[MR] Judging and a transfer of knowledge

[Lydia Leovic]

Friends,
 
While I have not reviewed the official mission and vision of the SCA lately, I think most of us would agree that part of the mission is to promote and  disseminate knowledge about the Middle Ages.
 
A&S competitions are one of the more structured frameworks for transfering knowledge in our organization.  Is an item without any documentation able to tell us anything about it?  If we have the good fortune of either being an expert of that object and/or the creator of the object is present to talk to us, maybe so. Museum artifacts are labeled so we know what they are.  Without documentation, judging is going to be difficult, so it is a two-way street: for meaningful feedback (i.e. judging) documentation is crucial.
 
A&S competition participants need to understand that judging is very consuming if done well.  A 2-3 page summmary sheet with imagines, along with photocopies or books that are marked is an ideal balance of not too much or too little for me.  Reading much more than this may be impractical.  I will stick out my neck and say with some good documentation, I can judge areas that I am not expert in.
 
I have always signed my name and left my card, often asking participants to contact me, because I have been energized and excited by some A&S projects.  I try to take as much care and pride in my judging as I have in my own A&S projects.  I try to always say what I liked and what I would like to see more of.
 
I would encourage the A&S coordinator of any competition to indeed keep track of both the entries and the judges, so anonymous mean-spirited feedback can be avoided.
 
Suggesting that we don't need documentation or judging in our Soceity is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater in my opinion.
 
YIS,
Maestra Lidia de Ragusa
 
 

Per bend sinister azure and argent, a sun in splendor Or and a fox passant azure.


"Respect is what we owe; love, what we give." --Philip James Bailey


"A good deed is never lost: he who sows courtesy reaps friendship; and 
he who plants kindness gathers love." --Basil


Visit Lidia de Ragusa online at http://home.roadrunner.com/~lkleovic/


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