![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Building a better A&S model
Feb. 13th, 2012 10:50 amHaving been dragged kicking and screaming into the "arts and sciences" end of the SCA world, I've observed some things, which competing in King's and Queen's A&S Champions only confirmed.
Best intentions aside, we do not do a good job of giving artisans and "scientists" informed feedback and critiques. This problem is particularly acute for people who work outside of the very common fields of garb-making, C&I, embroidery and (perhaps) cooking.
The problem is that people can only judge and give informed commentary about fields where they already have some knowledge. I can discourse lovingly on heraldry, period heraldic style from certain areas and eras, some aspects of C&I, period music and a few other areas, but ask me whether someone's embroidery technique is either good or period and I am lost.
We cannot always guarantee that a judge or judges with knowledge will be available for a competition, particularly for works outside of the mainstream. Without informed feedback, how can people working outside of the usual arts ever improve?
Because I think like a Pelican, my first thought is about how to fix the problem. How do we educate judges about how to judge things they aren't familiar with? Being someone with a very limited area of specialization myself, I'd love to get a crash course from someone about things to look for when evaluating works I'm not personally familiar with.
Would it make sense to have "primers" from acknowledged "experts" (in so far as we have any) about what to look for when judging a certain topic? Even that is going to have some biases, and could detract from innovation and new ways of looking at data.
Thoughts? Opinions? A general consensus that I am full of shit?
Best intentions aside, we do not do a good job of giving artisans and "scientists" informed feedback and critiques. This problem is particularly acute for people who work outside of the very common fields of garb-making, C&I, embroidery and (perhaps) cooking.
The problem is that people can only judge and give informed commentary about fields where they already have some knowledge. I can discourse lovingly on heraldry, period heraldic style from certain areas and eras, some aspects of C&I, period music and a few other areas, but ask me whether someone's embroidery technique is either good or period and I am lost.
We cannot always guarantee that a judge or judges with knowledge will be available for a competition, particularly for works outside of the mainstream. Without informed feedback, how can people working outside of the usual arts ever improve?
Because I think like a Pelican, my first thought is about how to fix the problem. How do we educate judges about how to judge things they aren't familiar with? Being someone with a very limited area of specialization myself, I'd love to get a crash course from someone about things to look for when evaluating works I'm not personally familiar with.
Would it make sense to have "primers" from acknowledged "experts" (in so far as we have any) about what to look for when judging a certain topic? Even that is going to have some biases, and could detract from innovation and new ways of looking at data.
Thoughts? Opinions? A general consensus that I am full of shit?
