Week 8: Transcriptions

 Hello everyone, welcome to week 8 of this lovely semester.

The Veterans History Project had the opportunity of being visited by guest speaker Brendan O'Connor to share about the history of the Orlando Army Air Base, as well as his work as a content creator. He is deeply invested in Orlando history projects, and it was enlightening to hear from him the behind the scenes processes that one must undergo to bring projects like his recent Reflections Magazine article, "Baldwin Park in Orlando". As always, my peers in the Public History Center had engaging and insightful questions, and some even work on similar curation projects. 

On Monday, Jayden Flores, my team lead, provided 3 batches of interviews to begin working on. Myself and my peer Matthew Fedewa, who joined the internship slightly delayed and at the same time as me (due to some last minute scheduling issues), have been tasked with looking over 3 interviews each and assuring that they have all of the necessary documentation. The AV logs, abstracts, and transcripts must be accurate and complete, and it is our job to double check the work of those who had previously handled the interviews and the related documentation. So far, I have encountered no errors or inaccuracies, however the transcripts are quite long, so it may take some time to fully pour over them. My peers have done great work with the documentation thus far, and I'm happy to "proof-read" the work to assure the quality of their efforts.

For the interview with William Smith, I am nearly finished with the transcription. I feel as though my pacing on this particular project could have been better, as it has taken me a total of three weeks to reach the final phase in the documentation process. The AV log and abstract were quite quick to complete, but I certainly underestimated the quantity of time necessary to ensure accuracy in my transcription. I have not previously had the opportunity to transcribe any audio or video material, so there was a definite learning curve. However, once I am finished with proof-reading my transcript, which I hope to have accomplished before Monday, I believe I will be proud to submit my work and have it checked over. I'm excited for whatever interview batches I will be working with next, and I hope to accomplish much more in what remains of my time left in this internship, as the semester approaches an end.

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