Intercultural Design : Task 2/Data Collection

Week 4 - Week 5 : 24 Jan 2022 - 6 Feb 2022

Tan Yi Yun
0345559
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Task 2 / Data collection

INSTRUCTIONS 


TASK 2 : Data Collection

The instructions are straightforward : to collect visual, oral, textual and tactile artefacts that would be part of the research materials for the ideation in Task 1 (proposal). The methods of collecting data including through online interview, online and/or actual physical material visual research. 

Unfortunately this task is carried out during the Chinese New Year, and most of the group members are celebrating this festival. no more happy cny :( 

Missions were assigned as below :
Google Arts and Culture on the 3 weapons
- Qian Tong 
Suppression and Rebellion of Drag (video research, netnography)
- Yi Yun 
The history of homophobic persecution in the countries of the 3 weapons
- Jia Sheng and Tress
The significance of each weapon to their country
- Athirah
Interview for person who practices drag in one of the countries of the 3 weapons
- Jodiann and Jia Sheng (create the questions)
- Tress (finding and requesting for interview)
Take actual pictures of weapons in musuem
- Jia Sheng
Working process 

I googled the keywords like "suppression", "rebellion" and "discrimination" and mapped out the parts that I will need to study. Basically throwing all my questions into here: 
My doubts mind map : 
Figure 1.1, Mind map, Week 4 (26/1/2022)

My own findings :


All and all begins from the self-proclaim first drag queen. I take a look at what he/she has done in the past that leads to the modern activism by drag community today. There are a few significant events that might be overlooked. 

Then, I delved into the current drag scene in Malaysia. I found that drag scene in Malaysia is considered underground, based on some reliable sources such as the video "Local Drag Queen Spill Tea On Drag Culture In Malaysia". I also discovered a few articles about interviewing the actual drag queens. 

Something that caught my attention is that there is a group of them called "female drag queen", who are dressed up as a drag queen although they are female. Somehow it can be a way to redefined postmodern feminism. Female drag queens are not always welcomed within drag spaces. In the video "The Complicated Truth About Female Drag Queens", these female drag queen faced discrimination in the inner circle of drag. “Drag isn’t necessarily a man dressing as a woman anymore because it is becoming an art form, it is becoming a culture and women have a place in that as much as anything.” 

Although this doesn't strictly align with the scope of our research, I decided to include in my notes because I think it is also an issue that is little known. 

I also added the "Feather Pride Flag" I have found at the last part of my research, just for a record purpose. 

Presenting a whole bunch of information in a limited time is not an easy task. After we gathered and summarised everyone's data collection, we then recorded a video presentation. 
Final Submission


Drag culture data collection (document), Week 6 (7/2/2022)

Drag culture data collection (full slides), Week 6 (7/2/2022)

Drag culture data collection (summarised slides), Week 6 (7/2/2022)


Video presentation, Week 6 (7/2/2022)
Final Submission (Amended) 
After receiving feedback from Mr. Vinod, a few changes had to be made in the slide itself and he instructed to not remove the original submitted slides but to add the amended final versions.

Amended drag culture data collection (document), Week 6 (8/2/2022)

Amended drag culture data collection (full slides), Week 6 (8/2/2022)

Amended drag culture data collection (summarised slides), Week 6 (8/2/2022)

FEEDBACK

Week 5

Demonstrates excellent observational and research skills, evident in an abundant collection of various materials, using appropriate tools. Documentation of collected materials is written clearly with effective written communication skills, clearly reviewing the contents of the sources. I am happy to see the RQ-RO in the beginning, well done there. It would also be good to mention in the conclusion how the data collected answered the RQ and fulfilled the RO and what will be the implications of the knowledge gained in your design output.

REFLECTION

Through the journey of data collection, I have gained a more in-depth understanding of this community, in terms of the suppression and rebellion of drag in the past and present. The situation of drag is harder than I thought. I feel sad when I saw they are not being treated as a "normal human being". As outsider, we should be open-minded and respect this community. In the end we are all human beings.

The overall experience wasn't too bad for me, as I have gained some new insights and also realised the importance of breaking complicated tasks into parts and steps so that each of us can handle the part based on our ability. Finally, I am looking forward to working with my team to execute our idea in the following task.