transcripts – Online Portfolio

May 15, 2018 (Final Self-Reflection)

The best way to learn more about Digital Humanities is working with people who have the knowledge and expertise in the field. After learning from the best professors selected by the GMU program, I had the pleasure of working with Dr. Pamela (Pam) Henson, Historian for Smithsonian Institution Archives, and her research assistant, Lisa. During my internship with the Smithsonian for two semesters, I have gained new skills to help me complete my digital public humanities site and to teach my undergraduate students about digital humanities as an introductory course. For this Spring semester, I used what I have learned in my graduate courses as well as from my own teaching experience to design an oral history collection. Pam selected Lucile Quarry Mann to be the first from the many collections (150 and counting) for my internship project.

Before I worked with Pam, I had minimal knowledge about oral history. After reading and researching more about oral history, I realized how it is a crucial component of digital humanities and the preservation of living history. Listening to the recorded interviews, which were originally recorded with tape recorders in the 1970s, has helped me to appreciate the unique discourse of oral history interviews between an interviewer and interviewee. The concept of digitizing audio recordings of interviews is fascinating because it allows the current audience to have access to living history in different formats. I also learned the importance of keeping track of everything such as documenting each interview with detailed information by viewing the transcripts and notes that were documented by Pam.

Designing a digital platform for an oral history collection comes with several challenges. One of the challenges was to present the material in a way that would engage a broad audience. In the designing stages of the digital platform, I used the skills that I have learned from the DH courses and my teaching experience. I have been teaching online since 2007, and one of my courses introduces students to think and analyze visual content from a rhetorical perspective for a writing course. Another challenge was selecting a segment of a full interview to introduce to the audience. The interview segment had to be short (5 minutes or less). There were a couple of interesting segments that lasted 10 minutes, but they were too long. The next challenge was to select images from the archives to correspond with the interview. In addition to posting images and text with the interview segment (e.g. image carousel), I came up with an idea of creating videos that combined the audio recording of the selected interview segment with images. I enjoyed the creative process of making a video because I was able to improve my video making skills while incorporating some of the techniques and skills that I have learned from my DH courses. The other challenge was making sure that there was enough memory or space for posting images and videos on the selected web page. These challenges provided a pathway for designing a digital platform for an oral history collection.

Working with Pam and Lisa has helped me to re-envision my design for Lucile Q. Mann’s oral history collection. From our weekly teleconferences and feedbacks, we collaborated to make the oral history and video history collections website possible for future launching. The progress is steady. Their helpful feedbacks were encouraging. I also provided feedback for the introductory pages of the oral history and video history collections website. Pam created a template that was modeled after my web page designs for Lucile Q. Mann’s oral history collection for future interns who will be working to put together oral history collections for the Smithsonian Institution. I am very excited that my work helped with designing the template for future oral history collections. I am very proud to be part of their project. I enjoyed working with a supportive and intelligent group, and I look forward to viewing the oral history collection on the Smithsonian Institution website when it is completed.

This semester’s internship has given me a new perspective on how oral history plays a significant role as a component of Digital Humanities. Presenting information from the past to an audience of the present and future is less challenging when certain digital tools, theories, and skills are used. How do we keep the changing audience interested in the people of the past? What digital tools are useful for creating and designing a new digital platform to present the past? How do we try to preserve the past without losing sight of our focus? Even though the past will remain constant in a form of a recorded interview in the case of Lucile Quarry Mann’s oral history collection, it is up to the digital humanities scholar/specialist to work with others to keep it visible and interesting in the present and for the future. It is also up to a collaborative group of people with various skill sets to help preserve the past and curate it as part of living history. Therefore, I plan to continue networking with people to encourage collaboration for my own digital public humanities project on Korean American history and culture while working on honing my oral history interviewing skills for future interviews.

March 9, 2018

For the past few weeks, I have been working with Pam and her assistant Lisa to redesign and re-envision the Smithsonian’s oral history website. After reviewing, evaluating, and discussing 8 different oral history websites, each of us came up with ideas for a website redesign plan. I used the skills that were learned during my GMU Digital Humanities coursework. I also incorporated skills from designing my own websites. I imagined at least 2 different personas to approach my design from an audience’s perspective. Then, I typed a document that explains each part of the redesigned website. After I wrote my draft, I sketched what the redesigned website would look like. I learned this skill in Dr. Leon’s class when I was designing my public history website. I drew 4 different web pages of the website with a pencil (traced it over with a dark blue ink pen) on white sheets of 8 x11 paper: main page, about page, oral history interview pages A and B. I included a menu with clearly labeled buttons that will allow the user to learn about the site, navigate the oral history collections, listen and/view the oral history interviews, and read about interview’s background. It also included copyright information, a finding aid, map, timeline, and a contribution page for future crowdsourcing. Then, I scanned the completed sketches and saved them into a .pdf file. At the time I was redesigning the website, I was unaware that they had a current website. I was referencing the old website from 2004. I was informed about the current website when Pam, Lisa, and I re-convened to discuss our redesign plans. Fortunately, it all worked out. I suggested adding a timeline and map. The importance of having a timeline and/or map was something I learned in Dr. Kelly’s class. It helps the audience visualize the locations and time period when connecting them to the historical content. Also, I suggested placing a short video 1-2 minutes on the main page to introduce one of their featured collections to draw in the audience and engage them to explore their site and oral history collections. The other option was to include 1 or 2 paragraphs about the featured collection with selected images.

The next part of my internship is to create a way to sort and bring one of the collections together. Pam has suggested focusing on women at the Smithsonian, so we agreed it was good start. I received several audio interview recordings, transcripts, blog links about Lucile (Lucy) Quarry Mann. I am in the process of listening to the interviews while viewing the transcripts. Each interview is 30 minutes or more. During this time, I have created a short video (59 seconds) to get an idea of what a short video would look like to draw the audience to Lucy Mann’s oral history interviews. I used iMovie to created my video. Since the video was too large to send via email to Pam and Lisa, I had to post it on my YouTube Channel. Here is a link to my humble and short video: https://youtu.be/caC-9EFBcGM

Exploring Mobile History Site: The Sixth Floor Museum

For the “Exploring Mobile Public History” activity, I explored the The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on my smartphone. The information and images presented on the website were viewable on the smartphone. The only drawbacks for viewing the site on the phone are the enlarged images and extended timeline information with images. On the phone, it is difficult to have a wide view of the images and timeline that are displayed across the screen on a computer or laptop. On the other hand, viewing the digital public history on the smartphone had some advantages. Based on the place-based or location-based techniques, the mobile site adhered to all three of the responsive approaches: how they want it, when they want it, and what they want. For visitors who are curious or unable to visit the museum in person, viewing the public history is accessible via the website. But, it is even more accessible for people who want to view it from their smartphones. The disadvantage will be for people who do not have cell phones or mobile devices. Also, if there is no WiFi, then there is no access. I was able to view the museum site on my phone while I was in an area that did not have desktop computers or laptops. Also, I was able to view the site while I was having lunch. As long as I had access to WiFi, I was able to view the site on my phone. By having access to the site via smartphone, laptop, or desktop, reflects that the site can be viewed with WiFi in different locations. Also, I could view the site when I wanted it. Instead of worrying about the Museum’s hours of operation, I could view the site whenever I wanted.

As for what I wanted, I was able to select different sections to view collections, timelines, shared memories, videos, and transcripts. Instead of reading about the history of the museum, I can jump to the next section and read about the assassination. I can also select Collections or The Legacy. If visitors at the museum do not have mobile devices or smartphones, the museum provides electronic devices for a voice driven tour. However, the mobile version does not provide a voice driven tour for visitors who want to use their own devices. The timeline presented in the “The Assassination” section closely resembles what is at the physical museum, so visitors get a similar experience. The images on the timeline are not viewable alongside the text when a specific part of the timeline is selected for closer viewing. The oral history in “The Collections Section” includes more transcripts than video recordings. The video recordings are linked to their YouTube Channel, and they are easily viewable on the smartphone. The audience engagement with the site is layered with different things. The Legacy section includes previously shared memories of the event, and there is a “Share Your Memories” tab to invite the audience to provide their stories during that time period or what they know about it.

The theory of history that The Sixth Floor Museum is putting forward is living history. Instead of teaching about the past in a single space, it engages the audience to trace the events leading up to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 in a digital space. Also, The Sixth Floor Museum invites the audience to question what had happened and how the assassination of JFK is still thought provoking after so many years. The audience can envision the past while connecting with the present surroundings. For example, the site shows the physical spaces related to the tragic event from past and present. The audience can view the location of the assassination and where the sniper was positioned at the time. The site links to an Earthcam that allows the audience to view the Dealey Plaza from the sixth floor of the museum. The live camera shows cars, people, roads, buildings and other structures in today’s time. Placing the audience in the location of where the sniper was positioned during the assassination perfectly connects both digital and physical spaces together. Whether it is in physical or digital space, the The Sixth Floor Museum site engages the audience to think about history as living history.