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!

Breathing Life...

"Observing the world observing world wonders is a favorite pastime. I get to be in the presence of natural beauty, and also the beauty of the curious visitor, the human in action - the human in awe. Like a fly on the wall in the Louvre, I get to view both the art and the onlooker and see how they need each other. Without the foot traffic, a museum is just another empty warehouse. Therefore, without acknowledgment, a human is just an empty vessel. It is we who breathe life into each other. Thank you for seeing me and bringing me to life. I hope these words reach you and give you a sense of relatedness. You’re the painting I’m presently staring at. The value I put on that is priceless."

~Jason Mraz

I came across these words whilst reading my Sunday dose of The Freshness Factor 5000, a pop artists thoughts from the road that seem to keep me grounded for the week. I love this statement about observing the world observing the world, and I can relate. Perhaps it explains (at least to some extent) why I sat outside the Louvre in Paris for two hours contemplating rather than going inside. It was inspiring just to be in the presence of the world wonder - but it wasn't just the familiar pyramid structure that was inspiring, was it? It was the tourists too, one and all: the disgustingly adorable honeymooners whose world might shatter if they're forced to break the grip of each others' hands, the elderly people on the "beep-beep carts" who threaten to run over any life-form that may be in their paths, and even the obnoxious American families with their matching tshirts cameras grasped like weapons. People from all over the world were crossing paths, and even if they all came with different feelings toward museums, they all came to go to the one and only LOUVRE. I suppose this was my own personal practice of "visitor studies" long before I ever dreamed I would be taking a Museology class at Western.

I must say that I really appreciate this blogger's insight to the world of museums and artifacts. I really feel that there is a co-dependency between artifacts and spectators. I was in the collection storage room alone at the OCHS today and I couldn't help thinking that these treasures may as well not even exist when they're locked away in the dark. Sure, on occasion, some history nerd like me will get a chance to get in there and enjoy a private moment with their importance - but it really made me realize what kind of life artifacts take on once they're on display to an appreciative visitor...or even an indifferent visitor for that matter!

It kind of makes me reconsider how much focus of a museum should rest on the visitor rather than the artifact. Should it be an even split?

I found a pair of slave chains from the Civil War era in our collection today. They're just sitting on a shelf with all the nonchalance in the world. I was grateful that we had the opportunity to see one another. It felt good to breathe life into them for the first time in who knows how long, even if it was only for a few minutes - and it's not too hard to imagine what kind of feelings this one particular artifact breathed into me.

The Curator of a Small Museum: A Jack of All Trades

Over the past term, I've been considering myself such a "practical historian" - but it wasn't until today that I was actually reminded of the practicality and reality of WORKING in the museum field instead of just studying it. Certainly, the theories discussed in my Museology class at Western have brought me miles and miles from where I started back in August of 2008 - but there is nothing like the buzz of a power tool to remind you of all the minor details that go into running a museum, especially a small museum.

The Oneida County Historical Society, where I indulge in occasional intern work when I'm at home, is a small museum setting that allows me to see the actuality of the business. While I've been away in the ivory tower, I suppose I've forgotten just how many things the Museum Director is responsible for - maintenance, painting, exhibit design, merchandise, paperwork, AND making the coffee all in one day? It is abundantly clear that the curator of a small museum must be a jack of all trades.

I'm really excited to be working on a new temporary exhibit for the historical society while I'm home during my holiday break. This is what I've been given to work with: one really old exhibit case, a box full of donated materials that pertain to a local Italian band director, and very little information (most of which is unclear and confused).

This is pretty neat - the fact that I have complete creative control over this project. I was quite inspired, sketching out what I wanted the display case to look like, where everything would go (I even got way over-ambitious and contemplated possibly using some kind of audio enhancement). But I went into the society today to make my vision a reality...and I realized...

I had no idea where to start.

Exhibit design is a lot more complicated that it seems. I think people tend to equate it with other simple tasks, like decorating a Christmas tree or arranging a bookcase. There are several things to be considered: what kind of display methods are going to be best for the well-being of the artifacts? For the understanding of the patron? How many artifacts will fit in the case? Which ones can I leave out? What do I put in first? Do I have to interpret every artifact?

I decided to take a breath and start with the largest artifact, a large banner from the children's band that Vito Mole directed. It looked like it would fit perfectly as a backdrop on the pane of the case - but how was I supposed to mount it...or hang it? I decided to call in the director for a little boost in the right direction. We settled on the method of suspension using hooks and wire.

This is the part that required handy-work and power tools - something that was not covered in Museology class and could be a potential liability to be completely honest (but that's nothing to worry about because two years ago, I filled out a card that covers me and the society in case I'm injured on the job ). So the director (bless him) was very patient in teaching me about the softness of wood and that you need to plug in the drill before it can make a hole. These weren't my proudest moments, but necessary all the same. I don't mean to make myself out as completely hopeless with handy-work, I've had my share of fixing things around the house and working on stage crew in high school, but it's a different story when we're talking about objects that mean a lot to people and to the community.

What is that saying about university and exposure?

And so - for today - the banner was hung. Huzzah!

Digital Humanities: Not So Scary After All

I can hardly believe I'm writing this post already. Not only does it mean that I'm back in Central New York and none of this term seems as though it's happened, but it means that I'm actually having to confront the fact that I am a completely changed historian.

I felt it was necessary to wait until the absolute last minute before writing this post so that I could give a complete image of what my first term at Western has done to me so far. What has this course done to me so far? I suppose it's done just what it's supposed to do. It's challenged every aspect of academia that I've ever known and it's hurled me forward into the future of the humanities - and indeed into a field that I find so mind-boggling and fascinating that I'm not quite sure what I would have done had I chosen to pursue an MA (or heaven-forbid, a PhD) in History. I've finally learned that that path is not for me. I just don't have the heart for the ivory tower - and it's OKAY!

I think that the field of public history is so important. I think that this course was important for me to take. I think that it's important that I'm blogging. It's wonderful. I also think it's very appropriate that I'm watching "Julie and Julia" right now (a fine example of how a blogging skeptic built a career off a tiny blog project). I was so hesitant at first - and I suppose I still am (a bit) because I feared that people would read this...and they would JUDGE ME...and maybe that's true, but again, it's OKAY! This blog is for self-reflection. Yes, I do hope that other eyes see these words and take something away - even if it's just a chuckle...but really, this is MY blog.

I love blogging now. I wish I had more time for it. I want to start a personal blog. I want to start a travel blog. I want to start an anonymous blog about my time in Canada and my observation of Canadians! Yes, these are projects for the future. Digital history has released blog-mania within my being!

One of the most fascinating things that I've learned from this course so far is that historians CAN work on teams - WE CAN! I've learned more from trying to figure things out with my 9+ classmates than I've ever learned from reading a textbook. The trials of creating a website and trying to find sources and speaking for the public and spending hours in the archives and working on teams to get a project done on time. We've done it together. These are mutual experiences. This is our web of colleagues and friends that will remain well into the future - and this is a field where that's extremely important. I have seen the light of collective intelligence!

The way I think about everything is slightly altered - not just history. I think most of that can be attributed to the discussion of our Digital History class, most of which (I will gladly admit) I spent with a headache just trying to follow the words that were coming out of my colleagues' mouths, let alone form my own opinions about them and then apply them to real-life situations. But what I'm realizing now - now that I'm outside the classroom and putting my melted mind under a magnifying glass - is that I really CAN apply what I've absorbed in class, and I DO. Sometimes I can't turn it off. Like I said, this whole experience has changed the way I think, in addition to the way I read, learn, and quite frankly, the way I speak! These are all good things.

I do have to admit, I'm slightly terrified about the second half of the digital history course: Interactive Exhibit Design. The only word I'm quasi-comfortable with there is EXHIBIT. I could, of course, drop it and go for the archiving course instead - but this year is for taking chances. I want to do something out of the ordinary, and if that involves feeling completely LOST for another term with programing and electronics whirling through my head, then so be it! It can only lead to a learning experience of the greatest kind: the kind where you learn from your epic failures and short-comings. I have no shame.

Tally-ho!

The Fact is in the Fiction?

I couldn't help but notice that one particular conversation in my WWI class kept swaying in and out of post-modernist thought, which I tend to be incredibly intrigued by. I was caught in a bit of a "deer-in-the-headlights" look when I was posed with the question of why we study WWI novels.

Now, of course, my cultural historian blinders led me down the path of using literature to examine the culture in which they were produced. It seemed a bit obvious to me at first, perhaps that's because I never fully questioned the value of a war novel, but as I sat there absorbing the conversation with a furrowed brow (as per usual), I began thinking of the implications that this particular class had for the field of public history.

I think a lot of the time, we forget about studying literature and texts - because that's what academic historians do (not that public historians are not academic historian, because we ARE) - but perhaps we examine these texts in a different way. These war novels, for example, are really just material culture, in a way. They're artifacts that can certainly be studied in the same way as a monument or a 19th century dress or an amputation kit from the civil war.

With topic of war fiction, the question becomes more one of how conflict inflences culture than it does of one trying to pull an accurate representation of the war out of the story. I believe this is why the issue of war novels has become a bit of a pain - because they become quite problematic once people start accepting them as factual history.

One of the major criticisms is that novels project one single opinion or perspective of the war onto all those involved. For example, the famous Canadian war novel, "Generals Die in Bed", (from what I understand, because I've not had the pleasure...),portrays a fairly negative opinion of the soldier experience during WWI, which is fine, but it also kind of implies that every single soldier had this similar experience, which is not fine. This is the criticism, anyway.

Part of me (I think it's the public historian part) wants to think that this generalization can be useful in a way. In the public history sphere, we do this sort of thing all the time. We can't possibly represent every single interpretation of every single topic - so we use the approach of the "typical scenario" to piece together parts of the "puzzle of the past." Think of the living history museums, or monuments that are built to encompass veterans of all conflicts. Really, unless this war novel was claiming to portray a specific and historically significant soldier that performed certain actions at a certain battle of WWI, does it really have an obligation to be completely and utterly historically accurate? Does such a thing even exist?

That's really what this discussion comes down to. That's really what most historical debate comes down to. Historical accuracy? Actual reality? Who knows? What do you believe?

I feel this is an appropriate time to quote an Indie songwriter, Conor Oberst:

"I had a lengthy discussion about the power of myth/ with a post-modern author
who didn't exist./ In this fictitious world, all reality twists"

See, this is the great thing about blogging - I can write about whatever I want to. If I want my strange and slightly pretentious music interests to overlap with my academic musings (which they often do, in my head), this is certainly the arena for that!

Anyway, I also believe one of the great criticisms of this war novel was that the author was claiming that it was the "true story" of WWI. I think that statement has heavy implications and it should not have been used in this circumstance - but really, who's to say it's not the true story? It could be the true story for someone - for the unidentifiable soldier, from Anytown, Canada.

Personally (as an historian who has had experience with the battlefield that is the high school history classroom), I don't see a huge problem in calling "Generals Die in Bed" the "Great Canadian War Novel" and forcing indifferent Grade 10s to read it. It may not be an accurate depiction of WWI that considers several interpretations, but let's face it, neither is the information in their textbooks - and in many cases, it'll be the only depiction of WWI that an individual will ever have. These novels paint a picture, spark interest in the past, and say a great deal about how we choose to remember our pasts.

A Short Intro to Public History (How Original...Yet Appropriate!)

To refer back to the "mission" of this blog, I really want these pages to inform whomever may be reading them about what it is my colleagues and I are doing here at Western. What I'll be doing in this post is pointing out some good resources that can be found on the internet if one wanted to look further into the topic of Public History - whether it be for academic purposes, curiosity's sake, or perhaps if you're flirting with the idea of becoming a public historian. In addition, it can never hurt for me to probe deeper into the contexts of my field and how society understands it.

I suppose the first place someone might start an internet search is the most trusted search engine: Google. Now, I'm not entirely sure I've got an answer as to WHY the world chooses to trust Google above all others - I think it has something to do with the fact that people think it's reliable because it returns what we are looking for, and in most cases, returns sources that are reliable. It's a kind of reliability cycle.

Already, I'm noticing that Google.ca and Google.com call up different results. Here in the States, if we were to throw the term "public history" into Google, our first site that it returns is for the National Council of Public History, which is dedicated to promoting professionalism among historians. It has a pretty decent section called "What is Public History?" which attempts to describe the field and thus the purpose of the council. This is the recent definition that the board gave for public history:

“a movement, methodology, and approach that promotes the collaborative study and practice of history; its practitioners embrace a mission to make their special insights accessible and useful to the public.”

The site also lists WHO can be considered public historians or public history practitioners: museum professionals, government and business historians, historical consultants, archivists, teachers, cultural resource managers, curators, film and media producers, policy advisers, oral historians, professors and students with public history interests, and many others.

This page also contains a full length article, surprisingly titled "What is Public History?", from the Council's official newsletter and a few personal definitions from public historians throughout the nation.

Browsing through this site has brought me to a section that contains more online resources to learn about what public history is. So this is where I'll go next - because I know that these are trusted sites.

The first option is called the Public History Resource Center. This sounds like it's exactly what I'm looking for: "this site provides descriptive and analytical annotations of resources in the field, as well as original essays. The site contains: a working definition of public history; a short essay detailing one aspect of public history's history"

A lot of discovery on the internet comes from following links wherever they may lead, so each of these links should be explored. The resources link is actually a search tool that lets you search the web for all kinds of public history resources - and you can search by resource type AND resource category! I may actually bookmark this page and come back to it later. What a gem! The original essays would probably be more useful once you have a deeper understanding of WHAT public history is. The essays are written on an assortment of applications of public history, like digitization projects and tombstone analysis. The working definition of public history provided by the resource center is what we want. It offers a plethora of definitions that are out there, rather than synthesizing them into one super-definition. Of course, there appears the popular quote, "public history is history, practically applied," which is both horribly vague and... wonderfully vague. I really like that this page is opened up to the public (quite capturing the spirit of public history) so that public historians may submit an application for a definition of what public history is, who public historians are, and what kind of training or study the field entails. While this may sound like it's entering the realm of Wikipedia, the site clearly labels where each definition comes from, whether it be from the Council itself, a University program, or an enthusiastic practitioner of public history.

Going back to our list of resources from the NCPH, another site that is listed under "Websites that address the meaning and uses of public history" is Beyond Academe. This website was mainly created to assist those historians thinking about leaving academia, but it also defines Public History as a wider field and gives less of a sense that it's a very small niche profession. There is definitely a hint of a bias to be aware of on this website because the creator has herself left academia to be a practitioner of public history. It does declare a "mission to change history" - which I, personally, find very important because there's always been this aura around history that it's only useful in the classroom. Historians should work in the public sphere - and the mission of this website sends out a call for change in our universities so that historians can be fully prepared to do so.

Finally, I will return to that resource searching tool in order to find a physical text resource - in case you find yourself walking through a bookstore with money burning a hole in your pocket. So the resource type would be "books" and we'll say that that resource category for our purposes is "General public history." The result list produces five or six books that have to do with the field of public history - but I think the first one sounds like it would really help a reader to more deeply understand the topic of inquiry:

“So, do you want to teach?” That is the standard question that is asked
when one expresses an interest in history as a profession. This book is
required reading for anyone who has ever answered, “Not necessarily.”

~Camenson, Blythe. Careers for History Buffs & Others Who Learn from
the Past. Illinois: VGM Career Horizons, 1994.

Again, this text supports the idea that history should not and can not be locked away in the ivory tower.

As this exercise comes to a close, I should point out that I haven't really done much to answer the question "WHAT IS PUBLIC HISTORY?" - HOWEVER, as the title implies, this is a short intro to the subject. If you want to know a definite definition for the term - well, I suppose you'll just have to follow the steps I've outlined in this post, keep searching far beyond that, and even then, if you happen to come up with something absolutely definitive, please let me know!