Process Update - Week 3

After a morning of collaborating, we've got our Synthesis Document pretty close to being finalized. A few more tweaks will be necessary before the presentation on Tuesday, but it's all working together pretty well. We've completed work on the Collection Persona and expanded the underlying Concept behind the Collection. We have also added to the levels of classifying the bullets in the Documentation.

We have about 50 bullets so far, but obviously we need to collect more. This will be an ongoing process as we move forward, trying to obtain as many unique and interesting types of bullets as we can.

Phase 2 : Exercise 6

My responses to Readings 9 and 10 are available here.

The Final Stages

We are nearing the final stages of our bullet collecting development. We've created a mind map, a persona, began a way of categorizing them (which we still want to refine), and discussed a potential audience. Thus far, we have categorized the bullets pretty literally, by gun > caliber/gauge > bullet type > manufacturer (if available). We want to break away from this literal description and plan to categorize them based on the type of person who might use them, along with they whys. This will require a great deal of research and my partner and I might have to divide and conquer. Once everything becomes more defined we will post our collaborated materials.

Phase 2 : Exercises 4 & 5

My responses and reflections on the assigned readings from Week 2. PDFs are linked.

Exercise 4 | Exercise 5

Bullets & Personas

We've finally decided on the bullet collection. We really liked the idea of studying the psychology behind the bullets, such as who might use which kind of bullet and why. Maybe a cop would use a 9mm. Perhaps a soldier prefers the .223 or an assassin a .22. There are many different directions that this can go in. I'm pretty excited to explore the psychological aspect of this project... but don't worry, I don't plan on becoming a criminal master mind; this is just a project ;-)

Our Collector Persona: (so far)

Name: Emily/Chris Pearson

Age: 24

Occupation: Criminalist, Tampa PD

BS is Criminal Justice, studying for a MA in Forensic Psychology

Resides in Tampa, FL

Originally from Perth Amboy, NJ

Personal Interest: Compiling psychological profiles based largely on bullet preference by collecting and studying various types of bullets, analyzing the effects, different bullet types and calibers have on targets, as well as speed, accuracy, penetration, and situational performance.

Originally inspired to become a law officer at a young age by the death of a close friend/family member or by a famous public case known to them in their childhood.

Links:

http://www.criminaljusticeusa.com/forensic-psychology.html

Phase 1: Exercise 1

My notes, reflections, and responses to the material from Exercise 1. As the writing is sufficiently long, I'm simply linking to the PDF.

Further Collecting

Well, I've been tooling through things and digging around which led me to a few more things to add to or better define our existing collections. I visited an antique thrift store downtown and have selected a handful of very interesting postcards. Some are very interesting to read. I've also found a couple Hess Trucks, a few Pez, and depression glass (which is a glass that was cheaply made during the Great Depression, and the collection I have access to was make with Uranium allowing it to glow a florescent green under a black light.)

So from this point we will be discussing more about each of these collections and dwindle it all down to one collection...that will be hard.

Project Journal: Entry 01

Set up the blog for Catie and myself to keep updates on our work and all. Thus far we've narrowed our collection ideas to four possibilities: post cards, sea shells, puzzles, and bullets. We're currently working on lists for each idea to explore possible contexts and personalities that could be associated with the items. Plans for Tuesday are to expand on the collections we have so far and possibly add a couple more options. TGIF.