Blog Post: week 1
I am interested in the Fellowship program because I have a research idea in mind, and I want it to bring awareness to a larger audience. Digital tools introduce many efficient ways of conducting a research. Through learning, I would discover methodologies to collect and organize data, as well as visualizing the materials in a novel perspective. I also like the “structure” about this program, in which one can design his or her own research project with the assistance of many faculties. It is not simply applying the knowledges to complete an assignment, but to be creative and thoughtful and choose the best tools that would help to achieve one’s goal. We are not passively driven by what we learn in the program, but take initiatives and think critically about what works the best for our own projects.
My project idea is about how Asian food adapts to American culture. I am curious about how the Japanese and Chinese restaurant has emerged into one “brand” under the influence of the American culture. The distinctiveness between the two becomes ambiguous nowadays. Furthermore, Chinese people emphasis on “community”, whereas Americans promote “individualism”. Food wise, Chinese restaurants offer dishes to share, while American ones provide dishes for individuals. “Buffet” style restaurant does not exist in China. I am interested in the settings of restaurants to see the extent to which they are Americanized over the years. I want to look into the development of Chinese restaurants in the U.S to see how they have evolved over time. I also want to do a comparison between large cities and small towns, or between East Coast to West Coast, to see how the trends differs.
Through the fellowship program. I hope the digital tools will help me collect and organize the data in a meaningful way. I also hope to use digital tools and make my project more interesting and easy for others to understand. I want to investigate the restaurant ratings and reviews on “Yelp” and “Tripadvisor” to get a sense of people’s ideas towards Chinese restaurants. In order to do that, I will use digital tools that I learn from the program. The tool extends the length and depth of a story to enrich its contents. I am very looking forward to applying the digital tools to a research project of my own design.