— 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.

To navigate through the photographs below, click on any photo to begin; once selected, gallery mode will be enabled. While in gallery mode, viewing these photos in an enlarged proportion will enable better legibility of the information provided for each item as well as a clearer view of the photographs.

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.

Joy and I have always worked together on this entire project, but this week we decided that to make best use of our time and strengths that we would collaborate on all the writing.  I struggle greatly with getting words on the paper quickly.  I have the knowledge, but not the talent to verbally express, whereas Joy excels in that area.   I, on the other other hand, love visual design and organization, which is not Joy’s strength or interest.

This week we continued to add content and I fixed most of the suggestions given by Professor Dunn, minus the bibliography and citation.  My plan is to fix/add all the citation this coming week.  At this point we feel really good about our layout and therefore did not make any major structural changes this week.

 

This week did not see much progress on the website, unfortunately. I added some more information under the “Economy and Culture” page, and more specifically under the Culture section. What I added dealt primarily with music, but I plan on including a short paragraph about the Folk Art Center as well. This new information changed my overall take on culture a bit. Originally, it had a slightly negative tone that suggested the local culture was somewhat stagnant. However, this new take doesn’t actually imply the culture was stagnant so much as it indicates locals used tourism and the Parkway to help keep aspects of their traditional culture alive. I attempted to include a YouTube video of a WNC Folk artist on the page and, although I successfully embedded the code, the words will not wrap around the video as I had hoped they would. I am certain I will figure out a way around this, but so far all of my attempts to correct this have failed. After our meeting with Dr. Dunn on Thursday we got plenty of ideas about logistics and organization, corrections that need to be made, and what direction we would like to continue in.
Tomorrow Liz and I are set to meet Jackie at the BRP archives at 10:30 to look through some more images. We plan on focusing on mileposts and overviews but I am hopeful I will be able to locate images displaying recreational activities on the Parkway and perhaps even pictures of locals as well.
Naturally I am disappointed in my lack of progress this week. These things understandably happen and serve as a good reminder that things do not always go as planned, but I am looking forward to doubling my efforts in the week to come. In the meantime I want to thank Liz for setting up tomorrow’s meeting with Jackie. We are excited about getting some more pictures up on the website to make it a little more aesthetically pleasing. Onward and upward!

— 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.

Color of Marker	Meaning of Marker
Red Marker	State
Blue Marker	City
Green Marker	Migration Trail

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.

As we continue to chip away at our project, Patrick and I are discovering the excitement of sharing new information on digital platforms and we are making more connections between our research information and the goals we have in sharing the Finnish story. Although the history of the Finns in America is largely untold, I did happen upon one man who has been searching for remnant of Finnish log cabins in Idaho and even in our local area, the Monadnock Region. This was exciting to me because there is someone else who is passionate about telling the story of the Finns. I discovered that log cabins were one of the large contributions made by the Finns. Digging Deeper, I found that this man was in the process of creating a book on the Finns in America, expected to be published in 2018. I reached out to him via LinkedIn and to my surprise I got a response in quick time. We are currently emailing back and forth about our projects! How exciting.

On another note, I am beginning to have lots of fun in the development of our project site. I find pleasure in creating user-friendly digital tools, especially keeping in mind that I hope for younger generations to be able to navigate these types of sites in order to discover the different ways they can use technology to support their learning. That being said, I am still struggling to brainstorm the best way to make lesson plans to make learning about the Finns worthwhile. Nonetheless, I am confident that the lesson plans will be a great addition to our project and a great way to put my skills to use.

I am calling on Congress to TERMINATE the diversity visa lottery program that presents significant vulnerabilities to our national security. pic.twitter.com/tW4wOlI4vu

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2017

Following the recent terrorist attack in New York, the diversity visa lottery is now flooding the news. As Jordan’s article in the New York Times states, “the lottery offers one of the fastest paths to legal permanent residence, often in less than two years,” and “some one million people have been awarded green cards through the program.”

As many politicians call for the diversity visa lottery to be shut down, thousands of others are hoping to play the lottery as a ticket to the United States. It is by no means a handout, as players must have at least a high school degree to enter the lottery; pass interviews, background checks, and medical exams; and finally, they must pay for visas and plane tickets. Within the context of the DR Congo, this is a feat in and of itself, as the country was ranked 176 of 187 countries on the United Nations Human Development Index of 2015.

In my study last year, one participant stated, “The lottery is a position taken by the American government so that people, strangers, come to live in America with the possibility of one day becoming an American. This doesn’t exist in the Congo… So I believe that the American society is more open to diversity, to the world, than us others, our societies’ [translated],” (13) as opposed to an overwhelming negativity about their own country in saying “There’s corruption everywhere, even in medicine” (11).

These binary results; an admiration with the United States and a disappointment in their native country; show an overwhelming thankfulness to be in the United States. For example, one said, “When one wins the lottery, one doesn’t hesitate. Because this is an unparalleled occasion so that our children can have a good education and be well-settled. It’s not really for us that we’ve come here, it’s to have a better future for our children,” [translated].

In contrast to the backlash seen in the popular media, this case study demonstrates an extreme loyalty to the United States in the cases of many diversity lottery winners.

Sources:

Donald Trump, Twitter post, November 2, 2017, accessed November 7, 2017, https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2017%2F11%2F01%2Fus%2Fdiversity-visa-lottery.html.

Jordan, Miriam. “Diversity Visa Lottery: Inside the Program That Admitted a Terrorist.” New York Times, November 1, 2017. Access November 7, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/us/diversity-visa-lottery.html?_r=0.

United Nations Development Programme. “Human Development Reports.” 2016. Accessed November 7, 2017. http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/COD.

 

Having posted a rough draft of our site is liberating. It’s great to have the notes to go back to and check off as we make the recommended adjustments. Research is still happening on my end when it comes to the Tourism page and the role of Conservationists on the Parkway. Jackie is back in the office and I look forward to going to get photos that are already digitized from her in order to update the map. The map is moving along, I have an idea for how to draw lines on the map and I’m going to change the background map when I’m finished so that it shows the topography more than the current one.

 

Everything is moving along nicely and we’re getting into a nice pace (at least I think we are). We’re hoping to be together for the final presentation so fingers crossed that can happen. That’s all for now, just the same old chugging along!

— 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.

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.

At long last, Maggie and I have finally received IRB approval to begin our interviews, and we will be able to record them as well. It has been a long and paperwork-filled journey to reach this point, but I believe having audiovisual elements on our project site will be well worth it and allow us to truly capture the voices of those who have migrated to Kirksville in recent years.

We certainly have plenty to do. With several interviews to conduct, videos to edit, and site layouts to finalize, I can’t pretend like the upcoming month will be an easy one. However, I do not think the challenges we face are insurmountable. Now that we can finally get into the bulk of the information we will be gathering and sharing, there is a building energy that is sure to carry us through until presentation day.

Despite the fast-approaching deadlines and significant amount of work to be done, I am still very hopeful about the outcome of this project. I am excited to be on the forefront of this effort to work with and understand the Congolese immigrant population in Kirksville, and I look forward to sharing what we’ve learned with the public, so that people may look back in the future to explore how the community has changed over time.

We are now at the beginning the final stretch. Throughout the whole process, it has been so intriguing to see the progression of my classmates’ projects and the passion they have for their communities and migration studies. As we begin to think about the end of our projects (and the close of the semester), I cannot wait to see what direction everyone takes their research and how they will display it on their sites. Everyone has been working so hard, and I am eager to get down to business and churn out some content in the next couple of weeks.