Feedback fairy tales
So, I have now worked for three years towards a project idea. What was, when I started, a marginal emerging practice is increasingly becoming a central issue - datafication in museums. I wanted to capture it early but the funding agency has yet to buy my idea. Last week, I got another rejection, this time with a 23-page PDF of reviews and comments, and this week, I have spent four days in filtering these reviews into revisions of the application. Submitted, once again, to the funding lottery.
In the co-writing session, as a warm-up, we worked on thinking about fairy tales. The classic stories with struggles, magical items, heroes and villains, have recognizable structures making it easier to read and accept for the reader. And it may be, that we bring some of these elements from the fairy tales to our struggles with academic writing.
From analysing fairy tales, Propp identifies six 'stages': preparation, complication, transference, struggle, return, recognition. And here is a fairy tale about my application and application writing.
Story of a girl with an ambition to build a machine
Before times, all the museums in the world had lived a peaceful life. They had collected their treasures and systematised them in the way they liked. They showed off these treasures to the world and while some people felt that these treasures were great, others questioned if such treasure collection practices were really good. All museums lived on top of mountains with slippery slopes, and people who wanted to see the treasures had to climb long and hard, and sometimes found that the museum had closed the doors for the day and was not accepting visitors. Other museums tried to open their doors wider and longer, constructed staircases and elevators to help visitors up the slopes and brought even some of the treasures closer to people who lived in the valleys. These museums tried to invite also those who were thinking that museum treasures are not really for them.
Increasingly, in the world, the winds of digitalisation started to blow. Sometimes, these winds helped to carry people up the mountains or the treasures down in the valleys. But as the winds got stronger, the museums started to shake. For some, the asking meant that the staircases and elevators disappeared. The museums were at the whimsy of the winds - some treasures made it down, some people made it up, but the ideals of making the slippery slopes of the museums accessible to the people were often crumbling in the wind.
In one of the valleys, there lived a girl who wanted to make a grand machine that would harness the power of the wind, so that instead of whimsies of the winds, the museums on top of the mountains and people in the valleys could control them together. She believed that winds could be made to lift up the people and to bring the treasures closer. In some cases, even level some of the mountains, so that the slopes would be less steep and dangerous. She started working towards the machine. Gathering materials, she picked up bits and pieces that seemed relevant - a piece of string here, a wheel there, some bolts and screws to build the machine. She also brought in a helper - a boy full of questions and ideas.
In her first attempt, she brought the bits-and-pieces together and presented a blueprint of the machine. The boy helped her, but the machine was not really his. He asked questions but shied away from answers. He brought a few clogs and wheels which fitted the blueprint but the machine was mostly only girl's.
After pondering a while over the blueprint, the reviewers invited the girl for a questioning. They had questions about some funny details, and questions about some missing elements, but the girl felt she had handled all of it well. But as the reviewers came back, they said - no, you can not make a machine like that. The bits-and-pieces you have, do not fit together, the blueprint you have is not detailed enough, and your ambition to the machine is too big - not all museums and not all mountains can be conquered with it. Machine, like this, can not be built.
The girl worked some more - collected more bolts and screws, some wire and wheels and drew another blueprint. She also collaborated more with the boy, inviting him to brainstorm the machine and discuss the details of the blueprint. Together, they made the machine less ambitious, instead of fixing all of the world's museums, it promised to fix only those whose collections were closely related to lived cultures of the people in the valleys. The girl secretly hoped that once the machine gets going, the good work of it can also be expanded beyond the initial idea of the application. That other museums and other mountains can be conquered with it.
Yet again, she presented the blueprint to an esteemed committee of evaluators. Yet again, she was invited for questioning. The committee complimented the ambition of the machine and praised the approach, but also had a lot of questions about how the girl will get the machine to work, where she will get the missing screws and how she can really make sure that the wires will be there on time.
The committee pondered and crumbled and returned the verdict. No, the machine is interesting, but with these blueprints, we are not convinced it can be built. There were people questioning even if the machine to tame the wind would be needed. There were museums, quite happy up in their slopes, who did not care so much about bringing people to see their treasures. Thus, the wind was of no concern to them, surely. Those voices were a minority, as the general agreement was that the machine was still a good idea, as the shaking was getting worse. This time, the committee was happy with the size and the ambition of the machine but started to look closer at the details. Not all the bolts and screws sit together as they should. Have you considered some of these wires here, are they really correctly placed? And you seem to have a filter here, but we don't think you have enough competencies to handle that filter. And also - your blueprint has a lot of intricate detail of how you are going to build it, but we don't really see the overall shape of the machine.
So, the girl cried a bit. She felt that some of the comments seemed unfair - it was, overall, still, a blueprint, work in progress. She thought, why did they need all these details here? The winds were there and at least some attempt on actually building the machine needed to be made now before the structures were shaken too much.
In the meanwhile, the girl succeeded in publishing the elements of the blueprint, and the situation in the world was getting worse, the winds were stronger and the museums were quivering, and the machine that would help to fix the issues was urgently needed. So, the girl and the boy rallied their strength and gave the blueprint another go.
They made sure that some of the lines in her blueprint were sharper, some of the screws pointier, some more of the detailed machinery in place. But the boy also encouraged the girl to look at the bigger picture. They argued and brainstormed, and as a result, they also took some broader brushes, and in addition to making sure the screws and wires sat better at places, they pained some bigger picture. They used her published blueprint details to paint some bolder outlines for a machine - an overall silhouette. And when the clock stroke twelve, she sent in the blueprint for yet another evaluation.
...
And, of course, this is not where a regular fairy tale would end. In the fairy tale, the three attempts to conquer the adversary would be enough. The machine would be built and the winds would be tamed. The treasures are available to all people. But this is real life. The blueprint is waiting for another round of evaluations - coming, hopefully before the year is out, but surely by next February, then more can be told about the girl and the boy and the blueprint of the machine which could tame the winds. Does this fairy tale have a happy end, or will the girl creep up to one of the museums to hold off winds without the machine. Maybe more blueprints will be needed. More screws will need to be collected, and more work needs to be done. Maybe the winds can not be tamed, and the storms coming will take everything down. We don't know yet and maybe we never will.
Is there a moral to the story? I guess there is. When stuck with your writing, think about adversaries, heroes and fights they could have. Maybe there is a magic item your hero could wield. The dragons will be tamed, the kingdoms will be conquered and your writing will be released from the hold of the evil magic of self-doubt. Perhaps. Or maybe not :) But it can bring joy to your writing, so that is what matters.
From analysing fairy tales, Propp identifies six 'stages': preparation, complication, transference, struggle, return, recognition. And here is a fairy tale about my application and application writing.
Story of a girl with an ambition to build a machine
Before times, all the museums in the world had lived a peaceful life. They had collected their treasures and systematised them in the way they liked. They showed off these treasures to the world and while some people felt that these treasures were great, others questioned if such treasure collection practices were really good. All museums lived on top of mountains with slippery slopes, and people who wanted to see the treasures had to climb long and hard, and sometimes found that the museum had closed the doors for the day and was not accepting visitors. Other museums tried to open their doors wider and longer, constructed staircases and elevators to help visitors up the slopes and brought even some of the treasures closer to people who lived in the valleys. These museums tried to invite also those who were thinking that museum treasures are not really for them.
Increasingly, in the world, the winds of digitalisation started to blow. Sometimes, these winds helped to carry people up the mountains or the treasures down in the valleys. But as the winds got stronger, the museums started to shake. For some, the asking meant that the staircases and elevators disappeared. The museums were at the whimsy of the winds - some treasures made it down, some people made it up, but the ideals of making the slippery slopes of the museums accessible to the people were often crumbling in the wind.
In one of the valleys, there lived a girl who wanted to make a grand machine that would harness the power of the wind, so that instead of whimsies of the winds, the museums on top of the mountains and people in the valleys could control them together. She believed that winds could be made to lift up the people and to bring the treasures closer. In some cases, even level some of the mountains, so that the slopes would be less steep and dangerous. She started working towards the machine. Gathering materials, she picked up bits and pieces that seemed relevant - a piece of string here, a wheel there, some bolts and screws to build the machine. She also brought in a helper - a boy full of questions and ideas.
In her first attempt, she brought the bits-and-pieces together and presented a blueprint of the machine. The boy helped her, but the machine was not really his. He asked questions but shied away from answers. He brought a few clogs and wheels which fitted the blueprint but the machine was mostly only girl's.
After pondering a while over the blueprint, the reviewers invited the girl for a questioning. They had questions about some funny details, and questions about some missing elements, but the girl felt she had handled all of it well. But as the reviewers came back, they said - no, you can not make a machine like that. The bits-and-pieces you have, do not fit together, the blueprint you have is not detailed enough, and your ambition to the machine is too big - not all museums and not all mountains can be conquered with it. Machine, like this, can not be built.
The girl worked some more - collected more bolts and screws, some wire and wheels and drew another blueprint. She also collaborated more with the boy, inviting him to brainstorm the machine and discuss the details of the blueprint. Together, they made the machine less ambitious, instead of fixing all of the world's museums, it promised to fix only those whose collections were closely related to lived cultures of the people in the valleys. The girl secretly hoped that once the machine gets going, the good work of it can also be expanded beyond the initial idea of the application. That other museums and other mountains can be conquered with it.
Yet again, she presented the blueprint to an esteemed committee of evaluators. Yet again, she was invited for questioning. The committee complimented the ambition of the machine and praised the approach, but also had a lot of questions about how the girl will get the machine to work, where she will get the missing screws and how she can really make sure that the wires will be there on time.
The committee pondered and crumbled and returned the verdict. No, the machine is interesting, but with these blueprints, we are not convinced it can be built. There were people questioning even if the machine to tame the wind would be needed. There were museums, quite happy up in their slopes, who did not care so much about bringing people to see their treasures. Thus, the wind was of no concern to them, surely. Those voices were a minority, as the general agreement was that the machine was still a good idea, as the shaking was getting worse. This time, the committee was happy with the size and the ambition of the machine but started to look closer at the details. Not all the bolts and screws sit together as they should. Have you considered some of these wires here, are they really correctly placed? And you seem to have a filter here, but we don't think you have enough competencies to handle that filter. And also - your blueprint has a lot of intricate detail of how you are going to build it, but we don't really see the overall shape of the machine.
So, the girl cried a bit. She felt that some of the comments seemed unfair - it was, overall, still, a blueprint, work in progress. She thought, why did they need all these details here? The winds were there and at least some attempt on actually building the machine needed to be made now before the structures were shaken too much.
In the meanwhile, the girl succeeded in publishing the elements of the blueprint, and the situation in the world was getting worse, the winds were stronger and the museums were quivering, and the machine that would help to fix the issues was urgently needed. So, the girl and the boy rallied their strength and gave the blueprint another go.
They made sure that some of the lines in her blueprint were sharper, some of the screws pointier, some more of the detailed machinery in place. But the boy also encouraged the girl to look at the bigger picture. They argued and brainstormed, and as a result, they also took some broader brushes, and in addition to making sure the screws and wires sat better at places, they pained some bigger picture. They used her published blueprint details to paint some bolder outlines for a machine - an overall silhouette. And when the clock stroke twelve, she sent in the blueprint for yet another evaluation.
...
And, of course, this is not where a regular fairy tale would end. In the fairy tale, the three attempts to conquer the adversary would be enough. The machine would be built and the winds would be tamed. The treasures are available to all people. But this is real life. The blueprint is waiting for another round of evaluations - coming, hopefully before the year is out, but surely by next February, then more can be told about the girl and the boy and the blueprint of the machine which could tame the winds. Does this fairy tale have a happy end, or will the girl creep up to one of the museums to hold off winds without the machine. Maybe more blueprints will be needed. More screws will need to be collected, and more work needs to be done. Maybe the winds can not be tamed, and the storms coming will take everything down. We don't know yet and maybe we never will.
Is there a moral to the story? I guess there is. When stuck with your writing, think about adversaries, heroes and fights they could have. Maybe there is a magic item your hero could wield. The dragons will be tamed, the kingdoms will be conquered and your writing will be released from the hold of the evil magic of self-doubt. Perhaps. Or maybe not :) But it can bring joy to your writing, so that is what matters.
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