A Question, Continued

This development of a question is really tough. It looks like many people fall in love with theory or find some grand idea to fall into, and of course I'm no different. It's amazing how seductive the word "Wittgenstein" can be to just about anybody. Do all doctoral students fall into some "Grand Theory of Everything" trap? Do we all have the answers before we have the answers? It sure looks that way.

A question seems to me to be the primary building block of the dissertation. In nautical terms you could call it the keel. The "ship" gets built around it. The question has to be capable of supporting a literature review, a methodology and an experiment of some sort. This seems to be pretty basic, and if you consider your subjects, the college bureaucracy, your committee and your advisor as the seas, the wind and the current then the question is the keel and the lit review, methodology and experiment are the timbers, deck and rigging. They all have to fit together and they have to be capable of taking some pretty tough abuse, but one has to keep in mind the question is the basis of the whole thing.

So, I'm interested in a number of things that can become a question. One, how the introduction of new digital methods impacts on the craft of film editing. That's a question right there, but is it enough? And is it too broad? Then there is another, related question: how do you become a film editor? And, related to that, how do you support this in an educational setting?

So far, so good, but this has to be synthesized into something more. I'm also reminded of the Community Board meeting I just attended. Nobody seemed to be able to ask just ONE question. That might be a problem...