Nothing will ever be able to compare to the experiences and overall life changing lessons I have gained over the course of this semester thanks to this class. Completely out of my element, I entered the Fall 2017 semester imagining all of the possibilities that were available to me in regards to the development of my research project, and felt completely humbled by the opportunity. I myself had never done research, or at least not yet during my academic career; I knew I wanted to attempt finding a project for least one semester, but never did I imagine myself doing something like this. This course has essentially taught me the importance of interdisciplinary as well as independent studies, and has not only encouraged me to step outside of my comfort zone due to the classes requirements, but as well as forced me to do so at times. The experience I had with this class overall was a good one in some aspects, while in others I feel like the joy and excitement to participate in a course such as this one had been completely eradicated and replaced with stress and confusion.

            I started off this project with a partner, which was both a blessing and a curse within itself. I personally came into this project with an incredibly overwhelming sense of bias in regards to partner based work; in previous courses or experiences in general, I had several moments where I found myself doing the majority of the work or replacing my partner with someone else for an assignment or project simply because the person who had originally been assigned to me had failed epically to meet their share of the work. In my mind, I was prepared for the worst case scenario, as well as hoping this instance would be better, and I would not find myself in the predicament I had found myself in before:  hating my partner based work. I never felt that it was fair, the unspoken expectation that came with partner projects; if your partner failed, you’d have to pick up their slack. This is why I committed 110% to this project from the moment that I applied to the course back in April, hoping I’d hear news of my acceptance into the project and class for the fall.

I knew that I would only be able to accomplish this sort of rigorous work if I had a partner, because unlike most students who sign up for this course, I had an incredibly heavy weighted semester ahead of me at the end of Spring 2017. This semester, Fall 2017, I would begin my term as President of my institution, as well as taking 15 credit hours, working as a Peer Leader / Tutor, serving as a Team Member on our Model United Nations team, as well as being a part of the organization I founded last year as its Founding President, and serving on our Multicultural Greek Council as well as the two positions I hold within my sorority. I have always had the habit of being incredibly busy, especially since I had moved from Dallas to this small, lonesome town known as Wichita Falls —  the center of nothing and endless boredom for a city girl such as myself. If I would have known my partner would have dropped out of school at the most critical point in our project, and basically abandoned me when I needed the support the most, I would have never signed up for this course during the Fall. I would have waited to complete work like this during the spring, when I would have had more time to do it and less positions and extracurricular activities to attend to. Nevertheless, I feel as if it was necessary to go through this process as it was destined for me: alone.

One cannot speak about the experience and overall meaning this project had on my semester and life in general if I don’t acknowledge the rest of the aspects that compose my college experience for my final year at Midwestern State University. The rigor this course, as well as every other little thing I had going on, in my life — including the greatest accomplishment I have had at my institution, being the first Hispanic student to become Student Body President – changed me for the better. I could not have expected the turnout, nor would I trade it for anything else in the world. I would choose to participate in this course in a heartbeat again and again if asked to do so. In all honesty, one of the most difficult challenges I faced that was never truly addressed to my liking was the fact that I was indeed left alone; I wish there would have been a way to hold each of us truly accountable to the project and COPLAC in general. I personally didn’t feel like I could give myself the luxury of dropping the course since I had to sign up for an Independent Study to get credit for the work, and consequently added a substantial amount onto my tuition for the fall semester. I think that these types of projects can definitely be accomplished well alone if a person focuses simply on this assignment, and doesn’t have other things to address like I did; at least this is what I felt hindered my progress in general throughout the course.

Research within itself, especially archival work, is additionally difficult. Finding primary sources was one of the few things I had access to and others had advantages to throughout the semester because of the topic they had selected. I had decided, with the partner I had initially, to research the Wichita Indian population, instead of selecting a project that would have been easier and more accessible because I believed that with the support of one another, we could uncover something incredible that has not been given justice in our city at all. Despite the outcome, I would say that the project within itself is a wonderful start to something greater. Doing research will essentially change the course of your project, and take you down a journey within itself, and put pieces of a puzzle together that you had no clue you were trying to connect in the first place. Of course in the general overview of this research in general, I would say that it is an incredibly rewarding experience to see you project come to life; having creative control entirely in regards to the project is a wonderful advantage to have. Being able to create a design that is completely to your liking is soothing; you don’t have to discuss quirks and mechanics with another individual, nor will you find yourself arguing or stalling the addition of certain aspects of your site. I think that one of my favorite aspects of this project was the creation aspect: using digital tools to create a digital project that can be virtually shared with anyone is incredible.

I think one of the things that not a lot of people acknowledge is the “classroom” component of this course. We must remember that before we dove into the independent research and work that was done individually; we essentially were enrolled in a virtual classroom. A classroom that connected us virtually across the nation, and enabled us to meet with people we may have never had the chance to do so otherwise. I wish I could say I made a friendship or too out of this experience, but unfortunately there was little to no personal connection on my end in regards to the students in the class since there was no real opportunity to do so. After my partner dropped out, I completely gave up on social media – twitter specifically – because I simply don’t have time to waste on social media, and focused on more important aspects of this class that truly impacted me. I think that on my part, this may be a reason why I didn’t find a connection to spark with any of my classmates, but truth be told, I have never been a fan of this whole concept: making friends online; there is literally no possible thing (in my opinion) that can replace physical, face to face human interaction. Although for me this was a component to the course that lacked impact on my experience, I do appreciate the ability to converse to some extent with people who may have something different to offer in the field of academia that I may have missed through the lens in which I view life itself. I am an individual who craves human interaction, conversations that invoke empathy from one another, and the intimacy between human connection over shared life experiences or stories is what truly excites my learning curve as I continue through the realm of academia, a sentiment that I hope is shared among other students. My blog for example, the production of my interaction within the class, is honestly my favorite part of the class; I took the time to learn the mechanics of WordPress and personalize every single part of the site. I shared this website with my friends, family, colleagues and anyone who was kind enough to give me input; everyone who came across the site mentioned they loved it, and that it was interesting and personal, something that other blogs lacked. I took the time to ensure I blogged at least twice a week, to help keep a true day to day log of what I had going on in regards to the project.

Jump starting into the role of a campus leader and working in higher education while still being a student has also forced me to see the importance of diversity in our academic opportunities; I would personally appreciated more diversity amongst not only my classmates, but those who I assume are in charge of these types of courses as well – after all, this is a Liberal Arts chain of research. As a Hispanic woman, some topics that were covered in the class felt difficult to discuss, seeing that those who spoke on the topic could never truly understand the meaning behind the matter at hand. In retrospect, as a woman who has essentially broken down an endless amount of barriers at not only my institution but in this new community I called home, this lack of diversity didn’t have a lasting negative impact on my experience overall. It’s important to note that this type of opportunity has an everlasting affect on my life in general despite all the little challenges or huge obstacles I had to face alone; I am grateful to have been shown the importance of research and proper documentation of our history as well as showing me that I am capable of creating a project such as this with little to no help at all – although guidance and advice was offered throughout the project, the physical work was completed by myself – and it is an incredibly empowering feeling. I absolutely loved how engaged and interested the professors and Leah Tams were throughout the course; I think that this is an element of the course that should definitely not be ignored, because although this project is to be done on your own, their purpose is to spark curiosity and encourage scholarly work to be produced each and every day. I really appreciated their patience and genuine interest in the development of the project each and every one of us had overall, and wish that more professors and mentors expressed this sentiment towards their students.

Summarizing the experience I have had throughout this semester in a few words is impossible; words will never suffice, nor could they ever be able to describe in detail what an opportunity such as means to me. I am humbled to this day to have been able to take part in a class such as this one, and can honestly say that I will take away with me a lot of different skills from this course such as embedding and website design for example – who would have thought I would know how to create website because of this class? I truly hope that more people take the opportunity to take part in courses with COPLAC, because despite all of the ups and downs, I can truly say this has been an experience of a lifetime that means something different to each and every one of us who participated – thank you all for such an amazing experience – I wouldn’t have it any other way.

— Beginning of week Sixteen —

What follows is a perusal of the project website and editorial comments. Most of these things must be corrected (Grammar, spelling, or punctuation for example) though some things are optional (prose or esthetic issues).

Comments here are from Dr. Dunn…

Home page

• THIS PROJECT’S GOAL IS TO IDENTIFY WHERE THE WICHITA INDIANS RESIDED BEFORE THE 20TH CENTURY IN RELATION TO THE TEXAS NORTHERN FRONTIER IN ORDER TO DOCUMENT THEIR MIGRATION PATTERN, ONE THAT CHANGED DRASTICALLY THAT DRASTICALLY CHANGED OVER TIME.
• THINK ALONG THESE LINES ^ AS FAR AS EDITORIAL AND COMPOSITION EDITS AND STREAMLINING GO.
• AN IMPORTANT QUESTION TO CONSIDER IN REGARDS TO MIGRATION IS WHAT AND HOW THE TERM MIGRATION IS DEFINED.
• THIS IS AN EXTREMELY LONG SENTENCE – CAN YOU BREAK IT UP? “SUCH FACTORS CAN INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO THE SETTLEMENT OF A NEW, MORE POWERFUL GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS INTO AN AREA WHERE A LESS POWERFUL GROUP CURRENTLY LIVES AND FORCES THE WEAKER GROUP TO MOVE ELSEWHERE, THE CLIMATE IN REGARDS TO GOVERNMENT FACTIONS AND INFLUENCES THAT MAY AFFECT A GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS, INTRASTATE OR CIVIL WARS, OR SIMPLY ENVIRONMENTAL LIMITATIONS OR CHANGES.”

THE WICHITA INDIANS PAGE

• This cultural tie to the Caddoan language was not unique sole to the Wichita;
• Often referred to as the “Grass-house People”, the Wichita [ The comma should be placed inside of the quotation – “Grass-house People,” ]
• What is the attribution for the grass-house photographs? The other photographs on the page?
• Check your footnote formatting against the specs in this online chicago manual of style (they are incorrect): https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/717/01/

Identification of the wichita subpage

• Attribution for the three maps?

Identifying Forced Migration page

• In the StoryMapjs, check the spelling of relocated in slide titled, “the whichita and associated tribes are rellocated.”

Patterns of migration subpage

• if you enlarge the map it is much easier to navigate and simply to see – include that in the instructions.

Significance of the northern frontier page

• Such cities include the cities of Abilene, Brownwood, Dallas, Grand Prairie, San Angelo, Sherman, and Wichita Falls.
• Your heading: WHAT IS IT’S SIGNIFICANCE TO THE CITY OF WICHITA FALLS? [ Better to write,…what is the frontier’s significance to Wichita Falls? ]
• State’s significance to migration subpage [Better to write…The significance to migration of the states…]

  Photographs page

• These photographs need some type of attribution.

Portraits of the wichita subpage

• Can you provide some text here that explains what you find most important about these images?
• attribution needed.

This is very nicely rendered.

— End of week Fifteen —

This week has ended on a wonderfully positive note; my presentation has been given, therefore the most nerve wracking component of the course has been completed. I’m very grateful to have had the support of all my friends and family, and even those who took the time to view my project when I presented on Thursday. To be quite honest, I was incredibly nervous to present although I was in a room all alone, and everyone else was in their respective locations. That’s the weird thing about this class; a majority of the people who I have met through this course will never meet me face to face since this class was indeed digital. I never saw myself taking a course like this, because it definitely put me outside of my comfort zone and forced me to get into the routine of logging into class and getting acquainted with people from across the country through Zoom, including my professors.

Since I shared my script with you all the day of my presentation (Thursday, Nov. 30) you all know exactly what I said and what the presentation entailed: simply explaining the importance of the research and the purpose of the website. Ultimately, the experience within itself was a remarkable one, since I finally got to share with everyone what I had been working on so diligently all semester long. To my surprise, my university President Dr. Shipley tuned into the Zoom session to view my work. Her overall presence and support really did help a lot, but it also added to my nerves.

My presentation ran smoothly, I didn’t exceed my time limit of 15 minutes, and I had enough time to discuss questions if my classmates or anyone else had them. I was relieved no one asked me where my partner was; I was worried I’d have to explain that I was doing this project alone, although I was never sure how I would express that part of the experience to someone since I didn’t want to share information that was not mine to share. The person who had been assigned as my partner of course has the right to keep that part private since it was part of his experience. But all in all I would like to think the presentation went well. All I have left to do is make the changes to the website Dr. Dunn will suggest in the next few days to come, and submit the final website on Monday Dec. 11 for grading purposes. We shall see how this goes, and I look forward to working on the site to improve it in the next few days to come.

Until next time, Maria.

Please feel free to take a look at the digital COPLAC contract, which I have taken the time to perfect it from its initial form and includes a formal research proposal as well.

Here you will find my working thesis: “The Native American group known as the Wichita Indians suffered through immense forced migration during the 19th and 20th century due to Anglo – American influences in Northern Texas; hence the lack of current representation in places such as Wichita Falls, Texas.”

Until next time, Maria.

Link to MWSU Project Site.

Bibliography

COPLAC Contract.

— Script: My Presentation —

Today I present my project website: The Wichita Indians: Tracking Migration Over Time; the following is the script of what I will be saying verbatim. You may utilize this script to guide you through a tour /mini presentation of the site while you view the site at your leisure. Follow the instructions in red to go through the presentation in order.

Instructions for Dr. Dunn: Will appear in red and italicized.

Dr. Dunn: Begin on Home Page and remain on the image (header image).

Good afternoon everyone, my name is Maria and I am a senior at Midwestern State University, where I will be graduating with a major in political science and a minor in history. Today I will be sharing with you my semester’s research project, which has taught me the importance of diligent research and has strengthened my appreciation for the preservation of Native American history.

When selecting a research project in regards to cultural migration, I found the shift of Native American influences on the Northern Frontier of Texas known as the Red River, and how it was specifically documented and preserved in cities such as Wichita Falls, interesting.

While conducting my research, I discovered that there was little to no mention for the city of Wichita Falls available in any of our archives, libraries, or museums in regards to the Wichita Village that existed before Anglo American settlement.

For me, this became a key element of the project.

I wanted to help illustrate the importance, and identify the location of the Village that was located here in Wichita Falls as well as the rest of the Northern Frontier and further understand how cultural migration can include the concept of forced migration.

Dr. Dunn: Begin scrolling down to the text available on the bottom of the page.

This idea is explained here on the home page, and introduces the goal of the project.

The layout of the website provides next and previous page buttons to continue throughout the site in order.

Dr. Dunn: click on the next page button.

The next page titled, “The Wichita Indians” provides information about who the Wichita were. As many of the plains based natives, the Wichita shared the Caddoan Language, which culturally tied them together with other tribes such as the Caddo and Pawnee Indians.

Dr. Dunn: click on the first grass house picture. Then slowly pan through the three images.

The Wichita were known as the Grass house people because of the incredible structures that they created for homes; these images I have provided show what the grass houses look like, where we additionally see the Wichita constructing them.

Dr. Dunn: exit gallery and scroll down to show the image of the Chief.

The rest of the page continues to describe the lifestyle of the Wichita, as well as explaining their form of government. Although they did have Chief’s who presided over each Village, each Wichita Village was politically independent. Here I continue to explain how the Wichita had no set governmental structure, and how the concept of the matriarchal society influenced their lifestyle.

Dr. Dunn: scroll down and click the next page.

The next page titled, “Identification of the Wichita” features the official seal of the Wichita.

This page includes information about the Wichita’s ancestors.

My research led me to uncover that before the Wichita were identified by this name, they were known as the Quivira.

Dr. Dunn: scroll down and click on the first map and remain on the first image in gallery mode.

The Quivira were natives to the Plains that are know the state of Kansas; these next three images show the change in the Quivira’s territory. The first shows that before the introduction of the Spanish in 1541 through Coronado’s expedition, their territory incorporated most of the plains area which included parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Dr. Dunn: click on the second map in gallery mode.

The next map shows the loss of their territory; due to the fact that the Tribe dispersed to a multitude of locations after the introduction of several stronger settlers such as the Spanish and even the Comanche Indians, there was no centralized location.

Dr. Dunn: click on the third map in gallery mode.

The final map shows where the Wichita territory is established in the mid 19^th century in the state of Oklahoma.

Dr. Dunn: exit gallery, scroll to bottom of the page and select next page.

Dr. Dunn: Click on story map js and pan through the slides slowly as I talk.

The next page titled, “Identification of Forced Migration” provides an interactive map that illustrates the many locations the Wichita could be found in reference to the Northern Frontier of Texas after being displaced.

It should be noted that migration is defined as Forced Migration after the introduction of stronger settlers or Tribes with this map and each slide in this map explains why. For example, specifically in the city of Wichita Falls where my university is located, a Wichita village was located here in 1841; the village was specifically located in what is now known as the Wichita Gardens Neighborhood of today.

It should be noted, that the migration that occurred had an everlasting impact on each location they settled on migration even if it was poorly documented; such examples can be found with the naming of cities or terrain such as Wichita Falls and the Wichita Mountains.

Dr. Dunn: exit map and scroll down to the table provided.

The rest of the page provides a table where I illustrate the affects of forced migration on the Wichita’s identity further, and how displacement from their native land in Kansas affected identification of the Tribe overall. This is a key element of what not only made this project difficult, but exciting especially when one discovers that the Wichita have been names and identified differently by different groups of people they interacted with over time.

Dr. Dunn: scroll down and click on next page.

Dr. Dunn: scroll down and to the map in the middle of the page.

The next page titled, “Patterns of Forced Migration” provides the migration pattern I identified based upon the locations that were visited periodically after being displaced from Kansas.

Here I explain that regardless displacement, they continuously attempted to travel back to their native land over time.

Dr. Dunn: scroll down and click on next page.

The next page titled, “Significance of the Northern Frontier” defines the significance of the Northern Frontier and how the Wichita impacted the state of Texas along its northern. Here I explain what the Northern Frontier of Texas is, and define it as the Red River and its relation to Wichita Falls. I additionally explain that the Wichita County of Texas and the Cotton County of Oklahoma are divided by this frontier. It should be noted that the remaining influence the Wichita had on places such as the city of Wichita Falls could not be found culturally, but could be found in examples of names such as the name of the city itself, or the Wichita Mountains as well. Migration for the Wichita was clearly defined for them due to the relationships that had been established when new groups were introduced into the area.

Dr. Dunn: scroll down and click on next page.

On the next page titled, “States Significance to Migration” I illustrate the importance of the rivers and mountains that enabled the pattern of migration from Kansas, and led them to the southern state of Texas after displacement.

Dr. Dunn: scroll through the page until you reach the state of Texas map.

Each Wichita Village was located next to a river after displacement; take this Texas Map of the major rivers located within the state for example. Although my research project does not incorporate migration of the Wichita throughout the entire state of Texas, it should be noted that at some point in time throughout history, villages of the Wichita were located further south. If the project is continued, this is an avenue that could essentially be explored for the future.

Dr. Dunn: scroll down and click on next page.

Dr. Dunn: click on the first photograph.

This next page is dedicated to photographs that can be found throughout the site, as well as additional images. Most of these images show examples of their grass houses, or things that were important to their livelihood such as the squash the Wichita harvested, or rivers that were normally used by them.

Dr. Dunn: exit gallery and click on next page.

Dr. Dunn: click on first image on page, “member of the Wichita” and slowly pan through the images until you reach the 5^th image: Wichita mother and her child while I talk.

The next page is titled, “Portraits of the Wichita” Here I have compiled portraits ranging from members of the Tribe in their ceremonial attire as well as an image of a Wichita mother and her child.

Dr. Dunn: click through the gallery until you reach the 11^th image titled, “Chief Esodawa” and stop.

More images including Wichita elders, and even an image of a Chief can be found on this page as well.

Dr. Dunn: exit gallery mode and click next page.

The next page provides a glossary of terms that can be found throughout the site with their respective definition.

Dr. Dunn: scroll down and click the next page.

The next page features the bibliography, where the entire list of sources utilized to make this project possible can be found.

Dr. Dunn: scroll down slowly, and then click next page.

The next page is the about COPLAC page, where a link to the course’s site, as well to the COPLAC website can be found. Additionally, a link is provided for the course blog where documentation and progress of the project in its entirety can be found.

Dr. Dunn: click next page.

The next page is the about author page, that features myself.

Dr. Dunn: click next page.

The next page features the cultural crossroads contract.

Dr. Dunn: scroll down and click next page.

And the final page on this site is a Research Proposal I wrote to establish future progress of the project.

— End of presentation —

— Beginning of week Fifteen —

Today we started class promptly at 3:00 (4:00pm EST); Dr. Dunn gave a small introduction explaining the course, and briefly explained the purpose of today’s meeting.

This week we will all be presenting our work to COPLAC, and anyone else who would like to view the presentation. The purpose of this is to showcase our work, and share what we have been doing throughout the semester. Each team from the universities that have taken a part of this course will have about 15 minutes to present, and 5 minutes for questions and answers. It’s important to stay on top of our time so we don’t run too late, or take up someone else’s time since we only have 3:00 – 4:15 to get through 3 presentations today and 3 on Thursday (Nov. 30).

As I have stated in my previous post, I present on Thursday; I’m somewhat nervous, especially after seeing how well everyone did today.  Of course everyone has their flaws; some of the teams ran too long and others ran too short, but in the end it all worked itself out and everyone did an awesome job. I really like how each team gave each member the opportunity to speak, and explain what the project meant for them individually. These types of projects really exemplify the meaning of scholarship, and I truly believe that they all did an excellent job in that regard.

With these presentations, the significance behind it is greater than simply showcasing our work to others; it additionally prepares us for the end of the course. This presentation, and the one that I am to give on Thursday, is essentially the climax of our journey together. This is what we have all been working towards; creating a site based off of the extensive amount of research that we have done, and presenting it. Afterall, this course and this project is digitally based.

I personally still have to do a run through of my presentation tomorrow (Wed. 29 @ 6:30) with Dr. Dunn and practice the flow and overall verbal component of the presentation I am to give. I have finished the script that I am utilizing for Thursday; this is one of the requirements we need before presenting. I will share an excerpt of it here and post the final draft of it on Thursday.

Until next time, Maria.

Please feel free to take a look at the digital COPLAC contract, which I have taken the time to perfect it from its initial form and includes a formal research proposal as well.

Here you will find my working thesis: “The Native American group known as the Wichita Indians suffered through immense forced migration during the 19th and 20th century due to Anglo – American influences in Northern Texas; hence the lack of current representation in places such as Wichita Falls, Texas.”

Until next time, Maria.

Link to MWSU Project Site.

Bibliography

COPLAC Contract.

— End of week Fourteen —

This Thanksgiving break has been very productive, but exhausting. I traveled home for the week long break after class on Tuesday, Nov. 21, and I feel like I haven’t really had much of a break. I can’t really begin to describe how overwhelmed I felt at the beginning of the week, especially seeing how much work was left to be done. Progress on the site for the remainder of the week before I present will simply be limited to adding information I have left out so that the website has some sort of substance to it. With each and every day that passes I wish I had had better luck this semester in general; I can’t help but continuously remind myself that I am doing the best that I can to keep this project, and myself together despite the rough beginning where I found myself partner-less. This break has served as a great opportunity to get a lot of work done, and catch up on some things for this project.

I have occupied all of the pages now with some form of information, whether it be a chart, map, photo gallery or with actual information (words). So for now I will continue to add images and information to the site so that it flows smoothly and it looks great overall. I do hope to get some sort of critique eventually, where one of my professors (Dr. Dunn or Turner) take the time to go through the entire site. This way I know what needs to be changed, added, or removed before we submit the site for final review on Dec. 11. I did forget to finish some of the charts at some point such as the one with the vocabulary words (the glossary) so I finished that as well. I will it below.

Until next time, Maria.

Please feel free to take a look at the digital COPLAC contract, which I have taken the time to perfect it from its initial form and includes a formal research proposal as well.

Here you will find my working thesis: “The Native American group known as the Wichita Indians suffered through immense forced migration during the 19th and 20th century due to Anglo – American influences in Northern Texas; hence the lack of current representation in places such as Wichita Falls, Texas.”

Until next time, Maria.

Link to MWSU Project Site.

Bibliography

COPLAC Contract.

— Beginning of week Fourteen —

As we approach the final week of this course before we present, I can feel time slip through my fingers ever so slowly. Today in class we were assigned our time to present; I present on Thursday, November 30 at 3:30pm (4:40EST). I am very grateful to present towards the end of the week, since it gives me time to keep making final changes and finish adding the information I need for my site to be complete.

As I had hoped, I met with Lean last week on Friday, and received more images that I hope to share on the site. I have also created more tools for the map, some as simple as keys for the tools I am going to be using. I will share them below; this key will specifically be used on the page where I will have the Storymap JS published.

Final recommendations for the site have been given to me during class today, and I am to visit with Dr. Turner a week from now on Monday, November 27 to discuss the end result of my project. This means I have to work really hard during the Thanksgiving break to finish not only editing the website design, bibliography, tables and maps, but as well as finish adding the information I need for the website to have legible content. So far I’ve gotten a few things down on the website, and I have successfully caught up with my blog site as well! I feel rather accomplished in this sense although I do feel like I’m running out of time.  I remain optimistic and look forward to this productive week.

Until next time, Maria.Please feel free to take a look at the digital COPLAC contract, which I have taken the time to perfect it from its initial form and includes a formal research proposal as well.

Here you will find my working thesis: “The Native American group known as the Wichita Indians suffered through immense forced migration during the 19th and 20th century due to Anglo – American influences in Northern Texas; hence the lack of current representation in places such as Wichita Falls, Texas.”

Until next time, Maria.

Link to MWSU Project Site.

Bibliography

COPLAC Contract.

— End of week Thirteen —

Dr. Dunn shared with me the notes he made in regards to my working website yesterday (Wed. Nov. 15) via email, which I then took as the directions to edit my website. I for one am very grateful for the time that was dedicated to look at the pages I had up, and note little things here or there that could be changes.  Additionally, we met today via Zoom to discuss the notes he had, and to answer any questions I may have in regards to the progress of the site. We discussed in length several suggestions I sincerely plan on implementing on my site, as well as discuss real goals I should set for myself and reach in the next two weeks before we present.

I feel rather calm at this point; openly optimistic.  I’ve taken the time to look at everyone’s sites and can say without hesitation that I am very impressed with everyone’s’ work and partnership. It inspires me when I view their blogs or websites, and entices me to work towards similar goals so that my site is just as good as everyone else who has a partner. I also feel as if I need to continue constant maintenance of this blog site to make up for the lack of having a partner, so I can document every little step I make to make this project successful.

As for the website for my project, I have changed the titles of the pages.

• I now have a total of six (6) main pages, which each have drop down boxes to subpages.
• I added “next” and “previous” page buttons to each page to facilitate the use of the websites order.
• I’ve removed unnecessary wording on most of my pages, as well as fixed more grammatical errors.
• I’ve added a page to thank the COPLAC /Mellon collaboration.
• Fixed my bibliography and shared the document with Dr. Turner.
• Added a few more tables, such as the continuing work I’ve been doing to add a glossary as well as one that identifies the Wichita Indians chronologically.
• I’ve created citations for footnotes for my pages (to be put on the site soon.)

I have been working on a table that identifies the Wichita Indians over time, and I will share the table below. This table used to be in alphabetical order, but Dr. Dunn recommended I put it in chronological order since it would help emphasize the change in rhetoric. It looks different on this theme, as it will on the theme for the project website.

Another obstacle I have faced is that of coming up with images for my site; I am supposed to meet Lean, a graduate student here at MWSU, who will help with that part. So I am very grateful, and hope that our schedules don’t conflict too much so that I can begin working on this part of my project.

Until next time, Maria.Please feel free to take a look at the digital COPLAC contract, which I have taken the time to perfect it from its initial form and includes a formal research proposal as well.

Here you will find my working thesis: “The Native American group known as the Wichita Indians suffered through immense forced migration during the 19th and 20th century due to Anglo – American influences in Northern Texas; hence the lack of current representation in places such as Wichita Falls, Texas.”

Until next time, Maria.

Link to MWSU Project Site.

Bibliography

COPLAC Contract.

— Beginning of week Thirteen —

This week we are asked to continue making edits and any sort of revision we deem necessary to our sites. By Thursday, November 16th, either Dr. Dunn or Dr. Turner will provide comments, questions, and concerns in regards to the site as it looks now. I can predict the overall remarks I’ll receive, very positive and encouraging I hope, but I do expect some sort of critique that will help me see what I need to fix or how to make my website more accessible…appealing even, though I feel I’ve done well in that department.

Website construction and maintenance is a never ending battle… I continue to find misspelled words or incorrect formatting here or there. I ask my friends occasionally to look through the site when they have time so they can catch something that is off that my tired eyes may have missed the million times they’ve looked over the pages.  I have begun to add information here or there, added more to the home page and fixed my bibliography in general. I have yet to figure out how to do the hanging format properly on the theme I have selected, and I am quite the stubborn gal and much rather struggle until I figure it out on my own than appear incapable.  I feel this invisible weight on my shoulders, possibly deriving from the high expectations I have of myself, to produce a good project despite the obstacles I alone have faced in comparison to my classmates. It has been a little over a month now that my partner for the project dropped out, and although I have not mentioned much of the account to be respectful, it has nevertheless put me in a difficult situation to navigate throughout the semester.

Regardless, I did find an official seal the Wichita use for identification! I will be using this on my site, possibly on this page.

This is a beautiful image that I look forward to sharing on the site. I have additionally spent some time learning the mechanics of a new feature we have been enabled to use called FooBox; it’s an interesting plugin that allows us to format pictures effortlessly as well as create galleries that run smoothly within our pages.

I’ll practice this feature here with some images I plan on using on the site. Hopefully it works, I have also created another key with TablePress by importing Excel sheets to create instructions on how to manage the gallery which I will include below as well. We must note that these tools will appear in a different manner when placed into a different theme; so if you take a look at the project site where these tools will be presented, it will not look like the way it presents itself below.

Until next time, Maria.

Please feel free to take a look at the digital COPLAC contract, which I have taken the time to perfect it from its initial form and includes a formal research proposal as well.

Here you will find my working thesis: “The Native American group known as the Wichita Indians suffered through immense forced migration during the 19th and 20th century due to Anglo – American influences in Northern Texas; hence the lack of current representation in places such as Wichita Falls, Texas.”

Until next time, Maria.

Link to MWSU Project Site.

Bibliography

COPLAC Contract.

— End of week Twelve —

Today I will share a new map that I have created for my project site, as well as a key that I created by using TablePress and importing an Excel sheet. It is important to note that aside from website design and research, we are additionally encouraged to create interactive tools for our site since our project is digitally based. This will make our site more appealing to navigate, and encourage others to continue perusing through the site.

Below is the map I created for the project site; its purpose is to illustrate the migration pattern that I noted while researching. It of course is not the only possible route, but it is a route I imagine the Wichita frequently traveled.

Next is the key I created to facilitate the use of this tool; its purpose is to simply provide information of what little gadgets can be found useful while viewing this map.

I think this map will be a great asset to the project; it was a little tedious to create, as simple as it may look. Since I utilized Google My Maps, I had to delete the information that was currently present for the locations I pinpointed, select the topography of the map, color scheme, add photographs and information for each site, as well as measure and align the trail I wanted to highlight. It took me a few hours to get it down and produce a final product I was content with. Next I plan on getting images for my site, or possibly more maps? We will see which comes first.

Until next time, Maria.

Please feel free to take a look at the digital COPLAC contract, which I have taken the time to perfect it from its initial form and includes a formal research proposal as well.

Here you will find my working thesis: “The Native American group known as the Wichita Indians suffered through immense forced migration during the 19th and 20th century due to Anglo – American influences in Northern Texas; hence the lack of current representation in places such as Wichita Falls, Texas.”

Until next time, Maria.

Link to MWSU Project Site.

Bibliography

COPLAC Contract.