Documentation, in brief

(warning, this post contains MY opinion, which not all judges or competitions or Laurels or other humans may agree with)

So, earlier in this series (start here please: https://sites.google.com/site/kadasresearch/guides-and-tutorials/documentation-and-competitions ) we discussed some things that a judge needs in order to award a score to an entry. These are the minimum, this is not an inclusive list.

1. WHAT IS IT?

2. WHAT IS THAT MADE OF?

3. WHEN/WHERE is this appropriate for the MIDDLE AGES?

4. HOW MUCH OF THIS DID YOU DO?

5. How is WHAT YOU DID (while making this object) THE SAME OR DIFFERENT from how a medieval person would have made this object?

I consider that 1-4 are basic information, not documentation (well, parts of 3 are documentation, but only if extensive).

FOR ME, #5 is documentation, and I think there is a very important lesson here. The point of your documentation is to COMPARE TWO THINGS. One is your thing, the other is a medieval thing.

That sentence, right there, sums up documentation.

So, let's try out an example sentence or two.

Example 1.

I made a bead, the medieval way.

Does this tell your judge a. HOW you made it and b. HOW that is the same or different from how a medieval person did it?

Ok.

Example 2.

I formed a glass bead using an iron mandrel, a propane torch as a heat source, and applying the glass from pre-formed sticks of glass. (http://www.schermobeads.com/beadmaking/beadmaking2.html) (http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/vikbeads.shtml)

YAY SOURCES! However, I am still confused. We seem to have one webpage with how modern people make beads, and one about how medieval people make beads, how are they related? If you did one set, which was it? How is it related to the other?

Example 3.

I formed a glass bead. I put clay on an iron mandrel. Iron mandrels have been found from Viking Age finds in Norway (citation of find). Clay is found inside of Viking Age beads (citation of find). Then I heated the mandrel and a stick of glass over a propane and oxygen flame. Preheating would be needed no matter the heat source, and would therefor be similar to what a Viking Age craftsman would have done. My heat source is a modern one for safety and accessibility reasons. Viking Age beadmakers would have used a clay kiln (citation of find here). The actual formation of the bead is similar: the molten glass is wound around the heated rod.

The final object appears identical to examples from Viking Age Norway, as can be seen in the images below comparing my item with the Viking Age items.

Now this is awesome!

Do you see the trend here?

There are obviously a million more details to documenting a project, and most projects are slightly unique. There are several online guides to documenting a project. Here are a few:

http://arts-sciences.westkingdom.org/documenting/how-to.html

http://www.modaruniversity.org/Research.htm

http://web.archive.org/web/20041019042457/home.pcisys.net/~lyssa/document.html

The organization and format are fairly up to you, use what you are familiar with. I usually go chronologically in my project (first I used a scissors, so let's talk about medieval scissors. Then I used a needle, so let's talk about medieval needles).

"Oh no!" says you, "this will take FOREVER!!! I could spend the rest of my life researching the background of every tool I used! I'll never get to enter anything!".

I have two points. 1. We live in an internet age. Can't find it? Ask around. Need an expert? Email one. No one says you have to reinvent the wheel here.

2. Do as much as you can, and tell the judges you don't know about the rest. ALL projects are a work in progress, and always will be! Saying you don't know is a-okay. This is YOUR project, so tell your judges what YOU know about it.

Oky doky. How are we all feeling now? Have a plan? Ready to go conquer the SCA A&S world?

Go forth and research! Make cool thingies and tell people about them in a clear and well organized way!