Notes on the It's Electric (IE) planning session on Mar 5, 2003. This file was recorded on disc (accession 0063).
The plan for today was to record an IE planning meeting using the portadisk that we are borrowing from Martyn Richards along with the beyer interview mic and the gun mic. It didn't quite go to plan and we're clearly going to have revisit our ideas about audio recording. The Beyer mic is a lot lower recording level than the sennheiser or there is something wrong with the PortaDisk. (see below)
Notes for the meeting are here. An early problem we had is that I knocked some tea over while trying to reposition the beyer, causing some momentary confusion but, luckily, no lasting damage (except to my pride).
It was held in the cafe again as space seems to be at a premium in TQ. Makes me wonder about the practicalities of doing 1-1 interviews.
Darren was his usual self, rhapsodising over our equipment. He is quite taken by the portadisc and aware of the recording challenges that the cafe will cause.
He also teased Bambo about us "not interfering". Apparently he quizzed Bambo about ethnography when she shadowed him and seems to have latched on to the idea that we will be minimising the effect that we have on the situation. I suspect that he thinks this is the key component of our work.
Darren's main point at the start of the meeting is that the importance is to "get at the electricity" and not just to have a "black box." The problem is how to do this.
We set up on a table and then things go horribly wrong. Bambo is holding the gun mic and pointing it at whoever is talking. I'm trying to keep the beyer central but the recording level is lousy. I reach over to adjust it and a pot of tea gets knocked over.
Cue lots of messing around and Darren enjoys himself at our expense. We clean up and then move to a separate table in the corner. I try to minimise our disruption. Bambo sits on the table and I sit a little way back. The cafe is far too loud for me to hear properly so I concentrate on
Once the meeting gets properly in progress it becomes more businesslike than the previous one. They agree to set up a regular Wednesday morning meeting. Darren jokes about them not having done as much work as they ought to have done
The set up with Bambo holding a gun mic while wearing headphones is not
a good one. I'm not sure how much she is able to actually listen rather
than simply record and she can't take notes. I'm too far away to hear so
I can't take notes anyway. It will be interesting to hear what is actually
on the disc and what its quality is. The basic set up is as shown in the
photo thumbnail to the right.
Notes on meeting
Sound level very low to start with.
Darren being very jokey. He has generated a list of possible images for the lightning exhibit.
. Darren "I know I know a bit about electricity which is quite useful but I don't want to go off down the whole thing É. It's just the easy stuff off the Internet" - a useful insight into feelings of competence.
"Most of the power we get is from the north" - he is repeating info that he has learned via web-searching about electricity generation. Heather and Dawn have clearly also done some reading.
Darren is after a "usage of electricity as a figure and the amount of power Cardiff uses"
Heather finds how many wind turbines there are in Wales. Again there is a lot of pausing "we need more research" - Darren.
Looking to do lightning, high voltage and generator for next week.
Generation: Darren keeps talking about putting the "coils on the outside" when it comes to generation, part of his interest in not making the exhibit a "black box." Darren says that the crank will be "interactive" rather than just pushing a button. "I like the idea that it was a physicalÉ" (trails off)
His big fear "is that we don't have enough physical things for people to do." Darren then talks to the microphone "this is the whole tension we have at the moment with the workshop. More emphasis has been put on to get the goals and targets and this is what we have to do and the problem is, in the past (paraphrasing) we could put the people on what they would best but that is less possible and more and more stuff is going to be farmed out. This makes it harder to mix together content and the actual exhibits.
There is quite a lot of hesitation. None of them seem too confident of their understanding of electricity.
There's a discussion of whether to use a meter in the high voltage exhibit. It is hard to hear anyone other than Darren. Darren seems to be struggling with the idea of electrons.
22:04 (more on what's interactive - though Darren halts before he uses the word). There's a discussion about using levers at the bottom and insulating them so that they can be pushed to generate electricity.
24:10 Darren mentions that they should generate a "website list" what he means by that is a list of electricity websites. They are using the net a lot to get info and also discussion about how they can get "free stuff" from electric generators. Darren discusses create a folder on the workshop server so that they can all put images and URLs (organised with Brett) in there.
They have purchased a scalectrix - a "micro" one. "My first scalectrix set" that is "ruggedised for younger kids" Darren also asks about handcranks. Darren says to Bambo "you can record it and even bring the camera" instead. Darren goes on a riff about doing the scalectrix in the conference room with champagne, clocks and so on.
Darren asks about when they're going to start the "show-based meetings". Heather says that Evette hasn't done anything yet. There's some concern from Darren about trying to fit everything in.
A lot of the discussion is focused on making it more exciting.
Heather suggests some sort of hand-cranked race (Daley Thompson's decathalon). Heather also discusses "fat cat" racing (sounds like an old exhibit). Darren suggests using the scalectrix "Fat Cat Scalectrix."
Equipment Issues
After testing the HHB Portadisk this was its first practical use and it was all rather grim. I had been worried about how the microphones would work out in practice as the Beyer seemed rather quiet. Mostly I was tense because we didn't have a worked out plan for where to put the microphones as well as all the usual worries about the first time using new equipment in the field.
Oddly enough, one thing I always remember from a throw-away comment in a masters course is "never mix tea and microphones." We were recording on a small table in the cafe and Dan offered drinks for everyone. I said no, as is usual, but Bambo asked for tea. Now drinking tea with participants is always good, shared activity, recipricocity and so on, but not in a busy cafe with new equipment and 5 people trying to huddle around a small table with no room to put the microphones in a sensible position. Took almost no time for the tea to spill. Hardly professional.
It was ludicrous trying to get all us round the table so we moved and I set up Bambo with recorder. She insisted on wearing headphones which I am dubious about. I can see an argument for it, it lets her monitor the recording more accurately - something she has learned to do while filming - but it makes it almost possible for her to interact and reduces her to a passive observer. Also, by holding a mic she has no ability to take immediate notes. It would be ok if it were feasible for me to squeeze in as well.