Whatcha Mean, What's a Zine?

I've started looking into zines now in my literature review. I found myself getting a little bit stuck on things to write about, so whenever this happens I try to take a side step and start writing about another topic that is relevant to my research to keep the writing flowing. The inspiration came from a random reference in a journal I was deliberating and has since assisted me in finding other topics for discussion and more references to chase. This topic has also opened up a whole new pool of potential interviews for data collection, which I have already started looking into and will hopefully be able to reveal more sometime soon.
Here's a cool little video I stumbled across by Danny Brito, of how to make a mini book, which might be helpful for people who want to make a zine or comic:

Mini-book from danny brito on Vimeo.

Interview with 'Sausage Dog'

Today I had a meeting and interview with an old friend of mine called Harriet Godden, she makes and sells her own handmade work under the name of 'Sausage Dog'.

Harriet mainly works with reclaimed and recycled materials to create her plush animals and creatures. Her creations are extremely idiosyncratic and have strong links to her painting and fine art background, which was her initial creative outlet and something which she is still actively pursuing. Harriet successfully ran a shop selling her creations in Afflecks Palace, Manchester but decided to move her business online and the odd craft fair in order to free up her time.

If you are interested in any of Harriet's work she can be found on Etsy through this link to her shop: Sausage Dog.

I have been extremely lucky with all the people that I have had the opportunity to interview so far and Harriet was no exception. She knows exactly who she is and this is reflected in the individual style and quality of her work. We spoke about her business, her motivations and some of her future projects. Harriet works so hard in all of her projects that I'm sure she'll be even more successful in all of her creative activities. Please go to her Etsy store and the support the artist.

Getting ready for conferences

I've started getting ready for the two conferences that I have over the next couple of months, I'm currently focusing on the Salford Postgraduate Annual Research Conference (SPARC) that I have been accepted to present at as it is only a few weeks away. Although I am looking forward to it on one hand, I am equally terrified on the other, it's always difficult presenting your research to others as you do invest certain degree of yourself in to your work (well I do anyway) and if people are negative about it, even when talking about it everyday then it can knock you down.

I have to remember though that these conferences are generally fairly supportive and any problems that people may find with my research is actually a good thing, as it gives me the opportunity to clean up problems and improve it so next time it can be bullet proof. So I am going to try and welcome all kinds of feedback, hopefully if I get any criticism it will be constructive. I have also noticed that you really do have to go into these things with the right attitude, you need to be humble, open minded and willing to listen, people will always help you if you're willing to learn and being arrogant only works against you.

There seems to be a really good network of people there who I am genuinely looking forward to meeting, I've also discovered that they have a blog to represent the postgraduate researchers at Salford Uni, with really good advice and resources, here's a small article that a read today that I found useful and inspiring:
How to get the most from your PhD studies 
I will keep you posted how I get on, wish me luck 

Interview with Rag Thug Crafts

Had another great interview today, this time it was with Faye Scott-Farrington, who creates and makes under the name of Rag Thug Crafts.
Not only is she a crafter but also an artist, doing an open university course in Art History and also has an evening job. Faye is also a member of Fuse Crafters, who are a craft collective based within Bolton. Being so active meant Faye had lots of great things to say about her various pursuits, she is a perfect candidate for my research as she works independently and within networks, she also adopts a DIY ethic and has well rounded view of what she does. If you are interested in her work she has recently opened a folksy store, which you can find here: Rag Thug Crafts
One of the best things about this interview despite Faye having such strong opinions on her work and what she does, was the context of where the interview was held. This particular interview was held while she was running her stall at Islington Mill Craft Fair, Salford. This was beneficial to me as it managed to capture the experience and nuance of the environment, this makes the context of this interview particularly unique. We were interrupted during the interview a few times by customers (some even joined in with our conversation) which only gave depth to the interview.
I wanted to take a few pics of Faye at her stall, but she was a bit shy as she only had gotten a few hours sleep the night before due to her demanding evening job, although she did let me take a few pics of just the stall -

Faye is so talented, active and opinionated that it made such a great interview and I'm really glad that I was given the opportunity for this particular interview to be in my data set, as I think it will give some real value to my research.

First Interviews

On Friday I conducted my first interviews to start collecting my data, I'm technically not ready to start my interviews yet but I suppose it's never too early to start collecting your data. I contacted them a few months ago when I was panicking that I was behind in my work and I didn't want to lose the opportunity to speak to them.
The interviews were with Dave and Jane Fairhurst, and although they are a married couple they are both are very individual in their pursuits, but as equally passionate about their subjects.

I contacted Dave after hearing about his work starting the Wigan Music Collective, which he started so there would be somewhere for his son to play in Wigan, we spoke about the collective, the benefits of community, and his DIY ethic. I'm actually really looking forward to transcribing it.

My second interview was with Jane Fairhurst, who is an artist and founded OK studios, you can find her work here. Jane was lovely, we spoke about her work, how she had set up the studios as a registered charity and the importance of working within a system. After the official interview we chatted for a long time and I think we got on really well, we agreed on a lot of the same issues and I really liked her.

I had such a lovely day, I took a train over to Wigan and Dave very kindly picked me up and dropped me back off at the station. Dave and Jane are wonderful people, they were very open and friendly. Their house and garden were beautiful and I thank them for welcoming me in and giving me the best first interviews I could have wanted.   

RiP: A Remix manifesto

We watched the film 'RiP: A Remix Manifesto' last night and it was fantastic, if you have any interest in copyright law then I urge you to watch this film. I particularly enjoyed hearing Lawrence Lessig and I will definitely be researching into his work for my thesis. Although my thesis will not be particularly looking at copyright law, I will be mainly looking into the communities which have formed through these new technologies which are being outlawed by certain major conglomerates and how "It's beneficial to share ideas" (Girl Talk, 2008).
Another aspect which I loved about this film is that it is an 'open source documentary', which is free to download.

Meeting Prof David Gauntlett at the Lego Conference

About a month ago I contacted the author David Gauntlett, as I noticed he was doing a talk in Manchester about his book 'Making is Connecting'. I really wanted to hear him talk about his work but I wouldn't have been able to go as it was at the Adult Fans of Lego Conference (AFOLCON) and I couldn't afford it. So I sent him an email saying that I wasn't going to be there despite enjoying his book and the similarities it has with my research. David was really nice, we chatted about my research via email and then he offered me the opportunity to come to the conference as his guest, which was a really exciting opportunity and such a nice thing to do.

The conference was on Friday (29th April) at the Museum of Science and Industry and I can honestly say that I had a great day. There were loads of interesting people there, it was great to meet David and it was so nice of him to get me in.

I really enjoyed the book 'Making is Connecting', despite it being so full of information it is a surprisingly easy read and I highly recommend it. David's presentation was one of the most entertaining of the day, he let me record his talk and I will be transcribing some of the more relevant points to quote and to be used in my literature review. His presentation managed to chat about some of themes within the book whilst keeping it accessible to the niche audience. I also managed to take a few pictures:

Professor Gauntlett was very affable, helpful and approachable. He very kindly gave me this lego storm trooper with speeder (see below), which I built last night.
I would like to think that not only have I made a very cool contact but I would also like to think that I have made a new friend and hope that we keep in contact. Thanks so much for an excellent day.