Here is my brief outline for what I'm thinking of doing my paper on:
Basically after talking about Socially Optimized Research in class last Wednesday, I got this impression that this is what Captain Ahab did preparing for his voyage to get Moby Dick. First he had to "tell people" about the trip. He searched high and low for different crew members to join him (even if they didn't initially know they were going on a trek for an unbeatable white whale) who had a love for the sea and training in whaling. Next step is "curating research." There's a quote in chapter 44 about how Ahab has "large wrinkled roll of yellowish sea charts" and books and and logs of sperm whale sightings. Then we have "searching new media and social networks" (content vs people) which to me would be the first mates (specifically Starbuck) who have more insight on this quest, but still aren't scholars on Moby Dick (this is a little different from my initial notes above - more specific and less about all the crew members who fit better in the "tell people" stage). In addition to that, I thought of the log and the line in chapter 125 and how Ahab went from a compass to "new media" using the log and the line to get pointed in the right direction again. Last is searching traditional scholarship. All the ship captains Ahab talks with during the voyage would, to me, be the traditional sources he would go to for specific information about the whale because these ships like the Rachel (ha I said Rebecca in my notes - ignore that) actually encounter the whale.
Anyway, I'm still working on an exact thesis statement and the "so what," but any thoughts? If you think I'm stretching it please let me know. Good luck to you all on your own papers! I've seen some really excellent ideas.
I think this is a really nice idea with good parallel/parable observations (if that makes sense). The "so what" is a struggle for me too in general. If I were you at this point I'd go to the Writing Center, since they've helped me find the overarching purpose of an idea a few times. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteMaybe for your so what you could draw a more general comparison between today's technology of researching and technology for researching in the past. Like you said, it's not necessarily that much different. In some ways, people could have been more technologically advanced if technologically advanced is defined by researching through people. I'm no historian, but I'm guessing most people back then got their news through other people. There were limited reading materials back then, academic journals were probably in their infancy, so to really get information, you'd have to talk directly to an expert. These are just some ideas.
ReplyDeleteI think the easiest way for you to arrive at a "so what" is to think back to the prompt. So, Ahab follows a pattern of socially optimized research. What works for him in this, what doesn't? What kind of claim can this pattern make *about* the digital culture you are drawing a connection to? Maybe that certain parts of it are more or less effective, or the way that it needs to be done.
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