— 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.

Continue reading Project Presentations: Part 2, Script →

— 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.

Continue reading Project Presentations: Part One, Observations →

— 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.

Continue reading Close, but yet so far away. →

— 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.

Continue reading Time’s slipping through my fingers. →

— 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.

Continue reading Critiques for the site: progress underway. →

— 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.

Continue reading Lucky 13: updates on my project. →

— 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.

Continue reading New tools for the site! →

— Beginning of week Twelve —

Last week during our peer evaluation sessions or critiques, Kernan from Keene State emailed me her observations. I am very grateful to have a second pair of eyes go over the material I have so far, even if it isn’t much and it’s far from completion.

Often times I find myself investing too much time looking for errors, mistakes, or things I may have overlooked on the website or the maps I have created. I can’t keep falling into this habit where I spend too much of my available time in that task, and focus more on getting all of the information I possibly can onto the site first…which is easier said than done. Every single instant when our professors ask what obstacle or challenge has presented itself to us as we progress with the project, my answer remains the same. I don’t seem to have enough time on my hands to do the work for two people, although I have been told continuously that I am understood and should not worry about this issue, it still is an incredibly important factor as to why progress for this site has fallen so far behind.

I tend to be my harshest critic, and know for a fact that if I would have known this team based project was going to turn into an independent project, I would have not signed up for the course simply because I know I would have not been able to dedicate as much time to it as I am expected to do so. These types of physically and mentally demanding projects require partnership for a reason,  and I hope in the future courses to come, better consideration of the candidates is taken into consideration so that no other student has to forgo this incredibly difficult journey. Being a full time student, part time worker, Student Body President,  and researcher all in one semester has definitely presented itself in an incredibly ominous way, that feels overwhelming to the point that I don’t feel stressed — I simply feel blank.

This semester my plate is not full, it is overflowing with endless work that I know I must complete at some point.  I remain optimistic at this point, and expect the best regardless, because I refuse to throw in the towel just yet.

Wish me luck.

Until next time, Maria.

Continue reading Challenges: never ending hills. →

— End of week Eleven —

For today’s assignment, we have been tasked to critique our classmates websites, and let them know what we liked or didn’t like about their site. Of course we must be constructive, and I know I personally appreciate criticism since it will help make my site better. I will attach links to their websites, for the Keene State Team and the MCLA Team, so that it is accessible for perusal.

Keene State

The Keene State Team consist of two students, Patrick and Kernan, whom both have shared with us a project that details the Finnish History in Newport. I personally think it is quite fascinating and appreciate the extensive archival work they have both done. They have both done projects with COPLAC before, so I definitely think that this has given them an edge to the project in which they can apply their experience to make this project successful.

• Website Design
  • I really like the overall presentation that is given within their website. It is a clean, get to the point kind of site, and I especially appreciate the “next page” buttons at the bottom of each individual page. It can really come in handy when doing presentation overall, and enables an easier accessibility to the website’s content.
• Photographs
  • I love the page and subpages that are specifically dedicated to pictures. Although I think a gallery version of this feature using FooBox will make it less cluttered, I do think that the extensive amount of photographs helps illustrate the projects importance overall.
• Material
  • Each page within itself has a lot of information, maps, and interactive material. I am interested in viewing the curriculum for the classroom, since I believe this will be an incredible tool for future students to use!

Continue reading Breakout Sessions: Critique on Classmates Website →