Update – Online Portfolio

Project Progress Update

For this week, I am facing a few challenges with language conversion, oral history content in OHMS, and a possibility of changing the title of my Omeka site. After I added a plugin for the Korean and English language display, I noticed a few issues. After contacting Reclaim about finding a way to display Korean and English in Omeka, I was directed to contact Omeka support. I hope I will finally get my answer. I created another WordPress site in case I could not find a solution for Omeka. In WordPress, I was able to find some great plugins for language conversion and display. However, I decided to continue with my project in Omeka and worry about the language conversion later. I changed the language back to English only.

I have been struggling a little bit with OHMS. I viewed the video tutorials and read the tutorial guides; however, I just didn’t understand the procedure. I was able to add my interview with Dr. Zo, a first-generation Korean American, to OHMS. However, the audio recording does not appear in the Preview. Now, I have to figure out the problem, so I can link it to my Omeka site. The audio recording is currently available on my Omeka site. After removing my first interview, I decided to upload an interview from Youtube. It is an interview with a famous musician, Allen Toussaint, courtesy of the Library of Congress. Here is the updated link to my OHMS annotation activity: https://ohms.uky.edu/preview/?id=35461. Unfortunately, the video is not available for Preview even though I added the URL in the Metadata.

After interviewing two influential Korean Americans, I am contemplating if I should change the title from Koreatowns in North Texas to North Texas Korean Americans. The interviewees provided wonderful and inspirational narratives about their journey to America (Texas) and how they have contributed to their Korean American community. Each interviewee expressed his or her own passion for community involvement. They did mention Koreatown Dallas, but I am gradually realizing that I need to let go or release my control of the project’s initial direction and see it from an inclusive and audience centered objective.

My next steps include oral history management, addition of social media plugins, additional video recordings, and testing the site with volunteers. I will be uploading and transcribing the remaining audio recordings of the 2 interviews. Before I add the plugins for social media, I need to create a Facebook account for the project site and a Youtube Channel. For Facebook, I can add an image from the Omeka site with a brief description and a title to invite audience participation. For the Youtube Channel, I plan to record a short video about one of the places in Koreatown Dallas or Carrollton to capture the audience’s attention. I might record a short food video from a Korean restaurant (if permitted by restaurant manager/owner) or a panoramic video of Koreatown Dallas or Carrollton and upload it to Youtube. Even though my project is in the early stages of a digital public history site, I will be asking for a few volunteers from different backgrounds and ages to view my site and provide a brief feedback. I might even ask my own students to take a look at the site as a classroom exercise on the rhetorical persuasion and audience engagement of a digital public history site that is a work in progress.

Project Progress Update

The challenges I am facing this week include language conversion, interview recording, and selecting a plugin for future mobile access. I managed to download a plugin for Korean language. However, only selected words (e.g. tags and Dublin core) in Omeka were translated into Korean, but the English words were unavailable. I am trying to find a way to include both Korean and English. Also, I have to double check each word that is translated into Korean because I am noticing that most of the words that were changed to Korean were just the Romanization of the English words. I would like to add the Korean word for that English word. For example, instead of translating “tag” into the Korean pronunciation of tag, I hope to find the actual Korean word for “tag” if it exists. Another challenge I am facing is the downloading and converting of the interview recordings. I changed from using Samsung Galaxy to the Apple iPhone, so I am learning how to use the recorder properly and download segments of the interview. I might resort to using the voice recording editor via the web. After reading the material and exploring the sites in Module 8, I am learning how to include a plugin that will allow me to include an app for possible mobile conversion of my project site. So, I am researching Bootstrap as a possibility.

Project Progress Update

The challenges I am facing for this week are drafting a set of interview or oral history questions, deciding on voice recording or video recording of my interviewees, and redesigning some of the Exhibit pages in my project site. After making the effort to contact influential Korean Americans in North Texas, I have received positive responses. I am in the process of scheduling a time and place to meet two people (first generation Korean Americans) who will contribute to my project. The interviewees speak Korean and English fluently, so the transcripts of the interviews will be a challenge if both languages are used. Another challenge is that I am still trying to figure out how to include Korean language for some of the description of the Exhibit items. Since my Korean is not the best, I might ask someone to proofread and edit my Korean. Also, I have to go back to the drawing board or storyboard and redesign a page or pages for the Exhibits in Omeka because I might add a voice recording or video recording to complement some of the Exhibit items. I will explore plugins for uploading the recordings in Omeka; however, I am currently learning how to annotate oral history by using the OHMS (Oral History Metadata Synchronizer). I am also learning about the different digital files and conversions for the interview recordings. The readings and site explorations for Module 7 have inspired me to look at my project from a different point of view and to revisit the concept of user centered exhibit when oral history becomes part of the project site.

An Update on the Progress of “Koreatowns in North Texas”

The challenges that I am currently facing with my digital public history project are gathering more information about both Koreatowns, finding a plugin to add Korean language, and searching for before and after images of both Koreatowns. In order to overcome the challenges, there are a few steps or goals that need to be followed. First, I will reach out to two or three, first-generation Korean Americans who are knowledgeable about one or both Koreatowns. I would like to find out more information about the zoning of Koreatown Dallas and how it has changed over the three decades. Also, I would like to learn more about the historical information about the different plazas in Koreatown Dallas. As for Koreatown Carrollton, I want to know more about the group who advocated for the historical marker to be placed in Koreatown Carrollton. It also brings up the concern that a historical marker is not placed in Koreatown Dallas, and if there is one, I would like to know why it is not visible like the one in Koreatown Carrollton. The other step is to acquire images of Koreatown Dallas from the 1980s and 1990s. I would like to have access to the before and after maps and/or designs of Koreatowns Dallas and Carrollton. For the second goal, I will search for a plugin that displays both Korean and English languages for item description and other information. For the last goal, I plan to add more description and historical information for the items that are currently on my project site; and I plan to add more images for the Koreatown Carrollton Exhibit.