User:FLEM/Thesis drafts

1. Introduction: research interest, the objective of research

Chapter One communicates the purpose and focus of the study and explains the outline of the research. This chapter includes a brief explanation of the research background, and provides rationale for the selection of the research area. Moreover, the first chapter contains explanation of the research aim and objectives, and explains research structure.

Last year 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. 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?".

I believe this is really a personal matter and that every individual should or could find their personal answers to this. 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?

The thesis will be then a report of my practice: informed through theoretical research and references that will feed the research method section that will then be part of the body of the thesis.

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.

2. Context and history (2000-2500 words)

Chapter Two constitutes a literature review, and accordingly, contains analysis of models and theoretical frameworks that have been previously introduced to the research area. This chapter contains definitions of main terms and explains search strategy for the secondary data. Viewpoints of other authors regarding the research area in general and research problem in particular have been presented in a logical manner in this chapter.

[main question: Why are we all using the same structures?]

In this chapter I will give an overview on notebooks' history and evolution. , how capitalism and consumerism changed our vision of objects's use and more specifically, notebooks' use with the introduction of standardised objects (touching the explosion of already made bullet journals for example). How it changed humans' approach to making the objects we use. This chapter will conclude with what is the impact of the use of standardised objects in humans and the importance of self-expression and creativity.

Questions: How and why has the notebook been created? How did it evolved till the most common structures we use nowadays? How has the value of the process of creation modified after industrialisation / in consumerism? What is standardisation? Why do we create standardised objects? What is their impact on humans' existence and the creation of personal imaginary? What happens when we don’t use our intrinsic creativity? Why is it important to express ourselves?

“In our society people make little of what we use but consume it as presented by the media” (Dissanayake E.,1995)

2.1 Overview on notebooks' history and evolution, how capitalism and consumerism changed our vision of objects's use and more specifically, notebooks' use with the introduction of standardised objects (touching the explosion of already made bullet journals for example). How and why has the notebook been created? How did it evolved till the most common structures we use nowadays?

2.2 How industrialisation changed humans' approach to making the objects we use. How has the value of the process of creation modified after industrialisation / in consumerism?

2.3 the impact of the use of standardised objects in humans and the importance of self-expression and creativity. What is standardisation? Why do we create standardised objects? What is their impact on humans' existence and the creation of personal imaginary? What happens when we don’t use our intrinsic creativity? Why is it important to express ourselves?

2.4 what is the environmental impact of buying new items? How within making our own objects we can participate in the "reduce, reuse, recycle" movement as an opposition to buying new items?