Week 3 – It’s getting intense(ive)
Week 3, Day 16 – Welcome to back to my wee blog & first reflections concerning the final project
Hello! How is everyone? I hope you have all enjoyed the intensive days as much as I have and while I certainly need a bit of time to digest all the new information, I enjoyed learning about a range of new concepts and theories & I particularly liked the class discussions. While the topics and questions towards the end of the session certainly weren’t easy or straightforward, I really liked to bounce different ideas off one another. So while this week has been pretty intense so far (and I’m sure once I have had more time to reflect on the content, I will gain new insights for my project) I did want to take a bit of time to have a first reflection on where I stand with the Final Project.
First and foremost, in terms of a plan – there is not plan. YET. However, I have a bunch of different ideas and the more I read and the more concepts I learn about the more ideas are being added to what will surely turn out to be a rather large list. My brain feels like it’s working at high speed and at equal speed the ideas are rushing in. I keep thinking “oh this is interesting”, “I could research this”, “uuuuuh this is cool”, “I want to learn more about that” and “this would be good for a final project!” So while a plan is still lacking (its only week 3 afterall), at least I won’t get bored anytime soon and I’m sure I can use one of my many ideas for the final project.
To shed a little more light on the various ideas I’ve been having so far I’ve created a little mindmap (which is proving incredibly difficult to insert here: iMindmap2) and I have come to realise that I am thinking about 3 overarching types of final project.
- a more “traditional” Masters disseration
- a creative approach in form of trying to produce artefacts and/or photosgraphs for an exhibition
- a collabroating with one of the EFI partner since loads of them have super interesting projects
On each branch I have added what specific topics I would currently like to dissect either in form of a dissertation, a creative art project or a partner project and I am sure the more literature I am reading the more alternative topics I am going to come up with. However, where do I go from here? I have put together a little “needs” list to see what skills/modules etc. will get me to where I want to be and to help me explore the various options further – the more information I have the easier it will be to pick my final project.
Needs list/questions (in general)
- expand data analytics skills –> Next to my Module “Insights through Data” I have signed up for a 8 week intensive coding course which will hopefully kickstart my coding journey
For a master thesis
- Access reading about “Digital Colonialism” – which is a topic that was mentioned during the intensive course this week and that I find incredibly interesting. I think when I have previously heard the term I haven’t really thought about what it means and what implications it has. However, now that it came up in conversation it really caught my attention and I want to read more about it.
- Look up specific research on inequalities in science communication – is there enough research out there? – what literature gaps are there? – think about possible methodologies to tackle this topic
- Get in touch with a uni in Ecouard (that I’ve been in contact with before) to see if participation on research projects would be possible remotely too and clarify if joining on a research project could be an option for a final project
Creative approach
- More info on resources and costs – is there an option to apply for a grant to finance the material costs of producing art work? would it be possible to book/rent a space for producing the artwork?
- Work on a list with potential exhibition locations
- Source UK data sets on Gender data gaps/bias and highlight what datasets could be visualised
- A rough scetch of what types of artwork I would like to make, scale/size, number
- What skills would I need? Are there any workshops at Edinburgh Art College that I could participate in?
Partner Projects
- I have identified Go Upstream, Museum Galleries Scotland ad Improvement Service to be good options for potential partners. There projects really interest me and I have put my email address forward to get in touch with them and discuss their visions for a potential collaboration further.
- Before meeting with potential partners read more about the companies and prepare what I would like the collaboration to look like
- Source data sets on maternity services and access to them in the Highlands to see if working on this with partners could be fruitful/if data already exists?
Last but not least, I think it’s super important to keep the “Unknown” in mind – while it already feels like I’ve been on this course for a while (maybe because I’ve already done a fair bit) it is afterall only week 3. And judging by how the readings so far have inspired me loads and mostly left me with a bunch of questions which I would (each) like to tackle, I am sure there is still a lot out there to discover. Maybe I will end up doing my project on something I have (up until now) not even heard of. So I just need to remind myself that I do not need to tie myself down yet, but keep exploring and stay open-minded 🙂
That’s all from me – hope you have a lovely rest of the week!
#lilac
Hey Kass – it was so nice to meet you earlier this week in the intensive 🙂
It sounds like you have a least some direction to explore with the projects – the idea of doing something creative would be really interesting, especially if it had a play on data visualisation. Have you ever seen any lectures by Hans Rosling? He was a master at presenting data and telling creative stories. Tedtalks have a collection which is a nice way to spend an afternoon: https://www.ted.com/playlists/474/the_best_hans_rosling_talks_yo Perhaps if you are picking up some coding skills and have a creative background you could think about digital formats. Might be more cost effective?
Thank you so much for the lovely comment and I’ll definitely go check out the lectures by Hans Rosling! Great advice – thanks!
I love the ideas you’ve come up with Kass! The way you portray information is also great as it gives a real insight into how you think and where you’re going with things. Have you considered combining your thoughts on creative delivery with the themes you identified for informing a masters thesis? At the intensive we spoke a little bit about how ‘exclusive’ research papers can be in their language and delivery. I’m wondering if being creative in how you represent your findings could broaden your reach to people outside of policy and academia, such that ordinary individuals can begin making small differences in their worlds too (whatever that may look like)
Hi Kass – great ideas, and you’re absolutely right – no need to tie yourself down yet! It’s super early, and you still have the luxury of time.
Given that you are interested in the PhD, I can definitely see the merits of choosing an MSc topic that starts you down those topical directions. As you know already, research projects are really good at opening up new and more complex questions, so your Futures Project could be a way to identify the deeper questions your PhD might take on.
That said, there is also tremendous value in taking a Masters year to explore things you wouldn’t normally access or think about! In that spirit, I’m glad you’re taking the opportunity to gain some coding skills. Coding can be really helpful for analysing datasets, but it can also be great for generating visualisations that help communicate ideas more clearly or succinctly than text or other media. So it could be that a combination of many of your ideas (data skills, creative outputs, science communication, healthcare/gender data gap related topics, etc.) results from this journey. Good luck and looking forward to speaking further at group supervision!