User:FLEM/Final presentation

Special issue 16

The SI16 is a project on vernacular language processing called Learning How to Walk while Catwalking, a toolkit to mess around with language. During these first months, I started to understand how python scripts work and started making some websites to try out things. In particular, all of us worked on individual tools and what I did has been analysing patterns and disrupting common structures to create new versions of texts.

Wiki research & documentation: poems translations.

Website: https://hub.xpub.nl/soupboat/theimpossibleprocess/

the impossible process of grasping the other side

the impossible process of grasping the other side is a project by Emma Prato, as part of the Special Issue 16 //Learning How to Walk While Catwalking// carried out by Piet Zwart Institute (XPUB) students on the topic of Vernacular Language Processing.

the impossible process is:

• a website and tool for vernacular translations and I used the Annotation Compass (that before was used to gather comments from a group on physical spaces; readapted the tool for something else) to gather translations from users (in this case, asking my classmates to translate from their language back to English).

• playing around with the structure of poetry translations and mix together different versions of the same text, through a Python function.
• multiple translations can give us a much better sense of the poem than a single translation can, so that even if we can’t read the poem in the original language, we can come closer to that experience.

the impossible process is made of three sections:

• one (THE CROWD) is to gather //vernacular// information
• the other (THE MASHUP) is to process texts, which can be both taken from the vernacular content or from already existing translations.
• The poetry ARCHIVE will showcase the results, uploaded automatically after mashing up (json file).

Connection with second year project

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.  

I used the Annotation Compass created for Special Issue 16 to gather translations from users. 

The final publication for the public to interact and understand the Python function I created has been the "envelope", an activity that would reproduce what happens in the function and ask the user to do it by hand. 

In recalls what I am making in the Second Year project with the following question: what happens when you mirror digital interactions into a physical movement? In both cases, I reckon, it is a very interesting tool to make people who know nothing about coding, what is happening. I started to understand how python scripts work and started making some websites to try out things.

Contribution/groups

• I was part of ADMIN TEAM: creating the meetings, schedules, keeping track of the work.
• I was part of LAUNCH TEAM: event coordination, organisation and user experience for the launch day.
• I was part of FRONT-END TEAM: support during the creation of front-end of the website, advices and considerations.
• Content group: research on python function, set up, layout and flask for website of “the impossible process”; prints and booklet for the same project. In addition, general research for the “vernacular maps” group.

Other things

My notes documentation: User:FLEM/1.1

• collabweek3
• Station Skill html
• text waving
• transcription
• smart textile station skill
• wood station skill
• jacques prévert poems

• User:FLEM/The rejected side

Gallery

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Special issue 17

The Special Issue 17 explores concepts of the world of video–games, like slow-thinking, delayed rewarding, gamification processes, competition, individuality, productive environment.

The crossword experience

The crossword experience:

• gives an overview of the productive play glossary, that will be found inside the loot box and represents the research part of our project.
• Takes part in the collective publication and into the launch day, offering two different ways of interaction.
• In the box, the post-its/squared pieces of paper definitions act as a go-between the content and the players, and obviously share the values and reasons why post-its have been chosen as the mean for this project. Users find these little post-its and they have to position them in the space they’re in through the use of a grid they find inside. After creating the grid, they can read the definitions and complete the crossword.

• During the event, he player will:

1. Complete a puzzle to create a word, therefore to play a game to obtain a drink, instead of having a need and satisfying it immediately. It is a critic of loot boxes philosophy and serves to slow the pace down because the players can't get the drink immediately (delayed-reward and slow-thinking).  

 2. By the end of the event, the public will have produced a collective work, a big crossword made by everyone in the room. It's a way to create interaction and criticise the video games world that produces a lot of individuality and competition. Instead, this method invites the player to embrace collectivity and inclusivity.

Wiki research & documentation: User:FLEM/Crosswords

Connection with second year project

I tried to involve a public, to explain more than what seems like needed, I had in mind the idea that our public should understand

My intent was that of translating one form of research into an activity/event. 

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.

Contribution/groups

• I researched and polished the glossary of productive play to transform it into a usable and understandable game for the public. A way to access our theoretical research through the use of gamification.
• The result was presented inside the box as “The Crossword Imaginary Grid Game” .
• The result was adapted to be presented during the launch as “the Fage Not Pound Bar Counter”.

• I was part of LAUNCH group:
  1. Price of the box.
  2. Texts for the launch.
  3. Documentation and presentation of the work.
  4. Prints and plotting.
  5. name tags.
  6. Plexiglas letter game for the launch.

Other things

My notes documentation: User:FLEM/1.2

• a box in a box in a box - 16_02_22 (with G&Carmen)
• Re-writing Station Skill
• Station Skill Java
• calligraphy and typography station skills
• the social side of games
• playing cards
• Glossary_of_productive_play

Gallery

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Special issue 18

The SI18 structure gave more space for our personal interests, actions and reactions with a series of weekly sound releases.

• We experimented with annotation systems, annotation methods and distributive practices, which grasped my interest quite a lot.
• Miriam and I, for the week02release, produced an instructional piece on “how to make sound”.
• The editorial proposals I have been part of are also significant: Week5release was about collective writing, a practice that I find deeply interesting, and I was also interested in the idea of distributive practice.
• Transcription methods that feed the need of experimenting with text (see Libretto of week3).
• I worked on the Draggable, another online tool to mess up with texts (and audio in this case).
• The other editorial proposal was about folder and content nesting: the activation by users is essential for the functionality of the tool we curated for this release. The result was a collective process: the result will be obtained only if others will actively participate.

I enjoyed creating small weekly prototypes, and the possibility to try new things proposed by other people: the moment when I received the proposals and had to discover what it could be about. Then, seeing how my brain starts to work and looks for inventive solutions to learn and to try out different methods or tools. I am happy how I managed, as a caretaker, to go deeper into my personal interests, to see how contributors reacted to the proposals (7&5) and the possibility that my ideas will change after other people experimented with them or created their own way out of it. I am pleased to see how we could influence each other and evolve in very different ways with every method we've been using and the person we were working with. It all gave me the feeling of collective work.

Contribution/groups

Wiki research & documentation:

• week 01 ---> https://hub.xpub.nl/soupboat/SI18/01/recordings/

• week 02 ---> https://hub.xpub.nl/soupboat/SI18/02/recordings/your%20personal%20guide%20to%20making%20sound.mp3
• week 03 ---> audio file: ACT1 libretto: Within an entangled state

• week 04

• week 05 ---> https://hub.xpub.nl/soupboat/~flem/FIVE_nested_narratives_active_listening.mp4 instrument: voiced drum machine; audio piece: what-is-right-not-to.mp3 text: what-is-right-not-to.txt ---> The Drag-able

• week 06

• week 07 ---> https://hub.xpub.nl/soupboat/SI18/07/Interface/

• week 08

Side things

My notes documentation: User:FLEM/1.3

• emm&miri notations

• reverb/paulstretch on piano piece in audacity

• notebook

• THREE_soundsexperiments

• rack2 audio experiment

• FIVE_experiments

• The Drag-able

Gallery

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  week 2 - with alex

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  week 2 - with alex - visual result

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  week 5 - editorial work with alex and supi

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  week 7 - editorial work with miri and jian

Second Year

wikis:

• User:FLEM/Notebook
• User:FLEM/Analysis of sessions
• User:FLEM/2.0
• User:FLEM/2.0.0
• User:FLEM/noteboox

Research & Thesis

my thesis for the archive: All the materials used to produce this thesis have been gathered from the XPUB studio/WdKA building/Trashbunker or from waste of stationery shops

Abstract: Paper Notebooks: From an Industrial Model to a Tool of Expression is an ongoing research project that attempts to understand how the structure, shape and functionality of a paper notebook can influence the way we take notes as well as the frequency and efficiency of use. The thesis uses theoretical research and practical methodologies to analyse paper notebooks, to discover how different prompts and activities can change the users’ mindset and consciousness, while inviting them to produce personalised DIY notebooks in their personal practice.

1. I started questioning my notebook's practice and tried to build a new paper device that would satisfy better the needs of my brain in that moment. To get there I asked myself what were the problems in the device I was using and how changing something small could already improve my use of the notebook.
2. I then wondered: Why are we all using a device with the same structure? And what impact does it have on our learning, thinking and living, as well as on the imaginary of self? And how creating our personal tools would help users to understand better themselves and their needs?
3. So my research question became: How can I, through research and explorative sessions, discover more about the topic and create a generative structure that can be interpreted by every person in their own way to promote creativity and self-expression?
4. The importance of making to produce personalise tools and spaces is central to the work. In the moment we start making with our own hands, we are participating in the narrative around us. Objects are part of our existence. It does matter if you go to a shop and you buy a notebook every six months and not use it. Or you make your own with features and properties that fits your needs, the structure, the particular add-ons. There are reasons why people do not finish, and this is what I have been researching talking with others, making with others, listening to other people’s stories.
5. The thesis is a report of my practice: informed through theoretical research and references that fed the research method section that is part of the body of the thesis. It charts a historical and contextual overview on notebooks, with a focus on the importance of making and the physical act of taking notes on paper notebooks. The text then presents the development of the project through the different methods and the findings that will lead to the creation of a physical outcome. [the spatial memory A process takes place when we take notes and the type of interface we use to do it makes a difference: “The hippocampus is crucially involved not only in memory encoding and retrieval processes but also in spatial memory itself” (Umejima et al., 2021). (..) Throughout my research, I discovered how much it is important, for recovery and reviewing reasons, where I specifically write words or sentences. Recently, I found myself scared of forgetting because the pages of an unfitting notebook did not allow a proper instinctive positioning of the content while taking notes.]
6. The final outcome took the shape of a guide or kick-starter kit to help others to analyse their own practice and to start questioning it, as well as to encourage a hands-on approach.

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the first notebook in the wild

The methods

1. My personal notebook process

It consists in the creation of different prototypes to analyse and question my use of notebooks and to discover how to modify them to adjust them to my needs.

• I finished my notebook and started a plan to build up a new one.
• I then produced different prototypes to play around with the concept of adapting notebooks to my needs.
• I tried to distribute notebooks prototypes around and realised how it was not possible that I would create the notebooks. My classmates started experimenting with their own and I saw what was happening was much more interesting than me looking for a perfect notebook, that obviously does not exist as our needs change depending on who we are and in which situation we need the object.
• Documentation: User:FLEM/Notebook

• my personal notebook process
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  a pile of notebooks

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  the triad one - first idea for the final publication

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  the notebook kit - used to organise thesis and project materials

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  the prototype for the final publication - physical random choice

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  the wiki scroll (what happens when you print a website on a long sheet?)

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  the one that did not work

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  the letter one - could participate in grad show

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  the letter one for chae and kim

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  the rings one

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  the rings one

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  invitation to ces

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  the columned one for chae

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  the first notebook kit for supi

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  the first one

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  the first one

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  the first one

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  the last one

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  the last one

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  the last one

2. Gathering and analysing the work of other users

supi's prototype

The aim was to understand how others approach the same process.

• Supi and Erica have been my case studies: throughout the year I could follow their choices and reasoning on their use of notebooks.
• Supi had a very strong connection with the tool, her Muji pen
• Erica instead, had a very strong connection for time-based notebooks and scattered notes that come together when needed
• Their work was essential to demonstrate that others can go through this process by themselves.
• Documentation: User:FLEM/Analysis of sessions#personal notebook research from others

3. Discussion groups (or Preparatory Sessions)

unfolding the prototype of the "notebook kit" by Michael Murtaugh

The preparatory sessions helped me to collect opinions through conversation and questions.

• I organised three preparatory sessions in which I brought up specific questions and discussed them together with the participants.
• The main aim was to discover if notebooks are part of their lives and if I could use this specific object to incite a certain type of thoughts and associations to promote self-expression and creativity.
• New questions and ideas arose
• Documentation: User:FLEM/Analysis of sessions#Preparatory sessions

4. The Collaborative Explorative Sessions (C.E.S.)

helping out a participant by Al Nik

• A collaborative playground to experiment with a collection of exercises together with the workshop participants.
• I created the C.E.S. through the knowledge acquired in the process and specifically thanks to the first three methods included in the research, as well as inspired by Generative Design Research, which includes the end user in the design process (Sanders and Stappers, 2014).
• My aim was to experiment with different activities to help participants to imagine the iterative process to arrive to a notebook.
• It was important to transform my questions into practice.
• The session and the final toolkit are starting points/initialiser for them to test scenarios to see what works better (the CES are for me, the toolkit is for the people, made by me as a researcher together with the participants) --> it is different if I organise the sessions for my research's purposes
• What is nice about this project it’s that it combines questioning and reasoning on ourselves and making. Making is a great part of the project, both when I make them myself, both during sessions when everyone is concentrating on making their own. We ended up with a series of prototypes that shows how much people can engage with making and how making can participate in the research of the self. Making notebooks can be a very individual practice, but what I discovered through time is how much exchanging ideas and looking at each other’s work and implementations, really helps to open our minds and make more radical notebooks in the act of making notebooks.

Documentation: User:FLEM/Analysis of sessions#C.E.S.

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  CES 2 - smelling paper

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  CES 2 - writing exercise

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  CES 2 - prototype

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  CES 2 - prototype

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  CES 2 - cutting area in use

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  paper table

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  glueing area

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  cutting area

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  CES 1 - binding

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  CES 1 - writing exercise

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  CES 2 - binding

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  CES 1 - prototype

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  CES 1 - prototype

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  CES 1 - prototype

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  CES 1 - prototype

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  Preparatory session - Leeszaal (by Michael Murtaugh)

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  Preparatory session - Leeszaal (by Michael Murtaugh)

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  Preparatory session - Leeszaal (by Michael Murtaugh)

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  Preparatory session - M&Ms

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  Preparatory session - M&Ms

The publication and plans for the grad show

What is nice about this project is that I am not only trying to discover and question the notebooks, but finding ways to help others to express themselves and make something new or edit a notebook they already own.

Therefore, the research culminated in the creation of a guide or kick-starter kit designed to help others analyse their own notebook practices and encourage a hands-on approach. This modular notebook alternates between informational sections, activities for making notebooks, and reflections on the notebook practice itself. Its purpose is to make notebook-making more accessible and serve as a tool for self-expression.

The final project aims to achieve two results:

A) Involving others, to make notebooks' making more accessible/a tool of expression

to achieve this --> A modular notebook that alternates info (on different features of notebooks, where to find materials etc), activities to make notebooks, and the invitation to reflect on the notebook practice.

B) Documenting, storytelling, experiencing a note-taking practice.

How to publish a notebook making practice? How to make a notebook public? (and accessible by others)

to achieve this --> include scans of notebooks and private notes inside the publication, editing the materials to make them easy to grasp.

ps:// accessible means: able to be reached or easily obtained; possible to approach, enter, or use; easy to understand or enjoy.

The printed publication

Documentation: User:FLEM/noteboox

Excerpt from the publication:

HOW TO USE:
Dear soon-to-be-maker,
This unique object in your hands is more than just a book; it’s a game, toolkit, diary, notebook, and photo-gallery, all into one. Its purpose is to inspire and guide you in creating your own notebooks while offering insights of my research, questions, and discoveries.
Before you dive in, here are a few key points about using this “(note-)book”. The content, consisting of texts, images, and notes from my research, is spread across 128 cards connected by a spine. While they can be read as a continuous flow, each card is designed to stand alone. You have the flexibility to read them separately or organize them into categories based on your interests. To help you navigate the publication, find below an overview of colors and quantities of cards per section.
If you’re curious to learn more about the research and the production choices, additional information can be found in the spreads at the back.
Enjoy the journey in the world of personalised notebooks and start experimenting!

WHY

• Starting from the question: "how can I edit and present all of this material I gathered in the last year?" I wanted to share all the little discoveries I made and what I learnt with others, as well as inviting a hands-on approach.
• why notebooks? 22.09.22 I have always been interested in the materiality of objects and their touch and how to build things myself. A lot is also about subjectivity and modularity: I am fascinated by the fact that, also a publication, for example, can be created in a way that every person that uses it can react in their own way. I think it's a lot about disrupting known formats and ideas.
• what i would like is 18.04.23 I would like to create (active) makers, not consumers. The final outcome needs to be something to be used to make, not only to receive/consume. I want the users of this work to participate in the act of making notebooks against capitalism and commodity practices. I want to expand the spaces of this medium.
• I would like this research to be a sort of manifesto for a general context but using the notebook as a metaphor: Who are you? How does your brain work? How do your ideas come along? What are your needs from a tool that society provides in a standardised form? It is not only about making a notebook, it is how making a notebook will put you in the position of questioning who you are and the objects you use, why you use them and how something made by you for you could look and feel like.

The triad notebook

CONTENT

• My use of the wikis and my hand note-taking practice was essential to produce all the material that was necessary for this publication to work. I only had to choose the content wisely to fit in the little cards, being careful to make the cards work independently not to overwhelm the users and allow them to make their personal connections; in practice, I scanned all the notebooks, selected materials that could reflect the process of making notebooks; excerpts of thesis to give some theoretical overview; pictures of the prototypes made by me and others; went through all the wikis and selected material.

SCRIPT & DESIGN

• A Python script was developed for this project to embrace alternative methods for design; approach to web-to-print. The script is used to insert the content into an A4 layout, consisting of 8 cards each page.

the notebook kit

• The selected content is organized and split into little squares.
• The aim of the script is to generate a PDF with a different arrangement each time through random choice. The content mixes within the same row but not between rows to avoid contradictory connections.
• Modularity is emphasized as the connections between cards can vary based on their positions. The intention is to offer an individual experience and encourage users to create their own unique connections.
• The cards are part of different categories, differentiated by different colours and headlines for easy recognition.
• The cards can be use to create connections but the content can stand alone too.
• The script collects the content from the folders and insert it into an A4 layout, consisting of 8 cards per page. The script also allows to generate a different positioning of all the cards every time is run. All the prints made until now are based on a different pdf.  

PRODUCTION CHOICES

• The goal was to create a kit for making notebooks that can be read and used practically.
• The prototypes created during the research process shaped the material concept of the notebook.
• The first prototype is an adjustable and editable notebook inspired by index cards, allowing for smaller, standalone content.
• The concept of modularity led to the creation of the triad notebook with three browsable rows for recreating connections.
• Customizability is a key aspect, allowing users to interact with the notebook and participate in its use and creation.
• The spine of the notebook enables 360-degree rotation, connecting content between rows and experimenting with different structures.
• Users can mix their own pages with the provided ones or remove all the provided pages to fill in with their own, allowing for the creation of new notebooks. The pages can also be used as cards without the spine, raising questions about the definition of a notebook.
• The back cardboard and the intro-texts spread at the back are made from waste/leftovers from the studio.
• The publication is printed on A4 layout to minimize paper waste.

• Costs of production and the use of all the facilities possible to save money.

• Inside the book, I added a bookmark where instructions on how to cut the spine are given.

Why a material printed publication is important?

Apart from everything described above, for example the possibility to edit the order of the cards, or to manipulate the spine and transform the basic structure of the object, there are other reasons why a printed publication is necessary at this point.

First, the choice() method, one of the Python functions used in the main script, selects a random element from a list. You know that it is choosing from a list of options, but what happens in the back, it’s not given to you. So, I wondered: what happens when you mirror digital interactions into a physical movement? When this concept is applied to the (note-)book in your hands, you become the one determining how you navigate through the rows of cards. You have control over the changes, appearances, and disappearances of content. While the specific content behind each card remains unknown, you can physically perceive the anticipation and surprise.

Secondly, the act of turning the pages, the feeling of the paper are essential features that add a lot to the experience. Through this research, I have discovered the significance of reading and taking notes in physical form. What I found the most interesting is the impact and importance of the physical act of turning pages and the spatial layout of text: readers engage more, understand and remember more; the spatiality of a physical object facilitates a deeper interaction and comprehension of the materials. For further insights, refer to the excerpts from my thesis.

Prototypes experiments of the final publication

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  The first printed prototype

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  The second printed prototype: added intro spread at the back; added cardboard in the back.

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  The third printed prototype

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  The final printed prototype

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  The cover of the final printed prototype

The costs of production label

for one copy

the label applied in the back of the publication

• inside paper (tot. 23 euros x 250 sheets) = 0,092 x 16 sheets = 1,472 euros
• cover paper (1,25 per sheet) = 0,623 euros
• spine = 0,649 euros
• print (insides) = 2,88 euros (from hr printers, so I did not pay for them)
• print (cover) = 0,25 euros
• print (intro-texts) = 0,88 euros (from hr printers, so I did not pay for them)
• making holes and attach spine = 0 euros

total of the costs of productions for one copy = 6,754 euros = 6,80 euros

total costs of production for one copy without the printing costs = 3,04= 3,00 euros

The website

Temporary link: http://79.137.32.91/how-to-make-a-notebook-that/

In addition to the printed publication, I also created a website to make the project accessible even after the prints are finished.

The website offers different features:

• A digital version of the cards. In this case, the cards are spread throughout the screen space in a grid. The user can zoom in and have a better look at single cards, or open multiple at the time and mix them up. I added a legend on the side to understand the different contents, as it happens in the printed publication.
• The website offers a printable version, coded to be ready to fit in an A4 sheet. The idea would be to add multiple generated HTMLs so that people can reload the page and access a different pdf.
• The third page is a video showcase of me scrolling through the notebooks and the final publication. In this way, it is possible to see and experience my note-taking practice.
• The website also provides an online notebook’s ideas generator, where the GAME offered inside the printed publication is replicated with JavaScript.
• The website gives access to a pdf of the thesis and to my wiki pages where more insights on the project are presented.
• Finally, a gallery of prototypes and a contact page. It would be nice to add on the contact page places where people could buy the printed publication, as well as some pictures to show how the final print looks like. This could be an art space like the PrintRoom or Page not found, or the grey space in the middle in den Haag, as well as stationary places, where normally people go to buy paper and materials. It would be nice that the book would become an inspirational guide for people interested in materials and making.
• The design and texts of the page are still work in progress.
• To share the website, I am renting a VPS, that I will go on using after graduation.

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The grad show

For the upcoming grad show, I am planning to organise a session to try a new setup to see how it can adapt in such a place and situation. This could become useful for the future of these sessions. The idea, still to be developed, would be to have an open table for making, where I will be sitting while making notebooks. This space will be an invitation for others to join me in the making, but also as a conversation starting point. I will have the publication on the table, which I will use for the “how to make a notebook that” game included, to give a hint of how this could work.

At the shop, I will sell both the book and the printed thesis.

the grad show shelves team

https://pad.xpub.nl/p/shelvesgroup

For the grad show I am part of the shelves team, in charge of creating the physical structure to showcase everyone's work in the Slash Gallery. We will create some tables from scratch, as well as reuse a lot of materials that we gathered for free.

the grad show bubblication team

https://pad.xpub.nl/p/bubblication_group

For the grad show we are going to riso print a series of poster/publications to highlight the process of creation of our projects. We are going to organise a workshop where everyone will contribute with their own materials.

Other things

• User:FLEM/Collective-care notebook

General side things

• volunteered at V2, Worm, Mama and art and music festival (Conflux, Rewire Festival) as a host since January 2022
• worked as a Archipelago member and designed and risoprinted 4 newspaper The Piet, as well as organised a series of events and workshops.

While working on the Piet, I experimented with different shapes and foldings of an A3 paper for every of the issues

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  Issue 4: Graduation Special

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  Issue 5: Intro Week

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  Issue 6

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  Issue 8