Monthly Archives: December 2014

再见 Signing Off

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By Autumn R. Neal

The semester is over and I am graduating later this week. That doesn’t mean that I am done with the Edgar Snow Project, though. A couple months ago I applied to the History M.A. program here at UMKC and was accepted last week so needless to say I’ll be around for a while. There are a few things other big things going on here in the early spring so I believe that the site will officially launch in March. I have a couple things to finish up before then, like perfecting the video because I am a perfectionist, but can work on those over the winter break. The thing about this site is that since I’ve been working with it for so long I don’t feel like I should walk away just because my internship is over and my grade will be posted. I’m more concerned with completing it and putting out the best product possible. It’s an actual thing I made and pretty much my first “career” experience. I know that I can talk about everything I learned on this project on my resume and in interviews. I’m proud of it. Keep an eye out because I’m sure you’ll hear more about the site very soon.

Give the People What They Want

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By Autumn R. Neal

The one thing I love about education is that no matter what subject you are studying you’re learning about other disciplines at the same time. That’s something I have enjoyed most about this project. I don’t feel like I’m only working on something in history. In the last two semesters, I have learned about and worked with Photoshop, various social media platforms, HTML, and video programs. I’ve already talked about how Photoshop and HTML have changed the way I look at my work but now let’s talk about this video. The video is supposed to be like a commercial with a voice over. It is meant to present information in a certain way that will grab the viewer’s attention, hook them, and make them want to go further into the website. I’ve had to think about what a viewer might want to see. So now I feel like I’m working in marketing. It’s difficult trying to imagine something from a prospective viewer’s point of view. I keep trying to think of what I would want to see if I were browsing the Internet and came across a website like this. What would I want to see in an introduction video? What would hook me and make me want to go look at the site? At the same time, I’m also trying to imagine what might bore me and drive me away. It’s like an episode of Mad Men. Maybe I should invest in some cigars.

HTML

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By Autumn R. Neal

One of the most entertaining parts of put the Edgar Snow Project together was working with HTML. Before the course last semester, I didn’t know anything about HTML and had no idea what all those weird symbols are that show up when you copy text (e.g. Ben & Jerry’s). It seems like it would be really difficult to learn but understanding the basics and learning enough to format some text was a fairly easy and fun process. However, I wouldn’t know the first thing about building a site from scratch so I have a ton of respect for anyone who knows how to do that.

HTML

HTML With Slugs (Click Me!)

HTML

Text with Highlighted Links (Click Me!)

For the Edgar Snow Project, the main task that involved HTML was linking each exhibit item (or record) with its corresponding word or phrase within the main text. As you move through the site, keywords are highlighted and when you click on them, you’ll be moved to a certain area on the map and a box will open that contains a photo, document, or excerpt. I may be giving away some secrets here but each item has an associated keyword, or slug and this needs to be inserted into the text HTML. The keyword and the select words in the paragraph would look something like this <span data-neatline-slug=”keyword”>words in paragraph</span>. With about 65 items, it got confusing at times trying to keep the map locations and slugs organized but with the power of multiple browser windows I think it turned out well.

Narration and Music

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By Autumn R. Neal

The introduction video to the Edgar Snow Project was always meant to have narration and I knew from the beginning that I did not want to record the audio myself. It would be awkward hearing your own voice over and over as you’re trying to perfectly edit an audio track. Initially, I thought I’d ask one of my classmates to record it until I had a groundbreaking idea. Actually, it wasn’t groundbreaking and I should have thought of it long before I did. My good friend, Erika Baker, is a theatre actress in local Kansas City theatre so I asked if I could hire her in exchange for some baked goods. I already had some audio editing software and an external microphone so she came over and after a couple practice runs we had a nice audio track.

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In reality, we had some technical difficulties and, in the end, recorded one long track full of errors and laughter which I edited out later. I’ve been working on layering the voice and music tracks and attempting to artfully match them up with the scrolling photos. Over the past few weeks, I had tried to have a couple other people record the audio but it didn’t work out. Throughout those attempts though, I learned that a lot of people in their mid-twenties do not know who Mao Zedong is and don’t know how to pronounce his name. Granted, they weren’t history majors, but I think he’s a pretty important historical figure. Is this an example of why we need public history?

Music and Copyright

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By Autumn R. Neal

I thought the Edgar Snow Project intro video would be more interesting with an audio track of traditional or semi-traditional Chinese music so I’ve been looking for some recently. In Digital History last semester we learned that you can’t use just any audio track even if you give the author credit. I’ll try to explain it, but I am not an expert in this area so bear with me. The majority of music, photos, films, and any other created products are under copyright. If you want to use them you have to purchase a license which can cost a ton of money.

Foto3Foto4However, there is an organization called Creative Commons which allows people to create and share their digital products under their own terms. Some of these items can’t be used for commercial means unless you purchase a license, but some can be used as long as you don’t build upon them (using audio in a video with scrolling images would be considered building upon them) and others can be used, edited, and built upon in any way as long as you credit the original author. There are a lot of sites with CC music, but you’ll have to sort through a lot of tracks in search of the perfect one. If you’re interested in reading more about copyright, check out my blog post “No One Can Do to Disney, Inc. What Walt Disney Did to the Brothers Grimm”.

Condensing Text

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By Autumn R. Neal

When I submitted the final text for the Edgar Snow Project, I realized that I had not written about the exhibit items and how they would fit within the main text. I mentioned before that each item on the map would be linked to a word within the text. When we began the site last semester, each of us covered different years of Snow’s life so, naturally, there was some overlap between them. One challenge in this was figuring out where to place exhibit items in the rewritten text, especially where the years overlapped. I also wanted to make sure to highlight some of the most important events in Snow’s life which were listed in a pamphlet from the Missouri State Historical Society. If it sounds confusing right now, believe me, it was even more confusing trying to sort it out in my head. My solution to this was to print out the entire, unedited text from all five sections and come up with a system for keeping everything straight.

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These are two of the ten pages I worked through.

The blue words represent the significant points in Edgar Snow’s life from the pamphlet mentioned earlier and the pink words represent website links that were in the original sections. I also wrote notes on how to rewrite the text and included some info on the “slugs” for the HTML (which I’ll talk about soon). I know it looks like a confusing mess, but it made perfect sense to me, somehow. In the end, I had over ten printed pages which had multiple colors and notes. This is a perfect example of how something that looks so chaotic could actually be very organized and, if we are going by this article, my messy work habits might have some benefits. Maybe.

Map Room Continued

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By Chad King

During the past few weeks, I have been doing ongoing work with the Truman Map Room collection. This is a collection of great significance, since it encompasses critical correspondence between the allied leaders and their aides. During WWII, this information was top secret and it was not declassified for researchers until 1976. The collection is extensive – over 8 linear feet – and details Truman’s plans to end the war in Japan, along with working with Stalin and Churchill to end the war in the East. This portion of the collection deals with the personal communication of the “big three” leaders. Communication ranged from serious issues dealing with the war, to personal notes of kindness. Once online, researchers will have a vast amount of material to examine dealing with the end of World War II.

History of the Map Room

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By Chad King

This week I am still working on the Map Room materials. The correspondence between the U.S. and the allied powers is fascinating, and I feel as though I am a fly on the wall getting to see their plans on ending the war in Germany and later Japan. As I was scanning the documents, I became interested in the history of the Map Room and inquired as to how the room got its name. The room is located on the east side of the White House in the lower level. The room was originally a recreational room for the First Family and was later turned into a billiard room during the late nineteenth century. During the administration of Franklin Roosevelt it was turned into a situation room for Roosevelt and his aides to examine and exchange sensitive war communication. Here they would post and examine maps to chart the war’s progress and that’s how the room received its name. It has now been remade into a personal room for the president and his family. More info can be found here.

Potsdam Papers

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By Chad King

I am now in the process of scanning the navy portion of the Map Room papers. A large portion of this collection contains the minutes and proceedings of the Potsdam Conference. Early on as a student, I was fully aware of the importance and significance of the conference and the world it created after the war, but examining these first-hand documents shed more light on the major historical event. In the meeting minutes, one can see the tensions beginning to surface between the U.S. and the Soviet Union over the fate of the occupied territories. It was evident after reading these documents that the Cold War was beginning to crystallize. Just by spending an afternoon working with the documents and reading them, I now have a clearer understanding of the issues dealt with at the conference and I believe researchers will feel the same way. MaproomPostdam

Margaret Truman Papers

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By Chad King

This week I am working with the Margaret Truman Papers. This portion of her papers has not been opened to the public yet, and my role is to help organize them and mark each document with the Truman Library stamp. During the brief time I have been working with this collection, I have been awestruck with how she literally saved every letter (good and bad) that she received, along with invitations, cards and news clippings. Once this portion of the collection is open, it will assuredly be a valuable resource for researchers. Information on the open Margaret Truman Papers can be found here.