Expertise among professional magicians: an interview study

Abstract

The purpose of the present investigation was to analyse interviews of highly regarded Finnish magicians. Social network analysis (N = 120) was used to identify Finland's most highly regarded magicians (N = 16). The selected participants' careers in professional magic and various aspects of their professional conduct were examined by relying on semi-structured interviews. The results revealed that cultivation of professional level competence in magic usually requires an extensive period of time compared with other domains of expertise. Magic is a unique performing art and it differs from other professions focusing on deceiving the audience. A distinctive feature of magical expertise is that the process takes place entirely through informal training supported by communities of magical practitioners. Three interrelated aspects of magical activity were distinguished: magic tricks, performance, and audience. Although magic tricks constitute a central aspect of magic activity, the participants did not talk about their tricks extensively; this is in accordance with the secretive nature of magic culture. The interviews revealed that a core aspect of the magicians' activity is performance in front of an audience that repeatedly validates competence cultivated through years of practice. The interviewees reported investing a great deal of effort in planning, orchestrating, and reflecting on their performances. Close interaction with the audience plays an important role in most interviewees' activity. Many participants put a great deal of effort in developing novel magic tricks. It is common to borrow magic effects from fellow magicians and develop novel methods of implementation. Because magic tricks or programs are not copyrighted, many interviewees considered “stealing” an unacceptable and unethical aspect of magical activity. The interviewees highlighted the importance of personality and charisma in the successful pursuit of magic activity.

Social recognition provision patterns in professional Q&A forums in Healthcare and Construction

“…The apprentices explained in interviews that they prefer to discuss professional issues with their local community of practice instead of strangers (in Germany, apprentices for two or three years parallely learn in schools and in VET companies). Rissanen et al (2010Rissanen et al ( , 2014 reported from the studies in magician's forum that developing expertise requires not only systematic effort in learning from personal and collective experiences and improving various aspects of performance but requires efforts in tapping into cultural resources in the field, guidance from mentors, sharing professional know-how, helping to solve others' problems and brainstorming for new practices, networking, testing, transforming practice, improving performance, self-reflecting and analyzing it. They found in magician's professional network that the relations between professional expertise, advice-asking and reputation (nomination as a respected expert, nomination as a backward supporter) were attributed only to very central persons in network, whereas collaboration and informal interaction were more evenly distributed among different members of the professional community.…”

“…They found in magician's professional network that the relations between professional expertise, advice-asking and reputation (nomination as a respected expert, nomination as a backward supporter) were attributed only to very central persons in network, whereas collaboration and informal interaction were more evenly distributed among different members of the professional community. Rissanen et al (2014) found professional magicians of not extensively talking and being secretive of their experiences (magic tricks) although this is the only way magician knowledge can be learned. The access to learning happened in asking questions and getting advice and was provided only to those who had established trustladen relations with experts.…”

How Has the Emergence of Digital Culture Affected Professional Magic?

“…The necessarily secretive nature of magic implies that magicians were required to closely guard most of their knowledge about their own magic tricks. Although access to this secretive information used to be largely restricted to expert magicians (Rissanen et al, 2014), the digital culture in general and Internet, in particular, have changed the ease with which this information can be accessed. Before TV, videos and the Internet, learning magic relied on a fragile mentor relations and the support of senior experts who held strong gatekeeper positions.…”

“…Firstly, the social networking questionnaire was administered to 120/148 well-known Finnish magicians and other influential background people (response rate: 81%; age distribution: 17-86 years) (Rissanen et al, 2010). Secondly, on the basis of the social network data, we identified 16 professional magicians as subjects for semi-structured thematic interviews focused on the effects of digital technological transformations not addressed in our earlier published studies (Rissanen et al, 2013;Rissanen et al, 2014). Thirdly, we carried out supplementary interviews on 10 of the 16 previously interviewed individuals since the first round did not provide sufficiently detailed information.…”

“…Magic is a performative form of art and entertainment that relies on sophisticated competences cultivated across years of training (Rissanen, Palonen, Pitkänen, Kuhn, & Hakkarainen, 2013;Rissanen, Pitkänen, Juvonen, Kuhn, & Hakkarainen, 2014). Magic diverges from traditional creative professions in that it lacks formal education, formal credentials, and institutionalized career paths.…”