Google Forms, Twitter Poll + Professor Review
I had my check-in review with two DAAP professors on my capstone project. I felt really confident walking into my review. I am incredibly invested in my topic and enjoyed the practice of presenting my ideas succinctly. I spoke with Maureen France and Sean Hafer. They responded well to my project. Just talking about sex education in general typically spurs peoples’ own experiences or resources that validate it is a problem. I talked about the unique opportunity I am exploring by focusing on nurturing relationships between the parent and child– something that is generally void in the U.S.
The main things they had me consider were: how am I going to organize and format the book? Will it be divided into two sections based on gender? I don’t plan on dividing things because a.) it’s too binary (what if their child is non-binary? Additionally, parenting through the lens of gender can have its own issues…) and b) I don’t think that will be necessary based on the content itself BUT I think chunking information would be really helpful. It’s less intimidating to get small bites of text rather than an entire book.
Another thing I discussed with Donald Trischler (thank you D.J.!) was the materiality of the book. I originally played with the idea of using expensive materials, purely because I love texture and I had always imagined creating a high-end final product. BUT D.J. pointed out that I can create a high-end product through the use a grid and type. I don’t have to use expensive printing materials to elevate the book for the sake of it. At the end of the day, it’s about the needs of the audience. Parents don’t want to pay through the nose (and shouldn't have to pay) for a book that could be really necessary for their future relationship with children. This needs to stay accessible. That could also potentially mean having a free pdf version of the final book online.
In other news, I received a lot of responses to my google form and twitter poll! Most people did not explicitly talk to their parents about sex and the majority of people wish they had those conversations.
I won’t share the written responses in respect for others privacy, but my next step is to organize this anecdotal information, categorize, and make sense of it.
