Passion Project - Proposal

Introduction and goals:

This project aims to bridge the gap between the American people and immigrants. Specifically, the understanding of the long, arduous process of immigrating to the United States through legal means. The two artifacts that would be the outcomes of this project are an article chronicling the stories of migrants from different eras over the past few decades, and a tool that lets anyone put themselves in the shoes of an immigrant and see the steps it would take to become naturalized.

Research Methods

Immigrants to the United States from countries other than Western Europe is a phenomenon that dates back to the late 19th century. For the purposes of this project’s reduced scope, only the past four decades will be considered and studied. 

 

Two types of research:

 

Qualitative: Through interviews of at least one immigrant per decade, dating back to the 1980s and all the way to the 2020s.

 

Quantitative: Research on the immigration policies implemented by the United States Congress over these decades and the impacts of those policies on migration to the country.  Research also into the steps involved in legal immigration into the United States.

Timeline:

March 31: 

  • Proposal

April 1st:

  • Send out questionnaire to potential interviewees
  • Start on the app development
  • Collect sources for research

April 5th:

  • Shortlist, confirm, and schedule interviews
  • Basic webpage with functionalities completed for the app

April 15th:

  • Complete interviews
  • Gather relevant information from sources
  • Complete micro content video

April 21st:

  • Draft of the first article
  • Draft of application
  • Gather reviews and suggestions from peers

April 28th:

  • Completion and delivery of the project

Micro-content for article:

  • Audio from the interviews (with permission and released by the interviewees)
  • A video example of documenting the process of legal immigration to the United States
  • Representative images for the article
  • Migration journey maps

Distribution avenues:

The primary distribution for this article would be through a multi-modal article, followed by an interactive tool on the website involuntarywriter.com.