[MR] improving authenticity

[C N Schwartz]

Hear hear!

I, too, wish for a more compact compendium.  And I am no stranger to
research, but on some subject I need a quicker reference than hard to find
and translate original sources and hard to sort through secondary sources.
And my area of interest is noted for it's lack of primary sources extant
(11th to 13th C. )

But their is a problem.  If someone actually compiled and organized a
relatively complete list of relevant facts and hints and tips in this Knowne
Worlde Encyclopede ala SCAndia volume, the sheer mass of even THAT would be
daunting and economically unfeasible to distribute.  Not that it wouldn't be
greatly appreciated.

Another suggestion might be to swear an oath to make oneself as well
informed as humanly possible, then pick TWO people to inspire cajole and
threaten to match your level of research themselves.  Sort of
master/apprentice but limited to 2 to make the task more achievable.  For
even this task is daunting.

The people that teach 30 people at a time?  Bravo to you, fair gentles!



-----Original Message-----
From: atlantia-bounces at atlantia.sca.org
[mailto:atlantia-bounces at atlantia.sca.org]On Behalf Of Aimee Kratts
Sent: Monday, October 27, 2003 4:48 PM
To: atlantia at atlantia.sca.org
Subject: Re: [MR] improving authenticity


You know one thing I've always wanted since I joined the SCA (a scant 1 year
ago) was something called "The Big Book of Reseach That's Already Done So
You Don't Have To Do It Again." It would be, for example, the Authenticity
Police's equivalent of St. Gabriel's website.

I've done research on a number of items only to be told by someone, "Yeah,
I've done the research on that, too." And of course it's available. On a
website I've never heard of, that's usually down. How maddening.

It would be lovely for some enterprising soul to collect and publish, in
hardcopy, what research has been done in different areas so that the newbie
can take off from there and get deeper into the subject more quickly.
Peer-reviewed scientific journals abound. Why couldn't we do something like
that for own organization's purposes?

The heraldry community has somewhat taken the lead on this, I think, with
the Atlantian Heralds Handbook. Why couldn't we have a Bead-Maker's Book? A
Scoll-Maker's Book? Etc.

Just a thought.

Amie

P.S. I love Stefan's Florilegium. I have learned a lot from it.