This week was a bit slower than the past few weeks, but the main accomplishment was determining our topics. I will be looking into the Ladies Military Aid Societies, and am feeling more confident on where I can go with that idea.
In addition to that, I was able to find a few secondary sources to start on to provide historical context for the letters I'm looking at. I hope that I will be able to find even more as the project continues.
Another accomplishment from this week is identifying some graduate programs in my chosen field. It was a big revelation to me that there are some museum studies programs that allow you to specialize in STEM education specifically.
Earlier in the week, the primary thing that prevented my best work was confusion over what exactly is expected of our projects and not knowing if my chosen topic was of the appriopriate scope. After talking to Dr. La Beaud, I am feeling much more confident in my choice and have a better idea of where to go with it.
Another thing that prevented me from exploring further was the lack of GIS data for the letters I am working with. This has not only delayed me from beginning to work on the visual component of the project, but also prevents me from seeing any geographic trends in the letters.
A general unfamiliarity with CS content has prevented me from being able to fully understand the CS lessons, especially the one this week about web app security. As with a lot of the lessons, it is confusing as to whether this is information that we are going to be applying to this project or that is just good context/may be used in future projects.
One of the first things I learned this week is the difference between preservation and access. Preservation is about maintaining the document so that it can be accessed by future learners, whereas access is making the document useable by today's learners.
I also learned about the standards and planning that go into digital preservation, which are much more involved than I initially thought. Specifically, the change from the three-legged stool model to the triade model is interesting as it expands the idea of what goes into digital preservation.
From the letters, I learned that a majority of the Ladies Military Aid Societies were concerned with obtaining cloth to make uniforms, which may reveal/relate to shortage of fabric/raw materials and/or issues with transportation in the Confederacy.