Week beginning 29th February 2024
Blue Sky Research and Statement of intent
Blue Sky Research- The term blue sky research comes from Comroe's retrospectoscope in 1976 on the research done in 1869 on why the sky is blue. This research was initially thought to be of no value but led to many other discoveries of much more direct use. Blue sky research (also called blue sky science or basic research) is scientific research in domains where "real-world" applications are not immediately apparent. It has been defined as "research without a clear goal” and "curiosity-driven science".
The Art of Failure and the Importance of Risk and Experimentation.
Managing the Fear of Failure
When you’re teaching writing, you become much more conscious of how you yourself deal with fear because you want to make sure you’re not a hypocrite. The thing I tell my students at the beginning of every semester is they have to decide what [project] they want to pursue that semester.
Usually they’ll describe two or three to me, and there’s one that they describe very easily and another one that they’re more hesitant about, that you can tell they’re super excited about but also really scared of. That’s always the one I tell them to go for.
In my life, with my projects, I try to always to do that too now. If I weren’t part of Hamline, I don’t know if I would be doing a nonfiction comic by now. I think I may have just given in to the fear and moved on to something different.
Gene Luen Yang
In the sciences, the concept of failure is a natural part of experimentation. If you want to learn how a process works, or develop a new one yourself, the scientific method demands that you try, fail, and try again. But in the arts, failure is often seen as a dirty word — no one wants to be responsible for a critical or commercial flop. But without taking risk and pushing boundaries, art would remain stagnant, and the creative spirit would be wasted on our own fears.
Reasons Why Failing is Good
•Failure is a redirection. It shows you where you shouldn't be.
•Failure is an opportunity. It's a chance to re-evaluate and come back stronger with better reasoning
•Failure builds resilience
Adam