stuck

stuck

This is a long time not to update a blog. After the contextual report I was feeling pretty shit about everything to do with my project and the prototype presentation didn’t really do much to raise how I felt about it nor did the debate society meeting. Pretty frustrated right now.

Anyway. I’ve been talking, thinking and drawing, not necessarily in that order, trying to work out where my project is going, what’s trying to achieve etc. I keep working on drawings of ideas but when it comes to making them I start to doubt their purpose, whether they will help me, whether they really deal with the idea of my project, which is kind of redundant anyway as I’m still working out the answers to those questions.

For the prototype presentation I got 54 for my mark which is a 2:2. I guess that’s not too bad. Some of the notes I got...

How are you going to give people subjects to debate?
What stimulates a debate?
Need to see what [the debate society] teaches you
Objects to find in a pub to promote debate
Quite a way to go - are you designing a ‘kit’ for debaters? Could it go further than this?
Context - where are you designing for? debate society, pub, speaker’s corner, impromptu [mobile], dinner party
How to generate subject matter
Tidying and arguments over banalities as ways of practising debates
Banal arguments that are presented to a 3rd party

Matt pointed out that I really need to work on my project identification, and really define what my project is, whether it’s giving people a voice who don’t have one, a system and object for formal debating, pub politics etc. He also suggested that if I get too frustrated I should set myself a mini project and should also leave the college.

I started looking up the definitions for debate, discussion and argument which helped me realise where I was placing my project, at the overlapping point of debate and discussion:

Debate: a formal discussion on a particular topic in a public meeting or legislative assembly, in which opposing arguments are put forward.

an argument about a particular subject, esp. one in which many people are involved : the national debate on abortion | there has been much debate about prices.
verb [ trans. ]

argue about (a subject), esp. in a formal manner : the board debated his proposal | the date when people first entered America is hotly debated.

[with clause ] consider a possible course of action in one's mind before reaching a decision : he debated whether he should leave the matter alone or speak to her.

ORIGIN Middle English : via Old French from Latin dis- (expressing reversal) + battere ‘to fight.’

Discussion: the action or process of talking about something, typically in order to reach a decision or to exchange ideas : the proposals are not a blueprint but ideas for discussion | the specific content of the legislation was under discussion.

a conversation or debate about a certain topic : discussions about environmental improvement programs.

a detailed treatment of a particular topic in speech or writing.

ORIGIN: Middle English (denoting judicial examination): via Old French from late Latin discussio(n-), from discutere ‘investigate’ (see discuss ).

argument: an exchange of diverging or opposite views, typically a heated or angry one : I've had an argument with my father | heated arguments over public spending | there was some argument about the decision.

a reason or set of reasons given with the aim of persuading others that an action or idea is right or wrong : there is a strong argument for submitting a formal appeal | [with clause ] he rejected the argument that keeping the facility would be costly.

ORIGIN Middle English (in the sense [process of reasoning] ): via Old French from Latin argumentum, from arguere ‘make clear, prove, accuse.’

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I went up to Speaker’s Corner on Sunday, and on the way had a lot of time to think about my project. I don’t know why it helped specifically but getting out of the studio was good. so this is what I wrote while I was on the bus... it’s a bit lame sounding but it all goes towards me finding a way through.

“It’s really about promoting debate and discussion to see what comes out of it. Maybe ‘see’ is the wrong word but I’m fascinated by the ideas that can be produced by people coming together and the pub is an excellent area for that. -> Governments ban free speech as a way of control -> deviance from standard rules/society/expectations --> installations in public spaces have a similar quality.”

I went the Montague Arms with my brother and the conversation turned to my project, and a lot of the things he was saying seemed to be what was in my head but I was having trouble defining and saying out loud. He said that “pubs are the great social leveller” and that how people generally “talk in a different way about different things” when they’re in pubs but pointed out that my problem comes in how I distil this into a project and into a way of designing which is very true and definitely an issue I’ve been struggling with. People have discussions and debates in pubs anyway, so what is the point in me intervening or getting involved? What is my project going to do?

I suppose in a way every conversation I have with someone that furthers my project or every conversation I take part in or hear that pushes someone else’s project forwards is my project. It’s a case of finding my place in that and finding the role of design in it which I think is what I really need to push. Fun times.