After going back to look at what I was cooking up in September I don't think my topic has changed all that much. In our original posts about potential ideas I said that for a language based thesis I wanted to look at how visitor experience is impacted by language in the museum and how language could be adjusted to be welcoming for the broadest swath of visitors. In my research and our most recent lit review my sources focused on language and power and meaning making in the museum. I feel like I've stayed true to my original idea while drilling down and thinking about what I want the end goal for this project to be.
I currently see myself offering recommendations for language use in the museum with my final submission and that may change as time goes on but I do like the direction my thesis is heading in. I'm hoping to strike a balance between linguistic concepts and museum theory to make the project relevant to both fields. I think my big next step is to decide on if I need to include a specific case study in the project and if so how would I do that? I'm thinking that it would be a group of museums in a city with a diverse population and I would spend winter break going to these museums and documenting their language use. It might be more achievable to do this in Rochester but if I do that I need to start making connections with institutions soon so they know what I'm trying to do and give me the okay on it.
The idea of actually going around and seeing the langue use in museums is a good one. If you do decide in doing this here in Rochester which museums did you have in mind?
ReplyDeleteHi Brie,
ReplyDeleteI'm really excited to see the types of recommendations you want to make involving language at the museum. I can't wait to hear more about the museums you are thinking about choosing and what type of checklist/ analysis you will use when reviewing these institutions!