As you read about on theArchival Research Unit Overviewpage, you'll be creating a Virtual Museum Exhibit at the end of this unit.This project is your opportunity to learn about how videogames have...

As you read about on theArchival Research Unit Overviewpage, you'll be creating a Virtual Museum Exhibit at the end of this unit.This project is your opportunity to learn about how videogames have shaped and impacted people's lives at various moments in time.

With avariety of archivesavailable to you, you'll select and analyze 3-5 primary sources appropriate for your topic and then use those sources to create and curate a virtual museum exhibit that offers insight intothe ideas and realities that shaped lives since videogames were invented.As you will read about in your textbook, archival research is not about creating lists of names or dates but about exploring the intricacies of human experience.

The Project

Task

Your job is to create a focused, carefully curated virtual museum exhibit that offers insight intospecific ideas and realities that shaped people's lives since the creation of videogames. The primary sources you select through your archival research will be the objects that comprise your exhibit, and your final exhibit should include 3-5 objects. These objectsmight be pictures, videos, audio clips, games themselves, letters, physical objects, or some other format, but they should representat least two different types of media(e.g., you cannot use 5 letters) and be related to your research question. I've compiled alist of archival sitesyou can use (but are not limited to) to find and select your objects.

You can create your virtual museum exhibit as a website/webpage, an interactive map, or an interactive timeline. Here are some platforms you can use to create your exhibit.Each of these resources is free to you and is fairly easy to use.

The UT Libraries'Digital Humanities Research Guide(Links to an external site.)also contains a list of tools and software programs you might choose to utilize during this project. If you'd like to use a program not listed here or have a different idea about how you'd like to create and arrange your exhibit, check with me first.

Please also note that the emphasis in this unit will not be on teaching the technologies and platforms available to create your exhibit, and so you should select a mode or medium you’re familiar with or are willing to learn. Toward that end, the library’sStudiois a great resource.

Audience

Your audience for this project is your English 102 classmates--that is, people who are interested and have personal experiences videogames, but are not experts on the particular videogames and questions you are investigating. Your job as the museum curator is to help this audience make meaning from what has happened in the past.

Rhetorical Purpose

Your purpose then has to take into account your audience and reflect your research question. While you may think the purpose of museum exhibits is to inform and explain, the rhetorical aims of museum exhibits vary. In fact, many museum exhibits have persuasive aims.As you consider the rhetorical purpose of your own exhibit, think back to English 101 and take a look at the table below, a modified version of the "Spectrum of Purposes" table on pages 20-21 ofRhetorical Choices.

Notice that there is some overlap among these aims, and they are not mutually exclusive. For instance, it is possible to both bring your audience into a shared intellectual experience and propose a recommended course of action.

For your exhibit, choose 1 or 2 of these rhetorical aims to focus on. A focused purpose will help guide your interpretive work as you select and analyze the objects for your exhibit.

Requirements

• Your exhibit must include:
  
  
  • anintroduction(400-600 words) explaining the historical context and purpose of your exhibit,
  
  
  • audio/visual representations of your3-5 objects, carefully curated through your archival research,
  
  
  • alabelfor each object(100-200 words each) that is grounded in your analysis, and
  
  
  • aBibliographyof all sources referenced in your exhibit.
  
  
  
  


• Formatting should be appropriate for the design platform (e.g., website, timeline, storymap) you use to create your virtual museum exhibit.


• Use properCMS documentationfor your citations and Bibliography.
  
  
  • See chapter 17 of yourWriter's Harbrace Handbookfor help with CMS (aka 'Chicago' or 'Turabian') documentation.
  
  
  • Check out the sample CMS project on pp. 432-437 of yourHarbrace Handbook.
  
  
  
  

The Process

Step 1: Develop your research question (Week 6)

Your exhibit will be shaped by yourresearch question, which may continue to pursue the same videogame-related line of inquiry as your secondary source project or may venture into a new area of inquiry.

Step 2: Make a research plan (Week 7)

After you've established your research question, you'll devise aresearch planto help guide your research and the curation of your exhibit.

Step 3: Gather and analyze your objects
(Week 8)

Put that research plan into action:dig into the archives, gather your objects (primary sources), and thenanalyze your objects.

Step 4: Create and curate your exhibit (Week 9)

Pull adraft of your complete exhibit together--introduction, objects, labels, and bibliography.

Step 5: Revise your exhibit (Week 10)

Once you've created a draft of your exhibit, seek out some feedback and revise your work. You can meet with me during office hours to receive my feedback on your draft, but you should also think about making an appointment with a tutor at theHerbert Writing Center(Links to an external site.), connecting with your peers, or approaching other trusted sources to help you as you revise.

Yourfinal projectis due Monday, October 25th at 11:59 pm.