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.