Workshopping for DS1 – 07.23.2018
Today is round table day! As I look out over the Sleeping Giant, I’m reflecting on the process of ‘workshopping’ an academic paper. I’ve reviewed my paper with a critical eye to what is included and what is missing. I’ve made several annotations on the printed version of the paper that I can reference as I work to complete this assignment in the coming week. I’ve also gone through the slides in my presentation and made notes of key pieces I’d like to mention, as I move through the ten minutes I’ve got to share what I’m writing about. I’m also reviewing the notes for the two other papers written by my classmates, in preparation for their presentations, in order to ensure I’m providing good feedback for their work.
In doing this, as a process of writing, and as reflected in the readings, I’m becoming more aware of the idiosyncrasies and choices I’m making in my work. I write like I talk which may or may not fit into an academic style of writing. I edit to remove extraneous words, but ramble on in some places where I could be more succinct and direct. I tend to rely or reference images, either ones I’ve created, ones I’ve found, or ones that I’ve only got in my head. When I tell others that my work will be a media production, I’m not kidding, but I’ll also need to temper that with the current requirements for scholarly writing in APA format. So today, with these ‘workshops’, I’m looking forward to getting feedback about my work and being able to build on this information to craft a better paper.
As part of the preparations for tomorrow’s multimodal presentations on methodologies, I’m more aware of the shoulders on which I stand. I’m grounding myself and positioning my work in the scholarly landscape at several intersections – it’s a messy place with some inherent confusion. Today, I’m comfortable in this place – I’ve driven out of the lake effect, snow streamer that I referenced last week in our weather report in class. As others who drive along the east shores of Georgian Bay in the winter can tell you, just wait a bit because there’s always another streamer coming off the bay a few kilometers up the road. I may be back into the messy space again tomorrow, as I dig back into the academic paper in order to complete this assignment, but I’ll remember it’s a temporary and fleeting messiness.
