Due to recent deadlines I have had with my other subjects, I have not been able to do any EPQ work for the last 2 weeks in which I have reconsidered and know that I need to pick the work back up and start on my secondary research, with the completion of my primary research done I have merely got to move on to secondary research in which shall take me no longer than a week in which I can start to construct the first drafts of my report.
To begin working towards my EPQ, I went straight over to see my supervisor Mr Bishop in which he gave me advise on my next plan of action and that is: to start my secondary research.
We have both decided on myself starting the secondary research and than, present my findings to him on the following Wednesday (07/12/2016) to look over and if successful, start the report of my findings by bringing my research all together as one.
Here is the email sent by my supervisor after the completion of this meeting:
To help me get back on track from the 2 weeks of no EPQ work, I have created another Gantt Chart in which I shall continue to do so to help myself to keep on top of all targets and outstanding work that needs to be completed for EPQ. By doing this can help me to keep on top of any progress and still leave me motivated in wanting to do more in order to complete this course. So for now on, I shall be making mini Gantt Charts to help me develop on with the course and inform me of what actually needs to be completed.
These are my personal targets I am intending to hit before I meet back up with my supervisor on Wednesday Evening:
01/12/2016-EPQ Lesson, Mr Darby
This lesson focused upon Mr Darby allowing us to do our own independent research upon the computer. So I spent the hour updating my blog and uploading any missing work onto here to display my EPQ studies throughout the end of the November month and the start of the December period. I also needed to see Mr Bishop first to ask him to send over his production log to Mr Darby in order for him to approve my work and see if I am heading in the right direction.
After the completion of these things, I began to move onto the new targets and that was to start prepping my secondary research in order to present it to Mr Bishop on Wednesday evening for us to begin working on the next planned steps of action.
01/12/2016-Independent Study
So to meet expectations and deadlines for my Gantt Chart, I decided to follow my tasks and for this day, I planned to look for influential people involved in the world of surveillance in order to begin directing my research towards specific areas as, of course, the surveillance topic is rather broad and can lead me anywhere.
From my supervisor and Is words, I shall begin to do independent research upon experts in the surveillance fields so I can gather attitudes towards their feelings on Surveillance, I am hoping to gain reasons for and against so I can gather these thoughts as one and begin to consider whether surveillance is worth it or not.
Creating a bubbl map on the internet, I was able to successfully record my studies and notes to portray my initial ideas into this area of study:
This shall be easy enough for me to refer back for when I start directing my study towards specific areas of focus. I am mostly interesting with the work of Edward Snowdon in which his name has cropped up throughout my starting research into key figures within this topic so I shall like to look more closely at his work to see how he can fit within my research.
02/12/2016-Independent Study
To finalize my primary research up and to ensure I explored all methods of gathering research in order for me to gain diverse views regarding this subject I designed a question-air upon the website Survey Monkey in which I asked participants questions that I hope to direct my report towards. In hope that instead of tick boxes I can also get some personal opinions about how they view privacy to think about whilst filling out my report.
Here are the questions I asked participants in hope to shape my discoveries more for my EPQ research:
I shall now wait over the weekend for people to fill out my survey, it shall be interesting to see who really fills out my survey-I have distributed the link around on Social Media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter-this can than allow me to gather responses from people who are active online. This could be effective as I have asked my participants questions face to face so this slightly different outcome may prove more effective as they are allowed to complete the question air in their own time and not feel pressured by others to say different things. As the survey is anonymous as well this can further expand my research as they may feel more comfortable in filling out the survey more honestly.
In regards towards my secondary research, I looked back over the list and decided to begin research upon the certain key people who I could incorporate into my plans and studies, I decided upon looking into 6 people- 3 for surveillance and 3 against the idea of surveillance in order to gather their responses and attitudes and allow myself to produce a well balanced argument regarding surveillance for my 2000 draft essay.
I decided to focus my research upon:
FOR: Barack Obama, Keith Alexandra, James Clapper
AGAINST: Edward Snowden, Banksy, Angela Merkel
(Peter Marks, upon reading his work I shall than find out if he is for or against surveillance)
I shall look into their understanding of the topic and how they produce it towards the nation as all well help me to balance the argument and keep it on focus.
03/12/2016-Independent Study
Referring back to my bubble mind map, I picked out a few names and articles that I think will benefit me most and what I am doing throughout this EPQ topic. The secondary research needs to go in sync with my primary so I am mostly looking towards attitudes and opinions regarding surveillance.
Whilst researching for key influences that have somewhat been involved within the surveillance topic, I mostly came across the name Edward Snowdon, who, a former CIA agent copied and leaked classified information from the National Security Agency in 2013 without prior authorization. This instantly rose the question of privacy as millions worldwide were being exposed.
I decided to look more into him as this issue is a true event which suggests that our privacy is being evaded as we are being watched by the government. Upon research, I managed to discover that a film has been made about Edward Snowdon's life regarding his work and how he came to discover the sinister secrets held by the NSA. This film will be released on Thursday 8th December 2016 which is amazing as I can go to watch it to fit within my secondary research, looking more closely into his career, how he fits into surveillance and his role within this to cause this big issue in 2013.
I shall be booking tickets to go see this movie on Thursday as I believe it will be a big aid within my working study and should help me to identify more with Edward Snowden and his career within the NSA. So this can be an added resource to me throughout my research.
I believe that if I were to direct my research more towards him it can lead me to responses and attitudes based upon surveillance, and how people are either for or against what Snowden did when he exposed the NSA and copied files proving this, in which I can than use this research for my summary of thoughts by weighing up both primary and secondary research.
04/12/2016
Today I did more secondary research into the alternative views and attitudes regarding surveillance, I used this source as my main study of focus:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/snowden-nsa-files-surveillance-revelations-decoded#section/1
With this web link I was able to divulge into the many leading people involved within surveillance and whether they are for or against the idea of it. The link itself took me the whole afternoon to read yet I was able to gain some good insight towards the following views regarding surveillance.
The article itself offered me interactive views, pop ups and about the following peoples views on how they think surveillance should be seen as. The link itself took me well over 2 hours just to simply read the article so I know this will be a good source for myself to use. Below is a short but simply PowerPoint on my findings from this source article and how it has aided within my research.
Barack Obama
Angela Merkel
Edward Snowden
James Clapper
With other attitudes on surveillance I shall also want to look at journalist Peter Marks, Artists Banksy and perhaps sociologist author David Lyons to also incorporate towards my thinking. I shall look at these people mentioned to before writing the first draft of my 2000 word essay.
05/12/2016-Independent Research
On this day, I directed my research towards sociologist David Lyons and his views towards the idea of surveillance. Again, I wanted more insight towards surveillance and feel like, as one of my earliest influence can help to shape my understanding of his thoughts and responses towards the idea of surveillance, his attitudes may be of worth to me, whether he is for or against I would be able to incorporate his way of thinking into my own line of directed study to broaden my research and understanding of the perception of surveillance.
08/12/2016-Independent Research
On this day, I had a free day that I dedicated towards up dating my blog from the following last days but to also wrap up my secondary research as I look for people for and against the idea of surveillance in order to incorporate these thoughts into the first draft of my 2000 word essay.
On this day I focused more upon the views of Barack Obama and Edward Snowden, two people who held contrasting views regarding surveillance which would e great to analyse and research into.
08/12/2016-Independent Research
At 3:30pm, I made the trip up to Milton Kynes Xscape centre to watch the new release of the 2016 thriller drama film Snowden, a film that focuses upon one of my main influences for EPQ in which audiences follow the personal story of Edward Snowden, the polarizing figure who exposed shocking illegal surveillance activities by the NSA and became one of the most wanted men in the world. I think something visual such as this will really benefit my research as I explore of possible methods of research but something to help me engage with my influences more confidently instead of reading articles, books and journals.
Photo documenting my trip of watching the newly released film Snowden on this day, and its role towards influencing me further with more ideas to explore or research into.
I feel like after watching the film, it made me more aware of who this figure is and his role within the surveillance world, I believe that one has to argue that they are either for or against his actions-to be seen as a whistle-blower, traitor or hero., yet with this being said it has opened my mind up to more information that I can obtain and use for the preparation of my first draft essay.
After watching this film at the cinema, the footage throughout the film dominated mostly of a documentary being filmed of Snowden throughout this time of hiding. I would like to watch this documentary and find out more information regarding Snowden and potential leads to help me gather for more insights into surveillance.
09/12/2016-Independent Research
With both primary and secondary research now concluded, I believe its time to begin drafting the early pieces of writing for my 2000 word essay. I think by aiming to complete the essay within this month can be beneficial to me especially how the final piece itself will take me numerous time, energy and effort to completing time for the presentations at the end of March. (I go into detail more on my artefact page) however at this stage, with the research all done, I would like to begin writing my 2000 essay to ensure its of high quality standard before I go back to school in January 2017.
This night I focused upon writing up the first draft: by planning up an essay structure that I would like to follow to allow the essay to flow through easily and hopefully without no common issues or problems. The biggest challenge for me would be essay writing as I know I am not the strongest in producing high quality written reports to reflect my overall thoughts and working research throughout this project. So I shall endeavour to completing the first essay draft over the course of this weekend to allow myself to keep working back over this to give myself the much needed time for rectifying errors to have the completed finalise piece of writing up to a good standard that I can be confident with.
Here, are the plans I decided to follow for the first mock up draft of my essay structure in regards to what I am investigating and researching to sum up the entirety of my thoughts, research and experiments for the title surveillance.
10/12/2016
With the completion of the introduction done, I have now moved onto producing the biggest piece of writing for my essay-this is the main body of writing in which I shall sum up my secondary and primary research altogether, I shall give myself the two days to write this out as I now it will be challenging for me to gather all my thoughts in an appropriate manner
My personal deadlines for this time shall be as followed:
1 day: Draft a basic structure
Half a day: Introduction
2 days: Main body of report
Half a day: Conclusion
12/12/2016
Throughout this day, I have continued on the first draft of my 2000 word essay-my goal is to be able to finish on this night in order to email the essay to my supervisor so I can get feedback from him in order to improve further and produce the 2nd draft of my essay report in high hopes of completing a good standard essay so I don't have to focus much on the written side of things in January.
I have updated my supervisor, Mr Bishop at where I am currently and where my EPQ project stands at this current precise moment in time, as I need to stay focus and on target whilst juggling both drafts for the essay, and the prepping of the artefact piece. Below is my reply on what I have told my supervisor.
The things mentioned on this email is the two main studies of focus of what I am working towards, both report and artefact shall be regarded as the two most important elements within my project and shall carry a majority of marks too so its vital I get both of these things complete as it will show my overall work towards the concluding end for my EPQ project altogether.
Drawing closer to the evening, I spent the rest of my time on completing the first draft of my EPQ essay, the word count stands at exactly 2115, so slightly over the initial word expectancy of 2000 yet as a first draft this matter does not interfere too much for myself personally.
I have sent the first draft of my essay so my supervisor, Mr Bishop in order to gain some feedback regarding the contents and writing style, as soon as feedback is received I shall begin working on this throughout the Christmas period to get it completed up to a high standard before returning in January.
This was the email of my first draft sent by myself to my supervisor, explaining my work and next planned steps.
For now, I shall act upon my planned targets of improving and focusing on the artefact planning, updating the blog for this month and await on the feedback given by my supervisor for my first drafted out essay.
13/12/2016-Independent Study
Upon the completion of my first draft, I spent the morning, fixing up the blog from December posts as well as the EPQ tab to ensure I am balancing both areas of work appropriately and with efficiency.
I did not spend as much time on EPQ today, as I was able to complete a vast majority of it prior to before this date, yet throughout this time, I have arranged another meeting with the photography teacher to discuss the recent artefact work as well as revise back over journals from Peter Marks and Edward Snowden on the documentary as I have a feeling this will be my weakest areas that need addressing when the feedback for my first draft come back.
14/12/2016-Independent Study
Upon receiving the feedback from my supervisor in regards towards my first draft for the EPQ essay, I know the areas I need to improve on and areas to focus towards specifically in high hopes of enhancing the chances of an success pass for this essay before I get back in January. I spent the entirety of my morning addressing areas that certainly needed fixing up and altering slightly.
What I do know is that I need to work on is the actual title question itself, as I have still not thought of an appropriate one to go in sync with my thoughts for the purposes of this project-so as soon as I have addressed and acted upon the advice from my supervisor I shall work on incorporating a question suited towards my essay and what I have written to display what I am determine and seeking out and have gathered for the conclusion of this EPQ course.
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