CEM240 - Blog 4

I normally find writing conclusions one of the things I most enjoy when doing a project because you feel relived that I am on the home stretch. When I came to write the conclusion for this case study it was a different story, I found it difficult because I had already discussed and analysed my results. The summary of my findings comes at the beginning of the study so I felt I was repeating myself a lot but in a different way.

The Case study is now almost finished; I have a meeting with my dyslexia tutor before the deadline so they can spell check and troubles shoot my work. I find meeting up with my dyslexia tutor very helpful as it shows a different perspective of your work that can make you realise things that you wouldn’t normally think about, you tell them what you want to get out of the meeting and how much guidance you need.

Writing this case study has made me realised that writing a dissertation doesn’t have to be difficult if you start doing it far in advance, research as much as possible, read relevant literature and write a certain amount every week. I have also found that its very important to pick an interesting subject matter, (luckily the Eden project is such an interesting place that its hard to loose interest in the subject.) other wise the motivation to complete the project will not be there.

All in all I am happy with the Case study, some of the sections don’t flow into each other as well as a professional case study may do but hopefully for my project it should make sense. I have definitely found that my common strengths and weakness have presented them selves while doing this project and I feel that for the next project and can work to combat my weakness and work with my strengths.

 

Stress is a bit problem for a lot of people, for me my stress symptoms vary greatly, luckily for this project I started it early so no stress about last minute rushing. I do find I work better under a little bit or pressure and stress but there is a fine line that can be hard to get right. The main thing that was stressful was that the project took so long that I would be sitting at my desk for hours trying to complete my word count quota. I wouldn’t want to count up the hours spend on this project as it would be very alarming for a 4,00 word project.

CEM240 - Blog 3

In hindsight I would have started the project earlier than I did, I knew the case study would take a long time to write but it’s taking a lot longer than I thought to actually write all the necessary sections.

I am finding that I keep referring back to first person in my study when I am meant to be writing in the past tense for most of it. I just have to keep re-reading everything I do while going along

Reading reviews from the Eden Sessions has been very helpful to get an understand what the event is like for the average attendees, the website gigatude.co.uk has a good review of the Brandon Flowers Session in 2011 and seems to like Eden as a venue, although some blog reviews had criticism about certain aspects (the queuing for drinks, and poorly light car parks just to name a few) but all could not fault the spectacular location and perfect natural amphitheatre.

Another good blog review I found was Amelia’s Magazine review the performers in 2010, she says ‘Given the setting, it is only natural (in all senses of the word) that there would be an active and encouraged link between the performances and the environmental ethos that Eden is built on.’ (http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/music/festival-preview-the-eden-sessions/2010/06/22/#.T8UuB3lYv0U)

The more I research and read out the Eden Project and Tim Smit the more I admire everything about them, I find Tim Smit such an inspiration and would love to work at Eden even just on a voluntary level. I partially like it when Smit say things like “The people most out of touch with us ordinary folk are politicians, who don't realise a lot of us have moved on from viewing the world as left or right wing. In fact, many people are very frustrated because they have socialist dreams, but realise some of what they would perceive to be 'right-wing' solutions would be necessary to deliver those socialist dreams.” He has bit hopes for this country (even though he’s Dutchman) I just hope that he puts what he says about politics in practice, because personally I think Tim Smit would be an brilliant Prime Minister.

- Tim Smit: 'I don't want things to be too easy' - Profiles - People - The Independent . 2012. Tim Smit: 'I don't want things to be too easy' - Profiles - People - The Independent . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/tim-smit-i-dont-want-things-to-be-too-easy-6275533.html. [Accessed 29 May 2012].

Brandon Flowers at Eden Sessions 2011 - Gig Review and Pictures | Gigatude Concert Review and Photos. [ONLINE] Available at: http://gigatude.co.uk/?portfolio=brandon-flowers-eden-project-review-and-pictures. [Accessed 29 May 2012].

CEM240 - Blog 2

Midway through my research I have found that writing surveys and questionnaires is very useful and can provide you with key information, but it is very difficult to get people to complete them. My first survey started off very well and I got quite a few responses, but for my next survey which had more vital questions for my study I got a recline in responses. I was getting too many responses from students so I didn’t want to hand them out around campus of post the link on Facebook, I then found that posting in forums got a few responses and posted on websites where users can summit almost anything.

I am midway through reading Tim Smit’s book Eden, it’s an interesting read to see how he dreamt up Eden and the process of it being created. There isn’t much information to go in my case study but it is good to read about the subject as much as possible. The book gives a good insight into Smits mind to see how he made his dream into reality and shows not just his entrepreneurial skills but a look into his personal thoughts of the Eden project as it was happening. 

CEM240 - Blog 1

For my case study I have decided to investigate The Eden Sessions and the impact of visitor numbers for The Eden Project.

I chose to do a case study on the Eden Project because it’s the biggest tourist venue in Cornwall, and I wanted to find out if the Eden Sessions actually affects the visitor numbers at Eden.

I also wanted to find out about if the Eden Sessions bring in more young people to the Eden project and why the Eden Sessions were created in the first place.

I feel very positive at the start of this study, I really enjoy researching for a essay or study which often leads to me research for longer than necessary and not leaving enough time to actually write up my findings.

Someone in my friendship group works at the Eden project over the summer so has many connections to Eden as well as him being very good friends with someone who actually works on the Sessions.

As a back up a couple of course mates have worked at Eden in the past and are willing to give me some information and contacts.

Having never actually written a case study before it will be a challenge writing a large piece of work in a completely different style to my normal essay structure, but it will be good practice for when/if we do our dissertations next year.

One weakness to my project is that my study relies on visitor numbers and information, so I am not able to get any of this my study will be lacking and I may have to change the objective of the study as I am going along.

CEM210 - Museums

As I found out in a recent seminar, museums have been around since 530B.C when wealthy people opened their own personal collections.

I have been fortunate enough to be able to visit some amazing museums and galleries including Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Science Museum London & Toronto, Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Imperial War Museum and many others. I don’t think I fully appreciate art when I got to a museum unless I know information about an Artist I can study and appreciate a piece of work, but if its just a painting with a name and date next to it I have no connection to the artist and don’t know what their ideas about art.

I agree that every piece shouldn’t have a blurb about them and you need to form your own opinions and assumptions about the piece because art is meant to be subject.

For example modern art can be so thought evoking and creative but can also come across as if the artist created the piece in two minutes with out a thought and its hard to see what the artist thought audience reaction would be.

This brings me to the question who should own culture? For me I think where ever something like a painting is born or produced is where it should belong to, this is what the current Cultural Heritage law states. If say the UK took something fragile from Greece a hundred years ago and they want it back, I think the taken heritage should belong to Greece but if they don’t have the facilities to look after it then England should keep it as a long term long, and vice versa.

In many cases I think artefacts and heritage should be returned to their original owners and then loaned out to other counties to exhibit in museums.