Alternative Media Proposal Research Proposal Template For Faster Writing

Alternative media refers to delivery of various media or arts outside of traditional delivery systems. One such, often understudied, alternative media practice is the development of street art. I selected topic #3. This fits within the larger context of the course, by working to define what alternative is, and how specific practices fit into the larger goal, and genre of alternative media.
The primary research question for this topic will be: What is the historical context of street art, what resistance has it faced, and how does it serve the public socially, as an art form. This will include specific justification for why street art qualifies as an alternative media practice, and how it is significant, from a social perspective. Specifically, the work will defend street art as, not vandalism, but art, and consider the social implications and specific communication of the street art movement. Street art can be seen as a form of alternative media because it is communicates public issues, and social positions to the public, but does not fit within traditional, mass media forms.
Irvine, Martin. “The Work on the Street: Street Art and Visual Culture” The Handbook of Visual Culture, ed. Barry Sandywell and Ian Heywood. London & New York: Berg, 2012: 235-278. Print
This chapter, which is a single segment of a larger work on Street Art, focuses on the significance of Street Art as part of the contemporary visual culture, and defends it as a legitimate art form, and a communicative movement. This is interesting because it both defends the work, and highlights many of the ways in which the movement has met resistance. It is chapter is useful to the current study, in that it creates context, provides historical background, and actively defends street art as an artistic medium. It also directly connects street art of modern media, like film and photography, making the link between the topic, and the context of the course more clear.
Kejanlıoğlu, Beybin and Scifo, Salvatore. Alternative Media and Participation London: COST Action, 2014. Print.
This is a collection of interviews and essays on Alternative media, which provides primary research, in the form of interview transcripts. There is an essay within the text, as well, that offers a case study of Street Art, as an alternative media, in Turkey. This is of particular interest, because of the specificity of the text. It is speaking about a specific set of art, rather than speaking generally about the street art movement. This will be significant to the current study, in that it provides detail, rather than simply broad context for the conversation surrounding street art as an alternative medium, and street art as a media that is actively working to communicate something worthwhile.
Lewisohn, Cedar. Street art: the graffiti revolution. New York: Abrams, 2008. Print.
While Irvine provided a brief history, none of the identified sources, to this point, have given an in-depth view of Street Art, as a phenomenon, and a more detailed history of its development. This book attempts to do exactly that. The book gives a detailed overview of the first decade of street art, and gives an in-depth characterization of how it has been socially apposed, and legally placed on the fringe. It also connects street art to traditional art, with an art history approach that theoretically ties street art to cave paintings. While I personally think this is a reach, I do think that it is valuable within the context of the current paper to consider this attempt at mainstreaming street art, by the same standards as more classic media forms.