{"id":2056,"date":"2010-08-26T13:37:23","date_gmt":"2010-08-26T12:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookleteer.com\/blog\/?p=2056"},"modified":"2010-08-26T13:39:35","modified_gmt":"2010-08-26T12:39:35","slug":"introducing-the-ebook-observer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookleteer.net\/blog\/2010\/08\/introducing-the-ebook-observer\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing the eBook Observer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Proboscis have commissioned me to do some research into the eBooks and how they have been used in the past by all sorts of different people and organisations. As part of the research, I created an eBook of my own – the eBook Observer<\/a> – to help me conduct the interviews. I\u2019ve already had the chance to interview a few people and will be posting profiles of cases in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll also be posting some of my ideas about my ongoing research on eBooks and the other resources available on Bookleteer. My personal interest on the subject of the eBooks began to take shape while conducting some research on a previous Proboscis project called Snout (read Measure Once, Cut Twice <\/em>here<\/a>) . It got me wondering about how people who work in cultural organisations create and disseminate information about their work. This is a particularly interesting challenge because, for the most part, the production, distribution and dissemination of information by and about arts organisations has taken-on negative connotations.<\/p>\n

For example, there is a growing (and entirely credible) perception that publicly funded arts and creative organisations in the UK and elsewhere are facing pressure from government stakeholders and other funding bodies to \u201cinstrumentalise\u201d and \u201cdeliver value for money\u201d rather than focus on the work of making art. In an article entitled Auditing Culture <\/em><\/a>(2004) Eleonora Belfiore<\/a> claims that arts organisations \u201chave found themselves forced to turn to the \u201crationalised rituals of inspection\u201d\u201d as the result of a \u201clegitimacy void caused by the the erosion of cultural authority that followed the diffusion of theories of cultural relativism\u201d (Belfirore 2004: 195). In other words, arts organisations have had to get better at generating reams of information that articulate and justify organisational aims and objectives that are consistent with the aims and objectives of stakeholders while also delivering on their promises to \u201cbe more inclusive\u201d or \u201cencourage audience participation\u201d.<\/p>\n

But the problem with this view is that this information is only generated for the benefit of funding bodies and without any meaningful ties to the actual work being done within these arts organisations. I would prefer to think about this kind of work as information practices<\/em> rather than as \u201cmeasuring impact\u201d or as \u201cproviding evidence\u201d. Once we move past framing this work within the intentions articulated by policy or funding bodies, it is possible to understand the creation and circulation of information as a practice; what Leah Lievrouw<\/a> calls informing-as-praxis. That is: examining how the work of producing, distributing and interpreting information as practices in themselves are embedded within particular social, political and cultural environments and developed as part of these artists\u2019 creative work rather than simply as an obligation to funding sources or a board of directors. I\u2019m not arguing that the pressures that Belfiore and others have identified don\u2019t exist, rather that these pressures are part of a more complex picture of cultural and creative practices.<\/p>\n

The eBooks and how they are designed and used by Proboscis and their collaborators represent an interesting opportunity to take a closer look at how informing-as-praxis takes place between cultural and creative organisations. I\u2019d be interested to hear anyone\u2019s reactions to this approach and would love to any recommendations of authors you think might be relevant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Proboscis have commissioned me to do some research into the eBooks and how they have been used in the past by all sorts of different people and organisations. As part of the research, I created an eBook of my own – the eBook Observer – to help me conduct the interviews. I\u2019ve already had the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,74,17],"class_list":["post-2056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-publishing-on-demand","tag-bookleteer","tag-ebook-observer","tag-ebooks"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookleteer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookleteer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookleteer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookleteer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookleteer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2056"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/bookleteer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2058,"href":"https:\/\/bookleteer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2056\/revisions\/2058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookleteer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookleteer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookleteer.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}