Triangulation and Harvard Referencing

Triangulation

A number of authors have considered the value placed on creative craftsmen and women in a world which we have been bought up to believe that the best form of utilising creative practice would be to apply their skills to methods of advertising. Ken Garland (1964), Kalman (1998)and Adbusters (2000) have all commented on the fact that creative talents have always been undermined by corporate committees, as 'creative people are now working for the bottom line'. For instance the Adbusters in their 'First things first 2000 manifesto' describe how 'there are pursuits more worthy of our problem-solving skills, unprecedented environmental, social and cultural crises demand our attention. 
These statements are all completely valid, as we as creatives do not want to fall subject to the brainwashed, small minded culture that is consumerism. It's about time that more value was placed on creative practice and visual communicators so that we can use our skills to create more sustainable forms of communication for more worthwhile purposes.

Analysis

'Barcode trees' by Jane Hazlewood accurately illustrates todays global commercial culture. The roots of the tree formed by a barcode suggest that we place more value in reaping consumerism more than we do than the things that are more important, such as personality, talent, the environment and many other factors. The colour scheme portrays the very 'black and white' outlook on consumer culture and the mindless desire for more and more until one eventually wastes away, never satisfied.

Evaluation

Garland's manifesto (1964) laid out the initial foundations as to where creative practice should and shouldn't exist, and how creatives should not be exploited by advertising corporations. He sternly states that 'we do not advocate the abolition of high pressure consumer advertising: it is not feasible'. Then goes on to plead 'we hope that our society will tire of gimmick merchants, status salesmen and hidden persuaders, and that the prior call on our skills will be for worthwhile purposes', which assists in outlining and emphasising the importance of our rights as creatives, and identifying areas of potential exploitation that could undermine the industry. 
His use of language could be seen as more of a 'soft' approach to the matter in comparison with the Adbusters (1998)who comment on the consequences of devoting efforts to advertising on a wider perspective. They comment on the fact that those individuals are 'supporting and implicitly endorsing a mental environment so saturated with commercial messages that it is changing the very way citizen-consumers speak, think,feel,respond and interact', which outlines the severity of how the mind-numbing culture is undermining the creative industry, and how in a way that they are contradicting themselves by subjecting to this.

Paraphrase

Writing to highlight the negative implications of corporate power in 'Fuck Committees', Kalman (1998) claims that 'virtually all creative industries have been freed from ideas, individual passion, and have been relegated to a role of corporate servitude, and that creative people are now working for the bottom line'. Kalman also aims to demonstrate how important it is to 'find creative lunatics, treat them well and use their money to change the world', and he does this by bringing the fact that in our society 'creative people have their work reduced to content or intellectual property' to the readers attention.

Bibliography

Adbusters,2000)First things first 2000, Eye magazine, no.3, vol.8

Garland,K(1998)First things first manifesto, 13 Oakley Square, London

Hazelwood,J(2015) Barcode Trees [ONLINE]. Available at: https://society6.com/product/barcode-trees-illustration_framed-print#12=52&13=54 [Accessed 20 December 2015].

Kalman,T.(1998)Fuck Committees [online]. Available from:http://www.manifestoproject.it/fuck-committees/[Accessed 20 December 2015]

Subculture and the meaning of style lecture

'Subculture' is defined as a cultural group within a larger culture, often having beliefs or interests at variance with those of a larger culture. 
In the documentary 'Subculture, the meaning of style', it looks at symbolising subcultures to challenge the values of mainstream society. It also looks at incorporation and social order, how it sucks symbolic threat back into the midst and ends up being conventional.

• Youth culture started post war when there was no longer a need for regiments and uniform
• It has a lot to do with music, money and marketable goods; this creates subculture
• The 'teddy boys' was the first identifiable look that was 'divorced' from appearance. It was a bold and strong look.
• Youth culture was all about rejecting the culture around you and striving to be different
• For the lower classes, it was all about adopting a style and making their own in a more affordable manor.

• The 'Rockers' were a utilitarian, more muscular American culture based on bikes and leather, made British.
• It was the first movement to show that there was a generation gap.
• The media was fundamental- radio and TV.
• Fear was also fundamental; it was essential to have something that people didn't understand and were intimidated by.
• Each subculture has a sensation that the media leaps on, it starts as an elitist until the media jumps on it.
• In the fifties, when all of this started, all youths had was what they wore. That's what they stood for.

• 'Mod' comes from a period where people looking were looking forward as opposed to looking back
• Mod's rode vespa scooters, it gave teenagers independence and made them look cool
• It was a movement that was all defined by men
• Drugs became a big part of the subculture too, which created even more of a generation gap.
• There were three phases of mod; jazz, r&b and the who/small faces.
• This then broke off into the hippies and the skinheads.

• During the 'wind thrush', boats full of Caribbean citizens moved over to England. As a result of this, the 'rude boy' culture arose. It was edgy, dangerous and anti-mainstream.
• It was the emphasis of masculinity, bringing over mento and ska.

• The 'skinheads' were like working class mods; style and music bought black and white together in this subculture.
• The whole thing was over by 1970, when the media blew it out of proportion. 
• There was a reform in the mid 70's, but it was a minority.

• Soul power was all about dance, the 'winners' made themselves the centre of attention
• Wigan was the home of Northern Soul
• It was black music being enjoyed by lower class whites, and all about having a good dance!
• There were no bands to follow, it was all an underground movement; the music didn't come to you, you had to go to it.
• Southern soul was more or a jelly shoes, ear piercing white kid/black kid thing, but was ultimately about accepting people from other races.

• In the 1970's, Britain was dismal. So along came punk, just because people needed something to do.
• It was a post-modern idea, put together by Malcom McLaren. The commonalities made a context (so it was like a combination of all of the cultures).
• Nobody looked like each other
• Everything that you did had a meaning; 'do it your own way- it doesn't matter if you get it wrong'.
• Girls had more power; this was like the rise of feminism
• The sex pistols ended punk when Steve Jones swore live on television; punk then got completely blown up by the media and became a mockery 'pantomime'.

• Punk and reggae merged together to create 'two-tone'. It was a movement that wanted to change things.
• Britain was a mess at this time. The song 'ghost town' by the Specials suited this down to a tee.

• In the 'beaten generation', affluence started to kick in.
• 'Casual' was a movement that WASN'T lead by music...it was lead by football.
• Liverpool bought loads of designer sportswear over and it fuelled the football hooligans.
• Ecstasy killed it.

• Rave was a real 'grass-roots' movement; it was like a hippy-creative atmosphere
• It was big field sized stuff, it wasn't in clubs.
• Then again, the media became involved and rave became a national thing.

• After 1987, movements and subcultures died out and instead, musical genres over took.
• Brit pop was the last definable culture, it was a set of retro enthusiasm that was very backward looking.

• NOW; everyone as easily acquired musical tastes
• Everything can be done at the touch of a button- subcultures aren't needed
• In this generation, politics is more of a driving force now.
• With youths today, the only way to shock them is to be honest.

What I gained from this lecture

I didn't know anything much about subcultures before watching this documentary, but I am fascinated about how the power of style and music could influence and drive groups of people to become so passionate and dedicated to following and being a part of these movements. 

I feel slightly envious that I have grown up in such a disconnected era, where the generation thrives on attention, false statements of popularity and narcissism. There was something so inspiring and uplifting about being a part of a sub-culture and celebrating style and music that became a part of your identity. I find it interesting that this unique and  power could never exist and exceed today, and I question what would it take to drive a generation to be connected once more.

Group Crit

Task
I presented my ideas to the group today; we each had a discussion about our topics and fed back our ideas to each other.

Is this realistic for a 3000 word essay?

Yes, the topic is very important and fits in to todays issues within society.

Is the argument focussed or very general?

Might be a little too general, but valid. Good that I am relating to current affairs, it makes it more interesting and relevant to explore.

Does the question match the argument?

It does, there are lots of areas to discuss and write about with having an issue that is affected by so many external factors.

Do the sources and quotes match well?

They do, but more are needed to back up your points. Look into persuasive advertising more and health journals too.

Any suggestions? Sources to look at etc?

• Supersize vs superskinny (documentary)
• Books looking at weight loss
• Journals/articles about government spending
• Estudio

Feedback action plan

What feedback did I receive? What were the points?

• My argument is strong and has potential
• Good imagery to back up the points
• Look at more advertising sources
• The question matches my argument clearly
• Very good that it relates to current affairs

What are my priorities

• MORE RESEARCH!
• Spend an afternoon or a day just researching!

Plan of activities- Actions, resources, dates/weeks

• By December 13th: have all research and sources available. In this time, read as much as I can on the current government spending issues.
• By December 20th: have the first draft completed 
• By January 4th: do some sketchbook work

Further Research

Admittedly, COP for me has been sitting on the old back burner for a while...but I have had a few brain waves in between.

Struggles

I have been feeling like my title 'how are the obese victimised in society' is far too vague; I don't want to be in a similar situation to last year where my essay title is so open ended that I have no idea where on earth I am going with it.

I had a thought about what I am actually interested in and what I want to find out more about. As a nation, we all depend on the NHS providing us with the best quality care and treatment when we are unwell. Without this some of us would not be able to afford the services that they provide, which in some cases could be life threatening. Therefore I have decided to flip the question on its head a little and try to focus more on how the NHS can survive in the current financial climate with the help of the attitude and behaviour of the nation contributing in a more positive way.

I have decided to alter my title to(no doubt this will change again) 'would the NHS be more cost efficient if the government were to subsidise more valuable health education?'

This way I feel like I have a question to answer rather than just pushing some opinions on a very open ended statement about the obese.

Things I want to discuss in my essay

• Child educational development, as children grow up they need to know what is good and bad for you. If they learn fundamental information at a young age they will develop as values for the rest of their lives
• How this generation has been so affected by the development of technology, how this has lead to some poor lifestyle factors
• SUGAR (inspired by 'Jamie's sugar rush')How much money is spent on treating type two diabetes
• Cuts in the NHS, how they will be affect people in different ways

References (so far)

ADVERTISING

• 'Critics portray advertising as a socially pointless attempt to capture market share through psychological manipulation' (Stegeman,M (1991)Advertising in competitive markets, the American Economic Review vol.81, No.1 p210-223)

BEHAVIOUR 

• 'Like many risk factors for disease, obesity results from behaviour and shows a social gradient. Especially among women, obesity is more common among lower income individuals, less education and some ethnic/racial minorities' (Alder,N,Stewart,J (2009)The Milbank Quarterly vol.87, No.1 p47-70)
• 'The number of obese or overweight people in developing countries rose from 250 million to almost one billion in under three decades, and these rates are rising significantly faster than in rich nations'

I definitely need some more, but I am struggling to find them as this is such a current issue only specific to the UK. I will speak to my tutor in the next session to gain some advice on where to look for some effective academic references.

ESSAY PLAN

Introduction

• How much our nation depends upon the NHS-emphasise health and wellbeing importance
• Outline current issues of spending, debt and any other external government issues
• What I want to ultimately find out; is there enough evidence there to prove that improving education will have a more positive impact on our lifestyle choices and therefore health.
• How much danger the younger generation is in today being surrounded by all of these corruptions

Paragraph One: Government spending cuts, how has this affected the NHS so far? (outlining the current position of the NHS)

• The whole country is in debt, constantly trying to cut back which means it is inevitable that certain groups of people will be affected not just in terms of health (this is the route of the problem)

Paragraph Two: How problems in society are not contributing to our wellbeing

• Society has become extremely lazy, narcissistic and isolated since the development of technology and social media. Evidence suggests that level of wellbeing has declined ever since with the rise of cyber bullying etc.
• People are in a competition to be the best CONSTANTLY- vulnerable and insecure
• We need to make ourselves aware of these consequences, this could work through shock tactics e.g. calculating the time spend using our phone on a large scale=time wasted 

Paragraph Three: Food industry and big companies power

• Manipulation of the vulnerable through advertising
• Placing of products in stores
• Food labelling
• We need to be properly educated about nutritional values in food, maybe one good thing is that the younger generation will be familiar with the traffic light system and vaguely familiar with balanced diets, but different types of fats etc and how damaging they are.
• Talk about domestic sciences being scrapped, how this has had a negative impact on our life skills, need to be taught how to cook!!

Paragraph Four: Avoidable health conditions 

• Leading on to obesity and related health conditions; heart disease and diabetes
• How much the NHS spends on diabetes; where else could this money go?
• What is being done already- talk about tax on sugary drinks
• Also how much the NHS spends on tooth extraction
• Smoking cessation  
• If more emphasis was put on how serious the consequences are for making these life choices then people may choose to make alternative choices.
• Exercise should be emphasised in schools, especially with further education e.g. compulsory sports classes on Wednesdays being scrapped 

Conclusion

• Not enough importance is being put on our individual wellbeing which is creating a viscous cycle with current pressures in society, including too much pressure being put on NHS staff with having to over work for less pay due to government cuts.
• If more money was put into educating todays younger generation about the negative consequences that making poor lifestyle choices can have both individually and on society then the changes in NHS spending on ‘avoidable’ conditions will become evident
• Money can be spent in more valuable areas elsewhere 

RESEARCH TO DO (ASAP)

• More academic references
• Government spending on education
• Government cuts on the NHS
• NHS spending on inadequate areas
• How care has suffered due to lack of resources
• How much obesity has risen in the last few decades
• What are the biggest health concerns in the UK right now

Desire Lecture

Studying two Psychologists:

• Sigmund Freud
• Jacques Lacan

Freud 

Treated "hysteria" patients (post-traumatic stress disorder)and developed theories about the psyche.

The psyche is 'what it is like to be me'. He also studied the conscious and unconscious self.

Example patient

Little Hans: Suffered from Generalised Anxiety Disorder; he had a fear of horses because he was bitten by one as a child.

Theory: The Oedipus Complex 

The Oedipus Complex consists of sexual feelings towards one's mother as that is the first women present in an infant male's life. The father is seen as the enemy rival. 

In Little Hans' case, the fear of castration overcame his anxiety and his father was pictured as interchangeable with a horse.

The end of his phobia came with Hans' fantasy:

1. Imaginary children
2. Plumber giving him larger genitals

Conclusion: Desire is a conscious vehicle for unconscious drive.

Lacan

The unconsciousness is structured like a language.

"Desire is neither the appetite for satisfaction, nor the demand for love but the difference that results from the subtraction of the first from the second" (2001 p2871)

• Desire is used to differentiate between biological/emotional needs
• The while represents part and the part represents the whole
• Object Big A= desirable
• Small A= object cause of desire- makes desire possible in the beginning
• Desire as the Other: big Other- symbolic mechanisms that tie people together
• Desire does from the outside
• We need to exist as Others to be desirable
• IDENTIFICATION MAKES DESIRE POSSIBLE
• "the mirror stage" narcissistic love towards the self

My thoughts on Desire 

I thought that this lecture was really interesting, and could possibly relate to my topic of obesity in terms of desiring addictive ingredients such as sugar. I would study more of Lacan's theories as opposed to Freud, as they are more focused on relationships with other humans rather than needs towards things in general.

Planning and structuring an essay

Task one: in groups discuss what we need when writing an essay

Today's session helped to refine what I wanted to find out, though I still need to refine my essay title and create a clear structure. I had a go at making a first draft of an essay plan (I know that this will definitely need refining)

I have highlighted key issues that construct a strong introductory paragraph and set out clearly what I want to try and figure out. 
Something I really struggled with last year is having too much of a vague and open ended essay question, so this is something I will need to take on board before I could potentially make the same mistake of setting myself a task too large.

One of the things that I needed to do was gather some more sources, so I spent the evening researching imagery that would relate to my topic.

John Holcroft's work nails my subject matter down to a tee in terms with all of todays corruptions in society. I found some examples of his work about obesity and how society view it.

On the contrary, I also had a look at Rachele Cateyes project on 'Glorifying Obesity' to gain a different perspective.

More research into sources like these will help to refine my essay question, and help me discover what I would like to find out.

Identity Lecture

Essentialism is the traditional approach to identity. It looks at:

• The soul/biological makeup
• Phrenology (parts of the brain)
• Physiognomy (correct proportion; read someone by the way they look

Pre-modern

People were defined by their long-standing roles, institutions determined peoples identity for example marriage, the church, your trade etc. 

Modern

This was the enlightenment period, (the 19th- early 20th century)

Three scholars to look at in this period were:

• Charles Baudelaire (1863)
• Thorstein Veblen (1899)
• Gerog Simmel (1903)

Simmel said that there was a trickle down theory between the classes; the lower classes would try to copy the upper, but in cheaper and more demeaning ways. Simmel's book 'The metropolis of mental life' talked about the separation from subjective to objective life.

Post Modern

This era focused more on the fragmented self and how identity can be  constructed through our social experience. In this era, 'discourses' were seen to define our identities. Discourses are 'a set of recurring statements that define a particular cultural object' for example age, race, gender etc.

Scholars in this period:

• Erving Goffman
• Zygmunt Bauman 
• Tom Hodgkinson
• Micheale Faucault

Drawing Seminar

Today's task was a quick drawing challenge, in which we had to visualise images quickly when given a theme. Luckily for me the theme was the NHS! So I already had a level of knowledge about what I could draw.

Part One: Draw 10 objects that relate to the NHS

 Part two: Draw potential problems relating to society to do with the NHS

So here I tried to illustrate risk-bearing scenarios. For example the ticking time bomb of waiting for an ambulance to reach a sick person, people calling the emergency services for the wring reasons, not enough facilities becoming available etc.

Part Three: Envision what the NHS would be like if there weren't enough resources and we had to rely on technology/other sources to provide patient care.

Here I have imagined what the NHS would be like in the future continuing the way it is going at the minute...
For example I have shown FaceTime being used for appointments, imagining that the digital era will continue to phase people so much, and also a surgeon trying to explain over the phone about how to perform a DIY operation.

Reflection

I am fortunate to have had the example topic being in relation to mine somewhat. I found it interesting to have to think on the spot about what I could illustrate and communicate in the best way to show the problems in the NHS. I think drawing under pressure makes you think in a different way, and come up with more obscure ideas as opposed to having a long time to think and process potential ideas.

Find, Observe, Record

The first task in thematic groups was for each person to present our ideas and areas of possible interest under the following subheadings:

• Why we are interested in the subject
• How it might relate to our practice
• What we know about it already
• How we can observe, record and respond to it

Practical task 1: Spend one hour going out and find examples or inspiration of my chosen theme.

I found this task quite difficult as my topic is rather broad, but I had a look around a few local shops to see how sugary products were marketed.

I challenged myself to resist the urge to buy something sweet, I will record each time I get a craving!

The Smoothie Company

The Smoothie Company sells healthy smoothie drinks as well as a range of sandwiches and snacks to suit specific dietary requirements; for example having vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options. Although I did notice that on the counter as you are waiting to pay, there is a variety of sweet snacks such as biscuits and brownies that are very hard to resist.

1 urge to buy a brownie

Subway

Similar to The Smoothie Company, subway promote themselves as a healthy sandwich shop, the main difference being that they are not an independent company. Although when you are waiting to pay, a selection of cookies becomes available. The option of a meal deal is also available, making the overall price of a subway only a penny extra for including a soft drink and a choice of a bag of crisps or a cookie, making it very difficult to say no.

No urges to buy anything (partly because I didn't have enough money)

Tesco

I went into Tesco with the intention of buying milk only. So I walked to the back of the store to buy some milk, walking past all of the offers for sweets and chocolate on the end of the aisles (share bags for a pound etc). THE WORST thing about this branch of Tesco is the aisle where you queue. This aisle shelves really mundane items such as toilet rolls, air fresheners etc. But they display sweets and chocolate in mini drop down units so that you are almost forced to be tempted to buy something on impulse whilst you are waiting in the queue.

I left Tesco with milk AND a chocolate bar...

Reflection

This task was really interesting to experience being tempted and exploited by marketing schemes first hand. I have always had a soft spot for cadburys chocolate, and when it is on offer I do find it hard to resist. But in moderation. It is SO difficult to avoid these temptations when they are near enough everywhere. It makes me think,  are supermarkets responsible for adding to the obesity crisis? Part of me thinks yes, because they thrive off customers money, so they are bound to want to sell as much as they can to keep growing and developing and gaining the reputation as the best supermarket. 

So I'm thinking what needs to be controlled here? Is it peoples will power and conscience not to give in to temptation? Or is it the food industry trying to wean every penny that they can out of us? 
This is something that I would like to further explore.

Practical Task 2: Continue by drawing 20 more images relating to your question and theme.

I didn't quite manage 20 drawings, due to feeling uncertain about where my question is going at the moment, and worrying that my topic is too similar to one of my class-mates. So I have been feeling pretty disheartened and anxious about the whole thing.

Although in my images I did manage to vent out some things that really interest me and fuel me up to start a discussion. Some of these things included:

• Honest branding 
• The strain that obesity and such conditions are having on those responsible for providing care e.g. doctors and nurses
• How the NHS COULD be more cost efficient if these things were prevented
• How marketing exploits young people
• Government statements
• How I think the government should invest more into educating the next and current generation about these conditions

The next steps I will take

From these drawings, I know now to go out and find real examples of these issues and use them as evidence and reference in my essay.

Establishing a Research Question

I managed to narrow down some information that I would like to include in my essay and generally gain a better sense of direction with the whole thing. It still isn't crystal clear but that is something that I can work on.

I also checked out the JSTOR and found some handy reference material on there about obesity, the only problem is that because it is American, I couldn't find an awful lot about the NHS.

Things I need to do from here:

• More research into the NHS
• Create an essay plan
• Define the desired outcome of this research proposal

Illustration and Authorship Essay

Owen Davey has been working as a freelance illustrator in Leicester since graduating six years ago from Falmouth University. His colourful and playful vector illustrations have won many awards such as the YCN professional award in 2013 and he has worked for many well known companies such as Google, Facebook, Virgin and more.

Linking the work of a creative practitioner to 'The Death of the Author' by Roland Barthes, we could view the illustrator, in this example, Owen Davey as an author in relation to their individual practice. The meaning of authorship can be seen as ‘the person who originates or gives existence to anything’ (M.Rock, the designer as author 1996). 
A lot of what Barthes is portraying in his text is that any form of authorship is open to interpretation and the audience may not relate on the same level as what  the author set out to achieve, both in an emotive and logical response.

In relation to Owen Davey's practice, I am personally inspired by his work due to his use of bright colours in textured vector form that I think appeal to a really broad audience, including both adults and children which is a really difficult thing to do. For example, his book 'Mad about monkeys' is an educational and informative picture book with supportive language about the history and relationships of the animals. Barthes claims that 'it is the language which speaks, not the author' although Davey is merely answering a brief to visually inform a large audience with facts about monkeys. This could also mean that the audience is looking at it from a non personal perspective, meaning that the purpose of reading and looking at the book is for its sole purpose, to learn about monkeys, rather than reading and looking at the book to understand Davey's thoughts and feelings towards monkeys.

I also feel like this is a rather difficult statement to interpret from Barthes; 'the image of literature to be found in ordinary culture is harshly centred on the author, his person, his life, his tastes, his passion'. Yet again  I feel like this cannot apply in the correct context with an illustrator in terms of authorship, as the majority of the time the illustrator is given a brief from an external person in which they need to answer. It would be completely different if the illustrator had devised the narrative and imagery themselves where they could fully intertwine their personality, life,tastes and passions when answering a brief, but this is not always the most appropriate method to take when appealing to a broad audience.

This statement from Barthes translates to the fact that a text comes together gradually along the process of engagement with it, rather than from the point where it started,'a texts unity lies not in its origin but its destination'. If we were to relate this to illustration and the specific practice of Owen Davey's authorship this could make sense in the process of becoming a developed illustrator in a personal sense, for example the unity of his practice will take time to develop etc. However in terms of his work for example a book or piece of work, this could also apply and be seen as relevant in the sense that the unity of the image doesn't lie where it started- a lot of loose ends and ideas, but in the finished product which communicates the appropriate message and answers the brief efficiently.

To conclude, I believe illustration and authorship are two completely different things. In today's society, an illustrator will often answer a brief that is given to them with specific requirements, whereas a traditional author or writer will express themselves through language, and have entire control and ownership on what is delivered to the audience. However if we look at the illustrator as 'the person who originates and gives existent to anything', then this becomes relevant in a sense that through image making, the illustrator is illuminating and giving existence to a particular subject matter, message and theme that can be visually interpreted.

The Flipped Classroom

• The flipped classroom basically means flipping the control so that the students have more authority of what they are learning, and so that they are more in charge of their own learning
• They also in a way create their own answers
• The idea comes from how there is no hierarchy between students and teachers, in effect that the teacher is not all knowing and that the students are stupid

Jacques Ranviere  (a trendy French philosopher)

• He wrote two texts; the ignorant school matter and the politics of aesthetics
• He was involved in the French May 1968 student revolution, including a general strike and occupations of factories and universities
• The students revolted due to unfair fees and general oppression in the creative industries.

• In this era, dressing down was a weapon used against conservatives
• He was also involved in producing pamphlets on the poverty of student life
• There was a poster made entitled 'sous les paves, le plage', translating to something along the lines of that underneath the horror and repression, there is beauty.

Louis Althusser

• Ranviere also admired the French marxist philosopher, Louis Althusser.
• He had two states of apparatus in which he believed:
• Repressive state apparatus- physical control
• Idealogical state apparatus- happy with social status/ mental control
• He stated that the world is not equally available to all and questioned who can actually have a share in what is common to everyone? He believed that these states could prevent certain people from participating in certain things.

Looking back at Ranviere; his book 'The ignorant schoolmaster:five lessons on intellectual emancipation' looks at an exiled French teacher attempting to teach a class of Dutch students, but the main problem here was the language barrier. To overcome this, the teacher takes a 'figure it out for yourself' approach to the matter, embracing the theory that anyone can learn by themselves.

Conclusion

• Education is a project that should be undertaken n common; for the common
• 'The distribution of the sensible' and 'society of content' prevent participation in common therefore acting as an educational barrier.
• Stultification- Repression
• Self-education- Emancipation

Research and Epistemology Part 1

What we mean by research

• Research informs our practice, and out practice informs our research
• Process (research of a project) is more important than outcome
• If we focus on the end point, we are focusing on what we already know
• "Everyone is a genius at least once a year. Success comes from having brighter ideas closer together"
• Reflective, experimental, creative process
• Process of finding facts
• Collecting information from a variety of sources

Ideas

Research impacts ideas with either a:

• Stimulated approach - Looking at external things and developing associations with what I am trying to achieve
• Systematic approach - Taking what you've found and adjusting it
• Intuitive approach - Generating ideas from nothing (eureka moments)

Types of Research:

• Primary - It hasn't existed before, targeted at the problem
• Secondary - Already existent. Analysis of that information
• Quantitative - Facts/stats or numerical measures OBJECTIVE
• Qualitative - Un-quantifiable. Peoples beliefs or opinions SUBJECTIVE

What is information?

Processing and manipulating facts/date you've collected. Information should be sufficient, competent, relevant and useful.

• Phase 1 - Assimilation- organising relevant information
• Phase 2 - General Study - what are the aspects of the problem
• Phase 3 - Development - refining solutions to the problem
• Phase 4 - Communication - delivering information to improve knowledge

Analysis (it is a cyclical process- not linear)

STEPPING INTO THE UNKNOWN : Where I will start and how I will move forward

• What is the problem/brief/question about?
• What is there and what am I meant to do?
• KEY: Generate loads of stuff
• Solutions: Compromising 

Paradigm Position

• Ontology: What is out there to study? Analysis of what can be known.
• Epistemology: How we can know about things, how we can justify and validate them.

Conclusion

• Start with what you know
• Identify what you want to know more about
• Plan how you're going to find out about it