Alright, so I handed the final thesis proposals in on Tuesday. I wish I had more time to check things over and elaborate on some parts (i.e. the sources) but I didn't and at this point I'm just glad to have everything out of the way; well everything except this last post.
So here are some sources that I've looked at since my last entry;
Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne, and Uta Frith. The Learning Brain: Lessons for Education. Malden, MA,
USA: Blackwell, 2005.
Curran, Eileen P. Just Enough to Know Better a Braille Primer. Boston, Mass.: National Braille,
1988.
Hornsby, Bevé, Frula Shear, and Julie Pool. Alpha to Omega: The A-Z of Teaching Reading,
Writing and Spelling. Oxford: Heinemann, 2006.
Children's Letter and Word Reading Competencies." Reading Research Quarterly 15.2 (1980):
203-27.
Swenson, Anna M. Beginning with Braille Firsthand Experiences with a Balanced Approach to
Literacy. New York: AFB, 1999.
Travers, Paul D,, and Wallace Z. Ramsey. "Initial Teaching Alphabet a Hundred Years Ago?"
The Elementary School Journal 74.5 (1974): 274-79.
Tur-Sinai [Torczyner], H. "The Origin of the Alphabet." The Jewish Quarterly Review 41.1
(1950): 83-109.
Tur-Sinai [Torczyner], H. "The Origin of the Alphabet (Continued)." The Jewish Quarterly
Review 41.2 (1950): 159-79.
Vernon, McCay, and Joan D. Coley. "The Sign Language of the Deaf and Reading-Language
Development." The Reading Teacher 32.3 (1978): 297-301.
Wormsley, Diane P. Braille Literacy: a Functional Approach. New York: AFB, 2004.
Those are mostly for my third proposal: I intend to create a children’s alphabet book incorporating the Roman alphabet, as well as the American Sign Language (ASL) version of the alphabet, and Braille. Each page will also have an image to associate with the letter. This book will teach children with multiple abilities and disabilities the alphabet. For further ease, I also intend to use block-printing methods to stamp the information onto the page adding a texture that will allow the visually impaired child to comprehend the image associated with the letter as well as the look of the Roman letter.
Although this was the last proposal that I came up with - a bit of a combination between my first and second (How might hand-pressed books inform editorial and publication design? and How can a design campaign inform people of the consequences of losing species to extinction? [one of the aspects of the campaign is a series of 26 posters, one for each letter of the English alphabet] - I think that it might tie with my first proposal in terms of how much I like it. The sources were primarily education based, as in - how do children with different abilities learn the alphabet. I was thinking: why should children have to be divided to learn the alphabet? I mean everyone has to learn it somehow eventually so why not make a tool that can teach children with different abilities and disabilities? I realize that this one will require way more research if I actually choose to go with it, seeing as I am only vaguely familiar with sign language (I own a copy of The Pocket Book of Signing by Rod R. Butterworth and Mickey Flodin for my own personal interest) and know even less about Braille. The most interesting thing that I have yet to learn/ understand is how seeing-impaired people "read" texture - I mean, can I just block print an image and they'll be able to visualize it through the image they read with their hands? (check out http://www.tactilemindbook.com/ - I saw this at the Erotic Arts & Crafts fair at the Gladstone this past February - the most unorthodox places can end up being the most informative!) I could be completely off but so far I haven't really found any substantial sources on the subject so I'm going to have to look harder if I get into it and possibly do some participant observation.
But anyway, back to printmaking, I took out Handmade Prints by Anne Desmet and Jim Anderson from the OCAD library and I have to say that it's one of the more interesting print-making books I've looked at because it shows the less "professional" forms of printmaking and really explores every sort of technique possible, from potato stamping to "printing from bits and pieces" to stenciling, to screen printing. It also defines a lot of terms and explains how to make every single print. Most importantly it exposes a whole new way of thinking about printing - it's not all about the press!
Speaking of the press however, I did check out Zach Springer (thank you Sarah!) and I really love the idea of using a traditional printing press like the one that Guttenberg had designed all those centuries ago, which is apparently just what Mr. Springer has done with The Print Factory. I checked out buildsomethingtogether.com but I think that this website (http://craftandconcept.com/pfinfo.html) is more to the point about this project, it also has Zach's contact information so once I get out of this end of year stupor I'm going to contact him and ask him more about The Print Factory project and discuss my own ideas - maybe he can help give me some tips and guidance.
Ok, well I think that's it for now. Good luck with your thesis Sarah, and I hope everyone (anyone?) reading this blog has a great summer :)
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