Week 3: Metadata Sheets

Building on where I left off from last week's meeting, the weekend was spent reviewing the manuals for metadata and transcription, then applying the instructions to a practice oral history transcription assignment. Fortunately, the interviewee, Curtis Rayam, was a clear speaker for this first practice. Overall, as time progresses, my goal is to become more time proficient in similar exercises. There was a fun nuance to the experience because RICHES provides more than the audio by including a video version of the interview, allowing for the observation of body language that may influence the transcription's punctuation. In previous experiences with oral histories, I only relied on old and often unclear audio recordings.

Moving into the beginning of the week, I started preparing the materials for the metadata sheets. This included downloading the artifact files themselves, as this allowed me to get an idea of what I was working with, and it was also the best way to zoom in and see details or words that I might have otherwise missed. Right away, I started filling in every metadata sheet with some of the unchanging information, such as names, addresses, and copyright details, to become comfortable with the form. While getting a glimpse of the artifacts I would be working with, I noticed that they mostly contained photographs, and some even featured archaeological remains; I was undeniably intrigued by their findings. I noted a few of the artifacts found within the photographs, including bones and projectile points. Since I am dealing with a minimal amount of information on who the man in the photographs could have been, and based on the video from Ronald's oral history, it most likely was not him because he did not have arm tattoos; I have not found any relevant internet information on archaeologists in DeBary around 1958. However, I plan to continue that research for the rest of the week. This has involved extensive detective work, identifying only three different years within a ten-year period and one full name, other than the donor's, among all the people in the collection. Admittedly, where I actually fall short is my ability to identify cars, which appears in quite a few of the photos.

On Wednesday afternoon, I met with Elio for my first one-on-one meeting to discuss my progress on the work so far and my goals for this internship. We began by reviewing my concerns about my pace for this project, as there is no set deadline. While Elio did not have a specific answer to any dates, I was reassured that I was making good progress after completing four of the sheets in about two days. When discussing some of my goals, it ultimately came down to trying to find and establish my place in the history field, as well as finding the best way to gain volunteer experience and break out of my shell a little more. Interestingly, however, the process of securing volunteer work at places like museums or libraries has been much more challenging than expected, given my location and the institutions’ selectiveness. Ultimately, by the end of the meeting, I found myself feeling more confident, and I was mainly looking forward to gaining more practice in everything we had been trained on so far, especially in oral history transcriptions and becoming more familiar with metadata.

For the rest of the week, I am investigating as much as possible about archaeological findings in DeBary from the late 1950s, unfortunately, with little success. Regarding where I want to be with the metadata sheets, I aim to have at least half of them completed by next week's meeting. Some are taking longer than expected because they can contain up to three, sometimes five, photos that require extra research in the hopes of finding context for me and future researchers. I want to prioritize more details instead of keeping them vague. I really look forward to the hands-on experience at next week's meeting, especially to refresh my skills with the portable scanner.