ANST - Documentation in Atlantia

[Gunnora Hallakarva]

Here's another out-of kingdom voice from a non-Laurel Antlantean speaking about
documentation, this time from Lady Karen Larsdatter, Deputy Atlantian Kingdom Minister
of Arts and Sciences.
-------------------------

... you may feel free to post the URL to the Atlantian
Kingdom Minister of Arts & Sciences Handbook
(http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/handbook/toc.htm) -- especially

http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/handbook/ch2.htm#_Toc391906721

which takes you right to the section on documentation.  There are
Many Useful Links there and I should probably do some searching
for more.

Further, you may (if you feel it would help) quote me on my general
opinion of documentation -- that the point of documentation, at the
core of its essence in the realm of the arts and sciences of the
SCA, is to help the viewer understand the process by which the
artisan went from the original artifact(s) to the finished item
presented.

But that does sound a bit highfalutin', doesn't it ;) ... I've just
recently moved from a small and densely-packed area that's really
A&S-oriented to a chapter that's weighted heavily towards the
newbie side ... I'm pondering having a series of classes on the fact
that Documentation Is Not A Four-Letter Word to help assuage a
lot of the fears that folks here in Stierbach have about written
documentation ... it's a pretty deep-seated fear, considering that
two Stierbach Baronial Birthdays ago, entries with documentation
were disqualified!  (Once I found that out, I made sure to lock the
documentation in the car...) ;)

Yours in Service to the Dream,
Karen Larsdatter
Deputy Atlantian Kingdom Minister of Arts and Sciences

------------------------

This was the original post from tha SCA Arts List:

Subject: Re: Documentation difficulties
Mon, 30 Nov 1998 23:14:19 -0500
Karen at stierbach.atlantia.sca.org (Larsdatter, Karen )

Agnes deLanvallei wrote of her difficulties as a judge:

> the web.  My Kingdom doesn't have a policy yet.  I think the
> web is not documentation unless the item is published on paper somewhere.
> It a godsend for people in small towns.  At the same time, we risk very
> bad scholarship if you can cite a personal web page (of "clothes I made")
> equal to the archaeological publications of the Museum of London.

But, by the same token ... let's say we have someone who's
researching nålebinding for socks.  There are two good places to
go for information on this particular artifact:

http://www.yorkarch.demon.co.uk/secrets/vikindrs.htm
  which has a really kickin' picture of a sock worked in this style

and

http://www.ftech.net/~regia/naalbind.htm
  which is an article by an English lady who does work in this style
for her English reenacting group

Now, neither of these are Crowfoot's "Textiles," but if our artisan is
having a hard time envisioning what the sock looks like from the
drawings, they really should check out the sock at the York
Archaeological Trust's website; the other article will be excellent for
pointers on how the technique works.  But both of 'em are certainly
better than a "brag page" of pretty baby-socks all done up in
nålebinding.  ;)

> as judge: judging good references from lousy ones.  In my specialties,
> sure.  When judging something else--much harder.  Quality of references is
> not very important for picking a winner, it is important for the
> underlying educational goal:  helping people learn about the Middle Ages.
> Some sources are the best available information, some are full of
> undocumentable statements. Entrants should get praise for using The Best,
> help/suggestions if they found only fourth hand sources.

I think this goes along with the above, on using web-based
documentation.  One of the things I did for a recent competition
was to organize my bibliography as a list of sources:  I had
pictures of the original artifacts upon which I had based my piece in
Primary Sources, and bibliographical lists of Secondary Sources
and Tertiary Sources.

Karen Larsdatter




============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.