Tag: story catchers practicum

Story Catchers Practicum: Week 4

This week I mostly worked on the index project. Marsha and I talked and she will be sending me information to catalog over the next month. It was a much faster process since Marsha has been providing me with a short summary, timing of interview and key words. Essentially this new process just requires me to plug the information into the Excel sheet with very few edits. I’ve been trying to make sure all variants of key words are included and that every entry has at least these three key words: Eugene history, Eugene and personal history. The most difficult part is deciding what to put as Organization/Topic, because sometimes there is more than one topic discussed in an interview, but I think it’s important to choose a main theme to be put in the title of the entry. This way people can get a general sense of each interview just be looking at the title. I did have to spend some time editing the older informational sheets, but I suspect that process will be more streamlined from here on out.

I do have some bad news: my audio editing class has been cancelled. This means I will basically have to teach myself. However, I have a friend with some audio software that he promised to let me use. We are meeting up this Thursday and he will show me some basics of the program. Hopefully this will be a good launching point to actually editing a story. My hope is still to edit 2 stories this quarter. Depending on how complicated this editing software is, I think it’s still possible. I’ve been holding off on contacting KLCC till I’ve edited a story. This will have to be a conversation that will continue. Perhaps I will work on editing stories this summer and into next year. Marsha brought up the idea that it might be a good idea to clean up the recordings before archiving them at the library. We’ll have to see when this part of the project can be done.

Story Catchers Practicum: Week 3

This week I listened to the stories that KLCC edited for the radio in order to get a better idea of how I should edit the stories. I was somewhat surprised to hear the interviewer in these stories. I had been imagining cutting out the interviewer in order to weave together a cohesive story. However, KLCC’s pieces were more like short interviews than complete stories. I guess using this style could make the editing process easier, especially since some of the interviewers provide context to the stories or make sounds in the background. This wouldn’t be awkward if I’m editing the stories to be a conversation. However, I still want to try to use my original idea of presenting the audio in one succinct story from the interviewee. This is the style I most appreciate when listening to podcasts and I think it better represents the mission of Story Catchers. However, if this project is to continue, it may be difficult to use this format for all stories. If we want to have a consistent style for all the stories, it may be better to use the conversation format. I will experiment with this in my audio class before coming to a conclusion.

I also officially started the indexing project this week. I got a hold of Nancy from the library who sent me some guidelines for indexing. Marsha and I met to discuss this and decided to put all the basic information in an Excel sheet and send that to the library. I have conferred with Nancy and Marsha and we have decided the basic format and categories of the index. I then spent Saturday typing up information from the written files Marsha gave me. As I’ve told Marsha, that process took longer than I expected because I had to search for information like length of interview or the appropriate keywords. Marsha and I talked about this and we’ve decided that Marsha will type up all the necessary information and send it to me digitally in order to speed up the process. I will be working more on the indexing this weekend and will better be able assess the time necessary for this project with the new system. Depending on this time commitment, I will determine how possible editing multiple stories this term will be. I may be continuing this part of the project into the summer, especially if KLCC is interested. Regardless, we will still meet our goals this term!

Story Catchers Practicum: Week 2

This week I finished listening to all the stories. I really like Ibrahim Hamide’s story, especially the part about his friendship with a Jewish Rabbi and catering the Rabbi’s son’s bat mitzvah. That story alone is great, but it’s fairly short. However, he talks a lot about what it means to be a Muslim, an activist and an immigrant. I think I could weave together those parts to create a well rounded themed story about cultural understanding. I’m still planning to start with Alito’s story because that feels more straightforward. But hopefully once I get more familiar with the editing process, I can tackle a more complicated story arch. Unfortunately, the recording for Ibrahim is very quite. I know there is a possibility to boost the sound with editing software. So, I may be able to fix that, but the interviewer also tended to interrupt Ibrahim or make sounds in the background. So, while the content is great, his story may be hard to edit for radio. I also listened to Scott Barkhurst’s story and while the interview was a great overview of the history of the Very Little Theater, I didn’t hear a good story in there.

I emailed Nancy from the library about the indexing project but I haven’t heard back. If I still haven’t heard back from here by the end of the week, I will try calling her. In the meantime, I’m hoping to start the indexing on my own. It would be helpful to have examples from Nancy on how to categorize the information, but I think I can at least start typing up the info into an Excel sheet. I will begin working on that this upcoming Thursday. I also plan to download Audacity and start playing around with and learning how to use in the following week. I’m not sure at this time how possible it will be for me to have edited my first story by week 5, but I will try to start the editing process in the next few weeks. Since I’ve never done this before, I’m unsure of how long the process will take. I will have to update my timeline once I have a better idea of the time necessary to edit audio.

Story Catchers Practicum: Week 1!

This starts off my first week on the Story Catchers project! Marsha and I met before the term started and discussed the goals for this practicum. My general schedule is to start working on the indexing project next week and continue that throughout the term. I don’t know yet how long the indexing will take, but I definitely plan to have the stories indexed by the end of the term. I will be focusing more on the indexing at the beginning of the term and the editing at the second half since my audio editing class doesn’t start till May. However, I plan to work on my audio editing skills through the Audacity program over the next 4 weeks and attempt to edit one story on my own. This way I will be able to perfect that story with the knowledge I gain from class and use it as an example for KLCC. This will also allow me the time to edit at least 2 stories this term. The schedule for these projects will develop overtime, but for now that is my general timeline.

This week I listened to most of the stories Marsha gave me. I still have to listen to Ibraham Hamide and Scott Barkhurst, which I will be doing this week. So far, my favorite stories are from Alito Alessi and Minalee Saks. Alito’s interview has so many amazing stories in it that it’s going to be hard to edit down, but I think that may be the story I start off with. I was originally excited about Nikos Ridge’s story because I am a fan of Ninkasi, but I found that most of the interview was centered around the beer making and felt very promotional for Ninkaski. I think it would be difficult to create a good personal story out of that interview. On the other hand, Minalee talked a lot about her Birth to Three organization, but in a way that discussed the Eugene community and the importance of building support systems for parents with young children. I also liked Fern Jacobson story, especially her experiences as a woman in the military, but I didn’t find any stories in her interview that could provide a good 5 minute story arc. Her interview was more of an overview of her life than an in-depth discussion. But perhaps I can edit together a 5 minute story focused on the theme of women in the military, although that part isn’t based in Eugene. I don’t know if the stories should represent Eugene or the people of Eugene. Can I share a story about Fern’s experience in Washington DC and still call it “The Face of Eugene?” This will have to be something I discuss with Marsha and KLCC (when the time comes). Now to start working on the indexing project!