John James Marshall thesis.pdf - OpenAIR @ RGU - Robert Gordon ...

the exhibition primarily as a means to show their work while another third saw
it as an opportunity to network with other practitioners. In general, they felt the
range of practitioners in the exhibition was broader than they had expected.
Most of the practitioners stated the exhibition lived up to or exceeded their
expectations. However, most of the practitioners considered the venue (being
an office space) was the one aspect they were not satisfied with. Conversely, the
practitioners considered the atmosphere and physical appearance of the show,
the diversity and surprising nature of the work was what they most liked about
the exhibition. The fact the exhibition was not a major metropolitan centre was
the exhibition’s most negative aspect for a third of the interviewees. Some
visitors would have liked more information on the technologies and processes
behind the works in the exhibition. Most of the practitioners suggested that this
contextual information would have been appropriate for some works. They
indicated that this information ought to be optional and should not be too
technical for a general audience.
The researcher asked what impact the exhibition had in professional terms for
the practitioners. Most considered they had made new professional contacts
and half of them had their work featured in publications because of the
exhibition. Two thirds were aware the exhibition had increased traffic to their
websites. Two practitioners considered that participating in the exhibition had
had an effect on their work and another indicated they expected it would in the
future. All the practitioners answered they would participate in another
exhibition like ‘PBB’.
To grant further insight about how these practitioners understand their use of
computer-based technologies the researcher asked them the technology-related
questions from the previous survey of practitioners. In general their responses
corroborated the findings of the previous survey. All the practitioners pointed
out their practice had been transformed by computer-based technologies. In
addition, a third of them stated the nature of their practice was defined by the
use of these technologies and others indicated that use of these technologies had
changed how they think about or see the world. This idea of a practice defined
by the use of technology is an important distinction for this study.
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