#onlineprogressportfolio

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Guitar Literacy

Compared to most guitar players in the world, I would consider myself to be pretty guitar-illiterate, but that is exactly what this research is for. I know that I may not learn everything there is to know about guitars everywhere, that comes with time and experience, but I do intend on taking in a great amount of information during this time period however.

Just like literacy in any other aspect in life, I believe that there really is no exact definition of literacy in the world of guitars and guitar players; I only consider myself guitar-illiterate because I don’t know very much about guitars outside of how to play, mostly acoustic. However, there are many different slang terms and technical terms for various things about the guitar used differently depending on the person, however there are some universal terms and phrases that everyone knows including my personal favorite, “…making the guitar talk.”

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Fandom Research

This semester I have been researching the guitar fandom world. I chose this fandom because I have developed a new love for guitars over the last year now. I come from a very musical family, most of us sing, my father and uncle plays the bass guitar, cousin plays the lead guitar, and my brother plays the piano. I have asked my dad to teach me how to play the bass since I was 6 years old, but he's just now getting me my first acoustic guitar at the age of 18 for Christmas; and to his surprise I caught on fast and have been playing ever since.

This semester I have been researching the guitar fandom world. I chose this fandom because I have developed a new love for guitars over the last year now. I come from a very musical family, most of us sing, my father and uncle plays the bass guitar, cousin plays the lead guitar, and my brother plays the piano. I have asked my dad to teach me how to play the bass since I was 6 years old, but he's just now getting me my first acoustic guitar at the age of 18 for Christmas; and to his surprise I caught on fast and have been playing ever since.

Although I haven’t been playing for a very long time, I have grown in interest in guitars, how they work, how they are built, and the difference in sounds varying from the different kinds and brands; beasically, how to make my guitar talk…literally everything about guitars that I can possibly learn.

This part of my research will be conducted via Tumblr—following various blogs about guitars and going over the questions that other people ask and even asking a few of my own. I have found many blogs to make this possible J

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Progress Blog 10: Harry Potter Fandom

So the whole research process is coming to an end. It is now time for me to gather all my research, make sense of it and then organize this in approximately 15 pages or so to get my point across. I am still, honestly, unsure about how this whole process will go and turn out. I haven’t been as focused this semester because of several other extenuating circumstances that have served as an adequate distraction. I am excited to finish this class because it means an end to my basic courses and one step closer to graduation. 

The Harry Potter Fandom has served as an exciting research topic. The members of this fandom have proved to be welcoming and friendly. They are willing to answer questions and help lead, guide and direct a newcomer to this fandom. I think that speaks volumes because there are other fandoms that are more of a tight knit, exclusive group and are not as welcoming to ‘outsiders.’ I have found quite a few Harry Potter fans here in Commerce who have been willing to answer questions and help me out along the way. I actually have a few that participated in my questionnaire and I will be incorporating their input into my research. 

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Progress Blog 9: Harry Potter Fandom

As I type this, my “O” button on my laptop popped off. Do you know how many words have an “O” in them?!?!  No fun!

Ok, so as I googled “Harry Potter Fan Art” I came across some freaky pictures. I honestly did not like any that I found because none of them matched the picture I have in my head of the characters. I mean I understand that they are the artist’s interpretation of what the characters look like, but forreal, I didn’t find one that was appealing to me. One of my new favorite avenues of enjoying the Harry Potter fandom is looking at the GIFs. They are creative and interesting interpretations and quotes from the books and movies that I really enjoy. I have already talked about my favorite quote from Dumbledore, but they also highlight quotes from other characters that I like too. Some of the GIFs I found are really awesome because they show a meaningful part of the movie and things the characters said. It it a nostalgic way for me to enjoy my favorite scenes from the movie.

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Progress Blog 8: Harry Potter Fandom

So, as my research into this fandom continues, the more excited I become about all that I am finding. I absolutely love reading the direct movie quotes. J.K. Rowling really has many inspirational thoughts throughout the stories that tie into the real world really well. My favorite above all would be: “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light.” - Albus Dumbledore

J.K. Rowling created an amazing character when she created Dumbledore. He always knew what to say to inspire those around him. I think I love this quote because I have adapted it into my life. I get up each day and always choose to be happy. There are many trials I face in life, like Harry, but I always choose each day to be stronger than what challenges me and to be the light in someone’s life, I always turn on the light and hope I can inspire others to do the same.

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Progress Blog 7: Harry Potter Fandom

So as I began this project about ethical practices, I never really had given it much thought before, but it is important. I like the idea of giving research participants an explanation of how you are going to use the information they provide in your research and how you will not use it. For example, its important to let them know that you aren’t going to exploit them in any way, including the information they give you. I know if I were being asked to participate in a research interview, I would want to know that my identity would be kept confidential if I so choose, and that I will be given credit for any information and original ideas I provided. I would be livid if I gave an interview and then later found out that the researcher took all the credit for my ideas and information. In order to become a respected author of a research paper, you have to develop a reputation for yourself as someone who is capable of conducting and writing up the research, but also as someone who can be trusted with a topic that is important to many involved in that community or fandom.

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Progress Blog 6: Harry Potter Fandom

If you have any interest in the Harry Potter fandom, you need to check out Pottermore.com. This website is the mothership of anything and everything Harry Potter. I think J.K. Rowling understands our obsession with all things Harry Potter and capitalized on that. I created my own account and had my wand choose me, and was even sorted into Hufflepuff House. It was pretty neat, although I think I would have liked to be in Gryfindor, I really am not that brave...

Pottermore is a cool site where you can read more short stories written by J.K. Rowling herself. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested about learning more about this great alter-universe. I know there is a lot of fan fiction out there that gives glimpses of what could have been next in the story or even gives more insight into characters we may have only glimpsed in the books themselves. I have to be honest, I have not had time to read into the fan fiction side of things, hopefully I can take some time off work and really immerse myself into this fandom to help me complete my research paper. Ok, enough for now, got to get started on WA3...

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Progress Blog 5: Harry Potter Fandom

Okay so apparently I am quite talented at writing a blog and then somehow deleting said blog within seconds!!!! Technology hates me..

The Harry Potter Fandom is apparently making a comeback. Lucky me! I think it might have been fate that caused me to pick this as my topic when so many people in the fandom are making an effort to revive it. I mean, it is difficult to keep something alive that is ‘finished’ for all intents and purposes. The book series has come to an end, unfortunately, and all movies for said books have been filmed, premiered, and are now in the discount bins at Wal-Mart. But Harry Potter is a ‘classic’, it never gets old, and thankfully there are so many fans that love to write fanfiction and tumblr blogs to stay relevant and new with fresh material. As I was searching for ‘Artifacts’ for my project, I stumbled upon some pretty cool stuff. There was one, Artifact #2 to be exact, that I fell in love with. In a previous blog, I referenced the fact that there are soo many backstories and sidestories and whatever else you want to call them about pretty much every character ever mentioned in the original books. This image in particular showed a screen shot from the last movie where Professor Slughorn cast a patronus that took the shape of a fish. There was a story in the 6th book Slughorn told about a fish that Lilly had given him. This pictures caption mentions that Slughorn’s patronus was his way of keeping her memory alive...

Be still my heart.