Articles, More Articles and the Future

So, the past few two-weeks of work have consisted on putting together a short literature review for Professor Bruggeman. The goal of this assignment was to compile a number of articles from the scholarly journals of the History, Public History and Planning fields. I was to focus my attention on articles which bridged the gap between theory and practice. Specifically, how GIS technology and Public History intersect?

On the surface, the assignment should have been straight-forward but unfortunately I struggled. I was able to find a few articles which explicitly fused GIS and historical research. These articles proved to be amazingly dynamic in combining what seemed to be two divergent research techniques. I learned a lot about this new direction of historical discourse. By no means do I see GIS becoming de rigueur in History, but it was refreshing to see the use of newer technologies.

As I moved away from these initial articles, I had to broaden my article search. Instead of finding articles which precisely suited my needs, I looked for articles which had themes in either the field of Public History or Planning and could be applicable to the other. The two major themes I highlighted were access and the use, and future, of technology. I won't go into details but scholars and practitioners made a variety of arguments. Some surprised me while others challenged my perceptions of each field. Now that I have had time to process this experience, it got me thinking about my future path.

I've let my interests guide the direction I've taken my studies and I also hope it will take me to a career which excites me. Unfortunately, my interest don't easily align. There is some crossover but they don't fit nicely into each other like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. As with this assignment, it can be a challenge to find a field that meets all my requirements. I know what I like but at times even I struggle to define it. This makes me fearful of where I go after school is finished. Where do I work? What kind of work do I hope to do? I know I have time to figure this out but it'll be here before I know it. Have my varied interests provided me with wide-ranging options or just painted me into a corner? I guess time will tell.