In my previous post, I talked about my potential future plans but mentioned that I am in the process of writing my dissertation. I thought that I should write a little about that in a separate post so here we go.
It blows my mind that I am on the final stretch and I am going to be sad when my university experience is over. I did not take the most obvious path to reach this point. After a gap year and then starting a course elsewhere, my friends were all finishing up their degrees whilst I was only in my first year. At times I did feel like I was lagging behind for this reason and on occasions, I was made to feel this way but now I am glad that I have done what I chose to do. When I finished school in 2017, I was not ready for university and if I graduated two years ago, then I do not think I would have been fully prepared to face the world alone. I am definitely in a much better position now than I was back then. It may not be very clear what I plan to do next, but I think that I will be able to tackle whatever it may be.
My dissertation writing has been an interesting process so far and I have learnt a lot. It has given me the opportunity to explore a subject area that I am very passionate about further but has also given me the power to make some changes that I can already see coming into effect thanks to my place of work. My dissertation title is: Researching Accessibility at Live Music Events for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Community, and Suggesting How Current Music Technology Could Improve the Experience.
From my work at arenas I have seen people’s struggles first hand but have also had them myself and it is great that further measures are being put in place at some of these venues to improve the experience for the deaf and hard of hearing community. Like in most walks of life currently, the pandemic has had a terrible effect on the live events industry and accessibility has been indirectly affected because of this. As we see the industry begin to rebuild and recover from this awful time, I am glad that some venues are being proactive in looking forward to what they can do in the future.
This is just a small part of what I have been researching and writing about for my dissertation. The most fascinating research methodology which I have undertaken is performing expert interviews and it is definitely a much more engaging process than simply reading research publications and materials online. To get primary data is so important, especially in a field which I think is under researched. Those conversations I had are so valuable and are ones which I will never forget – partly because transcribing them took a long time.
Although it is a slightly stressful period with the deadline looming, I do believe that overall it is and will be a rewarding process, one that perhaps I will be able to build on in the future.
