Update on Thesis Project - 3/30

Nearing the end of my thesis here!  I've been working on my exhibition this last month, and the architecture has fully taken shape.  My tagging and categorization systems now work as intended, and I'm almost finished populating the site.  The last step for the exhibition is to finish populating and tagging.
On my paper, I'm nearly complete.  The last remaining section is my methodology.  I have my research and data on digital exhibitions set, and so all that is left in that section is to explain how that research informed my development of my site's architecture and flow.  Other than digital exhibitions, I have a small additional amount of historical information to incorporate into my modern section, primarily elaborating on Vietnam-era sentiment and regulations.

Updates on My Digitization Thesis

Since my last blog post a lot of digitizing and process has happened. Progress on my thesis "The Process of Creating Accurate Reproductions of Fragile Objects: The Fabrication of 3D Facsimiles with Limited Resources" includes downloading the ScanStudio software, scanning the parts of the book, aligning them together and doing research on the book binding.

The ScanStudio software, as seen below, gives the digitizer access to scanning the 3D object, cleaning the scans and fusing the parts of the scan together to create a complete model.

Figure 1. Screenshots of ScanStudio 
Upper Left: The scanning screen on the ScanStudio software supplies options including the number of scans per sessions, the contrast of the object being scanned, the range and time frame of the scan. What the scanner is viewing is presented in the middle of the page and the digitizer can drag and click the section the digitizer wants the scanner to focus on.
Upper Right: After a piece of the object is scanned, the digitizer can use the trim tool to delete sections of the scan that are extraneous or unneeded.
Lower Left: After, at least, two pieces of the object are scanned and trimmed, the digitizer can align them together. Three pins are necessary to combine the images. As seen in the image above the red pin is placed in the same place - underneath the chin of the face – in both scans.
Lower Right: After all the pieces are stitched together the digitized object will look whole but include some missing data from shadows or the dark coloring.

Other updates include researching the history about the book. What I found includes the book's title and the binder was known for this type of binding. The title of this book was found to be Sentiments and Similes by William Shakespeare. Henry Noel Humphreys bound the book and used papiermache, terracotta and silk to form these intricate bindings. Papiermache was learned to be created from three different methods. The one method that most likely was used to create this binding was using a panel or blank sheet of softened papiermache and a mold.

Figure 2. Front cover of Sentiments and Similes by William Shakespeare and bound by Henry Noel Humphreys with profile of Shakespeare – papier-mâché. 

All other progress was made in writing all of these findings down and setting up my appendices. Next steps include aligning the rest of the scans of the back cover and edges together to create a complete model with the help of Mike Buffalin. After this I will start my print test and create an exportable model. I also began designing the poster for the end of the year symposium. I cant wait to give you all another update and when I do I will probably be completed with the model and print of Sentiments and Similes by William Shakespeare.

Thesis Update

Update for March 09th

This iteration of my work has added in new research from books about the cultural changes brought about by American women during and after World War I and the lasting impacts on culture they left.
Understanding the gender dynamics of these periods of time is important, as the female form and the pinup model are some of the most iconic cultural influences of popular World War II nose art.
During my recent research, I've also gathered a great amount of historical and cultural information regarding other themes and subjects of nose art, which will be invaluable for my proceeding iterations in discussing the cultural backgrounds of the art.

Progress since Draft 1

Since submitting my first draft, I have made good progress and am slowly becoming more confident in the trajectory for my paper. I have just this last week decided to change my research question and direction in which I want my paper to take. The deeper I delved into this case study, the more I realized it is a very singular situation and forming best practices from this may not be possible. So I am now treating my paper simply as a case study of the carousel and how the RMSC is serving the community and the role the museum is playing. Aside from this, I have been moving right along in gathering information. Here is a list of the work I have done since I have submitted draft 1:

Feb. 16th:

• Gathered images to include in paper
• Continued reading/research
• Continued to try and contact Kathryn Murano-Santos to set up an interview

Feb. 23rd:

• Made contact with Kathryn Murano-Santos, working on setting up a meeting
• She has also offered to help set up an interview with community participants, Howard Eagle and Minister Clifford Florence
• Began to create and compile interview questions for different interviews
• Received feedback from 1st and 2nd advisors on first draft, have begun to read through comments and suggestions, no edits made yet

Mar. 2nd:

• Attended panel exhibit opening at Central Church of Christ (Feb. 28th)
• Set up interview appointment with Kathryn Murano-Santos (Mon. March 6th)
• Set up interview appointment with Howard Eagle (Tues. March 7th)
• Began outlining additions for next draft

Mar. 9th:

• Met with 1st and 2nd advisors to discuss thesis and get feedback
• Slightly changed research question/direction of paper from best practices to case study specific to Dentzel Carousel and RMSC

• Interviewed Kathryn Murano-Santos
• Interviewed Howard Eagle
• Began writing 2nd draft, to be handed in Fri. March 10th by 5pm

I haven't been fiddling around

Hey everyone! My project is coming along quite well. I have been chipping away at getting the rest of my history written as well as finishing my methodology section. Furthermore, I finally have gotten my first couple interviews of local fiddlers done. This was the biggest step that I have made, and it has enabled me to begin working on my final section of my paper, my findings section. Because I now have these interviews, I can start working on my actual podcast. My hope is to have the first episode finished by the end of the coming Spring Break. It's been a busy few weeks, but I think I have made a good amount of progress on this project.

Thesis Update March 2017

Hello again,

I am here to update you on my thesis process!

Today I turn in my second draft of my thesis paper which I am thrilled about. I feel pretty good with only a few more sections needing to be written. So far I am up to 50 pages which seems like a ton to me but I feel confident that they are all worth-while pages. In the last few weeks these are some of the highlights I have accomplished:

Printed out the After Dark surveys and began to analyze them, made plans to write out the interview with Joelle, I uploaded some of the photographs that I took at my events, I looked over Kelli's feedback about my first draft, I made the changes to my first draft that were necessary with the review from my first and second readers, I talked with Kate Meyers Emery in class, created captions for all my images and tables, created Excel charts for additional visuals, added full interview with notes to appendix, and wrote and wrote and wrote. So far this is what I have. Hopefully with the next version I can have all of my content written and then just start editing it through.