Documenting practice research: constraints and opportunities

Sebastian Messer*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

This Research Note discusses when creative practice becomes practice research and the challenges for and approaches to the documentation of this. It asks the practitioner-researcher to consider why and how they archive their practice, and then, when and what they need to archive. Practice research has been recognised in academia for 40+ years, expanding rapidly since around the millennium. Preservation and sharing is of critical importance to the continuing development of practice research and fundamental to the development of an integrated ‘Web of Arts’. The contribution made by this paper is to seek to bridge the diverse disciplinary perspectives involved in this process. The problem of documenting practice as research sometimes feels as though nothing can be resolved until everything is resolved (by the arrival of an archival infrastructure that works for us!). This paper suggests some choices or workarounds for the practitioner-researcher related to the current degrees of development towards that infrastructure and it also critiques some current archival developments.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-34
Number of pages34
JournalJournal of Engineering Design
Early online date16 Jan 2025
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 16 Jan 2025

Keywords

  • Archive
  • Exegesis
  • Practice research
  • Research portfolio
  • web of arts

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