More Progress

I officially dove into the research today for my project on how developing technology affects generational personalities. So far, I'm learning a lot about the various generations of the 20th century as well as various technologies that have developed over the past century. So far, I'm keeping the two separate so I can examine them and compare them in greater detail once I gather enough information.

Once article I found particularly interesting is the Population Bulletin: 20th Century Generations by Elwood Carlson. All of the tables and charts and graphs really highlighted the key contrasts and similarities of the 6 main generations of the 20th century. For instance, I found it quite appalling how my generation, the New Boomers, has the lowest rate of children under 10 living with both parents (due to divorce, mostly), even compared to generations of higher death rates due to lack of medical care and during wartime. Although it doesn't have much to do with my topic, I still found it fascinating.

I also found Time magazine's photo essay on 20th century technologies. This will be a good basis for my future research and when I tie things together for the analyzation of the generational personalities.

In addition, I haven't officially made a purpose statement yet. So here goes:

Purpose: I will be examining the US generations beginning with the Hard Timers (born from 1890-1908) and ending with the New Boomers (born from 1983-2001). Specifically, I will be looking at their varying personalities and what factors contribute to the differences, especially developing technology and media. I am studying this topic because I'm interested in examining how technology affects us as people and specifically how the personality differences may affect relationships in the workplace.

This topic may be a bit big, but if I can narrow my search a bit more, it may help. For example, I could only look at developing media technologies. Once I start more research I will see what happens!

As for my medium, I'm not sure if I want to tackle the infographic idea. A blog may be a better choice, but I don't want it to be too boring. Yet another decision to make!