As project management goes, I am attempting to do a little every week so that I don’t become overwhelmed. This week was really setting the ground work for the rest of the project. I had to play with Omeka to add plugins which took a bit of time, I attempted to get all of my primary legal documents uploaded with as much metadata as possible for each item, and I started to organize a spreadsheet of information for my network analysis. I want to break each section down to show progress and see if my focus shifts throughout the project.
Omeka Plugins:
When thinking about what plugins I would want and need, I tried to be realistic. I am not going to need Neatline for plotting points on maps or a podcast feed. Or at least, not yet. I know that in the future I could change this site around or add extra things, but I don’t need to worry about that quite yet. I think I have set up a platform that could grow if necessary but also feels complete with what I have planned to add. Finally, this is accommodating for the lack of time in a semester. I don’t want to get too in the weeds with things like plugins and add-ons that aren’t necessary right now. I think I am at a good spot for now.
Legal Documents:
In this section, I have mentioned that I wanted the design to be simple and easy to maneuver. I will be keeping all the legal acts that are relevant to and mentioned in the movies in a list format. However, I needed to make sure that I added all the metadata possible so that these documents are searchable. I find that to be my balance between my target audience (not super tech advanced) and the secondary audience which is a bit more academic. I say that because these people tend to look for searchability and know what they are looking for. So that will lend to small but helpful ease of access.
Spreadsheet:
As I start to think about what I want my network analysis to show, I tried to get the information down and categorized so I started with the director Deepa Mehta as the main point. Then I added things like the movie names, the topic(s) covered, and legal documents connected in those movies. I thought about adding the number of British compared to Indian actors, but I think that will fall too far outside my goal. Within the next week, I will be attempting to import this metadata into a software I have used a little bit before- Gephi. I know there are other, probably better, options I could try but I’m concerned about time constraint and learning curve.