Our Contract

COPLAC: Burn Ideas Contract

Group Members:

Robert BlueBack Jr.

Max Corbin

Section I – Mission Statement:

The purpose of this site is to educate the masses on the historical 1960 banning of J.D. Salinger’s book Catcher in the Rye. The book itself was challenged on the grounds of profanity and the high school instructor was removed from the position afterwards, although this is often considered to be one of the first bannings of the book, we are going to use national context to aid the reader on why the book was banned. As we explore the banning we will take several viewpoints, stemming from sociology to the political action taken after the banning. We plan on using this site to target University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma students as well as those interested in censorship.  

Section II – Tools:

Webpage:

 

  • WordPress

 

    • WordPress will be the primary avenue of presenting our information, this is the easiest and most efficient way to project information in today’s society. As well as provide links to more information on each. We chose the Pique theme do to our well established working knowledge of the theme, from various personal projects.

Organization:

 

  • Storymap.js

 

    • We plan to use Storymap.js to contextualize the notable bannings of Catcher in the Rye, form the the first banning in 1960 to the early 1980s.  

 

  • Coggle

 

    • Coggle is a site we are currently using to organize our thoughts and ideas on the project, as well as a checklist to view our progress as we complete each item.

 

  • Gimp 2

 

    • We have gained a plethora of newspapers clippings, and Gimp will aid us in the cleaning up each one for a better quality image to be uploaded to the site.

 

  • Online Databases Provided by Universities

 

    • We are using the various online databases given access to us by the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, as well as from Oklahoma City Community College to aid in gathering information about the 1960 Tulsa banning or other bannings of the book across the country.   

 

  • OneNote2016/Evernote

 

    • OneNote2016/Evernote are both cloud base sites that allow sharing of information between a select group of people, we are utilizing this software in order to keep access to the information we found at a moment’s notice, as well, as allow the other to access the information we found.

Section III – Division of Labor:

Historical Context Page : Robert

 

  • Synopsis:

 

      • The synopsis will include a brief introduction to the work for those who have not read the piece.

 

  • Biography:

 

    • This will be the biographical account of J.D. Salinger.

Legislative Context Page : Max

 

  • Legislation:

 

    • This page will introduce the reader to action taken by the city government of Tulsa, the state of Oklahoma, and the United States Government on the issue of censorship and book banning.

Sociological Context Page : Robert

 

  • Functionalism Theory:

 

    • Functionalism is a theory from the field of Sociology that attempts to explain all aspects of society as interconnect pieces that are vital to keeping society in a homeostasis state. This is achieved by the social structure created by social behaviour we develop. This theory can be correlated to how book censorship, the effects of censorship, or the aftereffects of censorship helps achieves this state of homogeneity.

 

  • Symbolic-Interaction Theory:

 

    • Symbolic-Interaction theory that originated from Sociology much like Functionalism, however, unlike Functionalism or Conflict theory, Symbolic-Interaction theory does not look at society as whole instead it focuses on the individual and the social structures. Theses structures are created by several avenues such as symbols the individual creates and how they interpret it. Symbolic-Interaction theory can be used to explain censorship by how the individual interprets the work.

 

  • Conflict Theory:

 

    • Conflict Theory, while although was originally develop as an economic theory by Karl Marx can be used to explain society, similar to Functionalism it focuses on society at large, however, in Conflict Theory society is not a homeostasis state instead social structure in this society is unequal and conflict arises. Often one group, which is usually smaller benefits off a much larger group. The minority group more often than not is able to control the majority group, censorship could be viewed as one of the avenues that this minority group in America controls the masses.

StoryMap : Max

 

  • Storymap.js:

 

    • Max is going to create a story map of all the bannings between 1960-1980 and divulge to use if there is a common thread between bannings.

Interview Transcriptions and uploads : Max

  • Transcription:
    • The transcriptions will be of two professors here at USAO that will have knowledge of the banning in Tulsa and the effects on Oklahoma society.

Site Arrangement : Robert

  • While each group member will contribute to the creation of each page, Robert will oversee the layout and navigation of the site.

Section IV – Milestones:

Hard Deadline(s):

  • February 28 : Have a completed plan for the website
  • March 9 : Complete Interviews of Instructors (Finck, Brown)
  • March 14 : Complete transcripts of interviews
    • Synopsis and Biography Completed
    • Sociological Context Completed
  • March 23 : Start Site Draft
  • March 30 : Fill in noticeable gaps
  • April 6 : Finalize website map and page locations
  • April 9 : Rough Draft of Site
  • April 20 : Edit Site
  • April 27 : Finalize edits
  • April 30 – Final Draft of Site

Soft Deadline(s):

 

  • March 9 : Completed Research of the following:

 

    • Oklahoma law on censorship
    • J.D. Salinger’s biographical information
    • Censorship and Functionalism – Sociological Theory
    • Censorship and Symbolic Interaction – Sociological Theory
    • Censorship and Conflict – Sociological Theory
    • Legislative action taken due to 1960 banning.
  • March: 19 : Editing Images:
    • Cleaning any images, this will yield a higher image quality and better resolution