Shifting the focus for my interactivity research class project

I’ve been planning an interactive research report over the summer that would use the video I made in France in May, along with images of objects I collected, images from the Web and text I will write about the research project. I have the entire fall semester to execute this plan for the College of Communication Interactivity Research class. But it occurred to me this morning that I could shift the focus, making the Effect of Mass Digitization Projects on Copyright Law and Policy the centerpiece of the site, try out CommentPress as the main interactive feature, and use the French video of library interviews and images as a sidebar (the view from France), among possible other sidebars. This makes more sense, puts the French point of view in the broader context, and is more like the pattern that I’d like to develop for my dissertation. There I could focus on the effect of ubiquitous network access and the development of institutional cyberinfrastructure on the use by scholars of alternative forms of scholarly communication (and ultimately, on the future of research libraries). Sounds like a plan, and none too soon, as the class starts in a week. The August issue of CTWatch Quarterly was devoted entirely to this subject and I'll have to squeeze reading it into the framework of all the other readings I've got to do.

Intro to Doctoral Research and Theory got rolling yesterday. Lots to read and think about. I've chosen a journal to review over the semester (and write four short papers about) that seemed an unlikely choice for me (that's why I chose it): Library Quarterly. Sounds so mainstream; published by U of Chicago Press, its contents studied by others over decades to show why library science in this country sort of stagnated on the technology front until after WWII. So why would I choose it? Of the choices, it was the most over-arching in its focus. It seemed to at least touch on big-picture policy, theory and "where are we going" kinds of questions. So many of the others are tightly focused on the nitty gritty of one thing or another. Can't do that right now. So, I read two articles yesterday, both in the January issue. What a span. One was about storytime in public libraries, the other about reassessing the influence of Michel Foucault on the theory of library science. So what is the audience for this journal? I'll get to talk more about that as I develop my first paper on the subject. Coincidentally, I did a short presentation on Foucault in my philosophers' bootcamp class this summer. Foucault and Baudrillard. Both fascinating.