Challenges and Frustrating Parts of this Cultural Research Project

Well, let me start by saying that it is 4:40 in the morning and I am still working to put all the parts in this project together. And secondly I have found that it is not that easy to find detailed information on my subject. So many of the articles that I found are simply recycling information from the other articles. It was very difficult to get a real gauge of Aprille Ericsson-Jackson’s personality.

The other issue that I have run into this week is that it was incredibly difficult to understand so much of Ericsson-Jackson’s discoveries and innovations without a graduate degree in her field. I had to read everything I could find on the gyroscope and the microwave anistropy probe just to get a general idea of what the functions of these technological advances are.

And finally, the process of blogging -especially with the back-and-forth between my pages file for the links and the wordpress pages for the content – was made very difficult tonight. There really should be a more streamlined way to link files. I just found this process extremely frustrating.

Using Online Library Resources

This week I worked on gathering resources and information about Aprille Ericsson-Jackson’s life, her work, and her contributions to STEM and to women of color. I wanted to use as many databases as possible to attempt to put together a rounded understanding of Ericsson-Jackson as woman, black woman, feminist, and scientist. But to do that I feel that I really need to know first what student life was like for women in STEM at Howard University, what professional life is like at NASA as a person of color, and more specifically as a woman of color.

I also wanted to understand what it is that Ericsson-Jackson really does for NASA. I understand the field she is in and I understand that she assists in discovery and planning for space travel but that’s about all I understand. So I looked to the online databases, research sites, and library resources to help me understand more about Aprille Ericsson-Jackson’s life and upbringing and social contributions, as well as her scientific ones. I hope to be able to find some kind of layperson’s explanation of the work.

I found that Oregon State, my university, has a very user-friendly and accessible online library and database. I found a good amount of information there. I did not particularly enjoy or really get much from jstor and I guess I am surprised by that because that is normally my first go-to database. I was pleasantly surprised by the information available on the Library of Congress Database and I also found a ton of scientific journals and pieces in scientific journals on Google Scholar but they are still so far outside of my wheelhouse that I will need a more simplified source to map out an understanding of Ericsson-Jackson’s work in aerospace engineering.

When I started to search more social and historical sources in order to access a more experential resource that would help me understand life at Howard, life at NASA, life in the projects as a smart girl who sees her life outside of them, I was rewarded with loads of information in multiple academic journals of history, sociology, social work, and black studies. I am really excited about these documents.

I also used the Answerland Library Resource – the online 24/7 librarian. I asked this site if it could explain the work that Aprille Ericsson-Jackson does at NASA. After asking my question it sends you a number, sort of like the numbers you get while waiting in line at the DMV, and then it will answer or attempt to answer – by email – in the order of the numbers assigned. I have another two days to wait until I am up next. So, we shall see. I have used the school library multiple times, and in-person I have found the library a wonderful experience. But I have never used it online and I have never ordered books to be sent home to an out-of-state, distance student. In fact, I was really surprised to find out that was even an option. But for now, I think that the Answerland resource teemed with the loads of information on the multiple databases available will serve me more than amply in my research.