Stingy with Sharing

[chargirlgenius]

Two things I’ve recently overheard got me thinking about sharing of information and research. They’re not really related other than they’re about info sharing in the SCA, but they both rubbed me the wrong way. They’re also hearsay, so maybe (hopefully) I’m wrong about the facts. I’m willing to be corrected.

I heard tell at Pennsic about a woman

Comments

[lady_guenievre]

There's a discussion of this on the Pennsic Teachers list, with a report from the lady that did it. She did not charge, and apparently taught something like a hundred people.

[chargirlgenius]

Sounds like I was wrong. My bad, and good on her! I like drive by teaching. :-)

[elliesam]

She is also probably the *last* person who would charge for teaching. And she *undercharges* for the fabulous hand-sewing kits.

[isabelladangelo]

I heard tell at Pennsic about a woman sitting in urchin’s row, where all of the kids sit there and loudly and off-key sing at people passing by. This woman was offering to teach people a certain technique for a dollar. I *think* she’s a laurel.

I did see this (Tuesday of War Week, I think?). It was something called the magic veil technique, I believe. I didn't see money being charged or much else other than two people sewing, one of whom was clearly the instructor.

By oval hoop, do you mean French Bell? I might know a couple of people that have that style if you want to check out the seams....

[teffan]

And the magic veil stitch article write-up is going to be freely published/distributed in the new KW Handbook :)

From the post, I thought maybe she was teaching people a technique to get the children to stop screaming :P

[elliesam]

I'd pay for that.

[chargirlgenius]

I try not to use terms like "French Bell", since it's not very specific. I usually hear that referring to a wedge tent, which isn't what we're looking at. We're looking at making an oval pavilion, I think sometimes called a marquee (again, not specific enough of a term). It has a sharply sloped roof, "shoulders" at about 7-8' high held out by a hoop, and slightly sloped walls.

[eleanors_closet]

I've encountered the stingy I'm-not-sharing attitude but mostly way back when I first joined. It was very confusing for me because most folks had been very open and sharing up to that point. A few years in and having gained more understanding about research and awards, I always made sure I attributed where I learned something, to either a document or a person. I still have a recipe I call Briatta's Barley soup. Briatta had created that soup and wanted to folks to know it was her creation and not anyone elses. I could understand that.

A friend of mine in Gardners has made a oval hoop marquee tent and it's fabulous. She is sharing her information and help (and hopefully machine) with me and I'm hoping for a new tent by 2011, if not 2012. She's always been open about seeing the inside of her tent. I don't know how much she has actually written down that she could share, but she'll usually sit and chat with anyone.

[chargirlgenius]

I tend to run with things, but I always try to have a mention or a link to where I learned it or where I got it. There so much that enters collective consciouness that sometimes it's difficult to know exactly *where* it came from, so sometimes I fail at it.

I've been talking to her about her tents. :-) It's funny - she'd posted years ago on a list about it, and I'd always had it in the back of my mind. I didn't know it was her, though. She and I hung out a bit and chatted a bit at Pennsic, and when I went looking for the old list post afterwards, I was surprise to find out it was her. And of course I'm kicking myself for not going over and seeing her tent.

[eleanors_closet]

She may be at War of the Wings if that's an option for you. I don't really know if she has other events on the radar right now.

[herveus]

We offer to teach folks inkle and card weaving. While we will gladly sell them materials and tools, we don't insist on doing so, and we don't charge for our time. We figure that it's all a marketing ploy. If you've taken the time to at least try to learn the weaving, you will have a better appreciation for the effort involved. If it clicks with you, that's great. If not, we also have a motto: We Weave So You Don't Have To.

...and I'm a sucker for geeking about tablet weaving...

[luscious_purple]

I remember you trying to teach me tablet weaving at my very first SCA event!

Some rather random thoughts in response.....

[dragonazure]

I doubt the lady in Urchins' Row was doing what you think she was, but it did trigger an interesting philosophical point for discussion

Re: Some rather random thoughts in response.....

[chargirlgenius]

My post was rather randomly written as well...

I did hesitate in writing this, precisely because of the points you bring up. I do agree - we do hold the work that people do cheap. Cheaper than it should be. And I'm fine with the people who don't want to teach for whatever reason - that's great. Don't teach.

And if somebody is going to publish a book or try to sell something, I completely understand why they want to keep their information proprietary. I don't even mind if people in the SCA want to keep their research close to themselves until they're ready to write the article, put up the web page, teach the class, or debut their fabulous new doo-dad. I think that's entirely appropriate. I just can't imagine why somebody would want to create something, use it, have it out and about where people can kind of see it and are probably going to try to duplicate it anyway, but not be willing to talk about it.

Re: Some rather random thoughts in response.....

[dragonazure]

I just can't imagine why somebody would want to create something, use it, have it out and about where people can kind of see it and are probably going to try to duplicate it anyway, but not be willing to talk about it.

Those fall into the knowledge=power crowd in my book. It could also be a form of conspicuous consumption: look what I can do and you can't. Nyah! Nyah! Boo! Boo!. In that case, Epic Fail on getting the point.....

Re: Some rather random thoughts in response.....

[dragonazure]

Time is an illusion. We assume we have it in abundance, so the time to do the research is usually not considered as a consumable resource. Can't see it, touch it, smell it, etc. We can't earn it or buy it, therefore it is "free". And therein lies part of the problem.

I won't go so far to say research doesn't cost money--even for pure literary research there are fees involved. For "artifact" research, you typically invest money in tools and materials that will get consumed during experimentation. Often, failed experiments are disposed of, so there is no tangible (or saleable) evidence that something was produced. So the cost appears illusory.

So yes. We hold research and knowledge much cheaper than it deserves to be in part because it is much harder for people to see or relate to the costs.