The End Marks the Beginning

       The fall semester is nearly over, and that means intercession is rapidly approaching. It's important, then, to have a plan of work, so that we can be productive during the winter break. That said, my plan is somewhat different from those of my Research Methods classmates, mainly due to the fact that I’m the only student who will not be completing their thesis in the spring. As I mentioned in my introductory post (which seems so long ago at this point), I’m a dual degree student, in both the Museum Studies program and the Fine Art Studio program. Accordingly, I’ll be spending most of next semester working to complete a cohesive body of art, which I’ll be exhibiting at Gallery R for the Senior Show. During the 2017 Fall semester, then, I’ll be finishing my thesis through independent study with Dr. Juilee Decker, who normally teaches the Spring thesis class, and who is also my primary advisor. I want to stay as focused as possible, of course, on my Museum Studies thesis, so I’m still going to be working on it over the winter break, but my schedule is going to be a little more relaxed than ones like Katie, Hannah, and Kelli’s.

       By January 10th: I’ll have overhauled my thesis proposal, based on the edits and alterations suggested by the Museum Studies faculty members. I can’t currently say exactly how I’ll allocate my time so I can reach this goal, as I don’t yet know the extent of their advised changes. I will have two full weeks after Christmas to work on this, however, so I expect that if I plan to work at least 2 hours a day 3 times a week, that will amount to 12 hours, which will (hopefully) be more than enough time.

       By January 17th: I will have expanded my literature review, by exploring at least one additional resource for each section (English Common Press, Object-based Education, Interactive-based Education, Interpreter-based Education), in addition to adding in data from the Uncommon Press tech paper, which I finished editing for the team yesterday afternoon. This deadline will give me an entire week after finishing the recommended edits to continue researching and adding to my literature review. I plan to put in a minimum of 3 hours a day, to ensure that I’m able to reach this goal. 
       At this point I’ll also have started looking further into picking a 2nd reader. I’m considering approaching Brian Nagel, who serves as Director of Interpretation & Director of Programs & Collections at GCVM. I plan to contact Mr. Nagel during this week (January 10th-17th), hopefully to set up a meeting with him to discuss my thesis.

       By January 20th: I plan to have received Dr. Decker's approval & signature for my updated thesis proposal, so that I can have that taken care of before the start of the spring semester. I expect that this goal shouldn’t take much work, since it will be facilitated by my aforementioned goals. On the 17th I'll email email Dr. Decker my updated proposal, which will include faculty-advised edits & new literature review sources, so that she’ll have some time to review it.

       That's pretty much how I currently see things going. Now I have (at least what I consider to be) a treat for all of you. On Friday afternoon, the Uncommon Press team unveiled our press at the Cary Graphic Arts Collection. I would say that the press was 99.9% complete - it just needed a few minor alterations and additions, which we'll be completing today. The unveiling went quite well, and we had many people in attendance, including family members of each team member, RIT faculty and students, partners from the Genesee Country Village and Museum (who helped with blacksmithing & wood turning), and of course Steven Galbraith, Amelia Hugill-Fontanel, and Greg Decker from the Cary. While I was talking to Dr. Galbraith, he expressed his interest in my thesis, and offered to provide his assistance if I needed it. I think his input and insight could be very helpful as a third reader, or perhaps a second, if the possibility of having Brian Nagel fill the role of secondary advisor doesn't work out.

The (virtually completed) Uncommon Press, outside the Cary Collection on the 2nd floor of the Wallace Center.

It's been a great experience working with this team, and with any luck, I'll be able to work alongside some of them again in the future, once we're out of RIT and have entered our professional careers.

Obligatory team photo. Left to right: Daniel Krull, Seth Gottlieb, Randall Paulhamus, Veronica Hebbard, Ron Maguire (GCVM), Ferris Nicolais, and Matthew Schofield (GCVM).

Intersession Plan

The semester is at the end and intersession break is just around the corner. The goal of my research during the intersession is to gather more data of Deaf Studies archives;  to research data of deaf institutions with deaf studies’ archives, to develop survey questions for future participators’ assessment needs, and to collect data through video call interviews from institutions for the Deaf’s archive faculty and volunteers based on their assessment needs.  Overall, I will be developing basic structure designs and online training guidelines to fulfill faculty and volunteers’ assessment needs.

Intersession Research

      As classes are wrapping up and finals are approaching, I have not had as much time to dedicate to my research as I would have liked. However I will have a lot more free time in the upcoming weeks of intersession. I have some goals in mind that I would like to achieve during the break. I am planning to read all the books I have on subjects related to my senior thesis topic, such as fashion and feminism, over intercession. Before I can even evaluate magazines and begin writing, I need to create a systematic approach to the analysis and evaluation of Vogue advertisements, articles, and photographs. This will help me evaluate each magazine issue objectively and methodologically. I am planning to narrow my focus of samples; by reviewing 4 issues of Vogue per year from 1955-1975, I am currently proposing that I will be able to analyze 80 issues overall. While I know this is not realistic, I need to read my research books and review some magazines on The Vogue Archive to assess which 10 year time span or so between 1955-1975 is the most pertinent to what I want to examine. Afterwards, I will begin annotating pertinent findings and quotes from my literature. Each week of intersession, I am planning to look at Vogue issues from a small section of my proposed years for samples.

Here are some of the books I have bought for my senior thesis research.

      During the early part of intersession, I will be moving from one state to another and settling into a new home. While I will not having internet for the first week or so at my new home, I will be able to get some thesis work done by reading through my literature. I am planning to read at least 4 hours a day until I complete all of my books. Fortunately moving is the only bump in the road regarding my free time during intersession. I will have the opportunity to solely focus on my senior thesis for the majority of intersession. Tentatively, my plan of work for this time includes narrowing down my sample years, creating a methodology, and reviewing photographs, articles, and advertisements on The Vogue Archive. I will also be doing a lot of reading and writing for my thesis as well.

Two-Pronged Approach

On November 30, I had an opportunity to visit Vintage Pinball in Del Ray, Florida. It is a commercial establishment with coin operated machines (mostly pinball) from the 1960s and 1970s. Some of the machines are for sale. Inside there are three rooms filled with pinball machines set to free-play, about 30 in all. Due to family obligations I wasn't able to spend as much time as I would have liked, but for $10.00 a customer can spend as much time as they like there (even come and go). Being exposed to machines and actually being able to play them is far superior to reading about them in books. When you are a player you get the full experience and see the moving parts in action, including how the ball interacts with the artwork-covered environment. There are subtle details that are easy to miss, and some of the mechanisms in pinball machines are so unique, it is hard to understand them from text alone. From this experience, I have concluded that for any machine I want to examine in depth, I should have at least some hands on experience. If that is not possible, I will look online to see if there are any videos of people playing the machine. I am also curious about people's first-time impressions and reactions to machines when they are released, but this information could be tricky to come by for half-century old machines!

The past two weeks have been packed with projects, papers, and presentations. Even when I was traveling, I was working on assignments. I am looking forward to intercession, not because I won't have to do work (on my thesis), but because I can really focus on it without competing coursework for a few weeks! There is another important project I am working on concurrently, outside of RIT, but at least it is somewhat related to my research. I also hold an internship at The Strong, where I am currently working every Friday in the Archives.

During the intercession in December and January, I will spend most of my time doing collections and archival research at The Strong National Museum of Play, where many of my pinball sources come from. I have been thinking about which machines in particular will be good subjects for my thesis. The Strong has many machines, but not all of the ones I would like to examine. That is where the library and archives will come in handy! Monday through Thursday (with the exception of holidays), I would like to put in 3.5 hours of thesis research, followed by 4 hours of internship work. (Fridays will remain the same, with 7.5 hours of internship work.) At first I thought it would be excessive, but I have a long way to go! It is better to put the time in now than to wish I had later.

Since I do not have a lot of prior knowledge in women's studies, I will also need to begin reading some current texts as well as foundation texts that inform the field today. I might have a better idea which sources best suit my needs once I meet with my advisors. Their suggestions may help me narrow my scope and choose key topics that will point to where I need to look. I will do this reading in the evenings and on weekends. Once I have gathered enough pinball-related material for my thesis, I can focus more heavily on women's studies. The more I think about it, it seems a bit "backwards"-- how can I examine the material with a critical feminist lens before having fully developed one? Since I will not be able to spend a lot of time at The Strong during Spring semester, I have to get that time in now.

My goals for intercession are to "complete" most of my pinball-related research and read at least one long women's studies text.

In addition, I have come up with a primitive overall plan of work:

December 21-31: Research at The Strong - Books and Magazines, Collections

January 1-15: Blogs, Magazines, Articles, Exhibits Research, Finalize Outline

January 16-31: Update outline. Women’s Studies Research - Books & Scholarly Articles

February 1-15: Update outline. Begin Rough Draft using research notes.

February 16-29: Primary and Secondary Read Draft, Feedback, Revision

March 1 -15: Primary and Secondary Read Draft, Feedback, Revision

March 16-31: (Spring Break) Travel if necessary, otherwise continue writing.

April 1-10: Primary and Secondary Read Draft, Feedback, Final Revision

April 12-16: Finishing Touches on Thesis (DUE WEEK 12 / April 12-16).