Thus far, I’ve most enjoyed my discussions with my mentor, and by extension, his colleagues at the Veterans History Project (VHP). I say “our” because he says it, and I’m pleased with that. I remember your statement, Jennifer, that the folks who get the most out of their DH projects tend to be the ones who enjoyed the most freedom and therefore bore the most responsibility for their work. Well I have no fear of Brendan stripping me of responsibility for the Story Map I’ve been charged with creating about Native American veterans since World War I. Our frequent phone calls reassure me that this project matters to him, and to a lesser but still notable extent, the VHP more generally. It’s an important moment for Native American veterans, with the National Museum of the American Indian having just unveiled a new statue commemorating Indians’ service in the armed forces. So Brendan and his boss recognize that it’s a great time to attract the press and Members of Congress to the VHP’s living collection on the same issue. Aside from his genuine interest in the project’s success, Brendan is bright, he’s interested in Story Maps, and he’s friendly–open to suggestions and committed to regular communication.
One benefit of these conversations is how much they’ve taught me about the VHP as an institution torn between its mandate to share its collections via all possible media, and a host of limitations–most notably on what media can be included on VHP sites (only in-house, already digitized material), on how quickly new media can be approved for digitization, then digitized, and finally, on the site’s own infrastructure. To be reminded what the web looked like circa 2002, visit https://www.loc.gov/vets/. While Brendan has told me plenty about these inner workings, the most revealing conversation came when we spoke with four of his colleagues via Zoom about their experience with Story Maps. The most useful piece of advice that I heard came from a VHP archivist who had made her own Story Map the year before, about race in the armed forces, by way of a single Black veteran’s experiences over several decades. The problem, she discovered, was that the soldier’s collection contained little visual material. Since materials from beyond VHP collections were not permitted, not to mention the Project’s own digitized video interviews with veterans, she was left to build a text-heavy page on a platform designed for splashy graphics. The message of the Zoom teach-in was clear: select individuals for your Map whose already-digitized collections contain a lot more than interviews. And above all else, look for images.
So this is what I’ve enjoyed the most over my first 30 hours: the conversations with folks who have used the apps and platforms of the moment, and can help me cut corners. That’s what I enrolled in this program hoping to achieve.
Going forward, my best bet for “creating more positive experiences like these,” to quote the prompt for Post 2, is to keep in contact with these people. And in order to do so, I need to have either something to show them, or specific hands-on questions to ask them. This will be my subject in Post 3: the work that’s underway, and the skills it exercises.
For now, I’ll say that my work style preferences on Story Maps have yet to take shape. This is my goal for the coming month: advance from sifting through collections to getting my hands dirty on the platform. Only then will I be able to return for more tips.
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