Exploration 3
Smith, K. (2008). How to be an explorer of the world. Penguin Books.
Exploration #2
In this exploration, I took notice of things I saw, felt, heard, ate, and smelled while traveling in and around Dallas, Texas for the Texas Computer Education Association Annual Conference.
Sunday, february 6, 2022
I drove to Frisco, where I am staying with a friend for the TCEA conference in Dallas. Upon entering her house, the smell of it made me think of how cozy and homey it felt there. She's done a great job of making her house a home. We spent the evening building networking tools for other conference attendees to scan from our phones. The first photo is my iPhone lock screen and when you scan it, you'll be taken to my LinkTree website. Ironically, more people took my LispyLibrarian stickers than actually scanned my phone screen. Interesting. 🤔
Monday, February 7
I had a great laugh upon receiving my TCEA badge credentials. My badge says that I work for a company that I left exactly one year ago because of their toxic work culture. I had to cover the company name with my own brand's stickers so that people would not think that I still work for them.
tuesday, February 8
I'm preparing to present at the Mackin booth in the Expo hall and realize that this is my first in-person presentation since TCEA 2020. I feel anxious-excited and out-of-practice but can't help but feel so much joy at being at an in-person conference again and to be presenting and sharing tools that I love with my peers.
wednesday, feb. 9
Wednesday was a great day at the conference. I presented a few more times at the Mackin booth on how I use MackinVia, a digital resource manager, in my library. I also got to attend a dinner with the Mackin representatives and enjoyed the delicious drinks in the photos to the left. I also got a ton of compliments on my shirt for the day and it made my heart happy that so many people agree that America needs librarians.
thursday, feb. 10
During the final day of the conference, I was the FINAL person at the Logitech booth to get themselves drawn into a digital and print caricature. I loved that mine included my smile, but also wonder: Is my forehead really that big? 😆
friday, feb. 11
As much as I love going to conferences and learning and seeing my peers, there is nothing quite as lovely as being home in my bed (or on my couch) with my fur-babies and husband. I had a ton of people reach out to me on social media about my Mackin presentations, so I recorded a vlog version of it and sent it out so that people who weren't able to attend the conference or attend my presentations still got to see it.
saturday, feb. 11
Today my husband and I went to East 6th street to get haircuts (we both have undercuts), and while I waited for him I observed the graffiti and art around the area. One of my favorite things about living in Austin is the immersion in art we get while living here; not just museum art, but street art and graffiti. I also thought it would be interesting to take a photo of the street (in the first photo below) and note the juxtaposition and obvious gentrification happening to our east side. In the first photo, you can see how the expensive hotel has moved into an area that used to have a poor connotation.
Reflection:
Why did you choose this particular exploration? What drew you to this exploration?
I thought this would be an interesting way to document the conference and my week in a different city.
How might you apply this exploration to a study in your particular research area? What types of novel or different questions could this allow you to explore?
Karina and I actually had a lot of great ideas for what we can present on next year, but one of the biggest things that we got excited about was researching how digital collection managers (such as MackinVia) are used in libraries and how those influence students and their usage of digital media.
What did this exploration feel like? How did it influence your senses?
It made me think a lot about how I was feeling. I try to be very aware of my feelings because of my anxiety, but It made me notice more things around me, especially while I was exploring East 6th street.
What did this exploration make you think about? How did it influence your cognition?
It made me stop to consider how I was coming off to to others, especially while talking to vendors or other people at the conference. It also reminded me how much I love the art around Austin.
What did this exploration make you notice about the world around you?
^^ See above answer. Instead of being on my phone or scrolling social media, I spent more time noticing other people (especially shoes) at the conference.
How did this exploration help you think~live~be differently in the world?
I don't think It has made me too different, other than trying to be more aware of what I might be missing while scrolling on my phone.