Weekly Medium Entry 3
I’ve been reflecting for the last few hours on my final four choices for my Capstone topic and thought for this week’s entry to do a comparison of the pros and cons to narrow down my choices to one. It feels like a tall order to pick my final choice so early in the semester, especially when I think all of my ideas sound fun or interesting, but I guess that’s a great problem to have. Better to have several ideas to choose from than none.
I decided to scrap my fourth option, “Where Fashion and Gender Collide”, soon after our peer presentations/discussions this week. I got a lot of great feedback in that session, including notes that the topic of fashion and gender could be a bit too broad and complicated for the scope of our Capstone. As one person put it, it has the depth to serve a several years long PHD thesis and would be hard to divulge completely in a year-long design project. That is definitely an accurate assessment of this subject, and I had trouble myself (in our initial 20-ideas phase) trying to imagine how I could synthesize so much information into one deliverable. I considered narrowing this one down to a specific type of fashion in a very specific region or time period, but that isn’t what I was really envisioning for this idea and I think it’s best to just scrap it while I’m ahead. Especially since I have several other much more narrowed-down, but just as fun ideas to choose from.
That leaves three and these are pretty tricky to cut out. I still love both of my dog ideas and they feed into my passion for animals in sort of similar ways. Both would be educational pieces (however the actual deliverable might manifest) with the goal of changing the perception and interest surrounding one or more specific dog breeds through righting misconceptions with accurate information. Both also deal with how to be a proper care-giver to dogs with potential anxiety or aggression issues. I think the biggest differences are how much more narrowed down the Greyhound topic is and how much more personal experience I have with it. Since my family has adopted greyhounds before, I’m a little more familiar with the adoption process and history of this breed specifically. I also have an emotional investment in it, since I’ve seen what it’s like trying to help a dog adapt to a new environment when it’s never really been allowed to be a dog before.
So, you’d think I’d be more inclined to cover this topic, but I’m still on the fence. I’ve also worked in an animal shelter and seen the real life biases that take place when others are in the market of adopting a pet. History, age, and breed are huge factors that impact whether potential adopters give a dog a chance (and not always without reason). Not to mention the trouble that most people have adopting a dog when there are certain breeds that their housing situations might restrict. This topic is still really important to me and I kind of like how the broadness would allow me to address more general advice on dog behavior and training for more than just one breed. And I like the overall message I have in mind; that no dog or breed is simply good or bad and all dogs are individuals like us with their unique quirks, needs, and flaws.
Now all of that doesn’t even get into my third option about “sharenting”. I like the idea because it’s quite different than what I’ve heard my peers propose and I think it’s especially relevant in contemporary culture. I see it all the time online from strangers and family alike, even in the most mundane ways. The issues with this topic are that I am not a parent myself, I am not that educated on childhood development and psychology, and I honestly don’t know that many people with small children (I have like two cousins with kids). Some of my peers in our discussions on Wednesday made the point that this is sort of a broad topic overall and I could get into many different facets of this issue. This idea’s deliverable would also most likely be a social media campaign and I’m not quite sure that’s what I want to do for my capstone. While I like the idea for its relevance and uniqueness, this one might be on its way out.
In conclusion, I’m still not sure which I’m picking and I’m a little panicked about it, but at least I’m down to 2. I think.
