On June 4th, I'm going to be doing a 3 hour workshop on research and evaluation techniques for Pagan uses, being presented in collaboration with the
Cornucopia Collective, a Boston metro area public ritual and education group.
The event announcement is on
their website (scroll down to the date),
Facebook, and
MeetUp.com pages.
Also on my blog with current info about what my current list of topics is.
When: June 4, 2017 (Sunday) from 3-6pm.
Where: The Democracy Center in Cambridge, MA, a few blocks from the Harvard MBTA station and Harvard Square.
The building does have mobility limitations - they're working on a longterm plan for better access, but right now there are about 6 steps up to the front door. (Once inside, it's a flat space, but the bathrooms are not wheelchair accessible. They're working on better accessibility but it's an old building with limited entry space.)
Topics: I'm excited for this because while I've done a variety of workshops on research topics before, this is the first time I've got both a nice chunk of time all at once and I'll have AV equipment on hand, so there can be slides and some sample searches and lots of examples and flexibility about examples.
Things I'm expecting to cover include:
- Introductions (both my background, and what people hope to get out of it.)
- What is research?
- Different methods of approaching research (bibliographic vs. process, mostly)
- Particular challenges for Pagan research
- Search skills and how to improve them
- Types of sources
- Academic sources (both what they’re great at and what they’re limited by)
- Local and online resources you can access
- Evaluation of materials
- Keeping track of what you’ve found
- Citation, copyright, and other complications
- Material from ritual, trance, meditation, divination, etc.
- Wrapping it up, last questions.
(Some segments will be fairly brief, others longer, but I suspect most of those will be 5-15 minutes in length.)
Not near Boston? I'm taking advantage of doing this to pull material together for an online version, which I've been meaning to do for years.
My current idea about this (subject to change as I develop more) would be as series of online materials with about 2 months of material and supporting items (like notes, notetaking sheets, etc) and some kind of discussion space, with a likely cost in the $10-25 range, depending on some hosting and other logistical decisions.
If you're interested in that and would like an email when I have something available (likely sometime later this summer), drop me a PM or
note via the contact form on my blog.