First Milestone of the Semester

 With our first draft submitted I am feeling really confident and successful. Getting started with the actual thesis writing aside from our proposals really intimidated me at first and I'm proud of myself for doing it. I chose to start with the most difficult portion of my thesis, informal learning basics and such, instead of leaving it to the end like I originally planned and I'm glad I did that. Hopefully, it will avoid future stress when we get down to the wire. I'm eager to receive feedback from my readers and start revising and adding. 😸

Draft One Done!

Many things are happening at once, but this is one thing I can check off my (immediate) to-do list! Making significant progress feels amazing and the foundation of my work is shaping up. Next steps are to assemble a coherent audit out of the audit from my visit to the Boston Museum of Science and to visit and audit Dyer Arts Center. I have decided to drop the Memorial Art Gallery as a case study because the workload is not feasible for me at this point and I feel that it is the weakest of my case studies. Dyer covers a gallery that specifically serves a Deaf audience and the MOS has the most resources associated with a museum serving a large, broad audience that is reaching out to integrate the Deaf community. The MAG has few available resources pertinent to my writing and I feel that my point can be made well with the two case studies I have chosen to continue with. Now, to write the case studies while I await feedback on my literature review!

First Draft of Thesis!

I just sent in my first draft of my thesis! I am really happy to have reached this milestone- it actually was a lot easier than I expected it to be. Writing usually is my favorite part of any assignment, so I guess it makes sense haha. I'm really enjoying writing about the relationships between DC politics and the Smithsonian in particular- did you know that the United States Bicentennial was originally a part of Nixon's re-election campaign before Watergate happened? I'm looking forward to doing more legal based research and writing in the upcoming weeks! 

First draft of thesis is in!

I am feeling very excited today because I finally completed my first draft of my senior thesis! In all honesty, I never thought that I would be able to write 20 pages on one particular topic, so I have really surprised myself with this milestone. I am very excited to being able to devote some of my focus now to my project, and actually work on getting my model up and running. I am excited to try out my model and evaluate its effectiveness. I am also hoping that I will have time to work on doing a little more research and writing to strengthen my thesis and hopefully add on another 5-10 pages before February ends. Overall, I am really happy with the position that I am in right now, and to finish this semester strong. 

Introduction to my Thesis - Etta Arnold

 Hello everyone! My name is Etta Arnold and I am a fourth year MUSE major at RIT. Despite starting out as a chemistry major, I soon found myself deeply involved in art and museum studies at RIT. I spend most of my time at RIT now working and doing letterpress printmaking in RIT Cary Collection, working in Shop One, and helping out University Gallery with installation. This past semester, I got the honor to be invited to be a student producer for the Beyond Fashion show held at the end of the past three fall semesters. The show encourages designers to create a wearable garment/art piece that reflects the Vignellis' design principles, and this year's theme was 'The Grid is Everything.' This role as producer meant the rest of the team and I spent weeks managing, gathering artists, photographers, production assistants, new media designers, models and much more. It also meant working very closely with the Vignelli Center and the archive itself, and eventually creating an exhibition of the show in University Gallery. The show and my thesis focus on the relation of the clothing designs and holdings of the archive, analyzing how a fashion show can be created out of an archive that isn't fashion related. This week I have finished up installation, and look forward to more Vignelli events to come! 

An Introduction to my Thesis

 Hello! My name is Caitlin McCabe and I'm double-majoring in Museum Studies and History with an immersion in ASL/Deaf Culture. My thesis focuses on museum accessibility and intends to examine the current industry perspective on accessibility by comparing it to the DeafSpace movement. DeafSpace is an architectural philosophy that was founded at Gallaudet University in 2005 and is both a descriptive analysis and a prescriptive guide for the design of physical space used by d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing (d/D/HH) people. The five principles of DeafSpace - Space and Proximity, Sensory Reach, Mobility and Proximity, Light and Color, and Acoustics and EMI - contextualize how d/D/HH, both signers and non-signers, understand and navigate the space around them. DeafSpace approaches design from the perspective of disabled people and accessibility as first principles and I am interested in seeing how museums can change their approach to and struggles with accessibility through this approach. I am conducting three case studies that I feel exemplify a range of relationships with accessibility and the Deaf community. Dyer Arts Center is a small, free to access art gallery that showcases Deaf artists and is located in the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, so it is by and for the Deaf community. The Memorial Art Gallery is a mid-sized museum in Rochester that serves its large Deaf community, but is not necessarily for Deaf people. The Boston Museum of Science is located in a large city and serves its diverse greater metropolitan area but has recently published detailed research on how they can serve their d/D/HH constituency. At this point, I have one exhibit assessment under my belt (the Boston MOS) and am looking forward to my other two assessments. The end is in sight!

116 Days Until Journey's End

 So, this is my first Blog Post for MUSE 490: Senior Thesis

I began this journey towards earning my Museum Studies BS in 2017. It's scary and amazing and exciting and stressful to realize that, Gods willing, I will reach its conclusion in 116 Days. 

For those reading who may not know me, my name is Angelique Armstrong and I have been employed here at RIT since August 2011 and attending classes part-time. 

I've had a lot of random ideas for potential Senior Thesis projects; including introducing First Person Interpretation at the Susan B. Anthony House, putting up an exhibition of Photos depicting wildlife found on the RIT grounds, introducing diversity in Interpretation and Representation at Genesee Country Village and Museum, and something [undefined] having to do with the Erie Canal and packet boats; like a Rochester addition to the Erie Canal Museum system. 

This summer I was inspired to work on a project that hits a number of personal interest points - Wildlife Photography and specifically my bird photos, and Native American/Indigenous influences in interacting with nature. The current working title for my project-based thesis is Through Caretakers’ Eyes: Reshaping the Euro-American Birding Experience through the Inclusion of Narratives from Indigenous Communities of Western New York.

The title has been evolving as I find more information or speak to different people, and as of this past weekend I had the opportunity to meet with a members of the Seneca and Oneida Nations and their input may result in a minor shift in direction; at least as far as what my proposed deliverables might be. 

Initially I was planning to create a birding guide that could act as a cultural alternative to the traditional Sibley or Audubon Guides, one filled with Indigenous cultural content; but when discussing how my project might benefit members of Indigenous communities it was suggested I contact the Seneca Language Immersion Program (Deadiwënöhsnye’s Gëjóhgwa - "The Group of People Who Protect The Language"); and that my guide might be developed to be used to aid in teaching and learning the Seneca language; as the numbers of fluent speakers is diminishing. 

This suggestion was very inspiring to me, though initially I have some anxiety as far as what kinds of deliverables I would be able to complete by March 5th. 

While this project was initially driven by my personal interests... maybe it doesn't have to be about me at all; or... so much. 

Next on my to-do list: 

• Reach out to someone at the Seneca Language Immersion Program (Immersion Director, Amber Bennett: amber.bennett@sni.org)
• Schedule a "team" meeting with 1st and 2nd Readers
• Finish reading "Words That Come Before All Else: Environmental Philosophies of the Haudenosaunee" 
• Start reworking my Thesis document
• panic

oh, here... meet my writing partner, BoyKitty Jonesy 😁 

Introduction

Hello!

My name is Izzy Moyer, and I am a fourth-year Museum Studies Major at RIT. I am very excited to be embarking on my last semester here at RIT and finishing up my thesis this semester. I am a little nervous about getting everything that I want to do complete, but I have a lot of great people supporting me and helping me get this project done. 

The goal for my project is to create an indoor navigation model for a specific museum, that visitors to that museum can access on their mobile devices to navigate the museum. For my project, I am going to be using the platform "Mappedin," which allows you to create one free space per account. By the end of this project, I hope to have an interactive that is functional and can be accessed on my chosen museum's website. 

By biggest concern for this project is actually writing my thesis. My dad gave me advice that he was told when writing this dissertation for his PhD., that is to work on your paper for 10 minutes, and then decide from there if you want to continue. 

I can't wait to share my experiences with you all in my last few months here at RIT! :D