Blog 3 Hannah Riley

 We have started working on our posters for our thesis presentations. I have had a lot of fun developing the poster for my project. I have included two posters from the collection in the thesis poster. These posters share similar colors so I pulled the vibrant colors from those posters for the design of my thesis poster. I feel good about the overall concept of my thesis poster. I have started to develop label copy for the posters in the exhibit and organizing categories for the exhibit. I am hoping that I don't struggle too much with writing the label copy. 

Second Semester - Week 5

 These past few weeks, I have made a return to research and my sources. As a few people have now told me, I need to refill my brain before I can easily write again. I sort of wanted to just put all of my thoughts on paper and then find sources to support them, but for a paper this long that's definitely the backwards approach. So, I am spending my afternoons diving back into my sources, the old ones as well as some very interesting new ones. I've begun some research into Connor Prairie's "Follow the North Star" program, which is incredibly intriguing. Now, I just have to decide if all of my opinions and arguments about the pros and cons of second-person interpreting will fit into this paper. It's exciting to feel like I maybe have too much instead of too little. Diving back into the sources has also reminded me of my passion for this topic, and why I decided to write about it. I'm feeling passionate again, and that's a very good sign!

Week 4 second semester

Last week we had 8 new pages due for our thesis. It felt good to add on some additional pages outside of the literature review. I focused on writing a methodology section for my paper explaining my process in choosing a topic for the exhibit of the posters and explaining how I selected the posters for the exhibit. In class we peer reviewed each others papers, which helped me realize what other steps I need to take to organize my paper. It was helpful and motivating to see where my classmates are in their papers. My next steps are to look at the material that I have already written and reorganize it to create my introduction, separating out some of the content in my literature review.   

Week 3 of Second Semester

 This week we had 8 new pages due for thesis. I was excited to actually get started on writing the paper, but I unfortunately had some technical issues and did not get to write as much as I hoped. The writing process was a bit slow going because I needed to go back to a lot of my sources and do more research, which was beneficial, but took more time than I had anticipated. I learned so much more by actually going through and really reading my sources, and it was thrilling to learn things about my topic that I didn't even know! I need to fix my abstract and my introduction, but for now, I am focusing more on the body of the body and then will go back and refine the parts that need changing. 

research research research

With the first big thesis deadline of the semester, I'm solidifying how I enjoy organizing. I work better when I can physically move around my sources and the paragraphs I've written. When writing my literature review, I took notes on my sources on index cards. I've continued to do this and it's been so helpful to be able to line them up to see where I'd like to highlight them in my thesis. I also printed my literature review before adding to it to cut out each paragraph and test out where they might work better and flow smoother for my thesis. Hopefully this style of organization will continue to help me as we move along!

Thesis Second Semester: Week Two

     Tomorrow is the first major checkpoint of this paper -- eight new pages due. I'm excited to finally start putting my ideas down into these cohesive sentences, but also worried as well. I think what I'm struggling with the most right now is correctly and smoothly incorporating my sources. I find myself wanting to write a bunch of sentences that need to be backed up by a source, and just add a note that says "find and add a source later." However, I know that will make the work a lot harder for later me. All that being said, I'm trying to remember that these eight pages are a first draft. They don't have to be perfect; they're not going to be perfect. Just getting them done is a huge step.

Thesis week 2 (second semester)

 Since going on winter break, I've been a little slow to get started on really diving into this project because school started. I felt like I got a lot of research done over break and had a break through with what direction to go in in terms of the exhibit concept I am working on. Now, I want to start developing that concept through poster selection, developing a theme for the exhibit, and label copy. I have been working on including a timeline into the exhibit. 

Thesis Week 14

 Well my thesis has changed a lot since I first started. I know this is a good thing and it means that I'm making progress and cutting out things that don't work and adding things that do, but it is a bit nerve-wracking changing things around in ways I hadn't originally imagined. For example, this entire time I was sure I was focused on digital preservation, and after much thought I realized that I am actually working on digital reconstruction. I've also realized that I am goin to dive deeper on cultural heritage, whereas before I thought the majority of my time and research would be on education. So although I have made a number of changes, I think I am now on a better and more focused track than I was before, which I guess is good progress. Hopefully this will help me over break so that when I come back next semester I have a lot of good work done.