preservation audiovisual film motion picture training education masters degree digital copyright conservation
Advanced Seminar in Preservation Studies, H72.3490, Spring 2008
Version: 1/14/08
Spring 2008 — Fridays, 9:30 – 11:30 am except Friday April 18 that is 9:30 – 1:30.
665 Broadway, Rm 643
Instructor: Mona Jimenez:
Rm 613, 665 Broadway
mona.jimenez@nyu.edu; 212–992–8458
GOALS
This class is designed to: 1) prepare students for employment, publishing and professional engagement upon graduation, and 2) to support their completion of their thesis projects.
EXPECTATIONS
A blackboard site will be available for this course. Students are expected to check the site at least once a week for updates. Students are encouraged to pass along resources for the benefit of the class; forward them to Mona for posting.
Attendance at all classes is expected. More than one unexcused absence will substantially affect your grade. Please read the Plagiarism Advisory at the end of the syllabus.
MIAP Digital Archive
In addition to submitting assignments in print form, all course papers/projects will be submitted to me in electronic form. The materials will be made part of the MIAP digital archive in a private space for faculty use, and on the MIAP web site. Further information will be provided.
LOGISTICS AND ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES
Cell phones: Turn completely off during class as they may create problems with classroom audio.
Assignments and grading: Each student will do three short assignments as described below. Grades will be based on a combination of class preparedness and participation (40%) and assignments (60%).
RESOURCES
NYU’s Wasserman Center for Career Development has individual counseling, seminars, and several online tools including eVita, a portfolio template, and InterviewStream, a webcam-based interview training tool. You are encouraged to take advantage of their services for graduate students. See: http://www.nyu.edu/careerdevelopment/students/grad_students/grad_students_services.php US Department of Labor Statistics are interesting to track. For Archivists, Curators and Museum Technicians see http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos065.htm#addinfo. For Librarians see http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos068.htm Library of Congress Human Resources has listings of jobs and fellowships http://www.loc.gov/hr/employment/index.php?action=cMain.showHome The American Library Association Resource Development and Recruitment describes how libraries categorize library positions: http://www.ala.org/ala/hrdr/humanresource.cfm The section Human Resource Development and Recruitment has useful statistical information: http://www.ala.org/ala/hrdr/libraryempresources/libraryemployment.cfm See in particular How to Apply for a Library Job http://liswiki.org/wiki/HOWTO:Apply_for_a_library_job For museum jobs, see jobHQ at http://www.aam-us.org/aviso/index.cfm For archival positions, see the Society of American Archivists Online Employment Bulletinat http://www.archivists.org/employment/index.asp The SAA Careers section also gives valuable information on the field, such as salary ranges. See http://www.archivists.org/nnNavigation.asp?sectionName=Careers The American Institute for the Conservation of Artistic and Historic Works (AIC) defines competencies for conservators and has a section Guidelines for Selecting a Conservator that leads to a database of AIC members and their specialities: http://www.aic-faic.org/guide/form.html
Assignment #1: Thesis Plan, due Friday, February 1. Create a 1-2 page written outline with weekly goals that represents your action plan for making steady progress on your thesis during the semester. While the outline will go forward in time from 1/31, but while preparing it work back from the final submission deadline with specific weekly goals. Include in the plan any deadlines for assignments for this class that apply to the thesis. You will need to bring this plan with you to all subsequent classes, be revising it as needed, and you can also use it in discussions with your advisor. For projects, put your goals and deliverables at the top of the plan. For academic papers, put your thesis statement at the top of the page. For the week of your thesis presentation (week of April 7), your plan should include completion of the first written draft of your thesis.
Assignment #2: Resumes and Summary of Projects, due February 22. Prepare two resumes for two types of jobs (drawn from ‘Jobs’ on Blackboard or your own research) using NYU’s eVita or your own design. In addition, prepare a Summary of Projects as an addendum that is a list of projects you have undertaken while in the MIAP program (and before) that show your strengths with moving image archiving and preservation. Describe responsibilities, duties, tasks, results, products, etc. in the form you think is most effective. Revisions to the resume will be due on March 7.
Assignment #3: Thesis Presentation prep – Outline due March 14; in class practice April 4. Each student will prepare a written outline for the thesis presentation. At the practice session, each person will explain in detail how their thesis project will be presented, and will deliver a ten-minute segment of the presentation for feedback by the class. The ten-minute segment you present will be given as if we are the audience. Please come prepared to tell us a few specific areas you would like feedback on.
Class 1: Friday, January 25
Topics/activities:
- Syllabus review; discussion of guidelines for feedback throughout the semester.
- Discussion of thesis projects. The following was sent in advance: Please come prepared to the first Advanced Topics class to do a brief oral presentation of your thesis project, its status, what you anticipate will be your greatest challenges, and what assistance you would like from your classmates and myself. Please be specific. For example, with a project, please explain the partner organization and collection; your goals and deliverables; progress on collection tasks; archival issues you are noticing that may become part of your final thesis; and any concerns you have (i.e., scope, process, or deliverables). For academic papers, please tell us about your topic and read your thesis statement; report on research you have conducted and what is has revealed; what you are finding interesting and/or perplexing; and what you see as your priority tasks.
Class 2: Friday, February 1
Due this class
- Thesis Plan due.
Topics/activities:
- Evaluate thesis plans with goal of helping each student have a concrete, workable, realistic action plan.
- If there is time, in-class work on statements of career goals.
NO CLASS FEBRUARY 8 – Mona out of town.
Class 3: Friday, February 15
Due this class:
- Look over job positions listed on Blackboard under “Jobs”. Pick several that you would be interested in applying for, and come prepared to talk about how your strengths in applying for the positions, the things that you feel unsure about being able to fulfill or to express in written form.
Topics/activities:
- Check in on progress/adjustments to thesis plans.
- Discussion of various job positions, practice with writing statements of career goals and presenting one’s experience in written form.
Class 4: Friday, February 22
Due this class:
- First draft of resumes and the Summary of Projects are due.
Topics/activities:
- Check in on progress/adjustments to thesis plans.
- Discussion of resumes and project summaries. Resumes and projects of several students are critiqued and students field questions by classmates. What is effective about each person’s written presentation of him or herself? What could be improved – additions, deletions, revisions? Do these documents present the students’ work in its best light? What are the most effective responses to questions about career goals and qualifications?
Class 5: Friday, February 29
Topics/activities:
- Check in on progress/adjustments to thesis plans.
- Resumes and projects for remainder of students are critiqued and students field questions by classmates.
Class 6: Friday, March 7
Due this class:
- Revised Resume and Summary of Projects.
Topics/activities:
- Discussion of what was changed in resumes and summaries.
- Check in on progress/adjustments to thesis plans.
- Fellowships and other opportunities.
Class 7: Friday, March 14
Due this class:
- Written Outline for Thesis Presentation.
- Business cards ready for Orphans.
Topics/activities:
- In class presentation of outline for thesis presentation.
- Who will you commit to meeting at Orphans?
NO CLASS MARCH 21 – Spring Break
NO CLASS MARCH 28 – Orphans Film Symposium – Network, network, network – get rid of business cards.
Class 8: Friday, April 4
Topics/activities:
- Practice on Thesis Presentations
Class 9: Friday, April 11
Topics/activities:
- Review of thesis presentations. Where do you need to focus to finalize the thesis?
- Publishing and other forms of professional development.
Classes 10 and 11: Friday, April 18 DOUBLE CLASS – 9:30 – 1:30
Topics/activities:
- Check in on thesis projects
- Freelancing 101 – Case studies in freelancing on long and short-term projects
Class 12: Friday, April 25
Topics/activities:
- Freelancing 101 – Part 2: The business of freelancing
Class 13: Friday, May 2
Topics/activities:
- Wrap-up – where will you go from here?
- Last chance for advice on thesis.
Plagiarism Advisory:
Plagiarism and other violations of the University’s published policies are serious offenses and will be punished severely. Plagiarism includes presenting or paraphrasing a phrase, sentence, or passage of a published work (including material from the World-Wide Web) in a paper or exam answer without quotation marks and attribution of the source, submitting your own original work toward requirements in more than one class without the prior permission of the instructors, submitting a paper written by someone else, submitting as your own work any portion of a paper or research that you purchased from another person or commercial firm, and presenting in any other way the work, ideas, data, or words of someone else without attribution. These are punishable offenses whether intended or unintended (e.g., occurs through poor citations or confusion about how to reference properly).