T h e p a r t i c i p a n t ' s v o i c e
External Information
External information is defined as something tangible such as letters, diaries, journals, books, invoices, receipts, photographs, and illustrations. The following content is the voice of artist taken from the transcription notes:
I found it to be an interesting glimpse into history. The archive I spent most of my time on hand many individual documents that all came together to make a story.” (Par_04).
The world of archives felt like finding hidden treasure and now I know that those gems of information and life experience exist and I can explore them any time I choose (Par_06).
External information can be taken from other sources outside the archives, thus continuing their information journey. This would include reading books, articles, newspaper clippings, and seeking and retrieving information from online sources.
[the] mill worker named Lucy Larcom. When I realized I could get her book at the Portsmouth Library I decided to read it. She lead me down the path I was looking for. All of a sudden, the story found me – and I found the girls (Par_01).
I did a lot of research on the Brewster family going back three generations on both sides, on the families of other children who died in similar circumstances, Mary Baker Eddy founded the Christian Scientist church, legal reform regarding religious exemption regarding medical care, etc.” (Par_05).
External information also comes from knowledge sharing—information gathered through inquiry and discussion between students. I found myself wondering about Alice, and I talked about her with my commuting
partner every day – her story shifted and evolved with each incarnation (Par_01).
Hearing the stories the other students shared, while watching them select materials and work. It means learning about book repair and conservation, about valuing historical materials and ephemera (Par_02).
Internal Information
Participants use internal information such as affect such as emotional connections, feelings, perception, cognition, memories, and emotions. Numinous qualities, defined as profound feelings such of awe, sacredness, or fascination were also experienced (Latham, 2013, 11).
The ideas have shifted and changed over time, allowing me to understand just how an author might feel as he/she moves their protagonist along the plot/setting of the story (Par_01).
Mixture of love and war, the image already pre-conditioned by the fact that I’m the daughter of a veteran, but also because the book I was altering was red with dark, brownish-black tones. To me, black and red always signify conflict and passion, death and love (Par_02).
This obit touched my heart and fired up feelings of anger and sadness. My father and I collect obituaries of friends as well as strangers, with compelling stories, etc., mostly lost, abandoned, alone or needy. In fact, this interest ... this desire to preserve, to save was inculcated in us as a result of our own troubled family history of abandonment, and tragedy. Rescuing was how we attempted to heal ourselves I suppose (Par_05).
Socio-Cultural Information
Socio-cultural information pertains to the rules or theories in a particular practice (book construction, art theory, and so forth). It is another form of codified information. Here, the participants have pre-knowledge of book making practices, abstract art theory, and writing constructions. These are known as discipline specific information.
I am a writer and literary critic by profession, so am obviously conditioned to process narrative, but with words, not with images, materials, or textures (Par_02).
The challenges and frustrations I met were mostly technical – what was the best way to manage the bulk of adding elements to a text block, how could I sandwich a transparency in a signature effectively, how could I adhere pages together to provide a space for a cut out, where I could then place an object with some dimension ... I managed these challenges (Par_04).
I experienced a number of challenges as my knowledge of the mechanics of altering books was limited thus I made a lot of mistakes and had to learn how to undo them and redo them often (Par_05).
Being a rookie in the world of art making, much less altered book making, I learned about tools and techniques that were completely unknown to me (Par_06).
Creating New Information
Putting together external, internal, and sociocultural information brought about a fourth theme—new information. The altered books with their new narratives were created using information gathered through external, internal, and sociocultural means. This is two-step process. The first process is building the narrative, which then feeds the second process—constructing the altered book to represent the visual narrative resulting in a final product.
Each page had to flow into the next while I also interposed some actual history of the Biddeford Mills alongside my fictional friendship between “Alice” and Lucy Larcom. This piece of “historical fiction” if you will, is a unique rethinking of the genre – why does a book have to be only words on a page? Watching the pages come together, I was amazed at how much I had learned along the way (Par_01).
I was able to imagine the scenarios that took place at the time, the people, places and things coming together to make an historical time come to life. By tapping into my own archive, my art journals, the collections of images, quotes, printed and painted papers, I reflected on other points in my life, pulled words and visual imagery together to create a document which honestly, sometimes painfully, reflects this critical moment in my life (Par_04).
At this point my single original vision of a book about Nancy became a book about children who have and continue to die because they are refused medical care by parent or guardian yet I did not want to demonize the caretakers ... messages written in a child’s handwriting (my 6yo great niece) in an effort to evoke her life by her hand, a kind of scrapbook. This book engendered many discussions with peers and family. I shared this story with others about Nancy and the other children and about this book ... to remember Nancy (Par_05).
External information is defined as something tangible such as letters, diaries, journals, books, invoices, receipts, photographs, and illustrations. The following content is the voice of artist taken from the transcription notes:
I found it to be an interesting glimpse into history. The archive I spent most of my time on hand many individual documents that all came together to make a story.” (Par_04).
The world of archives felt like finding hidden treasure and now I know that those gems of information and life experience exist and I can explore them any time I choose (Par_06).
External information can be taken from other sources outside the archives, thus continuing their information journey. This would include reading books, articles, newspaper clippings, and seeking and retrieving information from online sources.
[the] mill worker named Lucy Larcom. When I realized I could get her book at the Portsmouth Library I decided to read it. She lead me down the path I was looking for. All of a sudden, the story found me – and I found the girls (Par_01).
I did a lot of research on the Brewster family going back three generations on both sides, on the families of other children who died in similar circumstances, Mary Baker Eddy founded the Christian Scientist church, legal reform regarding religious exemption regarding medical care, etc.” (Par_05).
External information also comes from knowledge sharing—information gathered through inquiry and discussion between students. I found myself wondering about Alice, and I talked about her with my commuting
partner every day – her story shifted and evolved with each incarnation (Par_01).
Hearing the stories the other students shared, while watching them select materials and work. It means learning about book repair and conservation, about valuing historical materials and ephemera (Par_02).
Internal Information
Participants use internal information such as affect such as emotional connections, feelings, perception, cognition, memories, and emotions. Numinous qualities, defined as profound feelings such of awe, sacredness, or fascination were also experienced (Latham, 2013, 11).
The ideas have shifted and changed over time, allowing me to understand just how an author might feel as he/she moves their protagonist along the plot/setting of the story (Par_01).
Mixture of love and war, the image already pre-conditioned by the fact that I’m the daughter of a veteran, but also because the book I was altering was red with dark, brownish-black tones. To me, black and red always signify conflict and passion, death and love (Par_02).
This obit touched my heart and fired up feelings of anger and sadness. My father and I collect obituaries of friends as well as strangers, with compelling stories, etc., mostly lost, abandoned, alone or needy. In fact, this interest ... this desire to preserve, to save was inculcated in us as a result of our own troubled family history of abandonment, and tragedy. Rescuing was how we attempted to heal ourselves I suppose (Par_05).
Socio-Cultural Information
Socio-cultural information pertains to the rules or theories in a particular practice (book construction, art theory, and so forth). It is another form of codified information. Here, the participants have pre-knowledge of book making practices, abstract art theory, and writing constructions. These are known as discipline specific information.
I am a writer and literary critic by profession, so am obviously conditioned to process narrative, but with words, not with images, materials, or textures (Par_02).
The challenges and frustrations I met were mostly technical – what was the best way to manage the bulk of adding elements to a text block, how could I sandwich a transparency in a signature effectively, how could I adhere pages together to provide a space for a cut out, where I could then place an object with some dimension ... I managed these challenges (Par_04).
I experienced a number of challenges as my knowledge of the mechanics of altering books was limited thus I made a lot of mistakes and had to learn how to undo them and redo them often (Par_05).
Being a rookie in the world of art making, much less altered book making, I learned about tools and techniques that were completely unknown to me (Par_06).
Creating New Information
Putting together external, internal, and sociocultural information brought about a fourth theme—new information. The altered books with their new narratives were created using information gathered through external, internal, and sociocultural means. This is two-step process. The first process is building the narrative, which then feeds the second process—constructing the altered book to represent the visual narrative resulting in a final product.
Each page had to flow into the next while I also interposed some actual history of the Biddeford Mills alongside my fictional friendship between “Alice” and Lucy Larcom. This piece of “historical fiction” if you will, is a unique rethinking of the genre – why does a book have to be only words on a page? Watching the pages come together, I was amazed at how much I had learned along the way (Par_01).
I was able to imagine the scenarios that took place at the time, the people, places and things coming together to make an historical time come to life. By tapping into my own archive, my art journals, the collections of images, quotes, printed and painted papers, I reflected on other points in my life, pulled words and visual imagery together to create a document which honestly, sometimes painfully, reflects this critical moment in my life (Par_04).
At this point my single original vision of a book about Nancy became a book about children who have and continue to die because they are refused medical care by parent or guardian yet I did not want to demonize the caretakers ... messages written in a child’s handwriting (my 6yo great niece) in an effort to evoke her life by her hand, a kind of scrapbook. This book engendered many discussions with peers and family. I shared this story with others about Nancy and the other children and about this book ... to remember Nancy (Par_05).