Douwe Jan Joustra

From Discourse-2

Historical kites are cross-cultural phenomena. They represent science, civil and military use – photography, anthropology, arts, religion, joy and playtime. This makes them interesting for historical research and, of course, collecting.

In this article, I will share some of my insights on different aspects of historical kites, and in the second half I will present a first version of a Code of Conduct.

THE ART OF KITE COLLECTING, STUDY AND SHARING INFORMATION

There is a rather small group of serious kite collectors. They have their collections at home or in a few cases in small museums or institutions like Drachen Foundation in Seattle. Kite museums take care of collections that have a broad variety of ancient, historical and contemporary kites. In the Asian countries, these collections seem to have a significant anthropological value. Most collections are small, and owned and taken care of by individuals that have a keen personal interest in kites. Diversity in quality and maintenance seems to characterize these collections.

The group of (semi-)professional kite collectors is even smaller. We all know of some of these: Drachen Foundation, the German Drachen Archiv, the Skinner collection. In Europe, the collections of Desimpelaere, Chapman, Draheim and Sauve are well known. They all combine collecting with research: in the field and in archives, museums and personal collections of other kite-related persons. The way they document, repair or preserve their kites is (almost) professional. It seems that this group is important for the diffusion of knowledge and craftsmanship.

Then there is the growing group of enthusiastic people who have interest in old kites. This interest has different origins: to recreate the toys from their childhood, curiosity about technical history or other personal motivations. They start collecting in their own neighborhood and are looking around for more. This group is growing fast and gives more and more competition to the (semi-)professionals.

Sometimes we tend to be over-enthusiastic or just victim to our own ideas. Every collector needs to know what may be expected from a “good” collector. Also, we need to have an idea about the ways old kites and kite materials can be restored, without damaging the historical value.

Recently I heard a few things that could or have happened:

  1. Unauthorized use of photographs and building plans
  2. “Saving” collections from a museum
  3. Inadequate restoration of historical kites
  4. Closing collections for other kiters
  5. Non-communication on archives and research performed

So now we could try to focus on the negative side of this, but that is not a future- oriented way of thinking. My suggestion is that we think about a Code of Conduct for historical kites and kite collecting.

First, I will give some insights that I have about the way the historical kite community works. Maybe you share these ideas or maybe you see things differently: both can be a good basis for further debate on the ways we all should conduct ourselves when working with historical kites.

NEW WAYS OF COLLECTING

Kite collecting seemed to be a result of patience, good research, building up a network and sometimes taking care of collections of kiters who passed away. This all still is happening. The greatest joy came from treasures that were found in the attic or garage of an old house. That was sometimes a lucky shot, but often the result of thorough research.

Now we see new ways of collecting. The kite community found eBay and other second hand trade sites on the internet. If you want a Gibson Girl kite, dated around WWII, you can be the proud owner within a few days. You just need a computer, credit card and a postal address. Your flea market is worldwide!

The result is that many people have something, and dispersion is the effect: lots of small collections with a great diversity.

RELEVANCE OF KITES

As said in the introduction, there is a growing acknowledgement of kites as:

  • Cultural phenomena (hobby, arts)
  • Scientific historical artifact (meteorology)
  • Technical curiosity (patents)
  • Political specialty (military, records)
  • Anthropological interest (fishing, religious)

This relevance has not yet resulted in programmed scientific research. Some technical aspects have been and still are researched by institutes like NASA and some polytechnic universities. Most research was done on the capacity of flexible wings for parachutes or parasailing. Nowadays the focus is found in the promise that kites have as a resource for renewable energy (directly, like the “LadderMill” of Wubbo Ockels or indirectly, like the new kite sails for ships).

It would be of great historical value to do research on several of the aspects that are mentioned. This needs, in my opinion, programming of research. That would make objectives more clear and could help to gain access to the scientific world. At the end it would help us, the amateurs, to get more focus in our work.

KITE CONSCIOUSNESS

It seems that kite consciousness is growing around the world. This is visible in the number of historical surveys (growing), the group of people who try to make reconstructions (growing) and the number of initiatives on sharing knowledge (growing).

At the same moment you can see that commercial relevance changes daily – now all energy goes to kite-boarding on water, snow or wheels –, real scientific relevance is decreasing. No real function is connected to the use of kites, unlike the status for meteorological research about 100 years ago. Most disturbing is the way people look at kites; kite-related innovations are still seen as non-relevant. Rogallo recognized this problem: can you make a toy into a serious instrument? The other way around is more naturally accepted. We still have this problem in renewable energy and other fields of interest.

KITE RESEARCH

Most of the actual research on kites and kite history is performed by amateurs. The quality of the research is high in most cases. There is the possibility of getting a small grant if the research is on a field that has not been exploited before. Drachen Foundation gives these grants every year.

That brings us also to the question of whether we are primarily collectors or researchers. In my opinion, not everyone wants to choose to be one of those. It has to do with character, enjoyment and maybe ideals. My opinion is that each kiter should make a choice for him or herself. Kites are interesting for study, but also nice to build and to fly.

COMMUNITY

Then there is a key issue that has to do with kiters as a community. The kite community has a common interest in sharing ideas, knowledge and experiences, because that is the basis on which we can build a learning network. We lack the resources for professional and scientific research at a reasonable scale. So what we need is the power of being within a community of persons who all have their own competences and the willingness to share and learn.

The question in historical research is often, “Who is owner of a design or source?” Ownership is defined mostly in a protective way. As an ecologist, I know that protection is a continuous fight and it is an uphill battle. In some stages, it can be wise to protect ideas or designs from a commercial point of view. That is the only moment that I think it could be reasonable not to share everything you know. But even then openness brings more innovations then a closed laboratory situation. Innovations and a shared body of knowledge will grow best in an open source community!

HISTORICAL KITES: CODE OF CONDUCT

Not so long ago, I read an article in Kite Lines. It was dated autumn 1988 and gave the commandments that are relevant for a kite flier. The most meaningful one was: kites are made to fly and should be flown (as often as possible). In general this is the truth for kites and kiters. For historical kites we do need to look around for some extra agreements. This is a proposal for a real Code of Conduct on historical kites. It involves themes such as: Collection, Restoration, Research, Learning, Education and Ownership. Each of these themes includes aspects that can be seen as dos and don’ts for the historical kite community. Professionals and amateurs should see this as a gentlemen’s agreement.

We need to discuss this code in the historical kite community. Points of discussion could be:

    • Can we ask of private collectors that their collections should be accessible? Maybe this point should be rephrased?
    • Re-creation: Is anyone free to build copies in the way they want to? Maybe we should say that, for museums, re-creation in original materials is likely.
    • Publishing results: As far the author is able to find a proper way of publishing, he or she has the copyrights and the right to publish. This is to seen as a wish and not as a commandment.

Personally, I think that most elements of this code of conduct are no less than logical for any person interested in Historical Kites. Just one element involves more than “good practice” and that is the new idea of being an “open source community”. This idea is grounded in the belief that sharing knowledge and the creation of social learning processes brings (new) quality.

Comments on this Code of Conduct are welcome.

CODE OF CONDUCT

ON HISTORICAL KITES AND KITE HISTORY

Collection

  • Public collections should stay public
  • Private collections are private and can be open at request
  • Acquisitions should be found in the public domain
  • Collectable items will be handled with respect

Restoration

  • Restoration requires professionalism
  • Re-creation needs to be done carefully
  • Original material and original craftsmanship is the basis to work on

Research

  • Respect the source for future research
  • Share the results
  • Keep to scientific standards

Learning

  • Help on quality of “body of knowledge”
  • Be open sourced (through reflection and interaction learning gains quality)
  • Be part of a learning network

Education

  • Enhance people’s competences for kiting
  • Allow formal and informal education on kiting
  • Share knowledge for growing network of involved parties

Ownership

  • Respect people’s efforts in enhancing the “body of knowledge”
  • Give credits to the one who earns them Intellectual ownership is to be respected

HISTORICAL KITE WORKSHOP APELDOORN 2006

DOUWE JAN JOUSTRA