Winter (not-really-a-)Break

Over the winter break I plan on revising my literature review and reviewing what I’ve read to find the strongest connections to my thesis topic. In doing this, I can begin to create a clearer outline of how my thesis will be laid out and what I will focus my writing around. In this time I will also begin forming a set of public history values/goals from what I’ve read, so that I can have a standard to compare to the podcasts I will be examining. Speaking of the podcasts themselves, in this time I will also be listening to and taking notes on the podcasts in my case study (Hardcore History, Backstory Radio, The Memory Palace, More Perfect, and Fall of Rome). As far as allocating time to these goals, I believe that many of them may be achieved simultaneously, as in reviewing my current readings I will find my strongest connections, create an outline, and pick up on the values and goals of public history that I want to focus on. Also, I already listen to podcasts all the time, so swapping my usuals out for these specific podcasts will fit into my established routine.

One of the biggest thing I want to focus on in this time though is a bit of a new direction in my research. I’ve been assuming all this time that podcasts are a form of public history and have been seeking to examine how they function as such. While I still believe and aim to do that, I have been wondering recently if podcasts function as well as a sort of accessible form of academic history. While you could say that that is what public history is in itself, I wonder if the podcast does not give an entertaining and accessible platform for audio essays that seem to take on a more academic form rather than strictly public? Or that more immediately connects the two realms? This could just be a quick tangent in my research or a new direction of focus, but either way I intend to determine this over the break so that when the new semester begins I can fully concentrate on writing rather than exploring every new idea.

It has been an interesting start to my thesis so far, and I look forward to the upcoming break and semester! Let’s see if I ever want to listen to a podcast again after this project (hint: I definitely will).

LINKS
Every time I try to hyperlink something, Blogger encounters an error, so here are just a few links to the webpages of the podcasts I will be listening to:

Hardcore History: http://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/
Backstory Radio: http://backstoryradio.org/
The Memory Palace: http://thememorypalace.us/
More Perfect: http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolabmoreperfect/
The Fall of Rome: https://fallofromepodcast.wordpress.com/