Week Sixteen

When I went into Buckhead Heritage today, I edited a few videos of an oral history. The chairman of the board was there and we had a really interesting conversation about his experience presenting the greenspace plan to the Buckhead Coalition. We talked about the demographics of the meeting and his impressions of people's reaction to his presentation. It was very interesting. I won't be going in next week, but I will be going in the week of graduation--hopefully to make a longer video based on the oral history that I viewed yesterday.

Week Fifteen

At my internship today, Erica and I looked over the my database and added it to the larger file. That took about two hours, but it was interested to do it with her. She knows the area on a more intimate level and I appreciate being about to watch over her shoulder as she edited some of my entries. Then, I uploaded the audio and video from the most recent interview, making two CDs--one for the archive and one for the transcriptionist--and two DVD's--one for the archive and one for the interviewee.

I am struggling to come up with a topic for my next, and last-ever-to-be-written-at-Oglethorpe!!!, paper. I read an article on the history of heritage preservation, but it doesn't really provide much that can be related to BHS. I might push some buttons by using a chapter from Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn and asking Erica some prodding questions...or use a chapter from Sense of History and talk about the importance of community within America...or just use another chapter/article from The Oral History Reader. We'll see!

Week Fourteen

Today, I am not going into my internship, but will be working diligently on the database. I just read an interesting excerpt from an oral history with Dr. David Lowance, born in 1940 and raised in the Buckhead community. I thought I would share it.

There were two times in the 1940s that I was kicked off the number 23 bus for having sat down next to African Americans because we were a very segregated society at that time and I was raised by a marvelous [African American] lady, [Louise Jackson], whose picture is in this book of our family history along with some other wonderful African American people who ran the Lemonade Club of Howell Mill Road. I didn’t understand segregation, which young children all didn’t understand, but I’d get on the bus and I would sit down at the first seat that I saw available and it didn’t make any difference to me if they were African American or not. Twice the bus was stopped and I was kicked off by the bus driver and given a pass and told to get on the next bus and not to sit down next to people of color because it was not acceptable in our society for a white boy to sit down next to people of color which is ingrained in my mind for the rest of my life. 

Last night, I was helping one of my friends write her personal statement, which got me thinking about why I've grown so attached to this field. I decided to start at the beginning, and for me the beginning is books. My parents read to me constantly. When I took my first real history class in 10th grade, I realized that the stories that history provides us with are way more remarkable than any of the stories that I had read in books. Only time can write stories that well.

Paper Three: Summary

In “Voice, Ear and Text: Words, meaning, and transcription,” Francis Good follows the ongoing transcription debate amongst oral historians. His article will be examined in conjunction with my experiences as Oral History Project Intern as Buckhead Heritage Society. The problems that Buckhead Heritage has faced with transcription are problems that undoubtedly affect other similar projects and organizations. Without the creation of free audio transcription software, transcription will remain a large part of any small oral history project.

In an ideal oral history project, the text and the audio would be symbiotic. Good believes the “optimistic assessment of how soon a computer will be able to transcribe the human noises we call communication” (371). The technology exists, but at the moment, it is only available to organizations with substantial budgets. I hope that a time in the future exists when such technology will be available as freeware to small organizations, so that oral history can reach its ideal place: a symbiosis between audio and text.

Week Thirteen

I went to Buckhead Heritage this morning. I uploaded the most recent oral history and burned two copies of the audio files and one copy of the video. Then, Erica and I tried to figure out how to embed Google Earth files onto the BHS website. With the website company that she has and the look that she wants, it's impossible. Next Wednesday, we are going to go over the database, which I need to look over to make sure it looks clean and well put together.

Note: I'd really like to take a GIS class, especially with someone who has used Google Earth Pro. 

Week Twelve

I went to my internship on Friday. Erica and I talked about all of the work that I had done in the past few weeks and worked for a few hours. Most of that time was spent trying to put an audio file on the website, which we couldn't figure out how to do. If we had figured it out, I would've shown off my new html skills by embedding it here. We also looked at my embedded google map. Erica was really pleased with my new found google map skills and mentioned how much she would like me to see this project (a google map of all the historic african american communities in Buckhead) to completion. So, if I don't finish the map by the end of the school year, I'll just stay on over the summer. Erica has a volunteer working on research for this project, but it might take a while before we know actual parameters for all of the neighborhoods.

Weeks Ten and Eleven

I didn't go to my internship these weeks, but I still completed work! I finished editing the Samuel Sawyer sound file. I listened to other oral history podcasts to get an idea of what ours should sound like, and I took some notes. I have a script written for our first podcast, and will have it finished by lunch time!