User:FLEM/Graduationprojectproposaldraft

1 What do you want to make?

I want to organise a series of Collaborative Explorative Sessions [CES] (meetings, workshops, experiments, study cases, conversations, surveys) to analyse the use of notebooks in contemporary society as well as to create a space for people where to discover how notebooks are made, to think about the use they do of the object and finally how they can be created by the users themselves based on their needs. I will then observe and analyse the different sessions to give an overview of my research methods and outcomes of the CES, that will feed my Master thesis.

2 How do you plan to make it?

(A) Organise Collective Explorative Sessions [CES]: spaces to discuss and analyse notebooks to gather information, underline and go beyond the limits of notebooks. Participants will e.g.: 1. discuss & analyse their own notebooks & find solutions collectively 2. create together new physical prototypes. These sessions will attempt to unify thinking and making with the purpose of understanding and discovering ourselves and our needs, through the act of making notebooks.

The sessions can make use of different structures and forms: collective, 1:1, writing sessions, making sessions, exercises in couple etc.

To achieve this, I will plan the dates and the structure of the sessions, find and contact the locations, advertise and invite people to join. I hope that by April I will have produced a series of sessions with the same people and an outcome that would be the participants' reaction to my proposals.

first explorative session with xpub2 students on 26.09.22
questions I gave the participants to choose from before starting the session
the plan of the session 01
the plan of the session 02

(B) Create a collection of essays on the outcomes of the sessions and the discoveries of the participants (see thesis outline). I discussed these topics with my classmates and they are already reacting with their own prototypes. I asked them to write about their process of research; hopefully, during the sessions I will create interested contacts to gather more discovery processes from others. I will also do this work on myself, trying out different notebooks and exploring and writing about the process of discovery I am going through. The notebooks prototypes I will work on will include simple and accessible adds-on that users can use to start implementing their already-existing notebooks (like pockets, foldings, additional papers..) that could feed the CES.

a multicolumned notebook: could we fold it more?
first notebook kit: An adjustable and editable notebook with included tape and papers for continuation
sketches for new prototypes

3 What is your timetable?

SETT/OTT. Research, reading & notebooks prototypes.

NOV/JAN. Work on CES structures, research, reading & notebooks prototypes.

Organise collective session (22 Nov in school// + 28 Nov Bollenpandje?) as well as individual ones (3 people).

Write texts on: analysis of past sessions (M&Ms, Leeszaal, individual session with Clara, Bollenpandje, 'make your own tools' in school); my personal notebook research process.

JAN-FEB. Research, reading & notebooks prototypes.

Organise a collective session as well as individual ones.

Write about past sessions & notebooks research process.

MAR-APR. Notebooks prototypes.

Organise a collective session as well as individual ones.

Write about past sessions & notebooks research process.

APR-JUN. Organise a collective session as well as individual ones.

Making use of the findings to use in the end-result of the design, create a notebook structure that can contain the contents of the sessions and research methods.

4 Why do you want to make it?

I am interested in notebooks as a means of creativity, a space for thinking and reasoning, a personal world inside this messy world we live in. I like the idea of getting lost in our own space, how writing and doodling and drawing become part of our living. And, I wonder, can this personal world be the same for everyone, can it be standardised? My theory is that everyone, in different situations, has different needs while using a notebook and that the efficiency (in the sense of: how much we use it, how useful it becomes for us, how we feel free and comfortable with it) can change using different structures.

Lori Emerson in the book Reading Writing Interfaces describes how in recent years design is getting every day more invisible and users are becoming less and less aware of the processes underneath the devices they use: in the same way as with digital interfaces, humans think less and less about what they use or what they do or why or how. We live in an era where we can decide to continuously fulfill our desires, without even understanding or asking ourselves what we really need or want. I assume that many people buy notebooks because they are attracted by the idea around the object, but then they never start or finish them because, still my assumptions, they do not really know what is their need from this object. I would like the meetings to be experiences of discovery, moments where to play with this object, all together, and explore, experiment and discover the possibilities of notebooks, also as part of a research about themselves and their participation in the world. I would like participants to explore their inner self and discover what they need from a notebook, and then, if they are up for it, to discover how they are made and how accessible it can be for everyone to create/edit their own, based on what they're actually looking for. Like Notebooks Therapy.

In addition, consumerism, capitalism and new technologies "promote efficiency and productivity more than happiness and creativity" (Sanders E. B.-N. and Stappers P. J., 2014), but at the same time the desire of people towards creation and expression of self is emerging again (see social media DIY or etsy.com). Therefore, I feel that using an object that, in a way, is the emblem of productivity, and trying to transform it into a self thought and subversive one is the right direction I want to give to my project.

5 Who can help you and how?

Anyone interested in the use of notebooks, anyone that thought at least once about something related to their use of note taking methods and structures; contributors and participants to my workshops; anyone who knows people that would be interested in participate to my sessions as well as who knows locations or organisations that would like to collaborate. Experts in workshops or generative design research would also be of great help.

6 Relation to previous practice

In the past year as an XPUB student I analysed patterns and disrupted common structures to create new versions of texts. I created a prototype of linguistic patterns and the impossible project website, a tool for vernacular translations. Plus, I used the annotation system created for Special Issue 16 to gather translations from users.

I always tried to involve a public, to explain more than what seems like needed, had in mind the idea that our public should understand and it has been underlined my intent of translating one form of research into an activity/event. One of the results of this has been the crosswords game, both for the launch day and for the publication. I like the idea that an audience can interact with what is shown to them: everyone has different learning methodologies, and it’s our job to put everyone in a situation where they can get the best out of the experience.

In the last trimester, we worked with notation systems, annotation methods and distributive practices, that grasped my interest quite a lot. Miriam and I, for the week02 release, produced an instructional piece on “how to make sound”. The proposals I have been part of are also significant: week5 release was about collective writing and the idea of distributive practice.

At a certain point during the last trimester, I started to shape my focus seeing a particular interest that I developed since the first day but never kept into account: my notebook. I started making notebooks a few years ago and has always found the process of creation really interesting. Last year, I have been taking notes on different notebooks throughout the year, made by myself. I then started questioning myself,, my needs and the notebooks I was using. I wanted to have more, to be able to play with my notebook, to know it better. I started to reason on how, as we’ve been creating our personal digital tools, we could also create our personal paper tools.

7 Relation to a larger context

This research is basically based on organising sessions to create a space where to analyse notebooks and to slow down lives, take the time to explore our inner selves and build our version of the object that becomes the expression of ourselves in the world.

The first concept can be seen in https://www.notebookstories.com/ (Anon, n.d.), a blog where the owner gathers analysis and advice on every type of notebook on the market.

The "Hipster PDA" is "a vastly superior, greatly simplified device for capturing and sharing information" by Merlin Mann (Mann, 2007). The project underlines a bit what I am doing with my own notebooks: finding solutions to make the object more functional for myself and the use I want to give to it. In this case, the author invites people to use his way to solve their problems and this is where my research instead diverts and pushes users to create their own.

An example of the last concept that I‌ found really inspiring is the work by Kealy-Morris (Kealy-Morris, 2015) where the author created a space for design students to create a personalised surface (paper books) to showcase their artworks. And the research on students of UiTM creating personalised notebooks to help them in their studies (Hamzah et al., 2016).

I really enjoyed "the book of notebooks" of Dan Perjovschi (Serban, 2018) because it makes visible how much the use of notebooks becomes part of a practice and a way of thinking and working.

Finally, as an example of beautiful "instructional" publications, I really enjoyed "How to shoplift books" (Horvitz 2019) and "140 Artists’ Ideas for Planet Earth" (Ulrich and Stasinopoulos 2014) that invite users to produce/act as a reaction to the content of the books.

8 References/bibliography

Anon, (n.d.). Notebook Stories | Notebooks, journals, sketchbooks, diaries: in search of the perfect page…. [online] Available at: https://www.notebookstories.com/.

Gibson, M. (2019). Crafting communities of practice: the relationship between making and learning. Int J Technol Des Educ 29, 25–35

Hamzah, F., Sharifudin, S., Kamarudin, A. and Azlan, M. (2016). The use of personalized notebook among first semester students of UiTM. National Conference of Research on Language Education 2016.

Horvitz, D. (2019). How to Shoplift Books. Printed Matter Inc., New York.

Illich, I.D. (1985). Tools for conviviality. London: Marion Boyars.

‌Kealy-Morris, E. (2015). The bookbinding workshop: Making as collaborative pedagogic practice. Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, [online] 14(2), p.119.

Korn, P. (2015). Why We Make Things and Why It Matters. David R. Godine Publisher.

Mann, M. (2007). Introducing the Hipster PDA. [online] Available at: https://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/introducing-the-hipster-pda.

Sanders E. B.-N. and Stappers P. J. (2014). Convivial design toolbox: generative research for the front end of design. Amsterdam: Bis.

Șerban, A. (2018). MOTTO DISTRIBUTION» Dan Perjovschi: The Book of Notebooks. [online] Available at: https://www.mottodistribution.com/site/?tag=dan-perjovschi-the-book-of-notebooks.

Wenger-Trayner, E. and Wenger-Trayner, B. (2015) An introduction to communities of practice: a brief overview of the concept and its uses. [online] Available at: https://www.wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/.

Ulrich H. and Stasinopoulos K. (2021). 140 Artists’ Ideas for Planet Earth. Penguin UK.

Yuill, S. (2008). All Problems of Notation Will Be Solved By the Masses. [online] Mute. Available at: https://www.metamute.org/editorial/articles/all-problems-notation-will-be-solved-masses.