I honestly cannot believe that it is time to reflect upon my progression through the course Voices of Migration. Like so many college experiences prior, time seems to fly faster than I can manage. Nevertheless, listed below, please find my reflection on my project’s content, oral histories, and website design.
Category: Uncategorized (Page 1 of 2)
My reviews for the ‘Latino Migration in the Central Savannah River Area’ and ‘Merging Cultures: The Congo in Kirksville’ may be found below. Each of my reviews is based on the final website project rubric, outlined in the Voices of Migration project guidelines. If a project did not meet anyone of the rubric categories, I left that category out of my review.
This blog post is dedicated to providing an update on the project website. My partner and I are using WordPress as a medium for our migration narrative. While still in the process of completion, we are conveying this narrative by the actual uploaded text, the ‘physical’ layout of the website, and specifically chosen digital tools.
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.
Regarding the interview process, I do not have very much to report on yet. Being out of state for spring break made working on the project and communicating with my partner a challenge. In all honesty, I am behind where I want to be on the progress of the project. However, I believe recognizing this is important and, as a result, I have begun to plan out this upcoming week in order to catch up to the milestones outlined in the project contract. Listed below, please find my plan for the upcoming week so, by the following Sunday, I will have a more thorough interview progress report.
As of this weekend, my project contract has been edited and revised. While a few more edits may be needed, the link in my last blog post has been updated to upload the new, revised contract. I believe the document provides a solid project outline, both for matters of scheduling and for thematic direction. In completing the contract, I now have a better sense of what needs to get done and when, the specific research questions being asked, and an agreed upon collaborative plan. All in all, the project contract provides a great starting point, whereas it can be revisited and reviewed throughout the duration of the project. Speaking for myself, I am glad this completed assignment was undertaken with care and consideration.
Listed below, please find a link to Ryan and Morrison’s final project contract.
Listed below, please find a link to a Google Doc with my interview questions.
My partner, Ryan Psutka (click here for a link to his course blog), and I have chosen to interview the Greek community in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The bolded questions in the Google Doc are general thematic outlines to get the narrator talking. If the conversation needs any guidance, the questions listed in the letter format are suggestions to help prompt the narrator for specifics. Of course, one cannot prepare/preplan the entire oral history dialogue; it must be a fluid process in which the direction of the interview is controlled equally by the interviewer and the interviewee. I am prepared to have these questions edited, so that progress with the projects can continue!
For this assignment, my partner and I met with two MCLA reference librarians to ask questions about migrant communities in the area and resources available for our research. As a disclaimer, MCLA does not employ a campus archivist; instead, the reference librarians take upon the responsibilities of managing primary source documents and helping students prepare for research.
For my second post, I will explain my experience creating an Arc GIS Story Map. I used this digital tool to help demonstrate why migration matters, as well as my current state of preparedness regarding the oral history project.