A Touch of Professional Development

On Monday, October 18, 2010, I was able to attend the Southwestern Ontario Past Perfect User Group Fall Conference 2010. The meeting was held at the Dufferin County Museum and Archives, which is a very beautiful and well-funded institution out in the middle of the Ontario countryside, just between the small towns of Shelburne and Alliston.

I was pleasantly surprised by the number of representatives at the meeting. There were staff members from Huron county, Bruce county, Guelph, the Canadian Air and Space Museum, etc, and it was really great to be able to get out and meet working museum professionals from other parts of Ontario.

Many of these people had been using the Past Perfect database for close to seven years (!) and really knew how to use the software effectively and to its fullest potential. This was especially mind-blowing for me, since both institutions I've been working in have mainly consisted of me and a few other colleagues trying to fumble our way through establishing a basic cataloging system. The prospects of using this software to keep track of donations or to put our exhibits online were so far from my mind that I'd more or less forgotten those options even existed!

With that said, many of the topics that were discussed did not really "apply to me" necessarily. For example, many institutions that had been working with Version 4 were just getting acquainted with Version 5 - though I think it was really good to see all of the upgrades and new features of the most recent version and how these changes were introduced to make the software more efficient I got to see how making "lists" can be used for a variety of different functions. Another neat feature is the option to put a slideshow of your own collections images on the main menu of the program!

Other topics that were discussed included security settings, assigning function keys, backing up data and putting your collections online. On that last topic, I really wished that the collections I'm working with were at the stage where we could put them on the internet for everyone to see. Our cataloguing system is just not quite there yet. But I learned about the different options for putting collections online: hosting your own website, using Past Perfect online for a fee, or exporting data to Artefacts Canada. I had never been exposed to this website before, but lots of institutions have put their collections up there for cyberspace to browse!

Another important topic that we discussed was Past Perfect Training. Bruce County was wondering what the best way would be to train their entire staff. The best methods were the online options. The online training is done live, giving users a chance to interact directly with the instructor. In addition, being connected with this Southwestern Ontario Past Perfect Users Group is an excellent resource in itself. Chances are, any glitch that we come up against, someone else has seen it and fixed it in the past. Who says history professionals aren't team players?!

So, how can I use what I've learned at this conference to help out smaller museums that are just warming up to the software? Well, with Banting House in particular, first and foremost, there needs to be someone else besides ME who is a) helping to catalog the collection and b) is trained on Past Perfect. I think that there really should be one big group training seminar so that all of our volunteers on board can work toward bringing the catalog up to date. It's not the most exciting work and most of the time, our volunteers are busy with public tours, the gift shop, and special events - those things quite rightly take priority. Unfortunately, in places that are understaffed yet always have a lot going on, cataloging is the first thing to be put on the back burner - but in that case, you only fall farther and farther behind with regards to maintaining accurate records.

Hm. This is frustrating. This is a frustrating cycle.

I really do feel that I've gained quite a bit from participating in this User Group and attending the Fall 2010 Conference. Thanks, all - if you're reading. :)

It Would Appear I've Dropped the Ball...

...but who says I can't pick it up again?

Many many things have happened since I last updated at the beginning of August. Part of me wishes I could erase the time between. Those were simpler times.

Anyway, my internship officially ended on August 20, 2010. I handed in a 20pg report of things I had learned and spouted on and on about how fantastic my program and co-workers were. I sat through a debriefing meeting with my boss and my supervisor. My strengths and weaknesses were really closely examined, which I really appreciate.

I've discovered a few things about myself and where I fit in to the professional world through the whole process. For one thing, I have a severe attention deficit (!!!!). I really need to work for someone who is firm and gives deadlines and specific instructions. But at the same time, this means that I'm really good with project management, seeing the larger picture, and getting ideas off the ground.

Anyway, since then, I've definitely not been out of the public history scene altogether. I'm still volunteering a few days a week at Banting House and I'm still gathering hours at the JP Metras Sports Museum. I figured that there's no reason I shouldn't be trying to take full advantage of the learning experience and resume building that these institutions have to offer me while I'm still here.

Speaking of which, I'm not in Canada for too much longer at all (one month today!). I've been keeping busy with work, but trying to balance that with soaking up as much of Ontario as I possibly can before moving back to the far-away land of New York.

As I mentioned in my last post, Banting House has been buzzing, as we've been preparing for the 90th Anniversary of Banting's idea for insulin. We are celebrating with a sculpture unveiling and a "soft opening" of our latest exhibit "Stamping out Diabetes," which is really a history of diabetes that explores what it would have been like being diagnosed before, during, and after the discovery of insulin and even includes the lastest in diabetes research! Our curator is invisioning something wonderful, and no doubt, it will look fantastic in the end. I'm really glad to be witnessing the process of writing and designing a nationally significant exhibit. I also gave a group tour for the first time since June. Collections management has certainly been my most extensive area of experience, so I tend to get stuck in the basement quite frequently. Anyway, I had a rather large group of "gifted" grade 8 students.

Those types of experience don't make my choice between teaching and museums any easier....

I guess now is as good a time as any to admit that I don't really have any plans for when I go back to the states. That's the most frequently asked question as graduation approaches - "what are you going to do now?"

I don't know! I know that they say you really shouldn't expect a job to fall into your lap, that finding a job is a full time job, etc....My only game plan at this point is to make sure that every company that would even consider hiring me has my resume and then to just continue on with what I'm doing - volunteering and gaining work experience. Something will come up. Substitute teaching, contract work - those types of jobs have potential to become full-time, secure positions.

Am I worried that it will never happen for me?

No. My general answer to that question is always no.

Weeks 7-10: The Overcast of a Fundraising Event

After another delightful two week vacation, I'm back to finish the final stretch of my internship at Banting House. I'm experiencing several emotions at the moment, but at the front of my mind is how I am going to reflect upon this entire summer and make myself sound accomplished for my 15-20 page final paper. There are several projects that I set out to accomplish that I have not finished, some that were never even started - but at the same time, there are some projects that grew very organically as I grew into the position. So that's all okay, I suppose.

Even this blog was not kept up the way I had intended. Let me explain the reason why I have not updated in over a month:

Banting and Friends II.

This fundraising event turned our office absolutely upside down - in a brilliant and exciting sort of way that really turned out to be worth it in the end. It was an experience unlike any other that I've had before in a professional setting. Two months ago, I had no idea...how would one even go about planning a special event of this magnitude? How many details are there to consider? How much money can we spend? How will it all physically come together? How in the world do we get people to come?

To someone who's a rookie in this sort of work, the past month was chaotic and overwhelming - but I learned SO much! It was especially helpful to experience how the office really worked as a team to pull everything together. I got to see the role of the advisory committee - the process of problem-solving and coming to a consensus and how important it is for members of the community to be involved. Once more, I got to see the curator of a small museum wear many many hats, as he was responsible for everything from tent assembly to opening remarks.

The two day event was such a success. It felt really good to know that we had created something from nothing and to watch people enjoy something that we had worked so hard for. The artists who were showcasing their work were wonderfully talented people. The chefs from Braise Food and Wine put out a delicious spread and were so much fun. All of our generous sponsors - the event just flowed so naturally and we couldn't have done it without these people.

Of course, our Saturday public event was cut a bit short due to the blackest clouds I've ever seen and lightning and some of that wet stuff from the sky. That day, I had a lesson in improvising and coordinating a plan in a matter of seconds. It's not that we hadn't considered bad weather - we just planned on good weather! Everything that we had constructed over the course of two days was taken down in about...ten minutes. We moved the artwork into the museum galleries and finished out the day! Magic.

It was really awesome to see that event take shape and to see people from the community come out and support their local artists and local heritage. It's reassuring to know that the work I'm doing is really appreciated by the public. These next two weeks, I'll definitely put the focus back on my projects that I had outlined in my workplan - but if there's one thing I've learned, that's not how the real world works. Things come up and interrupt your plan - that must be embraced.

Not to mention - September is Doors Open season, October is the 90th anniversary of insulin, and November is Diabetes Awareness month! Never a dull moment...

Week 6 - Midway Thoughts

Ok - while it's true that I've been at Banting House a lot longer than six weeks, I really can't believe my internship is officially halfway through! We're actually having our Public History program reunion tomorrow afternoon. Has it really been over two months since I've seen some of these people?! The transition from student to professional does remarkable things to a person. A PROESSIONAL?! Is that really what I am now? Soon I'll have the business cards to prove it... :o)



In other related news, I have started putting hours in at the J.P. Metras Museum again. Summer projects include mostly a continuation of what our class was working on last semester - cataloging using the Past Perfect software. Hopefully, this skill will make me marketable in the future - because it's an awful lot of data entry - but this is how one gets her foot in the door in this field, no? Hopefully between Jordan and myself, we'll be able to get through the photograph collection and the artifacts that are on display already in Alumni Hall. This may be a completely unrealistic goal, but it's what we're working on. It will be interesting to see how much we can actually accomplish - and also pretty neat, since I have been working with this collection since September and I've been able to actually see what the application of our craft can do in terms of organization and accessiblity.

We had some pretty high pressure tours through Banting House this week. The regional directors of the CDA came for a visit and naturally, the curator was out for the day at a meeting, leaving me as the hostess. There have been quite a few occassions where CDA officers and staff come to Banting House for an official meeting place - it only makes sense that they return to where it all began, eh? They all tend to generally be in awe of the museum (and a little bit jealous that they don't get to have their offices in the actual birthplace of insulin) and leave with a feeling of inspiration and purpose. I think the tour went well.

One of the goals I have for my time here is to integrate more of a diabetes education into the museum tour. The first step is, of course, better training our tour guides and museum volunteers on the topic. When visitors ask questions in museums, they are usually about topics in which they have some sort of prior knowledge. At this particular museum, which is owned by a health charity, people are going to come in with their own opinions and sense of curiosity about diabetes - things they've grown up hearing, trying to relate to that one person they know who has diabetes. Now, while the museum staff is not there to provide health counseling, I personally don't feel right about not being able to answer questions about the disease that is central to the story of this house - I mean, that's why Banting House is here, isn't it? Other than the obvious historical value of the man and the story and the discovery, there is a flame burning outside our museum that really truly means something to a lot of people.

Anyway, I'm taking steps to further educate myself, at the very least.


Another noteworthy opportunity I had this week was to edit The Isletin, our quarterly newsletter. In addition to seeing my own article included as the first story, I got to observe what kinds of topics and stories go into a newsletter and I got to break down the strategy used by museums through the use of something like a newsletter. I got the sense that our target audience was made up of reliable donors - the people that sit on committees and are involved in events and promote the institution in the community - our members. There was a whole lot of "Get Involved" vibes that were radiating from this newsletter. I feel better prepared to put together or manage a newsletter in the future...

That's just another part of my buffet-style learning experience here!

Weeks 3 and 4 at Banting House - with a tiny Irish Interruption

It is occurring to me at the moment just how lucky I am to know exactly what inspires me and to have the opportunities in several areas of my life to engage with those things. I'm not just having an emotional moment - it's entirely true. Let me explain.

I spent Week 3 of my internship plugging away on my current projects - not a lot of tours through the museum- which is okay because everyone at the office was getting excited for Victoria Day weekend plans.

Me - I was trying to mentally prepare for the adventure of a lifetime. I crossed over the lines of tourism and took up the role of "tourist" on a week long journey through Ireland with the incredibly talented band, Enter the Haggis and several of their closest friends, family, and fans. Now, if you've read up about me, you'll know that this was certainly not my first time traveling(it's one of my deepest passions), but this trip was so very unique for several reasons - and it was certainly the first time I ever REALLY felt like a "tourist" - in a good way!

First of all, I've never had the opportunity to take official tours or pay for tour guides, etc. All of my previous travels have consisted of sketchy hostels, a diet of bread and jam, and marveling at the sites from the outside. This time, I was traveling with a tour group on a trip that was planned out thoroughly by a travel agency. Everyday, we got on the tour bus and were whisked away to some scenic area of the Emerald Isle, oohing and ahhing and snapping thousands of photographs.

Perhaps my favorite part of traveling with Hammond Tours was our fantastic tour guide, John. Not only was he so adorable and charming that I wanted to take him home with me in my pocket - but the man knew EVERYTHING about his country. Being a tour guide myself, I was deeply impressed (and appreciated every word he had to say). I can honestly say I picked up some good tips from him - simple things, like the use of humor, and realizing that people are more comfortable around someone who's going to make a tour personal and fun. I really think I learned more than the average tourist on this trip - so thanks, John, if you're reading :o)

Another reason this trip was a little different is that it was really my first major travel experience as a Public History student. Throughout the week, I was having revelations of just how much my education has changed the way I see everything in the tourism industry. Thanks, Western! But seriously, I found myself extremely intellectually engaged - which only inspired me to further delve into a career in the Tourism and Heritage field. It may just be perfect for me, combining elements of history, culture, travel, and education. Now, if I could just find a position that combines all of those things, with a heavy emphasis on the travel part - as in, I would get to travel...a lot...as part of my job. Magic.

A girl can dream, right? If there's one thing I've learned in life so far, it's that you'll be shocked to discover the kinds of opportunities that can find you if you just keep yourself open to them.

So yes, after what was probably the most memorable experience of my life, I returned to Canada with several new friends, numerous photo albums, and a fresh new attitude.

Week 4 at Banting House has certainly proven to be dynamic and interesting. I came back to immediately discover that my article about Banting's beaker had been published in Western News. Awesome. Mission Write for the Public: Complete.

I've actually started accessioning the 2009 artifacts into the collection using the new Past Perfect software and getting my hands on the objects, labeling and such (wearing white gloves, of course). I've been finding a lot of neat stuff in the collection, for example, the old magazines - one from Vichy France mentioning Banting's plane crash and another from 1930 that includes a short story by Erich Maria Remarque, the author of "All Quiet on the Western Front" (that one had some seriously HILARIOUS old-timey adverts in it)

In addition, I have managed to actually complete a project (hooray) - I made an accessioning procedural checklist. I figured I shouldn't be the ONLY person who knows how to use Past Perfect - I won't be around forever, you know...

The most noteworthy accomplishment for this week was, again, tour-related. We had a group of elderly people with diabetes come through the museum (not unusual) - they were a multi-lingual group (unusual) who spoke Spanish and Polish and brought along two different translators. This was slightly intimidating for me. My Spanish is more than rusty, but the group seemed to really appreciate my efforts and that I could understand their questions and comments directly. I reflected upon what I had observed during my time in Ireland and remembered that most of the time, visitors just want to have an enjoyable experience, and perhaps learn something along the way.

In no time, I had forgotten the language barrier and was focused on conveying the messages of Banting House in a conversational manner. We had a ball!

It's amazing how little people (even those affected by the disease) know about diabetes...myself included. I love that I'm learning about health and nutrition and helping others educate themselves as well. For more information, check out the CDA website.

***Note: NEW BLOG DESIGN!! Enjoy the image of the famous and beautiful Cliffs of Moher in Ireland - reasons for the change, I hope, are obvious at this point... :o)

Work Week #2 - Banting House National Historic Site

Week #2 started a day early for me. I ended up working on my first Monday off (let's be honest, I have zero other commitments for the time being). I'm really glad I did though! There was a bus tour coming in all the way from Kingston. One of the guests sits on our National Board, so it was kind of a big deal. Also in attendance on this tour was Frederick Banting's great niece! I took a lesson in museum/donor relations on that day. Who gets the ultimate authority? With whom do these artifacts belong? Museums really are sometimes at the mercy of the donors and thus must keep a decent relationship - especially with descendents who are still around. My boss couldn't get to me in time to warn me - so here I was taking her through the house and rambling off facts that she most definitely knew already.







Tuesday, I had the honor of experiencing a board meeting - and not only that, but I'm now apparently sitting on the Committee for two different fund raising/special events: Banting and Friends and the 90th Anniversary celebration. I've never worked in an office setting before. I've never sat on a board. I've never participated in a conference call. It was really interesting and exciting (not to mention, intimidating) to experience the business side of working in a museum.



We are launching a 5 million dollar campaign for renovations and it's the committee's job to seek out potential partners. Timing couldn't be better because we're working with three years of major anniversaries that we can capitalize on - but I suppose we need experts in the fields of marketing and business in order to make all of this happen. The most support I can offer is providing a networking presence online. This is where my task of setting up a blog comes into play. I've also been spending a lot of time researching the Twitter (follow me) community in order to find potential contacts and to see how other museums and historic sites are putting themselves out there.



I spent almost all day Wednesday dedicated to online marketing research. I found some pretty interesting and exciting stuff. First of all, there's http://museumblogs.org/about, which is a directory of museum-related bloggers - and also connected to a ton of other valuable resources such as podcasts, online video and exhibit editors, and a company that creates multi-touch, computer-based interactives for educational organizations (Ideum).



Also, I've been thinking of making a proposal for a foursquare account(a location-based social networking site and software for mobile devices that is also a game). This will allow visitors to "check in" when they visit our museum and then keep track of frequency, rewards, visitor comments, tips, etc. via text messages, twitter, and facebook. I'm planning on looking into the details of becoming a registered site.

How fun would it be to start a Twitter account for Fred Banting?! If he were still around, I'm almost certain he'd be an avid micro-blogger - plus, I've got access to daily diaries and memoirs, etc. I think it would be a good online presence.

My day was interrupted by a suprise tour group. They were from a "Young Men with Special Needs" facility in London. I scrambled to remember all of my special education training from undergrad...and stressful though it was, with guys wandering off the tour and wanting to test the antique medical instruments, it turned out to be the most fun tour I've done so far! The guys were really interested in what I had to say, had questions about absolutely EVERYTHING in the house, and were so appreciative of my time and energy! It was an extremely rewarding experience that put a smile on my face for the rest of the week...

The other big project that I've started turning wheels on is the PastPerfect accessioning process. It's a slightly newer version than the one I've worked with before, but I'm starting to master it quite quickly (or maybe I just feel that way because I'm the only one here who's even vaguely famililar with it). It's a far more involved process than the one I went through at the Metras Museum, as we've got a lot more information, documentation, and legal issues with the CDA Banting collection, so it's moving along quite slowly.

But, I suppose that's what the rest of the summer is for! Though I can hardly believe two weeks have already gone by!

Life after THE END - Week 1 AKA: The Baptism of Fire

I realize that the title of this post may be a bit dramatic - but honestly, school is the only life I've ever known. Sitting here at my 9-5 job and knowing that as of now, I will not be going back to school in the fall is a very new feeling for me. In a way, this is fresh and exciting - in a way, this is terrifying.

Now that this blog is no longer graded or part of my participation mark, I'm feeling inspired to use it for ME and my own reflection on my work (yes, I realize this was the point all along, but I can be strange about these things). So...I'm hoping to make this a weekly ritual. It'll be good for me - and the reading won't be half bad! As it turns out, working at Banting House is a LOT more dynamic and lively than I anticipated!

Week 1 Mission: complete. My first week was a bit of a whirlwind. Despite all of the hours I spent at Banting House before my internship even started proved to be useful. In fact, I don't know how I would have pulled it off if I didn't jump the gun! My boss has been referring to my first week as "The Baptism of Fire" (which is so very, very encouraging).

My first day on the job consisted of a school tour, grade 7 and 8. I was mostly in charge of crowd control, since behavior managment is actually one of those areas of teaching that I'm pretty good at. But I watched and observed the content that was being given in each room of the museum tour, hoping that one day, I'd be able to know the material well enough to lead tours myself.

The middle of the week was spent on getting the wheels turning on my first project here, which is revising the volunteer manual. I realized, in trying to learn the tour myself, that the manual was even more outdated and overwhelming than I thought. It was last revised in 2003 and since then, whole galleries have been rotated, split up, removed, added, etc. - not to mention that the way it's set up requires volunteers and tour guides to commit an entire narrative of info to memory. I know that there are more effective ways to break this information down to make it more manageable.

Friday was the second tier of my Baptism of Fire. We had 97 people come through the museum in just one day! I never realized that historic homes could get so much traffic. There was a tour of boyscouts in the morning - to whom I gave my very first group tour! The volunteer that I was stationed with misunderstood and thought that I'd been working here since August, and thus left me to give the tour on my own - but it worked out because he didn't realize that it was only my fourth day on the job until I told him afterwards (at which he was quite embarrassed and impressed). Nothing like diving in head first! Later in the day, we had a bus tour of elderly people. This was more a of a "doors open" tour, in which I kind of floated around answering questions and telling random stories to people who looked interested. Just before closing, a couple from Jamaica came in and I gave them my first private tour of the house. I felt a bit more exposed during this tour, but I figured that I should take on the challenge because I would have to be in charge of the museum on my own sooner or later.

That day turned out to be sooner rather than later! The next day was my first Saturday duty. Museum staff is off on Saturdays and the museum is only kept open when there are volunteers to run it (they often have to close down due to lack of volunteers). They no longer have to worry about this (for the summer at least). It was very quiet for hours (I felt the anxiety of being alone in a very old house during a wind storm), but then about ten people came through the doors within an hour of each other!

It was actually a really neat experience. I had two families come in at the same time by coincidence who both had children with diabetes working on projects about Dr. Banting for school. Telling them the story behind their daily insulin needles was actually quite touching and rewarding in the end. The families really appreciated it.

Also, I got to have my first contact with a cash register and debit machine - which can prove to be challenging when you have zero work experience in retail! It was a very complete and well-rounded museum experience - from the responsibility of setting security alarms to the pressure of getting your facts straight.

All in a days work, I suppose!

A Window into our GIS Workshop

Blogging during class is my favorite! THIS IS WHAT BLOGGING IS ALL ABOUT. I stand by my decisions to blog during class - it's quite stimulating...and even though I'm posting this nearly a month after our GIS workshop, this unfinished blog post has allowed me to capture my intrigue and to revisit it with new and revised thoughts. Actually, part of me wishes I had documented more of my learning experience in this way...

Today, our colleague Don LaFreniere is giving us an introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

What I'm realizing is that spatial analysis is pretty neat! As a teacher, I'm always looking for different ways to present information - and visualizations can be so incredibly useful. Using maps and geographic locations can be a great tool for showing historical patterns, correlations, and changes over time.

What I'm loving about this presentation is that I'm seeing all different kinds of examples of how GIS can be used to analyze historical data for both public and academic history. From simple projects like mapping heritage buildings and incorporating hyperlinks, to past digital history projects that include heritage walking tours using GPS technology...it's got my mind working away.

What kinds of things can I "georectify" in the future? For my IED project? For my internship? Personal diaries?! I never would have thought to spatially analyze something like that.

Now, we are actually going to be able to get our hands dirty by georectifying a London fire insurance plan and analyzing the Talbot Street neighborhood that we all did projects on last semester.

This process was fairly easy (as we were given extremely straight-forward and helpful directions) and is basically a way of saying this point on the map = this point on the fire insurance plan. In this way, we can line up any coordinates and use this process to analyze or manipulate old maps, etc.

I love when technology works. It's so very encouraging.

The next step is to digitize our heritage properties on Talbot (607 for me), which basically just involves outlining it and giving it a pretty color.

Now, we're taking all the people from the census data in London and assigning them to their properties - putting the Londoners in their houses - using a "spatial join" that will say that each polygon (house) contains this point (person). In this way, we have linked several important layers of information: a map of London, a fire insurance plan, and all the census data according to where each person lived.

Now that we have this useful tool that contains all of this information in a visually organized manner, it's much easier to pull a meaningful analysis from it. For example, who was living within 200 meters of the Templar property. How many of those people had domestic servants? Did the Protestants and Catholics settle in different areas of London?

I don't think I've become a GIS master in those few hours of scrambling to keep up with the steps (mostly because I was simultaneously blogging) - but I certainly think of it as valuable exposure. Perhaps with a little more exposure and a bit of assistance, I can put the utility of these concepts into practice!

Here's a very simple GIS type project that was completed for a Banting House online exhibit entitled Captain Frederick Banting: The Luckiest Boy in France. Made in conjunction with a permanent exhibit in the museum, online visitors can spatially visualize Banting's military journey and learn information about his service according to geographic location.

Over the next few months, I am aiming at either expanding upon this online military exhibit, or perhaps installing a new online exhibit that focuses on another well-kept secret of Frederick Banting's, which is his extensive portfolio of artwork. I'm going to have to spend some more time with the content in the exhibits to come up with something, as my creative genius is escaping me during these final weeks of graduate school.

Anyone have any neat ideas for an online exhibit? Sharing is caring. :o)

Internship Developments!

Yesterday, I had a meeting with Grant Maltman over at Banting House - the site of my future (not-so-distant-future) internship.

Several things were accomplished - not quite a finished work plan at this point, but I think I'm well on my way to coming up with something that will a) significantly benefit the national historic site and b) allow me to walk away with a variety of experiences in the small museum field. While it is true that I've already worked in a small museum, a national historic site is slightly different from a county historical society (and not only in prestige).

Grant and I discussed three main projects that we would both like to see develop during my time at Banting House this summer:

1) Installation of PastPerfect Software - How fantastic is it that I've been working on this exact project at the Metras Museum all year? Banting House has ordered the software and is aiming to catalogue their collection in a more efficient database. Since only 10 donations came into the collection last year, we are going to start there and work our way backwards. A major benefit of this process for me would be that most of the collection at Banting House is archival material, so I would be getting that sort of archives experience that I have not had yet in my public history adventures.

2) Banting House Blog - After observing my fabulous display of blogging technique, Grant decided that perhaps it would be beneficial for the museum to have a blog of its own! No, not really - but a blog would be another way for Banting House to get its message "out there" into cyberland. Also, might I add that their website is inconveniently linked through the CDAs site. It's not terribly accessible. It's not terribly helpful. SO...the blog might be a way to keep the public updated about what's going on at the site from month to month.

3) Volunteer Manual Revisions - One thing I have not yet experienced in my museum work is interpretation. I've never guided tours or had to answer questions about the collections I've worked with. This may come as a shock, since I have always had an overwhelming urge to educate. BUT, my background in education will hopefully come in handy in attempting to make the volunteer manuals a little more relevant and a little more user-friendly. I'm hoping to revise the way the information is presented to the volunteers so that they may learn the ropes with less of an overwhelming sensation, and also to perhaps revise the way in which the volunteers think when they are showing people around the house, so that they may present information or ask questions in a more engaging way.

These are only a few ideas that we bounced around yesterday. There's a lot that needs to be done and several ways in which I can help out, I'm sure. I was informed of a few interesting special events going on in July, which would give me some experience with event planning and networking, etc.

Also, I think I'm going to get my hands dirty and volunteer at the house as soon as possible (likely next month)! Saturdays seem to be a problem day for the museum to stay open (which is very unfortunate) and all that's needed is one volunteer to show the house *so if anyone is interested in volunteering at Banting House, the commitment is only 4 hrs a month*

*wink wink*

*nudge nudge*

The Simplest Lesson of All....

Today, I learned something very important in class - and it's something my teachers have been telling me since I was a little girl:

SAVE OFTEN SILLY.

So much for my Inkscape jail house illustration >:O

The Banting House: London's Hidden Gem

Ahhh, reading week... What's a grad student to do for a whole seven days to entertain her 16 year old brother? Drag him to local museums in search of an internship? Sounds like a good plan to me!

Today, my brother and I braved the bitter Canadian cold to venture across London and check out the birthplace of insulin. It seemed like an important place to see while I'm here, and as a National Historic Site, why not see if there was some work for me there?

Admittedly, the Banting House was not something I knew about before I moved to London - and even worse, the discovery of insulin was not something I've recognized as a Canadian triumph. But then again, why would I? I feel so very cheated sometimes with the version of history I've been brought up on in the American high school... I suppose that's why I'm here.

Tucked away on the not-so-scenic corner of Adelaide and Queen, stands a modest home with a extensive courtyard that distinguishes the Banting House from the rest of the buildings on the street. In particular, the Flame of Hope that burns next to the property is not only eye-catching, but captivating (not to mention, it commemorates the visit of the Queen to the site). One can't help but wonder - what is the story here?

And quite a story it is! The museum is a prime example of a pilgrimage destination that can really have a life-long effect on visitors. The museum director mentioned that there are three types of people who typically come into the museum: the cultural tourist, the academic/scientific researcher, and the people whose lives have been affected by diabetes. Even though each visitor is there for a different reason, they all seem to mention a particular aura, especially in the bedroom of Banting's house, where he awoke in the middle of the night to scrawl out his idea to fight diabetes. It can be quite an emotional experience. Even my brother (who isn't a fan of museums, school, or learning in general) said that this was the only museum he's ever been to that's managed to hold his interest.

The museum not only interprets the discovery of insulin and the fascinating life of Frederick Banting, but serves as a symbol for the on-going struggle against diabetes, people living with (and not dying from) the disease, and the hope that something better than insulin will soon be discovered.

With a mission like that, who wouldn't want to be a part of this museum?! If you haven't visited this site yet, I would highly recommend it - I tried not to give too much away here. The place is full of surprises and WOW-factor. Perhaps if you wander in during the summer months, I shall be enthusiastic intern who greets you at the door (which is quite stubborn to open and close, might I observe)!

ARDUINO...and Other Exciting Digital Ventures!

I must admit, I did not see myself taking an interest in using the Arduino for my Interactive Exhibit Design project (despite its Italian charm). It's occurred to me now that this was because I didn't really understand the magnitude of what it could do and I couldn't see it fitting into my expedition through "Music as Information." I immediately associated it with robotics and electronics (words that send me running for the hills) and it didn't help that I had never even seen a "breadboard" before a few classes ago. Intimidating, for sure. But as the weeks have gone by, Arduino and I have become quite friendly - to the point where I've even taken one home to spend reading week with me!

After Wednesday's "Putting it all together" class, I've not only discovered that YES, the Arduino can definitely teach me some neat things about Music as Information, but this could be something I'd be interested in as a hobby. Basically, the project that Bill took us through in class was using an Arduino and an accelerometer to communicate through the Processing program on a computer. Using a library called SoundCipher, it is possible to have the values being read from the accelerometer be represented with musical pitches. Once I realized where the class demonstration was going, the wheels started turning in my head.

I'm envisioning musical composition through body movement - a sort of marriage of interpretive dance and improvisational music. It would be a difficult art to master, but possibly rather easy to create (if I'm not underestimating the logistics here). LilyPads - the wearable Arduino - one for each sleeve and pant leg.

The specifics would be a lot easier to see in my head if I had actually been successful in getting the Processing sketch to actually play notes like Bill had done in class.

This is where the home-adventure begins. I tried following the example and directions from the class wiki. I was successful in opening the serial monitor so that I could view the values that the accelerometer was reading. When it came time to use those values to control a sketch in Processing, I was not so successful. I followed the Graph tutorial on the Arduino website and copied the code, but I wasn't sure how to get Processing to recognize the accelerometer values. The code worked and my graph ran perfectly, but it didn't show any values.

This was frustrating...I definitely don't know enough yet to diagnose problems on my own.

So... not wanting the adventure to be a total and utter fail, I left it and just played with SoundCipher for the rest of the night!

Exciting things started happening after that (well, I'm easily amused by musical ventures). I explored all of the tutorials in SoundCipher just to get a feel for what I could possibly do with it in the future. Then, I set off on a very small project, but I'm pretty proud of it, I must admit.

I created a monophonic song with the simple bing program. This program plays a single note and defines its pitch, dynamic, and duration. This is the most basic thing one can do with SoundCipher, but I wanted to see if I could really figure out how digital/algorithmic music works. The only knowledge I started with was that the numeric value assigned to a middle C note is 60. From there, I used the playPhrase program and I created a C chromatic scale to make sure the values for the notes were consecutive. Then, I created a one-octave C scale so that I could map out which notes I would be able to use for a song played in the key of C (60, 62, 64, 65, 67, 69, 71, 72).

And then I wrote a simple childhood song! Here's the code:

import arb.soundcipher.*;

SoundCipher sc = new SoundCipher(this);

float[] pitches = {72, 69, 65, 60, 62, 64, 65, 62, 65, 60, 67, 72, 69, 65, 62, 64, 65, 67, 69, 67, 69, 70, 69, 67, 72, 69, 67, 65, 67, 69, 65, 62, 65, 62, 60, 60, 65, 69, 67, 60, 65, 69, 67, 69, 70, 72, 69, 65, 67, 60, 65};

float [] dynamics = {80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80 ,80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80, 80};

float[] durations = {1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, .5, .5, .5, 1, .5, 3, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, 1.5, .5, .5, .5, 1, .5, 3, .5, .5, .5, .5, 1, .5, .5, 2, .5, 1, .5, 1, .5, .5, 2, .5, 1, .5, 1,.5, 1, .5, .5, .5, .5,.5,.5,.5,1,.5, 3};

sc.playPhrase(pitches, dynamics, durations);

I understand that there are very few other people who will be excited by this, but it was an extremely satisfying experience for me.

CREATION.

It's a bit annoying that each and every note has to be assigned a dynamic. In this case, I just wanted all the notes to be the same intensity. I'm sure there's a way to do it, but I don't know how. Also, I wonder if there is a way to set a time signature - because I realized halfway through my song that I was smart enough to pick one that was in 6/8 time...which is a pain to feel out, especially when trying to convert beats into seconds.

But there you have it - "Bicycle Built for Two" is a musical and historic gem, one must admit.

In the future, I would really like to figure out how to use the score setting so that I could add chords on top of the notes and have them play at a specific time. Also, perhaps one day, I can understand how the algorithms work...but that would require a better grasp of mathematics in general...and I am in the field of history for a reason...

In the meantime, must resist the urge to recreate the theme song from Super Mario Brothers!

THE VISION

I think I've finally got my thoughts in order for this Interactive Exhibit class. I see...A VISION. THE vision. I've already indicated on my website that I'm interested in creating something that conveys information through music. Admittedly, I had absolutely no idea HOW I would go about doing this, or even WHAT such an exhibit would look like, what kind of information it would be transmitting, or how people could use it. Enter: the vision.

I envision an exhibit that allows visitors to VIEW how people have historically used vocal expression to convey meaning. Not everyone is musically inclined and can't quite understand how music, or even sound, is really a rich language to be interpreted. I plan on taking a look at a couple different vocal media; for example, Inuit throat singing, opera, or perhaps even political speeches. The idea is that the visitor would be allowed to look at the visualization of the sounds and gather information about what the vocalist is trying to say without necessarily understanding the language of the words they are using. Sound does not need words to communicate. Perhaps by seeing the visualization of the sound, visitors who never had before will learn to Listen.

Ideally, the interactive part of the exhibit would be to create a way for visitors to visualize their own voices. This would require a real time translation of sound into visual design.

I'm not entirely sure HOW I'm going to pull all of this together. At the moment, I'm just trying not to overwhelm myself, so I'm taking "Processing: A Programming Hangbook for Visual Designers and Artists" by Casey Reas and Ben Fry, a day at a time. Thus far, I've been reading about the components of sound and essentially trying to re-learn a lot of high school physics (amplitude, frequency, oscillators, etc.). I think it helps a bit that I have a strong musical background and a general understanding of musical vocabulary like pitch, octaves, modulation, transposition, etc.

As far as digital representation of sound and music, this is where it starts getting a little complicated for me, as it combines a lot of math and digital code (there is a reason why I study history). However, I'm getting the general idea of sound synthesis and processing. For example, from what I understand, sampling allows you to synthesize all kinds of frequencies just by processing a single sound. Then you can either sustain the sound, modulate it, or even create echo and reverberation effects.

I've just begun tapping into the world of Audio Analysis, or the derivation of information from digitized sound. This allows us to create interactive systems that "listen" to audio input and tell us what it means. The most obvious example of this type of technology is speech recognition.One thing I've found that will probably be useful is the idea of "attack detection", which is programming a computer to trigger an event at the onset of a sound, or when the sound reaches a certain frequency or amplitude. In other words, you could create a program that would synchronize a visual action with just the percussive sounds of a recording. Another concept that I'll probably find useful is "timbral analysis," which allows us to transform audio signals into data that can then be mapped to interactive computer events. One way to derive data from a signal is to count the number of times the signal turns from positive to negative - or even filtering out the loudest frequencies to test their harmonics or timbre. Of course, all that I've mentioned thus far are nothing but concepts in a book, so I only very vaguely understand them. If I can get my hands on the technology and actually see, hear, and feel how these concepts work, I think this could be something I might be good at.

As I'm reading along, I haven't really come across anything that is going to map out exactly what I have to do with this project. It's going to be a learning experience that I'll have to piece together myself - and perhaps just let my interests take me where they will. I'm really interested in how digital technology has changed the face of the music industry, for example, but I've never understood how sound engineering works. I'm learning now though, because of this project (which only illustrates further the beauty of this degree).

I suppose it's only natural that I lean toward sound for this project - my mother being both an audiologist and a musician on the side. Conversations of music theory and hearing aides were not uncommon around my dinner table. Though I can't say that I ever foresaw myself studying these things seriously...or the convergence of several of my passions in one class!

Roll On, Round Two!

Here I am, back in the land of the maple leaf. I couldn't be more thrilled, all sarcasm aside. I missed Western and my friends and learning and even working - working toward something and feeling a sense of accomplishment. So I'm getting back on the horse here. It should be a productive and exciting semester!

All of my public history projects are rolling along quite nicely and I'm looking forward to seeing the end results. I'm venturing out into the world of academic history, for real this time, not just auditing - so that's a bit scary. It's not difficult to see that last semester has turned me into a completely different historian, so it should be interesting to see how I tackle that course.

Finally, I've got my interactive exhibit design course! I still can't picture myself actually creating something technological with my own two hands. I have a hard time believing that my brain can work that way - but maybe it can! I'm feeling a bit of encouragement after hearing that I actually did really well in the first half of digital history. I never thought I'd see the day...but turns out "the day" was last Wednesday! Hmm...

So... I've started by updating my website. I'm toying around with a few ideas for my IED project, but I could really use some help with getting a more concrete vision. Feedback is much appreciated as always!