Another week, another blog post! While the ball has begun to roll, Ryan and I are still waiting on our contacts to get back to us so we can schedule interviews. However, we have accomplished a significant amount since coming back from school break. Please keep reading to learn more about the project’s progress, challenges, digital tools, and weekly schedule.
As for progress on our oral histories, Ryan had a meeting with the Berkshire Immigrant Center, where he was presented with a number of actual contacts in which to interview. He is currently waiting to hear back from those recommended contacts. Myself, on the other hand, am still waiting to hear from St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church. I emailed the church office last Tuesday and decided, if I do not hear anything back by this Tuesday, I will reach out to the priest of the church (whose contact information is listed directly underneath the office’s on the website). I hope I do not come across as desperate or overly-persistent, but I believe this is too good of a contact to give up on. Fingers crossed that, for next week’s blog post, I will have more to report on the oral history aspect of the project.
Regarding the website’s progression, we now have picked a theme, preliminary color scheme, set of widgets, heading picture, and organizational style. In other words, the layout of the site has been changed and updated. Ryan and I plan to continue developing the website this week. Speaking of which, I am pleased with the collaborative nature of the project. I believe Ryan and I are doing a nice job communicating with each other, while at the same time taking responsibility for what we each need to get done individually. Earlier this evening, we meet for our weekly project meeting and discussed project logistics, milestones, and upcoming goals.
The most direct and obvious challenge is working with our contacts, who have been taking their time in getting back to us. This is particularly worrisome because, if they refuse our interview offer, we have even less time to find new people/organizations to reach out to. It is comforting to know that our group is not the only one with these problems; however, I grow more stressed each day we hear nothing. That being said, I am confident we will have at least one interview completed by the end of the week!
Ryan and I have not started working with any digital tools, yet. Nonetheless, we plan to work with a number of digital tools by the end of the week. I will focus on using Timeline JS to help visualize the historical context of Greek migration to the United States. Ryan will work with the ARC GIS Story Map technology to convey the imagery of migration from Greece to the United States. We are both excited to get our hands on these digital tools and to prepare them for use on the final project website.
Here is my weekly schedule:
By Tuesday:
- Reach out to St. George’s Church, again
- Update the ‘About Me’ section in the project website
- Download Audacity and setup a Soundcloud account
- Keep up with class assignments
By Thursday:
- Finish creating the Timeline JS digital tool/add it to the Greek Migration Context page on the website
- Add information to the ‘About Me’ page
- Hopefully, schedule/conduct at least one interview
- Keep up with class assignments
I have been having the same struggles about needing to make a connection and set dates with potential interviewees, and not wanting to be pushy and obnoxious. It makes me wish I had started contacting people even earlier, because things don’t always go the way I think it will. Anyways, it was a good idea to have a plan for each day, that will definitely help you out as deadlines are coming up so fast!
It is comforting to know that I am not alone in my struggles. While I made progress with my contacts this week, actually scheduling interviews continues to remain elusive. Perhaps reaching out to people/organizations should have been one of the first things accomplished at the beginning of the semester. I certainly feel a decent amount of stress thinking about how far behind I am regarding the project’s milestones. Either way, planning for each day ensures that I am staying up-to-date on the progression of the website.