For the first time, I’m dealing with the distinctions between a blog, done specifically for a class, and a livejournal. Oh, I was an avid livejournaler back in the day. Then I forgot about it for a few years before remembering it. Lo and behold, there were the ramblings of my 15 year old self, right where I left them, “exposed as a meat sandwich” (a line from my favorite Margaret Atwood poem). If this was my livejournal (which I have since downloaded and then deleted), I would write about how my grandpa died this week, and the whirlwind I’ve been within, being with family and arrangements and the heartache. But since this is my blog for LIBR559M, I’ll only mention this as the reason why I have been so disconnected this past week. This class has been a part of the intensity of this week, though; LIBR559M is permanently etched into me because of it. I was writing that last blog-post when he died, sitting quietly next to him holding his hand with one of mine and typing with the other. I was the only one there, everyone else had finally left after being at the hospice house for three days. After he passed and everyone arrived, my Aunt asked me why I had stayed. I wanted to say something profound but instead I told the truth–that my grandparent’s don’t have internet, and I needed the wifi connection at hospice to get some overdue classwork done. So I guess I have this class to thank for being there with him in his last moments. Heavy, right? These last sentences are reminiscent of my lj, but I’ll let them stand.
Only today, Saturday, have I finally had the brain space to listen to the powerpoint for Module IV on Creativity and Social Media. And it gave me some more to think about regarding the last post, about the potential for a social media campaign at the art museum’s archives to sustain researcher and visitor participation. Dean made some great points in the powerpoint about the necessity of creating a social media program that responds to the needs of the researchers instead of the staff building a program based on perceived user needs. To sell the idea to my boss, I would suggest doing some focus groups of researchers, donors, and members to get their insight into what would be most valuable to them. Perhaps even set up a planning committee for it, which could bring in younger, more social-media savvy participants who could introduce older or less 2.0-aware participants to the potential inherent in social media. Also, I would include artists in the focus groups and planning committee, because part of the goal of an arts archive is to allow artists from the past to inspire those in the present and future. Talk about creativity in 2.0.
In the past, archival interns have written papers or done powerpoint presentations on their research, and I would advocate for these presentations and papers to be made accessible on the archive part of the website. One of the long-term goals of the archive is to increase awareness and recognition of the influence of the regional artists which they celebrate, and making research public is a great way to allow research endeavors to continually inspire people. In his powerpoint for Module IV, Dean talked about “life-long learners” which was a phrase I heard often during my time in the education department of the science museum I worked at for a while. It was great to think about how that term applies to so many different spheres, and how 2.0 technologies can help create and sustain those drives in others through collaborative participation.
The wake is tomorrow, the funeral Monday. My task today has been to go through my grandparent’s photo albums and pull out all of the pictures of him to fill two large photo boards. Earlier, I had two of my younger cousins helping me, and I couldn’t help but smile when I realized that I unknowingly had set up a loose catalogue schema to protect the original order of the photos–each of the kids had some sticky notes and a pencil, noting which book each photo had come from. I had to go through the books again after they left, though, because they had missed some photos of their grandfather–they didn’t recognize him when he was younger. I also couldn’t help but remind my mother that we would have to redo many of the albums, because the photos are on those gross acidic sticky pages. Gotta get some inert polyethylene sleeves, or acid-free lignin-free paper. The archivist in daily life.
5 replies on “Blurring the lines”
This is one of your best posts, Heather.
When my mother died in 2008, I was taking a course and I poured my grief into some of the best work I have ever created. My mother would have been proud.
There’s no escaping the sorrow, however. This will always be with you but it makes your learning indelible and I feel honoured you have shared your experience with us.
Dean
My condolences, Heather.
I’m so sorry for your loss and what you have written resonates strongly with me. I also lost a loved family member when I was studying in my undergrad years and those last days I spent at the hospice watching him die away from cancer was shared with school work. Strangely, I wrote my best essay for that semester then because so much was poured into it. Thank you for sharing. Blurring the lines makes you more of a real person to me as opposed to a name online.
My sincere thanks to all of you.
Just caught up with your post in my RSS feed (fitting for the current module on Aggregation). I’ve known the heartache of losing grandparents in recent years and it’s tough to share that with the world, but also tough to hold it in so I appreciate your honest, heartfelt words. My sincere condolences, Heather.