35. Organizing Stuff

I get derailed sometimes when I realize the amount of stuff that I have in different places. Since scrapping everything and starting to work on Bourbon in 2010, I've moved 3 times, became a father, and settled into a complicated and rewarding job. When it comes to this project, I miss my University of West Florida library cubicle. I wrote most of my thesis in a small room with notes, maps, and research plastering the walls. It was a productive thesis cocoon.

Now, my field notes are organized neatly on a shelf in binders by site. Everything else is in several locations with notes scratched on every page or on post it notes. Every time I get cocky and think that I have it all in one place, I find another folder, box, or stack of articles. One of my immediate goals for 2015 is to (re)establish a system.

[Advice to folks entering grad programs read all of the books with tips on completing dissertations / research before entering school. Settle on one. It will make the whole process faster and you may finish before life gets in the way.]

Less than 1/4 of the stuff

This is a product of the first stage of PhD research, or "finding absolutely everything", that never really ended. I won't pretend for a second that I'm aware of everything, but I have a better idea now than I did when I started in 2010. 

I've become lost in an interesting subject. I'm enjoying every second of it.

Fortunately, there are overlaps in the various systems I explored. Nearly all of the materials have notes about categories throughout the text. However, lots of this material is still separate and I haven't synthesized it completely.

To move all of this to an electronic format I've settled on Scrivener, Zotero, and Evernote to make that happen. I'll keep a paper backup, but lack the space for a usable set of paper files.

As I'm organizing, I'm focusing. I'm meshing theory with the data I've been gathering. 

Living in my research area has presented some challenges and opportunities. I've taken advantage of some serendipity to move outside of standard academic formats for presentations and projects. One area that I will continue to dabble is in the written presentation of work. I've never considered myself a writer. But, I am interested in what I can do to increase understanding through formatting. This blog and some other projects will be opportunities to practice.