HIS 5944 (3/20-3/26/2021)

 

This week saw the continued routine of administrative backend work to bring up to speed the interviews conducted. I noticed that my interviews schedule was not being processed due to the number of interviews I conducted. Six interviews that were conducted lacked being placed in the process to be properly transcribed or reviewed. Rushing through the project will leave other portions behind as if I focus solely on marketing, the review process slightly slows down. This week I processed some of these interviews to be transcribed yet needed a metadata sheet for the final process. These interviews included the political affiliated UCF students or organizations which were very vital in importance.

This led me to something I dealt with which was prioritization that this interview helped teach me. How does a historian prioritize certain sources or pieces of information above others? I find it hard to dismiss others’ perspectives of the COVID-19 pandemic that repeat themselves yet someone else may find it extremely easy to do so. One of the interviews I conducted this week reiterated that same sentiment, asking if they gave me something useful. I informed the interviewee that it did not matter if they gave me a piece of new information. A historian cannot establish a commonality if there was only one perspective. It is true that some perspectives will be more valuable as Matthew Gerber’s position as a teacher would be helpful, yet not one interview should triumphantly dissuade the collection of information. Prioritization to know who to interview and to pull either a common trend or a unique aspect is extremely useful in the field of history and oral history.

In addition, I require some comments on the internship from home experience. Mondays and Fridays are the days I actively work on the internship and properly provide for the COVID-19 project. Wednesdays are days typically reserved to go in person to the UCF Library in order to aid in whatever Mary Rubin requires of me. That could be processing a collection or helping move some materials to new areas for storage.

Interning from home is difficult in the same way that classes being online with their lack of transparency and ease of distractions. Distractions are abound throughout the process as having my computer here and being at home makes me less focused. I can confess sometimes taking a small break to watch a short YouTube video has occurred. However, it can be very helpful as I feel more productive at home than being stressed in a new place. The internship has taught me this mixed modality of working from home as well as easing me back into proper life.

Subtle details often become overlooked as we continue through the seemingly end of the pandemic with the vaccine. I am sure most people will want to tell their stories about the quarantine or the pandemic’s effects on them. Most students that have spoken to me have really gave interest to wanting to study the pandemic’s long-term effects. Nobody truly knows the impact of the virus as we continue to piece together the events occurring, yet I can guarantee that each perspective will matter when historians begin looking into the topic.

HIS 5944 (3/13-3/19/2021)

 

This week saw less interviews than before as we have slightly slowed down in marketing to catch up on the administrative front end. The project exhibits an ebb and flow between processing interviews and conducting them. I interviewed two people with one of them being a professor within an unique department within the University of Central Florida. Prior to my contact, my extent into the University’s wide range of departments was limited to the History Department. Contacting professors in the History Department felt more comfortable to approach as someone that belonged in the department. However, to continue with the integrity of the COVID-19 project, I pitched the idea of collecting perspectives from the vast other departments within UCF. I coined it as the “Noah’s Ark” approach or “arking” it, simply meaning gathering two perspectives, at minimum, to preserve. I confess that this process is slower than simply randomly pulling people, yet it does provide for different perspectives on the effects of COVID.

For example, the Department of History does not rely on being present within a laboratory to conduct experimentations or work that the Department of Engineering may rely on. Our work always can be done at home with a computer, typing our research out, yet we also lean on having primary or secondary sources that the library generously provides. Shutting down the library will not see an effect on the Computer Science Department as it does with the History Department. These perspectives matter in the grand scheme with how people’s attitudes are with the pandemic even drawing aside the differences between students and teachers.

On Monday, I had the pleasure of interviewing the Computer Science Department’s Matthew Gerber who was very pleasing to listen about his reaction to the pandemic. As a teacher, Gerber experienced challenges of switching modality and providing for the education without the advantage of being used to a physical methodology of teaching. Throughout my academic endeavors, it is often difficult to separate the person from the professor as a student. The students only see the professor as a pseudo-boss as someone who gives lectures and grades papers or assignments with a lacking care. However, Gerber’s interview represents a reminder that the professor is a human being with their own troubles within their life. I was happy to hear that his own students cared for him as much as he cared for them and their education.

Gerber’s interview brought up a few questions and future endeavors that I may seem to be interested in. We discussed if there was a difference with education going from a regular society to a pandemic world and such. However, what really was pivotal with this interview was his contacts and suggestions for the project. He named a few professors and some CPEL that would also have a unique perspective of the effects of COVID-19.

I am happy to say that this internship has helped me identify with professors and empathize with them at a different level than as a graduate or undergraduate student. The pandemic has reminded us that deep down we are all human beings attempting to get through the day. I hope that this project can capture that perspective which reveals the more human part that sometimes is difficult to ascertain.

HIS 5944 (3/6-3/12/2021)

 

This week surrounded the continued efforts of marketing towards the Student Government and political centered organizations. The marketing aspect of the project has an endless potential of gathering perspectives that I continue to explore. Student Government and the political organizations on campus sometimes are overlooked due to their seemingly difficult entry to email yet I experienced the opposite of that preconceived notion. The Student Government officers, and officers of these UCF sanctioned clubs were rapid in their response and enthusiasm to contribute to the project. I am thankful that the students and officials in these institutions participated in the project, allowing for a perspective of COVID-19 beyond the average student.

Outside of those aspects of marketing, the professor I was slated to be interviewing needed to reschedule which was slightly disappointing. However, I understand that we are in the mid-spring semester where examinations are still occurring and preparation for spring break is coming up. In the future, I would like more than just this professor and one from the History Department. A marketing team would be a perfect fit for this project if we had an unlimited amount of manpower to garner more attention. Mary informed me on Monday that we would be holding off on the social media post due to the massive influx of interviews this week. Hopefully, we continue to see that trend exhibited by UCF students and faculty.

Last week saw me email the College Democrats and College Republicans for an interview as they were the main popular political RSO (official) UCF clubs on campus. The involvement of these two clubs allows for a researcher or viewer to understand the political side of COVID-19 and the University of Central Florida. Were students active or passive during the quarantine or where they actively campaigning? Questions like that were the initial ones to come to mind along with the 2020 presidential election amidst a pandemic.

However, I was very worried about skewing the project and muddying the intent. Historians often deal with the problem of attempting to be indifferent or seemingly apolitical. However, I have learned most historians mask their political perspectives as best as they can. Obviously, Marxist historians present their political affiliation easier than other historians. For me, I tried to remain impartial to both sides and make sure that the College Dems and College Republicans were given the same questions and emailing both. Only the College Democrats have schedule and given interviews for me to use while the College Republicans have not given me anything. Much like last week, should historians remain politically active within their sphere? It is a difficult debate that seems to be up to the historian themself. Either way, I cannot deny that the political aspect of the pandemic remains absolutely vital in policies enacted by the universities. It is almost inescapable to converse or discuss policies without identifying the political lens. 

The College Democrats' interview helped me reaffirm my confidence in facilitating the discussion of politics with their Vice President and President. They were very professional in making sure that it did not dive too much into the political area and I, sometimes, interjected to keep them within the parameters of the project. However, I discovered a vast amount of information from these interviews. Aspects of students campaigning, making sure that people were following UCF guidelines, and a plethora of information that solidified the potential of these interviews.

This week taught me about the care of handling a controversial topic such as politics within archival and historical work. Politics can be a divisive topic to anyone that may alienate your audience or peers. However, this archival internship has helped me gain more experience in dealing with these subjects and utilize this to further enhance the potential of the project. These perspectives will be very beneficial for those looking back on UCF students’ response to the pandemic within the pandemic.

HIS 5944 (2/27-3/5/2021)

The publication of the interviews given is now available for public viewing which has properly motivated me to continue this project. I am very proud with how they were and, after viewing a few, I decided to incorporate feedback from it into future interviews. I will be posting a link to the STARS link on UCF for any interested to view. To continue the privacy of this blog, Mary Rubin’s interview of me will be the one I link for those interested.

Scott Galloway STARS Interview: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/covid19-memory/3/ 

Marketing Mondays have been working well yet Mary and I realized that the slow stream of interviews may be concerning. Mary noted that she would be working on having a social media post for the project to continue gathering interview participants. I thought that was best for now while I persisted with the professors I emailed. One of them had immediately expressed interest within the Computer Science Department which I am very honored to interview. This will allow the project to further broaden the parameters of our interviewees. A method I came up with last semester was the “ark” method inspired by Noah’s Ark. Two interviewees from a department that will allow the project to properly give representation to UCF’s population. A future endeavor would be considering the majors and departments that the project covers for a proper analysis on representation.

 This week regarding marketing saw me reaching out for participants in RSO’s and Student Government within the university. I successfully reached out to the Student Government President during their tenure between 2020 to 2021 as well as the speaker of the Student Government’s legislative branch. There was one concern that I had thought about which was the RSO’s I have reached out to are rather political in nature. This raises an issue with how they may perceive the interview and if they may alter the course of it. I shared the concern with Mary and was given some advice for interviewing them.

With the “ark” method, we will only be interviewing two of them from the organizations as well as steer the conversation towards the talk about COVID-19 rather than about a political message. It can be quite difficult as COVID-19 seems to already spark talks about politics and policies regarding how the United States and UCF handled the pandemic. However, I am confident that these interviews will show the activism of students attempting to inspire changes within a global pandemic. There seems to always be the risk of the interviewee expressing desire to discuss something that is not in line with the true purpose of the project.

However, this experience will help me become a better interviewer and teach me communication skills to properly realign the conversation. This internship has certainly improved my email and communication skills to properly convey the purpose of the project and advertise for it. While historians or history students usually write for their audiences of like-minded individuals, the true skill of a historian is appealing to the reader and hooking them to either understand or seek further knowledge of a subject. In a way, this is similar with making sure the interviewee continues to understand the purposes of this project.