First Draft of the Essay - Analysed

A 2,000 word draft had to be handed in so we could see the progress so far. I decided to write chapter one and look into the early stages of consumerism, however, i put in to much information and therefore the draft wasn't very clear or strutted in a way that was understandable. The technique i used seemed to be quite basic and no evidence of clear refrencing and theory was used.

To make my work more clear and precise i got told to only focus on one chapter at a time. This also included only looking at one major type of communication theory. I have decided to focus my attention on the Shannon and Weaver Model as i feel it is most commonly used and the most relatable to graphic design.

I decided to revisit my plan in order to exert the best and most effective information from my research. By doing this i have cut out a lot of work that is no longer relatable to the theories and specific themes i would like to focus on. 

Psychogeography Research

PsychoGeography: “the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.”

PsychoGeography is…

• diverse activities that raise awareness of the natural and cultural environment around you
• attentive to senses and emotions as they relate to place and environment
• serious fun
• often political and critical of the status quo

Derive: aimless, random drifting through a place, guided by whim and an awareness of how different spaces draw you in or repel you.

Dérive: “A mode of experimental behavior linked to the condition of urban society: a technique of transient passage through varied ambiances.”  Situationists used “ambiance” to refer to the feeling or mood associated with a place, to its character, tone, or to the effect or appeal it might have; but they also used it to refer to the place itself, especially to the small, neighborhood-sized chunks of the city they called unités d’ambiance or unities of ambiance, parts of the city with an especially powerful urban atmosphere.  Wood “Lynch Debord.“

Guy Debord, Guide Pychogéographique de Paris

“The unities of ambiance appeared on the map as fragments of commercial street maps carefully cut out to indicate each unity’s defenses and exits.  The psychogeographic slopes were symbolized by red arrows indicating the forces the city exerted on drifters freed from other motivations for moving: drifters would be pulled in the direction of the arrows from one unity of ambiance to another.  The weight, shape, and patterning of the arrows indicated the lengths and strengths of the psychogeographic slopes.” Wood “Lynch Debord.“

Deep Thoughts on Psychogeography…

“Unfold a street map… place a glass, rim down, anywhere on the map, and draw round its edge. Pick up the map, go out in the city, and walk the circle, keeping as close as you can to the curve. Record the experience as you go, in whatever medium you favour.” Robert MacFarlane, Psychogeography: A Beginner’s Guide.

“The production of psychogeographic maps, or even the introduction of alterations such as more or less arbitrarily transposing maps of two different regions, can contribute to … complete insubordination of habitual influences. A friend recently told me that he had just wandered through the Harz region of Germany while blindly following the directions of a map of London.” Debord, Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography.

“To derive was to notice the way in which certain areas, streets, or buildings resonate with states of mind, inclinations, and desires, and to seek out reasons for movement other than those for which an environment was designed.” Sadie Plant, The Most Radical Gesture.

“The sudden change of ambiance in a street within the space of a few meters; the evident division of a city into zones of distinct psychic atmospheres; the path of least resistance which is automatically followed in aimless strolls (and which has no relation to the physical contour of the ground); the appealing or repelling character of certain places–all this seems to be neglected.” Debord, Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography.

“One or more persons committed to the derive abandon, for an undefined period of time, the motives generally admitted for action and movement, their relations, their labor and leisure activities, abandoning themselves to the attractions of the terrain and the encounters proper to it.” McDonough, “Situationist Space.”

“There’s a difference between knowing the Path and walking the Path.” The Matrix.

We are so tuned out, focused on getting through places for practical reasons (get to school, to work, etc.) that we don’t pay attention to places and the way all our senses and emotional awareness can be used to know these places.

What places attract us? Which repel us? Why?

In 1955, he defined it as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals ". [An introduction to a critique of urban geography, 1955]. This has been echoed much later by Michel de Certeau in his characterisation of patterns established in ostensibly unpurposeful walking in the city: "a symbolic order of the unconscious". [The practice of everyday life, 1988]. 

Lecture 4 : Academic Conventions

Main points of Lecture:

•Academic conventions can help you to structure your work and show the research that underpins it.

•Academic conventions help supervisors to mark the work appropriately.

•Harvard Referencing should be used in the text to show where you have got your information from.

•You need to try and back up everything you say with a reference (unless it is common knowledge)

•See the examples linked on eStudio

Lecture 3 : Methodologies and Critical Writing

Practicing academic writing 

Different types of paragraph demonstrate that you can analyse, research, paraphrase etc. But the most important type of writing is one that demonstrates that you can support your arguments with a demonstrable knowledge of appropriate academic texts. 

Ability to write a paragraph that shows breadth of research and ability to triangulate is therefore very important. 

Typically this would be something like this: 

A number of authors have considered how (insert your particular idea/concept). Author1, (date), Author2, (date) and Author3 (date) have all commented upon the fact that (now use a specific example). For instance Author1 (specific example) writing in her account of (whatever you pick out) describes how (whatever). This is supported by the fact that Author2 etc 

Now comment on and discuss their point. 

So how does this look when you put selected text into the brackets and make a comment. 

A number of authors have considered how both phenomenology and existentialism have been used to develop aesthetic theory, Smith, (1984), Brown, (1997) and Jones (2004) have all commented upon the fact that aesthetic ideas can be related to embodied thinking and the primacy of perception. For instance Smith when analysing the work of Richard Serra writing in her account of art practice as a mode of experiencing reality describes how art can make a needed contribution to 

the study of perceptual consciousness. This is supported by the fact that Brown in his study of art, light and phenomena also prioritises perception as being at the core of the aesthetic experience and that he believes that a parallel Existentialist reading can be developed from a close reading of Merleau Ponty’s text ‘Cezanne’s Doubt, (1945). This position is clearly further supported by Jones in her analysis of James Turrell’s ‘Dear Shelter’ where she highlights the importance of individual experience and the ‘authenticity’ of the confrontation with Turrell‘s work. 

Comment 

These three authors support the development of an argument for a deep relationship between phenomenology and existentialism as aesthetic positions. Both prioritise individual experience and allow for a reading of certain artworks that focuses on the physical facts of perception; awareness of weight, light, scale etc. measured against the human experience. 

By doing this you will demonstrate that you have done a literature search and that these authors write about information that is relevant to your topic. It also starts the ‘triangulation’ process. I.e. You don’t just put in unsupported information from one source or unsupported personal opinion.