How to invent an argument by analyzing an artifact

How to invent an argument by analyzing an artifact

Introduction and Definition

In this lesson you will be learning how to invent an argument by analyzing and artifact. An Artifact is defined an action event, or object perceived as a unified whole. It has widely shared meaning and manifests group identifications.

In order to properly analyze an artifact, you need to break it down into the different parts that make that artifact a whole so as to discover its true nature or inner relationships.

How to Instructions

1. Choose an artifact:

Baseball.

2. Observe/Participate

Go to a baseball game or watch one on TV. Even participate in playing in one. Taking action in all these events so you can see what it is like for both the player of the sport and its audience.

3. Analyze/Deconstruct

Take what you learned from participating and watch a baseball game and deconstruct it. Think of all the different elements of the game. The equipment, the uniforms or lack of uniforms, the feeling you got while playing, or watching. How the crowd acted when something happened. Who certain people was cheering for. Try and find the meaning of why this even was occurring, and why it is a reoccurring one.

4. Create an argument

The sport of baseball has been around for centauries. But what brought people to play this sport of nine men standing in various places on a field waiting for someone to hit a ball being thrown at them with a bat, all so they can run catch and throw it, and why has is become so popular since its beginning? These are all questions you need to ask yourself when analyzing your artifact. You want to make sure understand the artifacts meaning as a whole and to the individual spectators.

How I invented an argument by analyzing an artifact

For my artifact I chose the First Friday Denver Art walk on Santa Fe Drive in downtown Denver. I arrived at the art walk at 6pm, when it started because I was not sure about what to expect. Prior to going I learned that the art walk was started my 17 original galleries and theaters on Santa Fe Drive in order to promote their galleries and raise awareness about art education. I went from gallery to gallery, spoke with the people walking around observed the different people and artistic creations that surrounded me.

I took notes on what I saw while I was there and went home and deconstructed the entire experience. I took into consideration the different people I saw, the interesting works of art that were on display and the ambiance of each individual gallery, some very modern and cold, others dimly lit with a warm homey feeling, some even giving off a chilling vibe that you are not sure of the meaning, all with art to match. It was important to understand the beginning of the Art walk, from how and why it started and the fact that it has become such a widely popular event since it’s beginning.

Your Assignment

You will be observing an artifact of your choice. You will need to keep notes on what you choose to observe and what you did to fully understand the reasoning for the artifact, or what you think is the reasoning for its existence. Following the instructions above You will write a 2-3 page paper explaining your analysis and deconstruction of your artifact along with presenting your argument and reasoning for this to be why your artifact is in existence and why an audience partakes.