User:FLEM/Analysis of sessions
C.E.S. content
Created Wednesday 09 November 2022
1. Organise sessions with people of different ages, backgrounds, bubbles, experience.. 2. Work with associations to produce ideas and provoke creativity.
Type of sessions:
[ ] Collective sessions (3 to 5 people?) [ ] Individual sessions (1:1) [ ] Practical sessions [ ] Follow-up sessions (both individual or collective) [ ] Writing exercise [ ] Couples's sessions (two people working together)
Possible locations:
[ ] WORM (Zine's events)
[ ] CultureHub
[ ] DeBoeg
Analysis of sessions
Session 1. M&Ms XPUB
Created Thursday 17 November 2022
Environment: XPUB bubble; people that know my work and had the same influences in the last year.
Organisation of the session:
What will I say and how the session is structured. Helloooo everyone and welcome to this first M&Ms session. What I prepared for you is not what could be called a workshop, but more like an collaborative exploration session. I mostly have only questions and not so many answers or solutions, that is why I need you all. This exploration sessions will serve my research about notebooks, annotation systems and dynamics: what I am trying to achieve is analysing, understanding and improving notebook systems to create personalised methodologies and tools. This sessions are meant for everyone who takes notes or draw, that uses paper or not, in every way. I would like participants to produce their personal notebook because we are all different and with diverse needs, so an object like a notebook, that we use everyday, cannot be standardised. And what is there more personal than something that you can make with your hands, at your own pleasure? On the table you can see some pink questions: I would like you to temporary choose one of them and keep it in front of you. In addition, I made a little selection of sheets of paper for you: again, I would like you to pick the one you feel like satisfies you the most and keep it with you during the session. You can do whatever you want with it, fold it, write on it, or just keep it in your hands during the session and start reasoning on it and its spaciality while we talk. I asked you to bring your notebook because I would like to start questioning, all together, the limits of this device. By using as starting points the printed questions, I would like to go through an analysis of the notebooks, what are the characteristics, the limits, questioning what you notice in your way of writing, annotating, how you use it, why you use it, or why you cannot use it so much. While discussing together, the idea is to come out of this session with an idea for the construction of the “(un)perfect” notebook, that you will start working on in another session, later, or in the studio. I am always available for consultation.
Inspirational questions for participants… 1.How do you take notes/draw/doodle/think? What kind of interface do you use? 2.What is kept/lost in the process of annotation? 3.Do you use lines or plain paper? pen or pencil? 4.Do you have different notebooks for different purposes? Which ones? 5.What do you do when a notebook is finished? 6.Do you think your notebook could still say something/be useful for some reason? 7.How much taking notes is involved in the process of learning for you? 8.Are there problems you might have while using your notebook? It can be limitation of the means, structure of it..etc 9.Have you ever thought about using a notebook that could fit better your needs? 10.Do you ever think like I would like to continue on this notebook but it’s finished? I would like to keep these pages also in the next notebook? 11.Do you think you might like to use the notebooks by sections and not by order of the pages? With separations or maybe color differentiation to start writing also in the middle of it? So you don’t have to start from a big blank first page but from a random or not so random point inside the notebook where everything will be gathered together? Do you feel like needing categories and sections? What if one section finishes then?
Results
"on notebooks and annotation systems"
to think about for next sessions answering all the questions everyone give/take some time to think explain my thoughts and ideas before the start so they know what we are talking about and get some context underline that every answer is useful, using notebooks to understand humans' brains
new ideas Collective notetaking on paper memory extension notebooks show what you experienced in that period of time (subjective experience) community memory = social function policy of craft, notebooks making as crsft craftmanship: you think about the surroundings, the skills you need, the tools you use the time of creation etc.. how to make your personal archive of memory? → the memory castle
new questions Has anyone ever intentionally thrown away a notebook? What to do if you don't finish all the sheets in a notebook? Do you take notes to keep or to let go things? What is the difference in use between apps/notebooks? What do you write on them? Why to have a record that is contraddictory to the actual experience? Why do we use notebooks?
from participants [ ] Soft-cover anxiety from messy notebooks, don't wanna play with the notebook NEED line-paper, calendar and space for notes nice soft paper + perfect pen page with sticky notes to use for no-set things needs to be big enough must stay flat NO stream of consciousness YES anchor points what get lost when organising/moving thoughts from brain to written material? [ ] smoothest paper to prevent myself from hesitating because of no friction don't like to have already made cover notebooks from teenage years: I would neglect and let it sink need for personal space, use notebooks to create a personal space [ ] I forget things so it's helpful to remember, to centralise thoughts and let space for more things plain sheets hard cover not to break them separate notebooks for different needs to let go stuff and stop thinking [ ] pocket size notebook to bring it everywhere used to describe an entire experience sticky notes for temporary thoughts flexible, has dots for concepts and reflexions [ ] start motivated then forget about the notebook [ ] I keep them but I don't look back Notebooks to experience the world, not to keep track Notebooks as defence, to feel protected to participate in a different world to let things out [ ] lot of layers start multiple notebooks at the same time when it's new, the content is selected sticky notes for temporary thoughts other archives/papers, content is distributed everywhere scattered around use them to visualise, it's about what it's happening right now not attached to one tool site-specific notebook time-based notebook
essay form
12 people picked a piece of paper, sat around a table, started a discussion. On the table, a selection of questions was prepared and every participant was asked to choose one they would feel comfortable with. I proposed and described my approach
references
https://pzwiki.wdka.nl/mediadesign/Politics_of_Craft
https://www.artistsandhackers.org/Community-Memory
https://computerhistory.org/blog/community-memory-precedents-in-social-media-and-movements/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettelkasten
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palimpsest
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottom's_Dream
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folio
Roland Brothers around notula and nota
Session 2. Leeszaal
Created Thursday 17 November 2022
Environment: XPUB bubble, that has similar interests and research questions, as well as research methods, but a bit more open as they are not all studying with me.
Session 3. Individual session with Clara
Created Thursday 17 November 2022
11-11-22 Environment: a person that studied with me in the past but we went through different directions. Still in the artistic bubble though that can definitely be perceived throughout the session.
Different notebooks for different purposes: C gives names and date of birth and death to her different notebooks. [ ] Important thoughts and sketches C: I use it less than before E: Do you know why? C: What if i draw something and it's not nice? After I have drawn it then I have to keep it there, inside my notebook and the notebook is ruined with bad drawings. C: I compare the pages to see if they are all beautiful. CREATIVE SOLUTION: Making collages to fill in the spaces that I left while moving on in the notebook. [ ] Self-structured bullet journal It's a blank notebook on which C creates the different sections, drawing them and organising them as she feels like C: I like to browse through it like a notebook therapy [ ] C: started many journals for example to make it more funny to take medications, where I make cute drawings and doodles that refer to my "obligation" [ ] Weekly planner to remember things entire week in one page pages with lines CREATIVE SOLUTION: taping on the pages paper inserts so I can use blank paper and write how I want, as the lines create limitations in my thinking [ ] C: I have a notebook for a podcast I am working on I use lines only when I have to write everything aligned and organised I skim the ideas in my head first, or talking, and then I write down when I have a precise idea or keywords I am sure about. [ ] Sudden ideas: on her phone
Problems/hates: [ ] Anxiety of blank pages [ ] What to do with the back side of paper I have written on? Waste of paper. [ ] Ripped pages. CREATIVE SOLUTION: glue one page on the top of the other [ ] Squared format
Make your own tool 1.0 - 22.11.22
Created Thursday 17 November 2022
for session on 22.11.22
Introduction (10 minutes)
Hello I’m working on a research about paper notebooks, or more widely note taking devices, and on how we use them for our thinking and learning process. This is an ongoing research, therefore, I do not have all the answers that also makes all of this really exciting and I hope these sessions, that I hope will continue, are a space for both you and me to explore and discover new things.
(theory) 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 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.
(practice) This is what gave me the idea (show my notebooks' evolution): a normal notebook of which I just folded the sheets to create this multiple columns paper item. In my case I built it from scratch, but there are also options to work on the ones you already have, if you’d like so. At some point I needed to reorganise thoughts and I made this little prototype (show grad proj little notebook).
Creativity levels: (from the book Convivial toolbox) The most basic level of creativity is doing, that requires a minimum amount of interest. This is what happens when we use our already made from the industry notebook. The second level is adapting. This action is made to personalise and change in a little way an object you already have. If you brought your personal notebook today, you could try to improve it but making little additions to it, like a back pocket, a taped new paper, post-its to create more space. The third level is making. This happens when we build a notebook from scratch but following predetermined patterns or rules. This action needs more time and energy. The last level is creating. Creating is making something that doesn't exist yet. It relies on the use of raw materials and the abscense of predermined patterns. Everyone can decide at what level they feel like engaging with their own notebook. The purpose of this sessions is to engage with further levels of creativity and explore how to make the notebook fit better your needs.
(ask about notebooks making knowledge - do you do it? if you do it, how? if not, why?) I don’t know if you already use notebooks frequently or if you’d like to do so, and I hope that we'll be able to discover this here together during this session. The idea is going through a few little exercises to get into the process of ideas and see how it goes. Later, we will make a notebook ourselves. I’m here to guide you so whatever you’re level of bookmaking is, you will be able to create something today.
Do not overthink, it's not right or wrong, just do what comes to your mind. We are going to do three short exercises to explore possibilities. You don't need to read what you write, you're invited to share but you're not obliged. Just free your mind. This is experimental. Whatever you'll make is good
EXERCISE 1. (5 minutes) Questions in layers: 1) Do you use notebooks? 2) List a few situations in which you use notebooks. 3) Describe what do you like or dislike about your notebook.
EXERCISE 2. (5 minutes) (prepare 3 sheets of paper of same size and give them in different rounds of 5 minutes) 1) Fold the first paper. Give it to the person next to you. 2) Fold a second paper. Give it to the person next to you. 3) Fold a third paper. Give it to the person next to you. 4) Put these sheets together, where the binding in these foldings could be positioned?
EXERCISE 3. (5 minutes) (prepare 3 different sizes of paper and give them in different rounds of 5 minutes) 1) From answer 2, pick one situation in which you use a notebook. 2) Write something about what needs you have in that situation on this paper. You are allowed to fold the paper to make it more comfortable for you. 3) Write again something (or the same thing) about what needs you have in that situation on this paper. You are allowed to fold the paper to make it more comfortable for you. 4) Write again something (or the same thing) about what needs you have in that situation on this paper. You are allowed to fold the paper to make it more comfortable for you.
Reflection round. Share if they have interesting observation. How was it different to write to a different shape? Do you wanna share what you wrote? Let's do a round.
[break of 10 minutes]
Maybe you can now think a bout a notebook for a specific scenario and think about a format that could fit. Pick what you need and build a prototype. This can be just the prototype to test a scenario, but if you end up liking it you can try to use it. Think about it a few minutes. If you have some ideas or problems you'd like to talk about, I’m here to guide you so whatever you’re level of bookmaking is, you will be able to create something today.
EXERCISE 4. Make a notebook from a cardboard. (40 minutes) Importance of recycling materials: an important part of my practice is making notebooks by starting from already used materials. I brought today a few "book covers". I'd like you to start thinking about a prototype you could fit into one of these shapes/structures. This will also help triggering our imagination. It can be as easy and simple as you can imagine, and you could also think if there’s a way to make it more adapt to you, helping yourself with the results of the exercises we just did. Let’s start!
After the session. (10 minutes)
Ask 3 questions:/ conv/ let's do a round/ first time, feedbacks are welcome / if they have any thoughts in the next weeks or months or start making osmething invite them to share.
1) Did you like the session?
2) What would you change/What did you like?
what impact this workshop can have on this?
3) Would you participate in a follow-up session?
If so, leave your email address here:
Results
What worked:
What didn't work:
Outcomes: