Week 5: Exploration

Greetings all, and welcome to the fifth week of this fall semester! Now that the trials of the first month are out of the way, my focus lies with accurately cataloging the interviews selected by my project manager. This multi-step process was thoroughly explained during our zoom meetings, and my team lead Jayden Flores put together a concise guide detailing each document, file, and action needed to complete the process. With each interview there is an audio recording, a text transcription of the discussion, and often an mp4 formatted video. My task this week has been to help sort and complete the logs of information about one particular interview with William Smith, including information regarding the participant himself, so that any specific topics may be easily found and referenced as needed. 

Thus far I have completed work for an AV log and an abstract of the interview, though this is only a portion of the records needed. The AV (audio-visual) log provides metadata, contact information, and time stamps related to the interview and interviewee. The time stamps provide a quick look at every topic covered throughout the interview in a concise and thorough manner, that allows the researcher, or whoever may be accessing the file, to find exactly what they're looking for without having to watch or listen to the interview in its entirety. It is essential in making for a speedy find of relevant information. The abstract, similarly, also covers the topics mentioned in the interview, but in a short blurb of a summary that also includes biographical information of the interviewee, lists the interviewer, and the time and place of the interview itself. 

The interview with William Smith was conducted this last semester (Spring of 2025) by Madison Love, someone who's work I have already had the opportunity to look over, as her blog posts from her internship have served as wonderful exhibits of the tasks to be undertaken and the skills one can hope to amass throughout this course. Her interview was polite, professional, and allowed the veteran interviewee to freely share his experiences as an army service member without judgement or partiality. I look forward to exploring the many other interviews we have to catalog, and to hear the other experiences of veterans first hand from other talented interviewers.

This upcoming week, the history center will be taking a field trip to the Orlando Regional History Center, where we will have the opportunity to ask the curators and archivists about their behind-the-scenes work and take in any advice they have to offer given their expertise. Hopefully I will have plenty to say about this trip in my next post, and I'm certain there will be plenty to update regarding the work at the VHP as well!

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