User:Camilo/Thesis Guideline

⇄. Thesis Outline

Index

Introduction

1. Manifesto

1.1. Manifestos on Publishing practices.

1.2. The manifesto as a tool to diffract.

2. Glossary

2.1. Challenging a recurrent element of a publication.

2.2. Possible ontologies and world-building with words.

3. System

3.1. The nature of this glossary: The publishing practice as a living open system

3.2. Weaving different realms: an inter-connected world.

4. Experiment

4.1. Playing with the system: Threads and weaving. Speculating on possible connections and processes.

5. Conclusion.

6. Bibliography.

Introduction

[500 words approx]

The purpose of this thesis is to unpack and explore separately each component of the project 'Glossary for a Diffractive publishing practice'. This project is part of a collaborative publishing practice I'm working on with my friend Maria Paris. It is an experimental project that aims to connect multiple vocabularies from different practices of publishing with vocabularies of other realms, in order to reflect and expand the vision of our practice.

The components are the glossary, the system, the experiment, and the manifesto. The glossary component is seen as the matter of the project. It refers to what is the project composed of. The system component is taken as the organization of the project, it explains how the project is organized. The experiment component refers to how the project moves and how it is been activated. The manifesto component is the intention. It refers to what the project aims for.

In the first chapter, I will explore the manifesto component of the project by stating the publishing manifesto as a tool to reflect on the practice, but furthermore as a tool for diffraction. I will show examples of manifestos from the book Publishing Manifestos made by Miss Read and articulate them to expose how by stating a mission for a future publishing practice we are reflecting proactively on the present of it. Afterward, I will introduce the term 'diffraction' to make clear that the approach of questioning the practice goes beyond a reflective attitude. A diffractive approach is going to be explored by the text Diffracting Diffraction by Karen Barad and it suggests a process of reflection that is committed to be engaged while questioning.

In the second chapter, I will reflect on the glossary component, by thinking about what is a glossary beyond a list of words, and what are the potentialities of using such a structure for a publication. I will introduce the glossary as the common element inside a publication that creates meaning to a specific world inside a book. I will be looking at the collaborative workshop I made called "Glossary of glossaries" as an attempt to challenge the structure, and I will articulate the ontological capabilities by bringing the idea of world-building from the texts of Ursula K. Le Guin and Tiger Dingsun.

In the third chapter, I will explain the system component, by describing how this system of words looks like and why it suggests seeing the publishing practice as a complex system. I will approach the publishing practice as a living system by recognizing its complexity beyond single descriptions or tags. For that, I will introduce an example of this from the text "soap" by Fabio Morais in which he describes the almost empty tag of saying 'Artist Book' to refer to a publication that is full of complexities. Furthermore, I will expose the interconnected capabilities of the system by describing the ontological inseparability described by Karen Barad and Donna Haraway. This will give me the opportunity to clarify why the link between different realms.

In the fourth chapter, I will attempt to exemplify the experiment component by threading connections among the words by speculating about outcomes and giving examples. I will explain what do I call a thread and how the weaving process can activate an experimental activity that can bring up practices or present already existing projects.

Chapter 1: Manifesto

[1500 words approx]

Manifestos on Publishing practices.

The manifesto as a tool to diffract.

Chapter 2: Glossary

[1500 words approx]

Challenging a recurrent element of a publication.

Possible ontologies and world-building with words.

Chapter 3: System

[1500 words approx]

The nature of this glossary: The publishing practice as a living open system

Weaving different realms: an inter-connected world

Chapter 4: Experiment

Playing with the system: Threads and weaving. Speculating on possible connections and processes.

As an exercise of making this project a tool for creation for small-publishers on arts and active the project as a manifesto. I'm planning to 'thread'(make connections) some nodes of the system to suggest routes over it as different manners to activate and give concrete ideas. A thread would be the action that makes a connection between two or more different words and brings up a specific type of reflection. Multiple threads as reflections over the practice. Maybe, they suggest a prototype, a new word, and an action. Something that would give the opportunity to experiment. Not to prove a sort of modularity, but to entangle the multiplicity of it, and be able to ground it by giving more questions, reasons, materials, and ideas for the actual publishing practice.

The idea is that these threads together can weave attempts to activate the glossary as a manifesto by entangling among each other. These threads can be given by collaborating with other small publishers that contribute to the glossary. ⧆ ~ ◈. Thread #1: How can I host my project?

Having in mind the question about the infrastructure of this project: How am I going to host it online? I tried to thread words of the glossary and came up with a thread that reflects on this idea.

The Thread:

* infrastructure, Rpi, web-server, autonomous-practice, self-hosting, collective learning.

Those words give the idea to self-host the project by collectively learning how to set up a web server in a Raspberry pi as the infrastructure.

Bibliography

Bibliography:

• Intra-actions - Adam Kleinman (Mousee 34 - Karen Barad)
• Diffracting Diffraction: Cutting Together-Apart - Karen Barad
• Staying with the Trouble by Donna Haraway
• Dancing at the Edge of the World - Ursula K. Le Guin
• Against World-building by Nick James Scavo
• Chimeric Worldling: What Can Graphic Design Learn from Poetics and World-building? by Tiger Dingsun
• Soap - Fabio Morais
• Publishing Manifestos - Miss Read 2018
• Here and now? Explorations in urgent publishing - Insitute of Network Cultures