Community Research Initiative

Why do research?

To set out “What is to be done / What is doable?”
- What is our vision of the future that we want to see — and how
  do they fit together
- What actions do we want take
- Why Art / Earth / Tech
Create policies and recommendations e.g. in governance, in politics,
in technology
Answer specific questions we have - without it coming under a bigger
theme
Have a shared understanding within Art / Earth / Tech
To do collaborative research and get experience of doing them
without the normal incentive structures
Answer practical questions e.g. what practical challenges are there to doing what we would like or what business model could we have?
- This would likely come under other activities e.g. the working
  group looking at material sustainability would research
  business models

Relate to why we do this
Interesting to those who are going to contribute …
Not too hard
- Will not take years to get anywhere
  - we may do big multi-year research at some point however
    probably would do that in its own working group
  - Will not require very deep specialist knowledge (e.g.
    quantum physics)
Accessible - others can join in, others outside of Art / Earth /
Tech could be interested
Replicable - others can follow our findings and “repeat” them in
appropriate manner

What are we trying to achieve with the primer items? Ans: Have a shared understanding within AET group and community
- No need for originality - we can copy and paste from wikipedia!
- They can be opinionated
- Establish common ground
Audience
- Who is going to read it? AET community and the research group.
- What prior knowledge is expected
  - Of the broader AET research effort: non especially
  - May be useful to understand these are part of AET
    research effort but not essential
  - Of the specific topic: can vary. Usually assume very little.
    On technical topics is fine to state pre-requisites e.g.
    please go and read this and this
Length: 1-5 pages.
- 1 page is great! 1 page exec summary if more than 2 pages.
- + further reading / references
Style: friendly, succinct, informative, not too academic.