The Unknown
Like a child in the dark, we’re all frightened from
time to time. I had always assumed that over time, fear would fade to be
replaced by a dignified bravery. Repeatedly, Dr. Cox’s class has taught me
otherwise.
Entering this semester, I could not have been more
terrified. As a post-bac student, I didn’t know what to expect. I applied for
the class, History in the Digital Age, knowing only that digital history had something to do with computers
and something to do with history. Put bluntly, I felt inadequate. Unfamiliar
with graduate school, I could only take solace in the fact that Dr. Cox had
allowed me entry to her class. Upon entering the room, all of my fears were
realized. “Wow, I’m unqualified.”
Alas, my good fortune is incomparable. Aside from my
initial jitters, my fears were unfounded. During the first class, we met each
other and I was quick to realize that I was not looked down upon; in fact, my
experience was quite the opposite. As much as the class was a subject of my
curiosity, I was met with genuine interest. Rather than being disregarded, I
quickly was made to feel an equal.
As the class drew to an end, Dr. Cox initiated the
group selection process. I was blessed to have an interest in music, a topic
which caught the attention of three great people: Tina Wright, Reggie Rucker,
and Anna Boyer. Between the four of us, a quick chemistry developed. Thus, my
journey through HIST 6330 began.
The Project
The assignment was seemingly impossible. Chronicle
Charlotte’s musical history and display the findings in an online exhibit. With
haste, the group met to discuss the assignment. Initially, the project appeared
implacable.
Our first sojourn to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg
library brought little success. As we listlessly perused the contents of the
Carolina Room, progress was little more than meaningless babble. As our time at
the library drew to an end, we finally found traction. We discussed the topic
and, by and large, agreed that a chronological representation of different
mediums (venue, sheet music, recordings, etc.) would offer some continuity. We
left that meeting with happy hearts. Ignorant to the long road ahead, I
celebrated the small success.
We soon developed a mission statement. Having
realized that selecting specific mediums, in reality, offered NO opportunity for continuity,
a change was in order. We decided that if we each focused on a specific set of
venues, defined temporally, we could adequately represent Charlotte’s music
scene. Without burdening you with the thick details, our goals were as follows:
utilize Venue as a structure by which to explore the diversity of musical
culture in Charlotte. The aim was to show the change in culture over time and to
understand the motivating factors for the change.
Each of us chose responsibility based on our specific
skill sets, but I chose to be the web-master. Having once designed a website in
Dreamweaver, I was not confident at all pretty confident in my ability to
confront this task. Having a personal stake in the North Carolina music scene, I
thought it only proper that I take on the Contemporary Music Venues section. I
wanted to present the modern venues in Charlotte as part of a grander culture in
Charlotte. I assumed with my connections within the rock, metal, and jazz
scenes, I would have a respectively easy time forming an exhibit based on these
subjects. In the end, my personal familiarity with the subject has served me
little and less.
Crouching Tiger or Hidden Dragon (either way, we
amount to dinner)
In a project such as this, the standard problems of
History are only compounded by the mystifying enigma that is computing.
Ideas about how to accomplish our goals were informed by what we had seen on
different Omeka sites, such as the Silver Age Comics webpage hosted by the Atkins Library.
That website is immaculate.definitions 2 - 3 The layout, the colors,
the information… it so beautifully presented. The Silver Age Comics
website is easily navigable, but incorporates all of the (for lack of a better term) cool features that would excite computer nerds. The website instilled, within me, what could
only be termed as a “delusion of grandeur.” After viewing the website, it was
only natural to assume that we had an equal opportunity for success; after all,
we were using the same web host/creation engine: Omeka.
As fate would have it, this was not the case. The
Silver Age Comics website was not only developed by professionals, but utilized
the full (and expensive) version of Omeka. Early in the class we had great
expectations. We planned on using many plugins (to which, we
would find, we had no access.) In our group contract we cite Contributions and Dropbox, which would allow users to upload their
own content and Neatline, a timeline which incorporated mapping to offer our users both spatial
and temporal coordinates for their viewing pleasure.
Instead, to accomplish our goals, the only tools we had were hard work, ingenuity, and cumbersome web building software.
Instead, to accomplish our goals, the only tools we had were hard work, ingenuity, and cumbersome web building software.
Coping with the absence of our expected materials has
been far more informing than I could have imagined Part of life is adapting, and that’s
exactly what we have done. We realized that certain materials, such as videos, are
un-applicable. Omeka has strict rules which preclude the embedding of any fancy moving
pictures video files. The neat organization which we so desired would be forgone for
function. As a group, we decided that any video would be linked off site. Much
the same, we decided against trying to impart any visitor participation. Without
the Dropbox or Contributions plugins, any contribution would have to be our own.
More interesting, however, is how we adjusted to the
absence of the aforementioned Neatline feature. Reggie first suggested that he would develop an individual
timeline. We thought that was great, even if it isn’t interactive, a timeline
offers a sense of continuity which is somewhat hard to obtain within the bounds
of our available materials. Following Reggie’s lead, I decided I would design a
map. Initially, I intended to embed a Google Map with all of
the information from the website, but instead resolved to host the map off cite
and create a simple picture which redirects the user to the interactive map.
Another issue I was forced to confront was the
banner. While it seems a modest imposition, designing a banner for a website is
challenging work. At first I resolved to pay a friend to complete the banner,
however, my friends are less than reliable. As time went on, I was resolved to
design my own banner. I downloaded an image editing program, GIMP, which is both free, and rivals Photoshop in terms of its capabilities... plus, its free...
After hours of reading forums, cussing,crying, and sweating, I created THE GREATEST BANNER OF ALL TIME.
After hours of reading forums, cussing,
As the website is, it reflects a massive change in
the social stratification and culture of Charlotte. Tina’s section, Charlotte’s
Early Music Venues, offers a good overview of some of the more traditional
venues of music, but also sets the stage for later festivals and venues. Her
work represents a majority of white performers. Specifically, her piece on
festivals informed my section on the Jazz Charlotte festival. Reggie’s section
on Black Music venues shows the dynamic changes in racial acceptance; many of my
venues are host to multiracial performers. Anna’s section on WBT also informs
mine, as radio has been a great area which modern venues have used to advertise.
Really, this has been an exercise in lateral
thinking. Building a website was never my intention in signing up for this
class; but the challenge really offered me the opportunity to explore unfamiliar
territory. At first this project, this class, and this setting were all
frightening; but from this fear, creativity and perseverance met to create a true historical tool.