Degrees of Indifference and Articles of Confusion

Abstract

History and New Media. While I was fascinated with the work they were doing, digital access became a source of dread: I lived in fear that someone else would suddenly digitize the magazines in my study be fore I could finish my project! Digital access to finding aids for the manuscript evidence sur rounding the writers, artists, engravers, editors, and publishers of these magazines greatly aided in the process of locating and applying for research fellowships and grants. The three research fellowships I won provided me the access to additional archival materials that con tinued to shape the project. But beyond that, I believe that demon strating my ability to secure funding for my research aided my job search. George Mason's Cultural Studies Ph.D. program is young and still relatively unrecognized?I was graduate number 13, and our first graduate earned his doctorate at the age of 82. In fact, more than half of our graduates are non-traditional age. I believe strongly that the issue of access that drove my project in the first place, and led to my seeking outside funding for the project, also helped me secure my cur rent position at a major research institution my first year on the job market. Access to digital primary source materials will prove to be a boon to my teaching as well. I currently teach advanced composition courses for business and engineering majors at USF Lakeland, and have used both WebCT and Blackboard for course delivery. The ability to scan primary materials and post online allows me to provide stu dents with easier access to my teaching materials?available at the of a mouse, 24 hours a day. I look forward to building additional digital archives of these materials and creating lesson plans that will help students access these and other primary source materials avail able online. But because I also hear the frustrations of my colleagues that students only know how to do point and click research, I remain committed to keeping information literacy skills central to my teach ing. All my courses include a research component that requires stu dents to access print primary and secondary materials from the library. I imagine that my research and teaching will continue to be in fluenced by issues of access, both as a bane and a boon.