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.