General Challenge

For rules, please see HERE:  https://sites.google.com/site/kadasresearch/a-s-challenges 

Challenge #4: Projects

Hello!

Time for a new challenge! This means you have one week to finish the last one. 

As always, extra credit for sharing your work in a public way so that others may benefit from your learning. 

So, before we start. 

Get paper and pencil (or whatever) and write down the following. Just a note to yourself about what you are thinking of. One sentence, or just a few words is fine. NO RUSH here, if it takes you a minute, that is great, if you need to go think about it for an hour or two, also great. DO NOT READ THE NEXT SECTION UNTIL YOU HAVE WRITTEN DOWN THE FOLLOWING:

Two projects. 

The first is a project that you could do in the next few months. So, you need to already know most of the skills, have most of the physical tools, and understand at least the general research in this area. 

The second is your dream project. You have unlimited time, funding, and resources. What do you make???

NO LOOKING AHEAD!!! ONLY CLICK AFTER YOU HAVE WRITTEN DOWN YOUR TWO PROJECTS!!!!

When you are done, scroll down below the photo :)

New challenge = write a proposal (or two). 

So, what is a proposal? It is a short piece of writing which lays out the background research and methods for how you would do a project, before you start the project. 

Ideally, please do both of these following, one as a full proposal (at least two pages), the other as a single paragraph. The single paragraph is more of an "idea" proposal, whereas the longer one is designed to make you think about both the why and how of your project. 

What goes into a full proposal? Two parts, the introduction and the methods. Introduction = the whys of this project. Why are YOU interested in doing this project? Why would other people be interested in it? Does it use new methods, research, etc? Why is it interesting in general? Why would it be awesome for you to dedicate your time and money to THIS project? Why is this project awesome? Why does your research support THIS interpretation? Why do you think medieval people would have used THIS thing and not some other form of it?

Methods: the HOWS of your project. Go as far into detail here as YOU need to complete the project. You always need to describe EXACTLY HOW you will complete this project. Timelines, budgets, materials lists, all that goes HERE. If YOU don't need those things, that is fine, but you do need at least a general discussion of things like what tools you will use, and other descriptions of HOW you are going to make your thing. 

PLEASE NOTE, in order to do a full proposal, you will need to have references/research done. Yes, that is a hint (GO DO MORE RESEARCH IN YOUR FIELD and/or pull out all those papers and books you've been hording and read through them again). 

So, as usual, you have about a month. Let's say September Crown :) 

Just a note, I will have prizes at September Crown for those who have been playing along, and likely another set of prizes at 12th night, since the fun will continue after September Crown!

Challenge #3, Find NEW Resources

(this means you have one week to complete the last challenge, if you haven't yet, let's see those annotated bibliographies!)

This challenge is to obtain/read/get/digest 5 new to you sources. As always, the subject is up to you. The challenge here is to find NEW sources, even if you think you've read/looked at/found all there is to find. OR, see this challenge as a way to start looking in a new direction! 

As before, you need to share your spiffy new findings publicly, so that our collective knowledge is advanced (I prefer the annotated bibliography format, but just a plain bibliography is also fine). Once you complete the challenge, leave me a note (and preferably a link!), and you'll go on the list to receive a shiny something at some unspecified time :) 

Here are some hints that I use a lot (if you have another preferred method, go for it). 

1. Follow a bibliography "backwards". You are reading a book about...wooden boxes. There is a mention of a book on nails. You check the bibliography...GO ORDER THAT SOURCE. Now, continue this thread. The book on nails refers to a paper on the way nails were made..go order that! (a note on how to get stuff comes later)

2. Use Google Scholar (this link is the center bookmark on my browser, grin).http://scholar.google.com/The results here give you scholarly publications, books, dissertations, and thesis. Note a few very useful tips: if you go to the advanced search, you can set a date of publication range. You can search by author. You can search by subject, or publication. When you get the results, look for links to full PDFs on the right hand side. Many articles, even if you don't get full access, will let you read the abstract (technical summary), and often the bibliography. Also note that under each result are several blue links: cited by, related articles, cached, and versions. All of these can be highly useful. Clicking on "cited by" takes you to every single scholarly work which has cited this paper. It is like going backwards in bibliography-land. Related articles takes you to all the articles that Google thinks are on the same subject. Cached is for old copies (sometimes free!), and versions also sometimes has links to free copies of these articles. My BIGGEST hint for using Google Scholar is to KEEP TRACK OF YOUR PATH. Write notes of the search terms you used. Bookmark intermediate sites/articles/paths. Open interesting looking links in a new tab so you don't loose your first "find". 

3. World Cat (and simultaneous use of Google Books). So, as you are backtracking through a bibliography, you see a reference to a book...but how to GET IT??? First, try WorldCat. This shows worldwide library holdings. Next, try Google Books, see if it is actually a book you need (many books have excerpts on Google Books, if the whole thing isn't there). Then I search Amazon, and Abe books, to see if it is really cheap. If it is expensive, I go to the local library with ALL THE INFORMATION on the book written down and interlibrary loan it. Many libraries can also do this for articles.

4. Interlibrary loan is your friend, your ally, your best way to get stuff. Get to know the librarian. Return your books on time. 

5. Networking!!! (and use of the internets). ASK AROUND. ASK THE EXPERTS. Post to facebook. Also, USE THE INTERNET. Search for what you are looking for. Follow other people's bibliography backwards. Try to find the museum, and write to them about it. If you know one, ask a "finder". A "finder" is a person who has some magical connection with search engines. Sometimes they speak another language, sometimes they know how to work a specific database, but a lot of the time they just have practiced and know where to look. If you get stuck, see if there is a "finder" in your area of expertise. You'll know them because they post freaking amazing things that you've never even heard of before, on a pretty regular basis :)

As usual, you have about a month to do the challenge, or until I remember and declare it is done (and time for the next one, grin). DUE APRIL 25th, 2012

Challenge #2, Share a Few Resources

Here is the next challenge.  

SHARE your favorite sources.  At least five, but more if you like.  I would reccomend an annotated bibliography.  Essentially, tell people where they can find that resource (a citation), and then tell them ABOUT that resource.  Why should they read this one?  Does it have the best pictures?  Is it the ONLY place that your favorite recipe is published?  Also, describe what the resource IS.  Is it a book of pictures with no explanation?  Is it a list of recipies in Old German?  Is it a text book on archeology?  What all is IN it?  

This has to be in a public place.  Blogs are okay, as long as the post is set to public.  

The point here is that somewhere out there is another person who would like to know what you know, and it is a serious service if we can make these little caches of knowledge easily available.  

As before, ifn you do it, I'll give you something shiny.  If you remind me ;)   This one isn't very time consuming (feel free to message me if you want help with formatting).  We SHOULD all have 5 sources within REACH at any one time.  So, let's say by March 1, 2012.  

Go forth and share

(see this link for some whys and HOWS) 

https://sites.google.com/site/kadasresearch/guides-and-tutorials/annotated-bibliographies

Challenge #1 (Sew a thing)

Oky doky, sewing types (and non-sewing types!)

I have a challenge for you. 

Make a garment using ONLY the following: thread, 2 needles, scissors, fabric. Accessories that are acceptable to use while making: a stick, a piece of string, other clothes. (Unless you have VERY solid documentation, which you must write up into a reasonable paper on the sewing techniques and tools of your time period).  It has to be a real body garment, no hats or handkerchifs, a whole garment.  A peplos only gets you a teeny prize.  This should be something with some parts.  

 If you do it, I'll, um, give you a prize :) Yeah. It might be shiny, or it might not, depends. If you've done this before, help someone else :) 

The idea is to break away from some modern sewing "stuff". Note that this means no pins, no chalk, no measuring tape. No machine. 

I think that most of us sew the way we were first taught to sew, even if that process isn't actually relevant to what we do now. If your grandmother taught you to baste everything, and use paper patterns, I'm guessing that's most comfortable for you. So, stretch a little! Explore outside your boundaries.THINK about your process, and the process that the people you are recreating used. Maybe they DID use measurements in inches, and paper patterns. Did they do that for everything? How do you know? 

This is really easiest if you make a garment for yourself, so you can try it on regularly. Something simple, that you've made before, like a tunic or a shirt. 

Go forth and make! Hooray!

(the deadline for getting a prize is...May Crown. Yeah, May Crown 2012 ;)