Advanced Challenges

Advanced Challenge #1

As per the instructions on the last page (https://sites.google.com/site/kadasresearch/a-s-challenges), please choose 5 of the following.  Prizes will be awarded at or after An Tir September Crown, 2012

1. Pick a subject/field/thing that you well versed in (for example, Viking Age beads). Get out all the research you have on this subject. Make a table (or spreadsheet or database) of ALL the instances of that thing and the variations on it. Write a short summary (extra points for doing statistics on the data you collect). (for the beads example, consider being able to answer questions like: what was the most common color of glass beads in the Viking Age? What is the range of sizes? Are beads in Denmark different from Sweden? How?)

2. Participate in 3 demos with more than 10 "audience" members. These are specific demos of your research, to a general audience. The test here is to be able to make your research and craft interesting and understandable to the general public. 

3. Write up research you did at least 3 years ago and have not entered/written up. The final document should be over 10 pages of text, plus diagrams and lit cited. Make this available somehow (internet?)

4. Live medieval for a whole weekend event. Clothes from the skin out, food (no coolers), tent, bedding, etc. Ideally, everything you use should be documentable to your time/place/social position. Medication and glasses are excepted :) 

5. Share 10+ hard to get resources with at least 5 people who are looking for them (so, a total of 50 shares). 

6. Talk about your research/craft to 5 newcomers for 1 hour EACH (5 hours total). One on one, no fighter practice BS sessions counted ;) The idea here is to get people new to the SCA interested in cool research, or the idea of research in general. You don't have to stay on topic, but you do need to use evidence to back up your statements, while keeping them interested in what you say. 

7. Teach one of EACH of the following: 

A. One beginner/newcomer/anyone welcome class

B. One midlevel (SCA 201, what next) class

C. One highly specialized class for "expert" or "research" types.

D. One class requested by the populace

You can reuse old classes, but each one needs to have a handout with at least 3 primary sources. 

8. Find a new-to-you museum website. Spend some time there, finding good resources for SCA researchers. Write a short guide on how to use this particular site, and make that guide widely available. 

9. Get an article in a language you don't speak. Write a one paragraph summary of what is says :) Also provide the definitions of at least 5 words that will be useful to someone else trying to do research in this language. 

10. Make a new TOOL for a craft you do. This involves stepping one step back from your usual skill set. For example, if you weave, research and make a shuttle. If you cook, research and make a pot or serving dish. Of course, this means new research into how those tools were made. You can consult an expert to help you make the thing if it is outside your abilities, but you must be involved in the actual making process. 

11. Research how your raw materiel would have come to you. If you work on metal, did your silver arrive in ingots or scrap or did you melt it out of a rock? If you cook, how did your fish get to you? Was it raw? Dried? Shipped live? What about spices? If you dye, where does your dye come from? France? Spain? Next door? Does it come processed into dye or are you soaking roots? Write a short summary and post it publicly someplace. 

12. Read and comment on the drafts of five peoples' documentation. Ideally, more than one draft per person, so you have a good level of back and forth on editing/writing. 

13. Pick TWO of the following: 

A. Make a booklet that would allow a beginner to do one of your favorite crafts. 3 pages minimum, must include photos/diagrams. Make publicly available (you can carry around physical ones at events, or put it online or whatever)

B. Make an instructional video of your favorite craft and put it online. Yay YouTube!

C. Make a picture/interactive tutorial of how to do your favorite craft and put it online. 

For all of these, bonus points if the craft is super cool/rare/complex. 

14. Get your research published in an SCA or historical publication.

15. Learn a new-to-you craft that is medieval. Ideally, document the process of learning it ;)

16.  Pay your taxes.  This one is slightly complex.  First, you need to do enough research to figure out how much your yearly taxes would BE, and to whom you would pay them, and in what types of currency.  Second, you need to know the medieval worth conversions to convert the worth of your medieval taxes into items that would be suitable for SCA largess.  Third, you need to make that amount of largess and give it to your local Kingdom/Principality/Barony.