File puptcrit/puptcrit.1002, message 329


Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:24:01 -0500
From: Hobey Ford <hobeyone-AT-gmail.com>
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] puptcrit Digest, Vol 64, Issue 23 archives


The inaccuracy of wikipedia is corrected daily by its users.  if you find an
inaccuracy you are at liberty to correct it.  It is not created by
committees it is created by the public It is democratic.  Encyclopedias as I
was taught in college, are a starting point.  They are where you begin
research to get an overview.  Go to a 1950's encyclopedia created by
"editors" and you will find a very male oriented, dominant cultural view of
history.
On wikipedia facts can be challenged.  I don't treat any source of
information as infallible.  Every source of information has a bias, whether
it be self promotion or whatever.  But there are other options.

It is a fine thing that this book exists, and I commend those who brought it
to fruition.   I would encourage the online possibilities though going
forward.  I would recommend a digital counterpart.  I would recommend a
Drupal site which after initial set-up can be edited and updated without
special html web construction knowledge.  The technology of "drupal" is free
open source software, which, for instance SONY Records uses  because it is
so fast and inexpensive to update their artist's websites.    Photos can be
used, video can be used, cost is not a factor.  Mistakes can be corrected,
ommissions can be included and the net can be cast farther.

Puptcrit is a site envisioned as a place to critically debate issues of
puppet theater so
with congratulations aside,  I am going to step in doo doo..

I find it ridiculous that an encyclopedia of puppetry in this day and age
has limited photos and omits photos of the likes of Bil Baird or Ronnie
Burkett.   Publishing is extraordinarily expensive, especially with color
photographs.  Why would UNIMA go forward with an encyclopedic archive in
this digital age and not have vast amounts of photography and then invest in
a book that is in only one language.  How many other languages will it be
reprinted in at additional costs.  Probably English, but what of the other
languages.  In a digital format any language could be substituted at a
fraction of the cost and effort.  I doubt that the student of puppetry will
afford such a book.

Then there is editorial content.  I don't think a contemporary committee of
editors can be objective about current puppetry.  I just don't think it is
possible.  We often discuss this or that puppeteer from fifty or sixty years
ago and wonder if anyone knows about them.  They were overlooked by the bias
of the day.  That is what bothered me about 40 puppeteers under 40 in a
recent UNIMA publication.  It is great that we learned about the 40 and the
cut-off had to occur somewhere, but somewhere down the road those omitted
will be unknown to future researchers if they stop there.

We often gripe here about the fact that the public usually considers
puppetry to be an artform for preschoolers.  But a bias exists on the other
end of the spectrum as well.  I would venture to say that if you are a
puppeteer "working" today, that you produce work for a general audience and
specifically elementary aged audiences.  I wonder how well this group of
professionals are represented in a work like this.  After 1970's  I would
contend that UNIMA -USA especially represents work for adult audiences.
UNIMA exhibits a preference for adult puppet theater.  To those who wonder
the difference between UNIMA -USA and Puppeteers of America that this is a
primary difference.  The organization seems to have a bias toward adult
puppet theater.  Check it out yourself and look at the contents pages of
Puppetry International.
http://www.unima-usa.org/publications/toc/index.html

I love UNIMA - USA,  don't get me wrong.  I have the highest regard for its
leaders past and present.  I have been on the board, I have been a member
for years, but for the most part I don't think it serves my "professional"
interests (someone else said that in a recent post here).  I am able to
advertise in the UNIMA yellow pages and a year doesn't go by that I am not
invited to perform in Pakistan.  I will buy the book when it comes out in
English and I will value the knowledge that it contains about puppetry of
the past but I will do my research on current puppetry in person or online.
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