Week 3 Update

June 23, 2023

Three accomplishments:

1. I successfully created by own Excel sheet for my relevant letter data to map onto QGIS. This meant I had to search for lots of town latitudes and longitudes; I felt like a cartographer!

2. I tried out the Payne Center for the first time since I've been at USM. It's as big as I would expect a D1 school to have. 

3. I made it to my first Book Club meeting on Tuesday! A few of the polymer REU students starting going to Starbucks to read in the morning before their lab. Now there are a few digital humanities students that drop in, myself included. It's a great way to sneak in some pages before the day starts and the evening comes around when my eyes get too heavy to read. 

Three obstacles to completion of my best work:

1. Not already having the latitude and longitude of all of the processed letters set me back in what I was able to put together in QGIS right away. I know professors are working on this, and I found a way to manage for now by adding that data myself. 

2. I appreciate the educational value of the workshops, but some of the lectures or activities are not relevant for the research this project pertains to. I would still rather have more independent research time in order to get a thorough look at the data and content. This would help me feel more capable of producing some kind of educational tool within the next five weeks. 

3. There are so many people in the dining hall during the hour we are allotted that lunch feels more stressful than lecture, workshop, and research. And, the kids there this week figured out how to control the music. It takes away from the peace of a lunch break.

Three things I've learned:

1. I actually learned and retained GIS information from two semesters ago! 

2. I need to work in a place where I can get some outdoor time, even if it's just standing in the sun and seeing little buggy creatures crawling on the pavement. It significantly heals my brain after a heavy research session or lecture.

3. The importance of data storage management for any institution utilizing digital processes and/or records. I hadn't thought too much about this prior to Wednesday's lecture, but it was hard to not be concerned while viewing the Bit List and seeing what data formats are really at risk. I am grateful for being able to work with professionals who are aware of this data management crisis and are taking steps within their capacity to mitigate, emulate, or preserve what they can.