Allotment group prompts & stuff that needs doing.... from dan robinson
Here's a few questions and tasks. Please could you all post an update on what
you are doing...
Rich:
Have you organised some voluntary labour for Rosebank? when -what- who????
How is the second life plot coming on?
Everyone:
We need to measure out the woodhouse plot and photograph it from above so we
can rebuild a replica in second life (see rich or mark about this - they
know whats needed)
Garden in H block:
Is anyone looking after the plants? Marion took some side shoots off the
tomatoes and I took some more off this morning.
TASK: look up tomato plants and find out how to prick oput the side shoots
- how much to feed them, etc
Lettuce:
Eat it - its ready, leave a little bit then it will grow back.
Key:
Liz has it - Mark - do you want to get one cut and then keep hold of it?
Potatoes:
there may still be time to put a late variety in - lets get digging and
planting
Anyone who gets it together to get onto the plot can plant whataver they
like.
Research outcomes / Future plans:
We need to find a way of communicating this short period of allotment
research and experimentation. the outcomes I'm aware of so far are going to
be:
1. 2 neighbouring second life plots:
these will continue to grow and be used next year - your job is to set this
up so it can continue
2. Woodhouse plot 18:
this will also continue - we need your plans and proposals so this can
continue. (from really practical stuff like how to get key and tools sorted,
to more ambitious or abstract plans, designs and proposals for its future
use and role)
Publication:
There has been alot of discussion, research, experiments and thinking but
its still all pretty hidden - you need to find a way to resolve and
communicate this work - your deadline is Monday.
lets get your images and writings sorted so you can make a decent
contribution to the publication
visions : proposals : designs : plans : schedules : diagrams : plots :
projections : findings : conversations : meetings : communities : characters
: weeds : growth : continuation : future : legacy : tools : blah : spades :
lettuce : gooseberries : physical work: next year : self-organisation
Research:
what are your responses to the reserach suggestions i gave you and other
things you've found?:
Leeds organic growers
oxley hall
n55
supertools
seven samurai
studio-orta
uni students plot
etc
Cross-overs with community, writing, craft-cricle and science-art
whats happened?
what are the crossovers?
I posted up for Dan
___________________________________________
Thursday, 17 May 2007
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
The Allotment in 2nd Life
Part 1
on Monday the Allotment group met with cubistscarborough and risa in Second Life to look at our virtual plot on the Leeds Met Island. 2 of the diggers had already started working on the plot and turning the 'soil'? oh and finding out other potentials of the site, motorbikes and football. We persuaded cubistscarborough to give us another plot next door so that we could do a copy of the real plot - Plot 18 on Woodhouse Moor - and have an experimental one to test out ideas.
The discussion brought up lots of questions on the purpose and design of the virtual sites which reflected back onto the real plot in Hyde Park, creating an interesting two way discussion around the function of allotments and more philosophically around the purpose and function of design.
Risa told us that 2nd life people dont need to eat to exist so I wondered why we would grow anything, but then thinking about allotments and gardening, many people still participate in shows where a giant onion or a prize leek are displayed and admired but not consumed. We also wondered about the purpose of digging virtually, is there a point or does this translate into building objects and scripting so they can 'do fancy things'? So then parallels in working patterns begin to emmerge between the real and the virtual. Can building an object be a therapeutic activity like many people get out of the act of digging. An optimistic side for the immaculate gardener was that weeds will only appear if they have been programmed into the site, but perhaps for the less particular the site will look too neat. This brings up other questions around nature and the control of nature, does the extreme control the virtual gardener have remove the excitement the real gardener has in the unexpected, the crooked, the surprise, even the frustrations of battling the pests. Do pests have a purpose in the real? And if anyone knows, please tell me which is the snail to keep in your garden that eats the other snails ( or is this a rural myth?)? Brown, orange or black?
Part 2 tomorrow.
on Monday the Allotment group met with cubistscarborough and risa in Second Life to look at our virtual plot on the Leeds Met Island. 2 of the diggers had already started working on the plot and turning the 'soil'? oh and finding out other potentials of the site, motorbikes and football. We persuaded cubistscarborough to give us another plot next door so that we could do a copy of the real plot - Plot 18 on Woodhouse Moor - and have an experimental one to test out ideas.
The discussion brought up lots of questions on the purpose and design of the virtual sites which reflected back onto the real plot in Hyde Park, creating an interesting two way discussion around the function of allotments and more philosophically around the purpose and function of design.
Risa told us that 2nd life people dont need to eat to exist so I wondered why we would grow anything, but then thinking about allotments and gardening, many people still participate in shows where a giant onion or a prize leek are displayed and admired but not consumed. We also wondered about the purpose of digging virtually, is there a point or does this translate into building objects and scripting so they can 'do fancy things'? So then parallels in working patterns begin to emmerge between the real and the virtual. Can building an object be a therapeutic activity like many people get out of the act of digging. An optimistic side for the immaculate gardener was that weeds will only appear if they have been programmed into the site, but perhaps for the less particular the site will look too neat. This brings up other questions around nature and the control of nature, does the extreme control the virtual gardener have remove the excitement the real gardener has in the unexpected, the crooked, the surprise, even the frustrations of battling the pests. Do pests have a purpose in the real? And if anyone knows, please tell me which is the snail to keep in your garden that eats the other snails ( or is this a rural myth?)? Brown, orange or black?
Part 2 tomorrow.
Monday, 14 May 2007
Help - Craft group interviews
Has anyone from Craft Circle interviewed anyone involved in the craft groups which Emma mentions? Or visited their activities. An interview / visit report would be great -but time is running out - send it in soon
Craft circle investigate craft groups in Leeds
Craft Circle has been researching the concept of community and how craft and craft activities has an impact on communities. The first course of action we decided to take was to obtain a description of community. This was because in a group discussion, none of us could come up with a completely satisfactory explanation. So we typed the word community into the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia. The definition it gave was: ‘A community usually refers to a sociological group in a large place or collections of plant or animal organisms sharing an environment. In human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks and a number of other conditions may be present and common, affecting the identity of the participants and their degree of adhesion.’
We also discovered that the word comes from the Latin ‘communis’ which means common, public, shared by all or many.
From this point we decided to research Community centres in Leeds, as these seemed an obvious central meeting point for members of the community. We obtained a list of addresses for each centre in Leeds, many of which hold craft based activities for either children or the elderly.
For example, Ebor gardens commnity centre holds a knitting club twice a month for over 60s in the surrounding area. From this we researched knitting clubs in Leeds. The best one which we found was a group called the ‘Knitterati’, which is aimed at the trend of the moment for groups of adults to meet up, drink coffee and knit. It is held in the Starbucks in Borders on Briggate, and the group meets every first Tuesday and third Wednesday of the month.
One of the other groups we found is the ‘Knitting and Crochet guild’ which is a nation wide organisation. The Leeds and Bradford branch is held on the second Friday of every month, starting at 7.30pm on Headingley lane in Leeds. The group holds tutourials bringing in artists and experts to speak to the group.
Also in Leeds is the ‘Craft Mafia’, a group of females working in the area who use craft materials to produce art and jewellery. This is led by Michelle Duxbury- Townsley, who also runs ‘Pretty crafty things’ in Leeds Met Student Union, a trade fair giving a place for ‘indie designers and renegrade crafters’, a place to showcase and sell their work.
Written by Emma Proctor.
We also discovered that the word comes from the Latin ‘communis’ which means common, public, shared by all or many.
From this point we decided to research Community centres in Leeds, as these seemed an obvious central meeting point for members of the community. We obtained a list of addresses for each centre in Leeds, many of which hold craft based activities for either children or the elderly.
For example, Ebor gardens commnity centre holds a knitting club twice a month for over 60s in the surrounding area. From this we researched knitting clubs in Leeds. The best one which we found was a group called the ‘Knitterati’, which is aimed at the trend of the moment for groups of adults to meet up, drink coffee and knit. It is held in the Starbucks in Borders on Briggate, and the group meets every first Tuesday and third Wednesday of the month.
One of the other groups we found is the ‘Knitting and Crochet guild’ which is a nation wide organisation. The Leeds and Bradford branch is held on the second Friday of every month, starting at 7.30pm on Headingley lane in Leeds. The group holds tutourials bringing in artists and experts to speak to the group.
Also in Leeds is the ‘Craft Mafia’, a group of females working in the area who use craft materials to produce art and jewellery. This is led by Michelle Duxbury- Townsley, who also runs ‘Pretty crafty things’ in Leeds Met Student Union, a trade fair giving a place for ‘indie designers and renegrade crafters’, a place to showcase and sell their work.
Written by Emma Proctor.
INTERVIEWS WITH SCIENCE PEOPLE
1) What have you been doing over the past week?
2) What have you enjoyed most?
3) Do you like working in a community?
4) Write down one thought or quote to document
Laura Daniel
1) I’ve been working with the science project, trying to understand ways of interpreting scientific processes in an artistic way. Learning about the science and art community and the kind of work they do.
2) Thinking about science with artist Rachel Chapman and exploring ways you can think about complicated scientific information. For example, something as simple as a marble run or a game of hide and seek could explain something scientific and complicated.
3) It’s interesting to feel part of a group of similar minded people who all work with similar issues. It feels like there are people to support you with how you’re thinking.
4) Science and art aren’t as different as you’d think!
Jon Kiefert
1) We’ve been doing the science project- I’ve been making a giant marble run to represent the journey of haemoglobin through the body. We found the average time it took for a marble (ball bearing) to travel through the run and drew diagrams of it. We also filmed it and made a video.
2) I enjoyed building the marble run the most and watching it grow.
3) I quite like working in a community on some tasks, but for others I would prefer to work on my own or with a smaller group of people.
4) Science, what is it?
David Atkinson
1) We’ve been trying to make some sense out of science talk, which is hard work. Visualising the structure and movement of protein strands with a string of balloons and representing the journey of haemoglobin through the body with a marble run.
2) The marble run was really fun using whatever we could find to make jumps, ramps and loop the loops, with a hell of a lot of gaffer tape- it’s very scientific.
3) Working in a Community means you get a variety of ideas and opinions mixing together.
4) Lets all just get along.
1) What have you been doing over the past week?
2) What have you enjoyed most?
3) Do you like working in a community?
4) Write down one thought or quote to document
Laura Daniel
1) I’ve been working with the science project, trying to understand ways of interpreting scientific processes in an artistic way. Learning about the science and art community and the kind of work they do.
2) Thinking about science with artist Rachel Chapman and exploring ways you can think about complicated scientific information. For example, something as simple as a marble run or a game of hide and seek could explain something scientific and complicated.
3) It’s interesting to feel part of a group of similar minded people who all work with similar issues. It feels like there are people to support you with how you’re thinking.
4) Science and art aren’t as different as you’d think!
Jon Kiefert
1) We’ve been doing the science project- I’ve been making a giant marble run to represent the journey of haemoglobin through the body. We found the average time it took for a marble (ball bearing) to travel through the run and drew diagrams of it. We also filmed it and made a video.
2) I enjoyed building the marble run the most and watching it grow.
3) I quite like working in a community on some tasks, but for others I would prefer to work on my own or with a smaller group of people.
4) Science, what is it?
David Atkinson
1) We’ve been trying to make some sense out of science talk, which is hard work. Visualising the structure and movement of protein strands with a string of balloons and representing the journey of haemoglobin through the body with a marble run.
2) The marble run was really fun using whatever we could find to make jumps, ramps and loop the loops, with a hell of a lot of gaffer tape- it’s very scientific.
3) Working in a Community means you get a variety of ideas and opinions mixing together.
4) Lets all just get along.
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