Oh, and in case you missed it ...
Jan. 10th, 2011 10:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjThe Historic Picnic Project is open for business! And it has it's own LJ community ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
picnic_project.
The Historic Picnic Project is an experiment in a new way of "being creative" in an SCA context. Here's the basic idea (and the main differences from other existing ideas):
Rather than having a specific, single event as a goal of the project, the idea is to work on ideas, equipment, activities, etc. that support a new type of activity. The "end product" isn't simply to hold one picnic, but to give people the knowledge and tools to hold as many historically-inspired picnics as they want.
In fact, the "picnic" idea is just the excuse -- the organizing focus. The idea is to create a community of people working independently or in collaboration on different aspects of the same topic: finding resources and information, interpreting and explaining that information, making stuff based on that information, doing activities using that stuff. The "picnic" topic was chosen partly because it's the sort of activity that fits in well with the sorts of events we already hold, partly because it's accessible to people with all levels of interest and resources, and partly because it doesn't seem to have been seriously explored yet.
Another main idea is for this to be a non-centralized project. Rather than having a single person or small group of people provide the structure and organization, and then having a larger group of people providing the "grunt labor", the idea is that anyone participating in the project can share a source, initiate a class or workshop, start a research project, begin a discussion. (And, of course, anyone can hold a picnic!) The "project" exists to be a framework for sharing ideas and results and communicating about upcoming activities.
So here's the starting vision of the project (subject to change, based on what works and what people are interested in):
We (that is, anyone who wants to participate) spend a year working on the project. You can participate as much or as little as you want. You can participate whenever you want (no need to be "in from the beginning", no requirement to "stick it out to the end"). You can participate by doing things all by yourself and then telling everyone about it. You can participate by helping out with things that other people organize. You can participate by organizing things yourself that other people can join in on. You can participate by helping on the structural side of the project (maintaining the mailing lists, web sites, etc.).
There are three general types of activities: learning stuff, doing stuff, and telling people about stuff.
"Learning stuff" covers finding things out about how medieval people did picnics or portrayed picnics, or about talked about picnics, or other related topics. It also covers figuring out how to make or do things related to picnics or figuring out the logistics of how to put on historically-inspired picnics.
"Doing stuff" covers actually holding picnics at events based on what we've learned. It can involve anything from incorporating small details (like serving the types of food served at medieval picnics) up to putting on events where the picnic is the main focus.
"Telling people about stuff" covers both sharing the results of what we learn and do with other people participating in the project, but also sharing those results with the SCA at large. When the yearlong term of the project is over, the "telling people about stuff" part will be a big part of our legacy going forward.
When the year is over, the hope is that not only will we (from the project) continue including historic picnics in our events and to convert others to the Path of the Picnic, but if the format for this project is successful, maybe someone will be inspired to sponsor a similar project for a different topic.
So what's the practical structure of how this is intended to work?
Communications: Currently, there are several on-line forums set up for communicating and sharing information about the project. There's a standard Yahoo-based mailing list (which includes a list website where we can post files, pictures, and calendar events). This will probably be the most generally useful one to join. There's a Live Journal community, which is useful for discussions, questions, and web links. There's a Facebook page for the sorts of things people use Facebook pages for. And there's a set of private web pages for the project on my web site. Additional forums could be added, but keep in mind that the more different places we're putting information, the more work there will be to share information between all of them. (And if I find that any of them is simply not getting used, I may simplify things eventually.) As a general rule, anything that is posted to one of the lists/groups/pages will be assumed to be intended to be shared across the different forums. As a general rule, this will be done via links rather than by copying content. Here are the links for joining these groups:
Yahoo E-mail List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/picnic_project/
You can join a Yahoo e-mail list without setting up a Yahoo account, but you'll need a Yahoo account if you want access to the files and photos sections. (The files will be restricted to list members.)
Live Journal: http://community.livejournal.com/picnic_project/
You can read postings in the Live Journal community without having a Live Journal account, but in order to post or comment in it you need to "join" the community, which requires an account.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Historic-Picnic-Project/171661796205791?v=wall
I believe you need to have a Facebook account in order to view the pages. You definitely need one to be able to post things. I'm an absolute newby to Facebook "group pages" so I have no idea how useful it will be.
Picnic Project Website: http://www.heatherrosejones.com/picnicproject/
Anyone can view content here, but only the owner (me) can post new material.
If this sounds intriguing, sign up and join in!
picnic_project.The Historic Picnic Project is an experiment in a new way of "being creative" in an SCA context. Here's the basic idea (and the main differences from other existing ideas):
Rather than having a specific, single event as a goal of the project, the idea is to work on ideas, equipment, activities, etc. that support a new type of activity. The "end product" isn't simply to hold one picnic, but to give people the knowledge and tools to hold as many historically-inspired picnics as they want.
In fact, the "picnic" idea is just the excuse -- the organizing focus. The idea is to create a community of people working independently or in collaboration on different aspects of the same topic: finding resources and information, interpreting and explaining that information, making stuff based on that information, doing activities using that stuff. The "picnic" topic was chosen partly because it's the sort of activity that fits in well with the sorts of events we already hold, partly because it's accessible to people with all levels of interest and resources, and partly because it doesn't seem to have been seriously explored yet.
Another main idea is for this to be a non-centralized project. Rather than having a single person or small group of people provide the structure and organization, and then having a larger group of people providing the "grunt labor", the idea is that anyone participating in the project can share a source, initiate a class or workshop, start a research project, begin a discussion. (And, of course, anyone can hold a picnic!) The "project" exists to be a framework for sharing ideas and results and communicating about upcoming activities.
So here's the starting vision of the project (subject to change, based on what works and what people are interested in):
We (that is, anyone who wants to participate) spend a year working on the project. You can participate as much or as little as you want. You can participate whenever you want (no need to be "in from the beginning", no requirement to "stick it out to the end"). You can participate by doing things all by yourself and then telling everyone about it. You can participate by helping out with things that other people organize. You can participate by organizing things yourself that other people can join in on. You can participate by helping on the structural side of the project (maintaining the mailing lists, web sites, etc.).
There are three general types of activities: learning stuff, doing stuff, and telling people about stuff.
"Learning stuff" covers finding things out about how medieval people did picnics or portrayed picnics, or about talked about picnics, or other related topics. It also covers figuring out how to make or do things related to picnics or figuring out the logistics of how to put on historically-inspired picnics.
"Doing stuff" covers actually holding picnics at events based on what we've learned. It can involve anything from incorporating small details (like serving the types of food served at medieval picnics) up to putting on events where the picnic is the main focus.
"Telling people about stuff" covers both sharing the results of what we learn and do with other people participating in the project, but also sharing those results with the SCA at large. When the yearlong term of the project is over, the "telling people about stuff" part will be a big part of our legacy going forward.
When the year is over, the hope is that not only will we (from the project) continue including historic picnics in our events and to convert others to the Path of the Picnic, but if the format for this project is successful, maybe someone will be inspired to sponsor a similar project for a different topic.
So what's the practical structure of how this is intended to work?
Communications: Currently, there are several on-line forums set up for communicating and sharing information about the project. There's a standard Yahoo-based mailing list (which includes a list website where we can post files, pictures, and calendar events). This will probably be the most generally useful one to join. There's a Live Journal community, which is useful for discussions, questions, and web links. There's a Facebook page for the sorts of things people use Facebook pages for. And there's a set of private web pages for the project on my web site. Additional forums could be added, but keep in mind that the more different places we're putting information, the more work there will be to share information between all of them. (And if I find that any of them is simply not getting used, I may simplify things eventually.) As a general rule, anything that is posted to one of the lists/groups/pages will be assumed to be intended to be shared across the different forums. As a general rule, this will be done via links rather than by copying content. Here are the links for joining these groups:
Yahoo E-mail List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/picnic_project/
You can join a Yahoo e-mail list without setting up a Yahoo account, but you'll need a Yahoo account if you want access to the files and photos sections. (The files will be restricted to list members.)
Live Journal: http://community.livejournal.com/picnic_project/
You can read postings in the Live Journal community without having a Live Journal account, but in order to post or comment in it you need to "join" the community, which requires an account.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Historic-Picnic-Project/171661796205791?v=wall
I believe you need to have a Facebook account in order to view the pages. You definitely need one to be able to post things. I'm an absolute newby to Facebook "group pages" so I have no idea how useful it will be.
Picnic Project Website: http://www.heatherrosejones.com/picnicproject/
Anyone can view content here, but only the owner (me) can post new material.
If this sounds intriguing, sign up and join in!
