Final Project Proposal

            I started thinking about the project that I wanted to create as something novel and great. Something that I didn’t think that I had the capabilities to create or build on my own. I want to learn new techniques, how to use new tools while working on this project. I also want to keep in mind what I have access to or what I’ll be able to get access to. I then decided that I wanted my project to be something that really spoke to me. Otherwise it wouldn’t be fun, right? Half of the project is creating it. I think that for me, anything in the DIY biology field/niche is something that I would be really interested in creating. I’m really fascinated with robots and other related things, but I think that that might be a little too much of a financial undertaking as well as a bit of a time commitment with how much time is remaining in the quarter.

            I decided that a better issue to be focusing on would be how to make my project critical. What political statement do I want to make? What is the message that I want people to read from my project? I think that there are a plethora of social issues that I could choose from that I feel strongly about or that I feel are not talked about enough (because really, what issues are talked about enough?) However, I think that because we focused a lot on feminism and there was a little bit of controversy and push back from different groups, I think that that is something that I would like to focus on. Whether it’s something that I get them to focus on or think about, I think that it will send an important message.

            At first when thinking about all the possibilities that I could choose from for my project, I was a little overwhelmed. There are so many options; so many potential projects and I didn’t know where to focus. I also didn’t really know of any super original ideas that I thought I could pull off. I felt a lot better after realizing that you could do a project that has already been done/build off of their model and make into your own project. After discussing with Tyler in our mini-conferences, I think that a project that I would learn from, but is also feasible is creating the $10 Instructables Microscope. I think that by adding on certain components (artistically/visually probably), then I will be able to add that piece of feminism. I think that this also kind of fits nicely because we often talk about how there is an unequal proportion of men vs. women in the STEM fields. Although I’m not entirely sure how I want to represent feminism on my microscope, I think that another part of the project will be the fact that I, as a female, am making the microscope.

            I will continue to document the process of creating this project using pictures as I get the materials and start to assemble everything together. I will also include notes or inspiration sources as often as I remember to keep them. Project idea and instructions for baseline: http://www.instructables.com/id/10-Smartphone-to-digital-microscope-conversion/