This blog presents my academic research to the wider world. Because of it’s academic slant, it has several unusual features:
- I am working with a Board of Divas (that’s like a Board of Directors, only better) — people who know enough about costume history to spot problems and let me know about it. They have each agreed to keep an eye on what I produce here and make sure I’m not saying stupid stuff. If they see problems, they will tell me so I can correct them. “Problems” could be typos, or they could be big things, like “you missed this entire other realm of research over here that negates this statement.” See my list of Divas over here.
- Posts arrive as “Drafts.” That is so my BODs can see them, and so readers know they are still being polished. A post might be in 1st Draft or 2nd Draft, or even 3rd Draft. “Final” will appear at the end of the post once it’s been wrestled into submission. Your comments will be taken into account as well. Let’s all share what we know.
- Posts arrive with known problems listed. Like Wikipedia, I note what I know are problems. Graphics drive me bananas, for example, and enlarging didn’t work for a long time. Despite my efforts, I am still learning WordPress. But problems could also include changing my mind or finding new evidence.
- All that means posts may change. On most blogs, old posts are old news. On this blog, the whole thing is one interconnected product undergoing constant revision. As items are added, links will be added to older posts to make it easier to find connections.
- Let’s call this “peer review lite,” or “social media research reporting.” In academia, we have what we call “peer review,” whereby I submit my work to a journal, which sends it to 3 or more people in my field. They examine and comment on it. I then revise my work and it would – or would not – be published. I did write that article, but my reviewers said what they really wanted was a case-by-case examination of each artifact, so I decided to do it this way instead. The academy hasn’t decided whether such things “count,” but I feel so burdened to get this information out for others to use that I don’t care any more. Here it is, please take it.
- Each museum has different ideas about what researchers may do with their artifacts. This ranges from: “Yes, please social media the stuffing out of it, it will only help us,” to “If you want to use a picture of this thing anywhere, you must pay us $125 to take a professional picture of it for you.” I am notifying the curators who helped me along the way as I post about each cap, but I don’t know yet if I will come up against resistance. I intend to respect their policies.
Final.
The Capalog 