02/28/2020 Process Memo: Beginning sustained, systematic observation
I began my sustained, systematic observation today by gathering my initial resources for this phase.
First, on my Dissertation Trello board in my Sustained, Systematic Observation list, I created a card called “Collect initial resources.”
On this card, I created a checklist and including the following types of sources to use to identify resources:
LIS sources
- Those I mentioned in my proposal (book & articles)
- Those referenced in Cosplay in Libraries (henceforth referred to as Kroski 2015) (specifically, LI Pop Culture Con)
Cosplay sources
- Convention websites to review for guest or cosplay group names
- Groups mentioned in Kroski 2015, such as Star Wars groups the 501st & Rebel legions
- Sources identified by Googling “Marvel cosplayers” and browsing the first 10 pages of results. Kroski refers to her own cosplay “origin story” as being when she participated in a call for Marvel cosplayers for an episode of Cake Boss. This mention is why I Googled Marvel cosplayers.
Next, I began a close reading of Kroski 2015 to look for resources she suggests/mentions. This includes specific lists of tutorials related to particular techniques, books she mentions, apps, and references in her endnotes that are cosplay resources such as blog posts. I am flagging these with Post-it flags and will enter them into a spreadsheet before beginning using my observation protocol.
I will also need to perform the observation protocol on Kroski 2015 itself.