Fieldwork sites and planning
Finally, it's time to talk about my fieldwork! I just had a Zoom meeting this morning with the director of my first fieldwork site, so I'm super excited today. This might be a little long, but hopefully it is interesting! 😄
Original Plans
I was going to have eight fieldwork sites. That's how I wrote the methodology, and that's how I submitted the ethics paperwork. It turns out the Met (NYC), the Art Museum of Rio, and the Natural History Museum (London) were non-responsive, and the Van Gogh Museum (Amsterdam) declined to work with me. They all have great accessibility for deaf folks, so I met with my supervisors to figure out what to do and they said "well, you really have more sites than most students do, so don't worry about it." I'm not sure how I managed to get through the planning process with too many sites, but it makes my life easier to skip them, anyhow.
So, where in the world is Meredith going?
Ottawa
The Canada Science and Technology Museum made it on my list early, because I read an article called "A Curatorial Guide to Museum Sound Design" during my lit review. I reached out to the author and asked if they had considered accessibility for deaf people in the Sound by Design exhibition, and they had not - a perfect opportunity for me to bring a group of deaf folks to brainstorm improvements and talk about how they feel about the exhibit. The author and museum director have been outstanding to work with, and I'm so excited to be heading to Ottawa September 1-4!
Washington DC
My hometown was always going to be on the list, it's full of deaf people and museums, and I have no travel expenses. I chose the Smithsonian American Art Museum when I found out they were doing user testing with Gallaudet for an exhibit called Musical Thinking - they really thought about how to make a video exhibit about music accessible to deaf people, and it includes work by a deaf artist. (I'm expecting that to come up in the focus group discussion.) I don't have a date yet for the focus group, but I'm meeting with the curator of Musical Thinking on September 7.
Berlin
The Jewish Museum Berlin is half-selfish choice, because I want to go, and half-appropriate, because they have provided some German Sign Language videos in the museum, and they have deaf tour guides. Their director of visitor research has agreed to meet with me, and I will be using connections (that go through Christine Sun Kim) to find research participants. I am going to be in Berlin from December 16-21 - hello, holiday markets!
Amsterdam and London
With the museums I planned to research not working out, I could have chosen to go elsewhere or skip this part of the trip. But I am going to do practice reviews in both cities - the Museums in Gestures project in the Netherlands is really impressive, and I am going to set up a meeting with the author of "Listening with your Eyes: An Accessible Museum for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Visitors." I will be in Amsterdam from December 21-24 - it's shorter because there's no focus groups.
It also feels right to visit London, both because I'm attending a UK university, and because I have the privilege of staying at a friend's flat at no cost. I will get to take the Eurostar over, fulfilling a dream formed when the Chunnel first opened, and I am going to visit the British Museum and the London Transport Museum. The holidays will make it difficult to see a lot, but I should have a time for another museum or two. I'm also seeing Christopher Eccleston in A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic, because why not? My stay in London is December 24-29 - longer than Amsterdam due to the holiday.
I have an overnight stay in Madrid on the 29th before connecting to my next destination, but I don't expect I'll have time for more than dinner and looking around a little bit.
Buenos Aires
The Museo Casa de Yrurtia was not my plan. In fact, Argentina was not my plan - Brazil was. But they didn't get back to me, and my supervisor Suzanne had a contact who was able to connect me with this museum. They have Argentine Sign Language videos for some of the artworks, so they are definitely working on accessibility for deaf visitors. The Brandt Line places Argentina in the Global South, which is important to my research - but Argentina has higher GDP than most Global South countries, which makes it more feasible to do the research. I never expected to go to Buenos Aires, but I'm looking forward to it! As I'll be there for New Year's Eve, I'd like to find something special to do - unfortunately the tango shows that night all seem to be $300, so that may be another night (when they are more like $90), we'll see. I will be in Buenos Aires from December 30-January 5.
Colorado Springs
Still hashing this out a little bit, but many people at a museum conference in Denver told me I must include the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum in my work. It was developed using Universal Design principles, which are not always great, but it seems they did a good job here. This replaces a museum in St. Louis where my supervisors consulted previously, but I think it'll be a better option. The target here is January 12-15 but I haven't fully confirmed yet.
Wrapping Up
I am a little bit amazed that all of this is actually coming together. After three years of laboring nearly solo, I am emailing people, I am making plans, I am booking travel, and I am actually doing this a week from today!
I have many wonderful people supporting me, and I'm more excited than I am nervous. I can't wait to see what my participants say about the museums we visit, and I'm looking forward to eventually diving into the data.
The next email will probably come after I have completed the Ottawa trip. If you're interested in more frequent short-form updates, stay tuned on Mastodon or Bluesky, or Facebook if we're friends there.
