As we know, I'm working on the Open Colour Standard, which is a great big daunting project which fully intends to eat a lot of time. How will I accomplish this while also working on roughly two bajillion other things (at a rough estimate)? It's quite simple: I've turned it into a thesis. It's a win-win situation. I get a degree out of my work and the rest of the world gets the assurance that I'll actually finish the project or suffer certain academic death. This is why I've been basically living in a super secret lab in the basement of a big ugly concrete building for the last eight months, drinking orange juice to ward off the scurvy that would surely otherwise set in from lack of sun. Having done a boatload of preliminary research, I'm now writing the proper thesis proposal which will make the work properly, for serious, official. Below, then, the first draft of one section of the proposal: the introduction to my research question.
The purpose of my proposed thesis is to explore the theoretical, historical and practical underpinnings of the Free/Libre Open Source Software movement, standards, colour and colour standards (especially open ones). Put more practically, the aim is to look at how standards are made, what standards do, what impact they have on professional and institutional practice, what sorts of standards exist, what colour standards are currently in existence and use and how the ideologies and practices of the Free/Libre Open Source Software movement and communities might come to bear on the creation and implementation of professional colour standards.
Put even more practically, the purpose of the proposed research is to look at the processes and problematic practices behind standards, their creation, implementation and use. Further, the research will take a practical turn, in attempting to lay out the groundwork for a new colour standard, one which keeps in mind the needs of users beyond those represented by the normal participants in the standards-setting process. This practical turn, however, is not simply for the sake of creation. Instead, it takes cues from Critical Making and other ideas of reflexive practice. Essentially, its purpose is to better understand the problematics of the standards creation, setting and implementation processes through participation in such processes, although always with a critical eye.
This proposal offers a brief overview of the history and rationale behind F/LOSS, with background useful in the understanding of the benefit of open standards, protocols and tools. Then, an exploration of literature on what standards are, what uses they serve, how they are made and implemented, what significance they have and what tensions exist in their creation, implementation and existence. Where colour and its related standards are concerned, the review focuses on an overview of common and less common uses of colour, historical and current colour standards, the physical realities of making and viewing colour and finally, the politics of colour. Two theoretical frameworks are approached: Ratto's Critical Making, exploring the value of doing in order to gain understanding, and Star's points on the purpose and concerns of infrastructure. A description of proposed methodology follows, as well as a discussion of limits and ethical concerns which may be associated with the proposed methodology.
The purpose of my proposed thesis is to explore the theoretical, historical and practical underpinnings of the Free/Libre Open Source Software movement, standards, colour and colour standards (especially open ones). Put more practically, the aim is to look at how standards are made, what standards do, what impact they have on professional and institutional practice, what sorts of standards exist, what colour standards are currently in existence and use and how the ideologies and practices of the Free/Libre Open Source Software movement and communities might come to bear on the creation and implementation of professional colour standards.
Put even more practically, the purpose of the proposed research is to look at the processes and problematic practices behind standards, their creation, implementation and use. Further, the research will take a practical turn, in attempting to lay out the groundwork for a new colour standard, one which keeps in mind the needs of users beyond those represented by the normal participants in the standards-setting process. This practical turn, however, is not simply for the sake of creation. Instead, it takes cues from Critical Making and other ideas of reflexive practice. Essentially, its purpose is to better understand the problematics of the standards creation, setting and implementation processes through participation in such processes, although always with a critical eye.
This proposal offers a brief overview of the history and rationale behind F/LOSS, with background useful in the understanding of the benefit of open standards, protocols and tools. Then, an exploration of literature on what standards are, what uses they serve, how they are made and implemented, what significance they have and what tensions exist in their creation, implementation and existence. Where colour and its related standards are concerned, the review focuses on an overview of common and less common uses of colour, historical and current colour standards, the physical realities of making and viewing colour and finally, the politics of colour. Two theoretical frameworks are approached: Ratto's Critical Making, exploring the value of doing in order to gain understanding, and Star's points on the purpose and concerns of infrastructure. A description of proposed methodology follows, as well as a discussion of limits and ethical concerns which may be associated with the proposed methodology.
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