Do You Think My Sarcophagus Is Interesting

Sarcophagus with Bucolic Scenes and 3 Shepherds, 370-380 AD, Vatican

I was particularly taken with Hagen and Golombisky's  chapter that explores brainstorming and research. The authors explain how important it is to know your market and frame your communication around what is interesting to this audience. I started to think about how this applied to my project on Late Roman/Early Christian funerary art. Who will my audience be and will they find my research interesting? Dr. Petrik stated that  my major challenge will be how I can make Roman funerary art interesting for the general population. 

So as the book suggested, I started to doodle in my notebook. Then I started to list why I found this topic intertesting and the different ways I could go about presenting it.  I was surprised by how present my idea of the general public's opinion was. I'm all of a sudden trying to frame a thesis out of this website but now there is this substantial element of advertisement lurking in the back of my mind.  Yes. I love Roman funerary art. But how can I make everyone love, or at least appreciate, it.  I believe the answer lies not only in how I present it, but my overarching theme, the website's thesis.  This I am still working on. 

Comments

[David McKenzie]

I'm curious to see your list of interesting points about the topic, as well! I'm sure it would be enlightening for many of us as we ponder our own topics, and particularly how to make them interesting for more people than, say, ourselves. Great post!

[Celeste Sharpe]

I think this funerary art is fascinating, particularly because it revolves around a topic/event/theme (death) that is broadly relevant and accessible to many people. Tackling the "so what?" question is something we are all going to have to face soon and repeatedly in terms of content and design; I think the questions that you raise in terms of audience (scholarly, general, both) and presentation connect well to this larger issue. Like David, I too am interested in seeing how your brainstorming turned out!

[Amber Oudsema]

I think that it will be impossible to make the subject lovable for everyone but perhaps to make the site more interesting than the next site with similar content. Generally speaking, not that many people will look at a website about funerary art unless they have some interest. If I'm right, your focus should be on making the most aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly design rather than just a hook to get them in. Good luck!