Portfolio Overview

Projects:

Project 1:

https://twitter.com/RITmuse/status/916377751657107456

Project one I was not sure what to think about but did I enjoy myself. I really enjoyed having to to the research about my topic, I had fun designing the cases, and I really had fun working with our class. My only problem was that I had to work on my own a lot and it was a bit of a scramble for materials at the end. But I am glad I was able to do this project. It really helped me understand what Metadata is and what goes into making an exhibit. Overall it taught us the innerworkings behind exhibits and exhibiting, and introduction to metadata, and to think about the visual setups behind putting together an exhibit.
Project 2:

Omeka.net

Project two was difficult but also fun. Working on Omeka, Drupal, and WordPress was an interesting venture. Overall I ended up liking Omeka and WordPress more because they were a lot more user friendly and easier to navigate. This project helped me better learn Metadata and how it works, How to build a good website both for online exhibitions and information, and helped me explore what is out there to work with.
Project 3:

http://agreenthumbandaproblem.omeka.net/

I think this was my favorite however. It really helped me throw myself into my work during a bad situation and focus on something I really enjoyed. Exploring how to work with Omeka was fun and (incidental learning) I ended up teaching myself some HTML in the process! I got a lot better at metadata by this point as well. This project helped us look into things that were important to us and set it up like an online exhibit. This helped the class prepare for if they had to make an actual online exhibit and how they would do so.

Drupal

I take bad everything bad I ever said or thought about Omeka. Drupal is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I ended up having to learn Drupal in one class period due to certain circumstances, so I wish I was able to have more time to get acquainted with the program. However it was an abrupt start and end to Drupal. I definitely didn’t find this program easy to use or navigate. Also it has a lot of bugs, so often I found myself having to adjust things that should have not been a problem. However on a more positive note when it works the website looks wonderful when it is all put together, the MetaData is compartmentalized in a way where it looks great when finally finished. So overall it was a positive experience and once they find a way to work out all of the bugs I’d be more inclined to use it more in the future.

Cultural Informatics Project One

For Project One of Cultural Informatics, we dove in head first, partnering with the RIT Archives to create not just a catalog of metadata or an online exhibit, but selecting materials for both an online and physical exhibit, designing both exhibits, cataloging the materials for our exhibits, writing exhibit texts, and laying out our physical exhibits (and, if you’re nitpicky like me, planning out your item titles so your online exhibit was arranged the way you wanted).  Now, we didn’t get free reign to pick our topics– we were allowed to choose from a preselected group of RIT related collection from the Archives– and I was somewhat put out to be assigned Milton Pearson (pictured above), who was a photography student in the late 1950s, early 1960s.  But I did my best to work with what I was given and I was very pleased with how my exhibit turned out, despite it not being my first choice.  

But, as it happens, fate has a funny way of coming back around, and I was given the opportunity to design an exhibit on my first choice, the students of 1966, which I titled the “Spirit of ‘66.”  I was even more pleased with this exhibit than with my exhibit on Milton Pearson and I was excited to do it because we finished our exhibits just in time for Brick City Homecoming, and actual students from 1966 were going to be able to see my work on display in the library.  I was equally surprised and excited to learn that Milton Pearson’s son came to Brick City and saw my exhibit, then gifted more of his father’s school-related items to the Archives.  I was happy that he liked my exhibit and wasn’t offended that I chose to focus more on student finances then and now, rather than exclusively on his father.