internet.
What is the specific history of my subject and how has it developed over time?
Who are the key figures within my chosen subject? (This may include makers, practitioners, writers or thinkers.)
Johannes Gutenberg in 1450
Nicolas Jenson 1430-80
Elizabeth Eisenstein
Marshall McLuhan
2. What approach(es) will you take and what processes, methods, materials and tools are to be involved in research into your practice?
Try to answer this question by thinking about how you will actually undertake your research. One aspect of this question is concerned with methodologies (see below) but also, try to think about the possibilities of „thinking through doing‟ and insights that can be gained through creative experiment or making.
Firstly, try to think about what overall methodological approach you will take for this study. The exact methodology that you will use will be unique to your particular project and you should discuss this carefully with one of your tutors. The methodology that you choose will have a great impact on your study and, as such, it is quite important to consider this early in the process. Put another way, the types of answers that you ask will determine the types of answers that you get.
You will have encountered some methodological approaches during your Level 4 and 5 study. For example, Historical, sociological, semiotic, psychological, feminist, Marxist, postcolonial, discourse analysis and gender studies are some, but by no means all, of the examples of theoretical methodologies that you may wish to apply to your research. For practical work, some of these may be relevant also but you should also consider more practically oriented methodologies such as hermeneutics, heuristics, empirical investigation, reflective practice (Schön) and data collection. Give the names of specific writers or theorists of particular relevance.
In addition, perhaps consider the following questions about your practice
What is the relation between the techniques that you use in your practice to other techniques in the sector?
I have a keen interest in print already and have been experimenting with different printing processes over the past 2 years. I am using this module as a chance to further my knowledge into something I am enjoying learning about. There are also other techniques that I will research into and experiment with.
How does changing the materials that you use affect your practice? What processes of creative practice are essential or integral?
Obviously when it comes to print there are numerous materials that you can work with and with different materials comes different processes. I will experiment printing on different materials at some point. As I'm sure I could use more interesting formats than paper. I will look at letter press and screen printing initially and see where my research takes me.
What factors could disrupt your creative practice? What are the barriers to creative practice?
If I don;t stay on top of my time management this is something that could become a barrier. Traditional Printing is a long process which takes allot of concentration and planning. If I let the workload get on top of me I might find that this could cause my project to fail.
3. What preparation or investigations do you need to undertake for your creative practice to take place?
This section aims to get you thinking about the sort of techniques or methods that you need to employ to get the research process started. Immediate responses to this question will be answers like „find out information on...‟, „come up with ideas about...‟ or, even more abstractly, „Research...‟
Try to take these questions to the next level. Exactly how will you „find out information on...‟? How will you come up with ideas about...‟? How will you „research‟? Why?
Asking the question „how will I research?‟ might even involve having to undertake more research into the process of researching itself. For example, knowing that investigating your subject you will have to write a 9,000 word dissertation or case study might mean that you have to research what a 9,000 word dissertation or case study actually is, and how it is constructed.
Alternatively, an investigation into sustainable printing inks might involve research into how to source materials or pigments.
Other factors that you might consider here are:
What needs Researching?
Some of the Processes:
Letter Press
Wood Block Printing
Screen Printing
Lithography
Rotogravure
Ink Jet Printing
Effects print had on the modern Era
What print Influenced
The bad Side of print
Capitalism
What techniques do I use to research?
Contact print factorys
Design Studios
Museum Visit
Talks
Network Online
How can I improve my research skills?
Need Primary & Secondary Research
Primary - research collected be me.
Secondary Research - making use of the research and findings of others for corroboration, disagreement, triangulation and theoretical underpinning.
Research Methods
- Visual practice, experiment, interest & inquiry ( research and critical diaries)
- Questionnaires ( qualitative and quantitative ? - always do a draft questionnaire and analyze results.
- Interviews - send the interview over first, so they have an idea of what they can say.
- Case Study - get permission.
- Site Visits
- Books
- Journals
- Websites / Blogs / On-Line Forums
- Videos / DVD's
- Cd's / Tape Cassettes / Vinyl Recordings
- TV / Radio
- Newspapers / Maps / Reports
- Printed Ephemera
- Knowing where to look most effectively
- Effective use of catalogues
- Using related terms
- Browsing using Dewey Decimal Classification
- Use of contents page and index.
BOOK SEARCH
- www.library.leeds-art.ac.uk
- Leeds Met - www.leedsmet.ac.uk/lis
- University of Leeds (SCONUL)
- The British Library in Boston Spa www.bl.uk
- COPAC - combined library search www.copac.ac.uk
JOURNAL SEARCH
- Infotrac - online magazine article store
- JSTOR - only available in college.
- Artfull Text
- Athens
- a store of password protected sites,
- each student who wishes to access this site will need to ask the librarian.
- Google Scholar
How do I generate ideas?
Brainstorming
Mini CritsSketches
Get Inspired
Look at Others Work
4. What research do you need to undertake regarding who your creativity is for?
This section is perhaps slightly more important than the last, but certainly no less important. It is basically asking you to consider who the audience for your study is.
The default answer to this question, from a large percentage of students, will no doubt be that “it is for the University! I am required to do this as part of my degree and I damn well want good marks for doing it! How do I get a 1st?”. Whilst there is definitely something in this statement that I have sympathy with, it is hoped that, as a Level 6 student, you are taking much more ownership of your research than this. Furthermore, as emerging practitioners, we would hope that your Level 6 research is significantly more „outward facing‟ than this. Try to consider which professional sectors your research might possibly be aimed at, how they might perceive it and, ultimately, how this audience might shape or change the direction or presentation of your research.
Questions to consider in this section might include:
What specific organisations could use your research and how?
Schools
Designers
People Interested in Print
Readers
Historians
People who like tactile products.
What are the specific „cultural codes‟ of the audience in question?
Use an educational tone of voice which is informative. For something that will be heavily infomrative it will be necsasery to produce it in a style which can be viewed in an academic way.
Do specific audiences place limits on your research in anyway?
No
Are there elements of collaboration in your research?
No
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