Plans over Winter break

 Now that we've reached the end of the semester, we must realize that there is still great work to be done.

I plan mostly during break to look through resources that are available from RIT. I want to really refine my topic even more so a find a lot of information from these resources. I also plan on interviewing/emailing a lot of valuable people for this project that are involved with the Haudenosaunee. I hope to write a good amount for the actual thesis paper to hopefully alleviate the pressure of next semester.I plan on using 1-2 days each week just focusing on the research and just writing to get my ideas out there.

Winter Break Plans

Ahh! It's almost over, as nerve-wracking as that is.

I'll be spending most of my winter break gathering more sources, and working closely with my advisors to make sure I'm on the right track. I will take this time to start interviewing different school faculty in the Rochester area, and surveying classes as applicable. Hopefully, I can manage this all while working throughout the break, because who needs to actually rest am I right!

Winter Break plans

Over winter break, I hope to spend time working on interviews for my Sperr Memorial Park audio tour. This includes drafting lists of questions, contacting potential interview candidates, conducting at-home interviews (I hope to interview Rochester-based individuals when we come back in January), and spending time visiting AJ (Trooper Sperr). I try to make a point to visit him each time I come home, but it'll be interesting to really take the time to just be present at the park, and to see how all the research I've been conducting this semester informs/transforms my park experience.

I also have a local contact (and dear friend) who I'd like to touch base with --she's a photographer, so I think she'd be perfect for taking high-quality photos of the park to use for my tour. Speaking of photographs, here's one from Sperr Memorial Park this past weekend (before the Big Flats area was plummeted with power outages and snow). Some kind stranger had decorated the tree near the children's playground and, because it's seasonally-appropriate, I thought it'd be nice to share.

View of the children's playground and a decorated tree at Sperr Memorial Park. Photo taken by the author in November 2019.

Stay warm, everyone!

Winter Break: The Time To Get Going

As the semester is coming to an end and things are beginning to slow down, winter break is ever-present in the minds of all students. While I am excited for the chance to rest and take a break it also means making sure I have set goals for my continued work on my thesis over the break.

After some discussion with my primary advisor and some personal goals of my own, my main objective over the break is to get a good start on both my paper and my digital project. I would like to get into The Cazenovia Library's Collection and start compiling more sources regarding the specific history of its objects. I'd also like to give a thorough eye to its exhibition itself and how I will make it into a digital space. With all the free time I will have I'd ideally like to set weekly goals for myself on steps I want to be completed so that my schedule can still be flexible and restful without my work becoming completely pushed to the side.

Post #7: The Cold Numbing the Fingers that Type a Thesis

My goal over winter break is to read the sources recommended to me by my secondary advisor, Professor Casey from the Anthropology department. She provided me with a lot of sociological/anthropological sources, some of which couldn't make it into my lit review, but I will start reading them over the break. I will still be volunteering at the Air and Space Museum from Wednesdays through Saturdays, so that leaves the rest of the week to do reading. I plan to count all the articles, and then budget how many to finish each week. I'll be taking notes as I go, so hopefully, by the time Spring semester starts, I'll have a rough outline of talking points for my thesis. This will also help me compile a list of focused questions for my advisors and Dr. Lent.

Winter break

My plans for winter break are to conduct some visitor studies at the RMSC. I need to determine weather the new installation of VR technology on the Rochester diorama is successful in fulfilling its purpose.

I also need to interview the artist that made the artistic updates to the diorama. To see what intent he had in the changes he made to the diorama.

I also need a break, this semester was no joke! 

Winter Semester Break Plans

Hi everyone!

My winter break plans are to first relax! Taking 6 classes senior year can be extremely stressful!

In terms of thesis work, I want to work closely with my advisors to find more sources for oral history/shared authority and narrow down my target subjects for my interviews. I want to learn more about what equipment I can be using for the interviews and trying to develop my questions.

I want to mainly gather more sources and narrow my thesis question/subjects down. Maybe start writing my intro for the actual thesis paper but my sources are my main priority!

Blog Post 7: Winter Break Goals

My winter break goals fall into two categories, more research and case studies. For the research part of my goals I will be taking a deep dive into the sources suggested to me by my advisors, as well as sources that I have found on my own. I am hoping that these sources will be able to get me to the point I want to be at when classes start back in January. I plan to read for at least 2 hours a day  during finals week, then I will evaluate the sources place in my project and then update my literature review to reflect any changes. I will rinse and repeat this process for throughout the rest of the winter break.

For the case studies I will be contacting Dr. Calvin Uzelmeier of the RMSC about the the exhibit labels I would like to talk about in my project. He introduced these labels to my Museum Education class as an example of good label copy and I want to evaluate them from the lens of my project. Because these labels are currently on display at the RMSC, I want to get into contact with Dr. U and make sure that I can use it as a case study, as well as get any background information that I can about the process to make them. I will also attempt to contact the writers of the LGBTQ Welcoming Guidelines to interview them and get a better understanding of the process the team went through to write and revise the guidelines. I will also see if I contact any of the people that they referenced for their language guidelines to learn more about their research. I plan to focus on this after the new year to allow for the people I am contacting to focus on the holidays and not feel pressured to respond to me during this busy time of the year.

My third goal is to actually take a break! Researching and making connections is important but they'll be pretty useless if I'm burnt out in January. If I don't get everything done that I want to during break then I'll make them my first priority for the beginning of the spring semester.

Winter Break Goals

I have a few goals set for the winter break. First, I want to read the book The Land of Open Graves by Jason De Leon, which is an anthropological book written on immigration over the US Mexico border by the same guy who is putting this exhibition together. I think I'd get a better understanding of the situation at the border and be better able to understand the exhibition by reading it. I'll also create a list of questions that I want to ask people at the writing sessions. During all of this I'll be keeping in contact with my advisors and keeping up to date on the exhibition.

I'll allocate a small portion of my evenings to reading a chapter out of my book. I'll check my emails at least once a week. Finally I'll take a weekend to draft at least 10 open ended questions to as at the writing sessions. Hopefully everyone has a plan for the future and I can't wait to work with everyone again next semester!

Blog post 7: plans for break

Hello everyone! I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders as I have just submitted my final thesis proposal for the semester!

Some goals for myself over winter break:

• Schedule the program for sometime in January (?) at Solstice
• Make the program!
• Lots of research
• Test it out on my parents/grandparents/aunts and uncles who are willing
• Maybe start writing the actual thesis? I don't want to get too ambitious though, I do definitely need at least a short break from this before school starts back up again.

I will say my main priority for break will be spending time with family and friends who I don't get to see that often. My second priority will be researching and making a definitive lesson plan for the program, since that is really the crucial part at this point in the process. I'm sure I'll be able to write enough pages after the program happens, but nothing will get done if I show up at Solstice completely unprepared! Then if all else goes well, my third priority will be starting to write my thesis, though I'm sure once January comes around, wearing pjs and watching some Netflix will be more tempting than getting a head start on homework...!