HIS 5944 (4/16-4/23/2021)

 This week I began to compile a list of the people that we have interviewed to assure that we cover as many perspectives on the pandemic within the college as possible. When discussing the project’s parameters early on, I wanted to use the “ark” system with compiling two perspectives from each respective college or group. For example, we wanted to have a minimum of two History students or faculty perspectives to not overwhelm the project with only History majors. In addition, the project was concerned with only garnering responses from males, so it was important that we did not interview repetitive subjects. These parameters made that aspect a priority going forward as I believe that the interviews we have could be improved upon with further perspectives.

Prioritization has been a unique skill to learn through the internship both with the work I need to do and the interviews I conduct. Certain individuals may seem more important to contributing to the purposes of this project more than others. I believed that everyone has a voice to be heard in these times, yet we must remember that everyone experienced it differently or suffered in different ways. In addition, I will confess that marketing has become a focus for me lately yet the timeframe of the end of the Spring semester has slightly hindered the process. Most students or professors remain focused on the end of the semester with examinations which has given them less time to give interviews. Perhaps during the May and Summer semester, students and professors may be more open to giving interviews due to the break usually taken.

Conducting the list helped validate my contribution as our interviews grew from 2020 towards a wider range. When I was given the project, I only saw six interviews given from the contributions from Dr. Murphree’s Professionalization Class. Upon creating this Excel sheet, the project encompasses roughly fifty interviews. This achievement was a collective effort with the Library’s Special Collections and University Archives helping the process. I cannot take credit that these interviews rose due to my expertise and am grateful that, as a team, we were able to have an improvement in the quantity while maintaining the quality of these interviews.

As I reach the end of the semester with this internship, it has taught me much about Oral History and conducting interviews. In some part, I feel more confident in giving oral histories about events that remain fresh in the interviewees’ minds. Knowing what questions to ask or reading the room only comes from experience instead of the typical book experience. How to market yourself and the project to others who could provide a unique perspective on an event is important and a worthwhile skill to learn.

I would like to thank Mary Rubin, Dr. Scot French, and everyone involved in the COVID-19 project that has helped me understand more about the effects of the pandemic on UCF. I believe that future researchers will be interested in getting a social history of the effects within Orlando.