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I'm dead. I'm so dead. Also, sick and panicking right now, so not making too much sense, probably, but ... I'm dead. I have this presentation on Monday, on the dissertation, and owing to my health this past year, I have been working on said dissertation for exactly two days, as opposed to everyone else's few months. And now I have to get up in front of a room, and show everyone exactly how little I've done. *cries*
I have spent the past eight hours or so scanning two sources, and I've another couple lined up for tomorrow, and I have cherry-picked a couple of points I could maybe bullshit on for a few minutes, but ... I'm supposed to get 10 minutes of well-reasoned presentation out of two days work scanning a few sources and jotting down some rushed notes? How?
I'm dead. Also, not currently able to see straight. And panicking. And coughing.
And very, very dead. I am so, so dead. *cries*
I have spent the past eight hours or so scanning two sources, and I've another couple lined up for tomorrow, and I have cherry-picked a couple of points I could maybe bullshit on for a few minutes, but ... I'm supposed to get 10 minutes of well-reasoned presentation out of two days work scanning a few sources and jotting down some rushed notes? How?
I think ... It's supposed to go: Topic, Why you chose it, What you've found out, Any conclusions. I can get a minute out of Topic/Why Picked (Transmission of Technologies between the Medieval European, Arabic and Chinese Worlds), then I've cherry-picked a couple technologies going or not going in various directions (Windmill tech, separate evolution Euro and Arab, no transmission; Counterweight Trebuchet, uncertain origin, but definite transmission from Arab TO China, one of the rare techs moving to instead of from China; Naval tech, separate evolutions on all fronts, fastest evolution China, seemingly deliberate avoidance of said chinese tech on the part of Europeans, despite having met it; water-power technology, grounded in antiquity on all fronts, differently focused evolution within each, some very complex transmission patterns, especially btwm Euro and Arab - but that one may be too complicated for the presentation, and besides I don't have a very good grasp of it). I should probably have more, considering the sources he gave me, but I'm going to have to cherry pick.
Then I thought I could maybe bullshit a bit about sources, historical versus archaeological, because most sources for the Arab world in particular are written BUT there's this interesting trend in the Arab world for certain medieval technologies to continue being used and constructed well into the modern era, such as the water-lifting technologies for irrigation like the noria and the saqiya, and some examples of the Persian horizontal windmills survived up to the 1970s. This doesn't have much impact on the transmission of technologies, but it DOES show up some interesting problems with the sources themselves. For example, when the water-lifting technologies are compared between the extant machines and the medieval sources, there's good agreement with each other. But one of the Arab sources on the windmill technology agrees with neither the extant persian mills OR a number of other Chinese sources on the same type of windmill from close centuries. It is, however, a travelogue written from second-hand information, but it does bring to light some of the potential problems with the historical sources, especially where there is such a degree of reliance on them for information. There have also been a number of shaky arguments on the development of the traction trebuchet that put it in the 7th century based on poetic descriptions of some seige machines as 'Long Haired', so ... Could maybe discuss that for a bit, yes?
Then I have to finish up with conclusions, which ... is going to be the worst because I've nothing. I've been reading for one day so far, only two by the time of the actual presentation. I'm not going to have any conclusions that stand up aside from 'There were transmissions of technology going on in multiple directions between the three worlds during the medival period. There does seem to have been a somewhat stronger flow from China to the West than vice-versa. There are some interesting incidents of seemingly deliberate non-transmission, such as naval technology, which may indicate cultural factors as much as technological being at work. There are some technologies that developed differently in different areas, such as the windmills, that may indicate similiar ideas being independantly developed in different areas, without need for transmission. There are some technologies that were focused on in some areas and ignored in others, like the water-lifting and irrigation technologies, that might indicate that factors like climate, population size and need are driving technological development in the areas most needed (China and the Arab world strong focus, Northern Europe not so much). The different methods of transmitting information (Arab and Chinese book learning vs the European guild system) may impact the spread of technologies.' But I have bugger all proof of those conclusions, and anyone who attended his lectures could have gotten that far, and oh, I am so frikking dead!
Then I thought I could maybe bullshit a bit about sources, historical versus archaeological, because most sources for the Arab world in particular are written BUT there's this interesting trend in the Arab world for certain medieval technologies to continue being used and constructed well into the modern era, such as the water-lifting technologies for irrigation like the noria and the saqiya, and some examples of the Persian horizontal windmills survived up to the 1970s. This doesn't have much impact on the transmission of technologies, but it DOES show up some interesting problems with the sources themselves. For example, when the water-lifting technologies are compared between the extant machines and the medieval sources, there's good agreement with each other. But one of the Arab sources on the windmill technology agrees with neither the extant persian mills OR a number of other Chinese sources on the same type of windmill from close centuries. It is, however, a travelogue written from second-hand information, but it does bring to light some of the potential problems with the historical sources, especially where there is such a degree of reliance on them for information. There have also been a number of shaky arguments on the development of the traction trebuchet that put it in the 7th century based on poetic descriptions of some seige machines as 'Long Haired', so ... Could maybe discuss that for a bit, yes?
Then I have to finish up with conclusions, which ... is going to be the worst because I've nothing. I've been reading for one day so far, only two by the time of the actual presentation. I'm not going to have any conclusions that stand up aside from 'There were transmissions of technology going on in multiple directions between the three worlds during the medival period. There does seem to have been a somewhat stronger flow from China to the West than vice-versa. There are some interesting incidents of seemingly deliberate non-transmission, such as naval technology, which may indicate cultural factors as much as technological being at work. There are some technologies that developed differently in different areas, such as the windmills, that may indicate similiar ideas being independantly developed in different areas, without need for transmission. There are some technologies that were focused on in some areas and ignored in others, like the water-lifting and irrigation technologies, that might indicate that factors like climate, population size and need are driving technological development in the areas most needed (China and the Arab world strong focus, Northern Europe not so much). The different methods of transmitting information (Arab and Chinese book learning vs the European guild system) may impact the spread of technologies.' But I have bugger all proof of those conclusions, and anyone who attended his lectures could have gotten that far, and oh, I am so frikking dead!
I'm dead. Also, not currently able to see straight. And panicking. And coughing.
And very, very dead. I am so, so dead. *cries*