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== Keywords ==
<div style="font-family: Open Sans; font-size: 14px; color: #535252; width: 70%; padding-left:10%; ">
notebook


prototype
== <span style="font-family: Futura; font-size: 21px; color: #23868F;">1 What do you want to make?</span> ==
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. 
== <span style="font-family: Futura; font-size: 21px; color: #23868F;">2 How do you plan to make it? </span> ==
'''(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.


play with pages to have more space and connections
The sessions can make use of different structures and forms: collective, 1:1, writing sessions, making sessions, exercises in couple etc.


modularity, structure vs playfulness, mess and inspiration
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. <gallery>
 
analyzing and researching other peoples notebook / needs / limits
 
modular notebook kit
 
test cases, different needs
 
everyone is different, many things / ideas thoughts on the notebook and note taking
 
more confusing for the practical project, the thesis part is a bit more clear
 
instructions, conceptual art, sol lewitt, unknown outcomes
 
distributive work
 
== 1 What do you want to make? ==
''General introduction, what you’re concretely thing you’re thinking about: an installation, performance, etc.. Whatever''
 
I want to organise a series of meetings and workshops on the topic of notebooks, with the purpose of analysing the use of notebooks in contemporary society as well as try to grow the awareness people have on notebooks as tools, to discover how they are made and how they can be unique and personalised. 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 device they use: I think that humans are also slowly losing their connection with nature and materiality, and I am wondering if it wouldn't help to reconnect to craftmanshift through the creation of notebooks, the touch of paper and the lines of a pen on the surface. I would like the meetings to be '''collective experiences of discovery,''' moments where to play with this object. Till now I have heard a few stories about notebooks and I am sure there are a lot more to discover; some of them underlines how easy it is to buy new notebooks but how hard it is for someone to start or finish them: I believe this is also connected to consumerism habits. We live in an era where we can decide to continously fullful our desires , without even understanding what we really need. 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 of having such an object. I would like to create a space where people can explore experiment and discover the possibilities of notebooks. I want people to discover what they need from a notebook, and then, if they are up for it, to discover how they are made and how easy it can be for everyone to create their own.
 
For the project to continue after the end of the series of explorative sessions, I plan to create a digital interface where people can fill in their needs (with the option to customize even more by directly getting in contact with me) and download and print instructions OR receive by post the materials and the instructions to create the notebook by themselves. Users will receive a magic modular notebook kit that has been created through experiments, study cases, workshops, meetings, conversations, surveys, in order to analyze and research other peoples notebook / needs / limits through these activities. The webpage will also be used to give a space to the information and documentation that will be gathered through these events.
 
== 2 How do you plan to make it? ==
''Describe how you will go through reading and writing practice.. How it will come together and possible outcomes.. How could the project come together as a hole''  
 
I want to create a conceptual map that reconnects the uses of notebooks and organise the collective explorative sessions based on thematics like ''notebooks as diaries, notebooks as annotation tools, notebooks as generators, notebooks as temporary archives, notebooks as craft, notebooks as community memory..''I need to research on all of these topics, as well as the ''History and development of notetaking'' ''& notemaking'' and ''Notetaking, learning and memory: how is it connected?'', as well as creating a Glossary of Notebooks to specify what i am working on, giving a context to the materials. The research aim is being able to introduce participants with more consciousness and knowledge on what we are trying to achieve during the explorative sessions.
 
In chuncks:
 
(A) Create a temporal community for temporal archives (notebooks): a space to discuss and analyse notebooks in a group to gather information and underline the limits of notebooks.
 
In particular, organise '''Collective Explorative Sessions''' where participants could: 1. discuss & analyse their own notebooks & find solutions collectively 2. create together new physical prototypes. Or other types of workshops e.g. ''Exploring pen&paper'' or ''Collective writing through the use of notebooks''.
 
To achieve this, I have to plan the dates and thematics of the workshops, find and contact the right locations, start advertising and invite people to join.  
 
<gallery caption="During this session, participants also had a piece of paper to pick from a selection I made for them to start reasoning with their hands/annotation methods throughout the session.">
File:M&Ms notebooks.jpg|first explorative session with xpub2 students on 26.09.22
File:M&Ms notebooks.jpg|first explorative session with xpub2 students on 26.09.22
File:Questions for M&Ms.jpg|questions I gave the participants to choose from before starting the session
File:Questions for M&Ms.jpg|questions I gave the participants to choose from before starting the session
File:Notes on 01.jpg|the plan of the session 01
File:Notes on 01.jpg|the plan of the session 01
File:Notes on.jpg|the plan of the session 02
File:Notes on.jpg|the plan of the session 02
</gallery>
</gallery>'''(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.<gallery>
 
(B) Create a collection of sample notebook prototypes: together with the participants ideas will emerge, but at the same time I will also do the same work by myself (both to be more an help with tools and concepts with the participants but also to research new ways of using a notebook).
 
At the end of the year I would like to have different categories/concepts that could feed the interface. To try out the prototypes, I will distribute them to people to see what is their use of it, to gather comments and reviews on the notebook they are trying.<gallery>
File:Multicolumnednotebook .jpg|''a multicolumned notebook:'' ''could we fold it more?''
File:Multicolumnednotebook .jpg|''a multicolumned notebook:'' ''could we fold it more?''
File:First notebook kit.jpg|first ''notebook kit: An adjustable and editable notebook with included tape and papers for continuation''
File:First notebook kit.jpg|first ''notebook kit: An adjustable and editable notebook with included tape and papers for continuation''
File:Annotation scans (2).jpg|sketches for new prototypes
File:Annotation scans (2).jpg|sketches for new prototypes
</gallery>(C) Work on hybrid/digital prototype: an online tool to create and print layouts and customised instructions [the notebooks kits]. This digital tool will be gathered together with research results and documentation on an online interface.
</gallery>
 
== <span style="font-family: Futura; font-size: 21px; color: #23868F;">3 What is your timetable? </span>==
== 3 What is your timetable? ==
'''SETT/OTT.''' Research, reading & notebooks prototypes.
''Include a timeline of what needs to be done, to understand if plans are realistic. Break it down in smaller steps.1 month-2 months chunks''
 
=== 29 SETT-17 OCT ===
i want to go back to research a little bit, work on the glossary, contextualise what i've been creating till now.
 
study some notebooks' history and development.
 
I  want to produce another notebook prototype
 
→ i have to prepare a nicer way to make people talk and think about their notebooks, to organise the right workshop for the public moment at Leeszaal.
 
=== 17 OCT [PM#1 Leeszaal] - 6 NOV ===
I have to create a conceptual map that reconnects the uses of notebooks and plan the events for the year based on thematics I described in the above section and organise my case studies in a more structured way --> start to make sketches for the webpage to gather material.
 
i want to prepare something to be done at the zine camp, to move a little bit more to the practical side [like make people play with paper with exercises and fun]
 
Create another notebook prototype.
 
Theroretical research on the thematics.
 
=== 5 & 6 NOV [PM#2 Zine Camp] - 28 NOV ===
Prepare for the next public moment [maybe the next public moment could create a space to for the archive interaction, find an activity to reconnect with old notes, observe how people behave with the temporal archive - notebooks as temporal archives]
 
Work on the webpage to gather material.
 
Theroretical research on the thematics.
 
Create another notebook prototype.
 
=== 28 NOV [PM#3 Buitenboel] - 10 JAN ===
Theroretical research on the thematics.
 
Create another notebook prototype.
 
Create a first prototype of notebook creation instructions.
 
During christmas maybe i will organise a workshop with my family to observe how people from the outside behave and work with notebooks
 
Work on the webpage to gather material.
 
=== JAN-FEB ===
organise a session .
 
work on digital prototype & webpage to gather material.
 
Create another notebook prototype.
 
Theroretical research on the thematics.
 
=== MAR-APR ===
organise a session .
 
work on digital prototype & webpage to gather material.
 
Create another notebook prototype.
 
Theroretical research on the thematics.
 
=== APR-JUN ===
organise a session .
 
working on a prototype in which presenting the written thesis: a modular notebook that contains all the information to be used in all directions, connected by the user
 
finish the digital prototype and webpage
 
== 4 Why do you want to make it? ==
''Your motivation, what drives you to undertake this project''
 
I am interested in the act of annotating as a mean 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 can become part of our living. And this personal world cannot be the same for everyone, cannot be standardised.
 
My idea is that everyone 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) can change using a different interface.
 
TBF
 
== 5 Who can help you and how? ==
''Look wider in the world, to involve external people, colleagues in the field, look a bit outside''
 
Gersande and the BookBinding workshop of Rietvald in Amsterdam
 
People working with book folding, binding, paper players experts
 
Collective writing and annoting (Simon Browne?)
 
I don't know yet it's too early.
 
== 6 Relation to previous practice ==
''What you did before in the past years, what you’re proposing now is part of what happened in the past, showing continuity, you always built upon, showing that you’re not starting from scratch''
 
In the past year as an xpub student I have enjoyed working with language and text. I tried to analyse patterns and on the other side, to disrupt common structures to create new pieces of text, to create “vernacular translations”. Here, I created a prototype of linguistic patterns (as rejection letters) and the impossible project website, a tool for translations. Plus, I used the annotation system created for Special Issue 1 to gather translations from users.
 
I also started to think about archiving methodologies and how to use archives in a more accessible way and the use of public libraries, so how people interact with books, how to connect people and books. Underlined example of translating one form of research into an activity/event. 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. 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.
 
During Special Issue 2, we discussed an idea I liked a lot: geocaching books. The idea comes from the bookcrossing.com website: books that can be shared, that can move, that are not left into a shelf. A nomadic publication: moving from one media to the other, using different objects so that the publication can move through. Never developed interest in web-to-print tools. Interest in material objects.
 
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, a practice that I find deeply interesting, and I was also interested in the idea of distributive practice (produce—>share—>exchange—>perform—>edit—>produce—>share—>..go on). As well as transcription methods that fed the need of experimenting with text (see Libretto of week3). While talking about instruments and tools, I worked on the Draggable, another online tool to mess up with texts (and audios in this case).
 
The second editorial proposal was about folder and content nesting: again, the activation by users is essential for the functionality of the tool we created for this release. Again, it was a collective process: the result will be obtained only if others will actively participate.
 
At a certain point during the last trimester, I started to shape my focus a bit better seeing a particular interest that I developed since the first day but never kept into account: my notebook.
 
I have been taking notes on different notebooks throughout the year, made by myself. At some point, before making the one for the last trimester, I started to question myself 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 analogue tools. Notebooks are individual and personal objects, but they’re treated like everyone has the same need from a piece of paper.
 
=== KEYWORDS & PROJECTS ===
language
 
text
 
translation
 
pattern analysis
 
disrupting common structures
 
texts as generators
 
used annotation methods to gather translations
 
'''rejection letters analysis'''
 
'''impossible project website'''
 
'''waving exercise'''
 
audience involvement and interaction
 
'''crossword glossary and game'''
 
geocoaching books
 
nomadic publication (from one media to the other)
 
web-to-print
 
material objects
 
notation systems, annotation methods and distributive practices
 
instructional work
 
'''“how to make sound" with miriam'''
 
transcription methods
 
'''Libretto with Jian week3'''
 
collective writing
 
'''editorial proposal week5 and week7'''


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


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


anti-standardisation tools
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.


'''my notebook prototypes'''
'''JAN-FEB.''' Research, reading & notebooks prototypes.


== 7 Relation to a larger context ==
Organise a collective session as well as individual ones.
''Theoretical material that shares stuff with your project, think about outside projects that share something with yours''


''Highlighting in which network of media you’re working with, awareness of broader context''
Write about past sessions & notebooks research process.


=== diaries ===
'''MAR-APR.''' Notebooks prototypes.
<nowiki>http://archiviodiari.org/index.php/home.html</nowiki> italian archive


<nowiki>https://xpatarchive.com/</nowiki> expats archive in Den Haag
Organise a collective session as well as individual ones.


<nowiki>https://diaryfile.com/</nowiki> [Diary File discovers, researches, and posts fascinating, historical content from antique diaries and journals. ]
Write about past sessions & notebooks research process.


<nowiki>https://diaryindex.com/</nowiki> blog on diaries
'''APR-JUN.''' Organise a collective session as well as individual ones.


<nowiki>https://www.thegreatdiaryproject.co.uk/</nowiki> [The project rescues, archives and makes publicly available a growing collection of more than 17,000 unpublished diaries.]
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.


<nowiki>https://tagebucharchiv.de/the-german-archives-for-diaries/</nowiki> german archive
== <span style="font-family: Futura; font-size: 21px; color: #23868F;">4 Why do you want to make it? </span> ==
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.


<nowiki>http://autobiographie.sitapa.org/spip.php</nowiki>? french archive
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''.


<nowiki>https://www.dagboekarchief.nl/</nowiki> dutch archive in Amsterdam
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.


<nowiki>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-SSOORhgAY</nowiki> Keeping and making diaries conference - Day 1, Session 1: ‘The making of an archive’
== <span style="font-family: Futura; font-size: 21px; color: #23868F;">5 Who can help you and how? </span>==
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.


=== commonplace books ===
== <span style="font-family: Futura; font-size: 21px; color: #23868F;"> 6 Relation to previous practice </span>==
<nowiki>https://thecommonplacebookproject.com/</nowiki>
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 [https://hub.xpub.nl/soupboat/theimpossibleprocess/ impossible project website], a tool for vernacular translations. Plus, I used the annotation system created for Special Issue 16 to gather translations from users.


=== notebooks ===
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.
the book of notebooks dan perjovschi


<nowiki>https://www.notebookstories.com/</nowiki> - blog on notebooks
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 [https://hub.xpub.nl/soupboat/SI18/02/recordings/your%20personal%20guide%20to%20making%20sound.mp3 week02 release], produced an instructional piece on “how to make sound”. The proposals I have been part of are also significant: [https://issue.xpub.nl/18/05/ week5 release] was about collective writing and the idea of distributive practice.


==== examples of "different" (marketing) notebooks: ====
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: [[User:FLEM/Notebook|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.
<nowiki>https://www.mixiwnotebooks.com/</nowiki>


<nowiki>https://www.modubooq.com/custom-notebook/</nowiki>
== <span style="font-family: Futura; font-size: 21px; color: #23868F;"> 7 Relation to a larger context </span>==
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.


<nowiki>https://perfect-notebook.com/</nowiki>
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.


<nowiki>http://ratfactor.com/about</nowiki>
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.


<nowiki>https://tumblr.austinkleon.com/tagged/notebooks</nowiki>
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).


== 8 References/bibliography ==
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.
''Stuff you’re been reading about, (dictionaries and wikis NO), use Harvard reference method, find the good references—->check previous work''


Urgent publishing -
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.
== <span style="font-family: Futura; font-size: 21px; color: #23868F;">8 References/bibliography </span> ==
Anon, (n.d.). ''Notebook Stories | Notebooks, journals, sketchbooks, diaries: in search of the perfect page…''. [online] Available at: <nowiki>https://www.notebookstories.com/</nowiki>.


reading writing interfaces - lori emerson
Gibson, M. (2019). ''Crafting communities of practice: the relationship between making and learning.'' Int J Technol Des Educ 29, 25–35


Experimental publishing and broadcasting 1930
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.


Mario Perrotta / Il paese dei diari
Horvitz, D. (2019). ''How to Shoplift Books''. Printed Matter Inc., New York.


How to Read a Diary // Critical Contexts and Interpretive Strategies for 21st-Century Readers - Desirée Henderson
Illich, I.D. (1985). ''Tools for conviviality''. London: Marion Boyars.


Reading Digitized Diaries: Privacy and the Digital // Life-Writing Archive - Desirée Henderson
‌Kealy-Morris, E. (2015). ''The bookbinding workshop: Making as collaborative pedagogic practice.'' Art, Design & Communication in Higher Education, [online] 14(2), p.119.


<nowiki>https://www.nytimes.com/1970/05/03/archives/speaking-of-commonplace-books-commonplace-books.html</nowiki>
Korn, P. (2015). ''Why We Make Things and Why It Matters''. David R. Godine Publisher.


Note Taking as an Art of Transmission - Ann Blair
Mann, M. (2007). ''Introducing the Hipster PDA''. [online] Available at: https://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/introducing-the-hipster-pda.


All the problems will be solved by the masses - By Simon Yuill - <nowiki>https://www.metamute.org/editorial/articles/all-problems-notation-will-be-solved-masses</nowiki>
Sanders E. B.-N. and Stappers P. J. (2014). ''Convivial design toolbox: generative research for the front end of design''. Amsterdam: Bis.


<nowiki>https://computerhistory.org/blog/community-memory-precedents-in-social-media-and-movements/</nowiki>
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.


<nowiki>https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/22/magazine/commonplace-books-recommendation.html?referringSource=articleShare</nowiki>
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: <nowiki>https://www.wenger-trayner.com/introduction-to-communities-of-practice/</nowiki>.


<nowiki>https://paulgreer.net/2015/06/03/notes-writing-diagrams-and-index-symbols-by-walter-benjamin/</nowiki>
Ulrich H. and Stasinopoulos K. (2021). ''140 Artists’ Ideas for Planet Earth''. Penguin UK.


Sennett, Richard. The Craftsman. Yale University Press, 2008.
Yuill, S. (2008). ''All Problems of Notation Will Be Solved By the Masses.'' [online] Mute. Available at: <nowiki>https://www.metamute.org/editorial/articles/all-problems-notation-will-be-solved-masses</nowiki>.

Latest revision as of 13:08, 21 November 2022

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. (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.

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.