In this week's lectures and readings, I was really appreciative of the content especially from Benedetta Piantella and Mathew Frankel. Researching a topic or idea is one of those things I thought I knew how to do and would always go in my own direction when finding information. Google is my best friend but it may be time to break up when trying to find actual credible resources. Deep down inside I knew that the sources I picked up from google may not be completely truthful but I also didn't know any other concrete way to research something. While listening to Frankel and watching them demonstrate the best practices for future projects, I was actually quite relieved to see this. My final project requires a bit of research and it was important to me that I contribute information that has been vetted. I loved that everything, down to how to create an annotated bibliography was mentioned in the lecture. The most useful part, for me, was how to identify a scholarly paper. They mentioned should have one or more of these points listed below but did not need to have all of them:
Be written by experts for experts
Developed for original research
All sources cited
Often peer-reviewed
This was helpful to me because before this I really didn't have a concrete idea about what made an article scholarly or not. Now I am able to apply this to my current project and use the library resources mentioned. In Piantella's lecture, she talks about multiple types of research methods and designs like:
Ethnographic Research
Human-Centered Design
Participatory Research
Biomimicry
Speculative Design
Critical Design
Of course, I'll say I thought research was just research which entailed, looking up an article, reading it, and citing it in a paper or presentation. The possibilities seem endless and brought me to realize that certain things that I may have seen or encountered organically online, in school, etc were also different methods of research that I never connected. I also appreciated the questions that Piantella posed in her lecture when challenging yourself and narrowing down your thinking process or ideas.
What are you interested in?
What areas/topics are you fascinated by?
Sketch out the concepts and ideas that come to mind and their relationship.