What was your experience with technology or digital methods? How did your subject shape you use of its affordances? Conversely, did these technologies or methods change they way you formulated your topic or questions?
This project taught me a lot about technology and how we use it. Working with wix and maphub was not tricky but for this project it was my encounters with the many websites I had to browse to find the information I needed that I found difficulty. With my topic being one that is not very common, I had to dig quite a bit to get the information I wanted. At some points just having to give up not out want but need for time. I encountered many museum websites and found ones that weren’t so great and others that were the absolute best to navigate. It showed the diversity that the web landscape has and how out of date technology can be. I had to work with what was given to me. My Project question didn’t change but my research methods did. Relearning the keystrokes of a well-built search engine and changing the content I put into the system and how I formulated the things I searched changed.
What obstacles did you encounter along the way? How did you handle them? What issues did you decide to table for later?
My biggest obstacle was not being able to contact the necessary organizations for my project. Because the work I did relied on effective communication between museums, historical societies, and visitors; it was difficult to contact everyone. Still though , I got a many responses back with very helpful information. If this project were actually done for an archive or museum, I would need more time for correspondence. Another issue is that of actual historical information and sources; my project relies so much on historicity, and being able to do a vast deal of research for this was just not possible. I was able to use many resources though, that filled in a lot of gaps along the way.
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