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Checking up on Myself

I should have done this a couple of months ago... I guess I could post-date it, but I'll be all honest and stuff.

At the beginning of this semester, I had a supervisor meeting, which inspired me to draw up a plan for how I'm going about this PhD. It's a good plan.

Plans are great and all, but only as far as they actually work. So as I've used semesters (3 per year, fall, spring, summer) to milestone my plan, I'm going to post one of these at the end of each semester to see how I'm doing, and to see if I need to adjust my plan at all. Here goes.

Semester 1 (Fall 2008) Plan & Outcomes:
Plan: Explore idea, background of North Wales for inspiration for print novel
  • Outcome: Did a lot of exploration, read some Welsh mythology, wandered around Anglesey taking pictures. I have a lot of ideas now for the novel, and not just based in Welsh mythology. I think this is going to take on a bit more of world mythology, sort of a globalization theme that reflects what New Media is doing to connect people.
Plan: Immerse self in academic environment, methods of practice-led research
  • Outcome: Joined a New Media Research Circle, have attended/participated in all of the practice-based/led research sessions. Have attended available conferences, and presented at the Research Student Forum Conference. I've generated a lot of ideas about what I want my practice-based research to look like, how it should unfold, how the creative and critical should feed into one another. I'm also on committees for two academic conferences, presenting at two this summer, and am participating in the Digital and Collaborative Multimedia in the Humanities Training Scheme.
Plan: Paper on novel adaptation to online/digital elements
  • Outcome: "The Shifting Author-Reader Dynamic: Online Novel Communities as a Bridge from Print to Digital Literature" is finished (for now). I presented it at Shark Tank, and got some good feedback. I submitted it to Convergence, and it is currently under review for their Feb 2010 issue themed "Authors and the Web."
Plan: Maintain process blog
  • Outcome: Keeping up! Here it is. I'm averaging (I hope) about 3 posts a week, on various topics.

Adjustments to Semester 1 Plan:

None required.


Semester 2 (Spring 2009) Plan:
 Plan: Complete a written short story with aim to adapt it to a digital story
Plan: Explore and trial-test various software platforms for adaptation
Plan: Storyboard written short story for digital adaptation
Plan: Maintain process blog
Plan: Continue to research legend & mythology, brainstorm novel
Plan: Continue multi-media networking


There it is. Semester 2 has already been slightly adjusted to account for the fact that I hardly have any time whatsoever to work on the PhD this semester, but we'll go from here. Sometime in May I'll check in again, and hope I don't have a giant FAIL marked across my face.

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