Place-based Campus Histories

Group Members: Leah Perdue, Lexi Jackson, Maggie Copeland, Max Steinbaum

Mission Statement: The purpose of this project is to create a website centered around stories tied to places on UMW’s campus that reveal how students lived and learned with the landscape around them. Through comparisons of historical photographs, oral histories (both old and new), maps and other digital tools, this website will serve UMW students and Fredericksburg Residents both from yesteryears and current, and anyone who has interest in the history of UMW’s campus life. 

Tools: 

• • WordPress 

• What is the slug/URL for this website (xxxxx.umwhistory.org)

• • • umwcampushistories.umwhistory.org 
  • Site Structure 
    • Homepage with interactive map, clickable pins lead to pages for each site, Site overview, instructions for use, 
    • About page accessible from menu
    • Pages for all of the different stories
    • Sources/archives page
• Google My Maps
• QR Code Generator
  • https://qr.io/ 
• Printers (& Lamination?)
• Wooden stakes??
• Juxtapose.JS
  • Used to show side by side pictures comparing current day campus with that of yesteryears 
    • Pictures taken at the same physical location only differing in time. 
• Camera and audio equipment 
  • To record oral history interviews with audio and videos
• Notion 
  • Project management

Advertising: 

• QR Codes
  • On little posts on campus at the locations corresponding to the interactive map
• Advertise site to UMW Alumni through Jepson Alumni Center and Alumni Publications
• Make poster board for VA States Tourney

Project/Data Sustainability: 

• Using basic tools
• Storage of pictures and videos
  • Create individual drives of data
    • BACK UP FILES
  • Compile info and send to Jeffrey McClurken at end of semester

Schedule of Milestones: 

Week of Feb 19-23

• Leah: 
  • Go to Special Collection, listen to oral histories and take notes. 
  • Create citations for sources used. 
  • Develop a list of locations tied to the oral histories. 
  • Create a list of interview questions paralleling the oral histories. 
  • Begin reaching out to potential interviewees for scheduling. 
• Lexi: 
  • Go to Special Collections, listen to oral histories and take notes
  • Create a list of interview questions paralleling the oral histories
  • Begin reaching out to interviewees and scheduling dates for interviews 
• Maggie:

•  Find starting info for buildings and looking at historic materials 

• Combs Hall
•  Ball  Hall 

• Start to look at special collections for photos of changes on campus 

• Yearbooks
• Bullet newspapers 

•  Figure out digital map with Max 
•  Find a digital mapping tool      

• Max: 

• Gather background research and plan out stories to follow
  • Campus Drive
  • VA States Frisbee
• Find pictures that accurately display how campus has changed (good places)
• Find accurate campus maps
• Schedule a meeting with UMW Librarians for next week for any research hurdles
  • Zotero bootcamp
• Schedule time to get MWC Frisbee Golf Map Digitized

Week of Feb 26-March 1

• Leah: 
  • Finalize times and places to conduct interviews
  • Check out audio and video equipment 
  • Begin to record interviews. 
• Lexi: 
  • Complete listening to oral histories and get permission to use transcripts 
  • Finalize times and places to conduct interviews 
  • Check out audio and video equipment 
  • Record interviews & take pictures as needed 
• Maggie:

• See Leah and Lexi to see who they are interviewing 
• Work on research for stories relating to the buildings 
• Find and plot digital maps, and find coordinates for pictures 
• Start to write short bio 

• Max:
  • Wrap up research loose ends
  • Organize findings by topic, prioritize findings
  • Find coordinates for pictures of campus, plot onto some kinda digital map
  • Digitize MWC Frisbee Golf Map

Week of March 4-8 (spring break)

• Leah:
• Lexi: 
  • Begin creating website and general layout 
• Maggie:

• Get with Max to put sources together for the map 
• Start working on digital map 
• Finish short bio 

• Max:
  • Get all sources from partners, create bibliography skeleton/plans
  • Talk with DKC about uploading sources and making site archive

Week of March 11-15

• Leah: 
  • Continue recording interviews
• Lexi: 
  • Finalize interviews if needed
• Maggie:

• Write about page for the website 
• Continue to find pictures of campus  in special collections; finalize selection of pictures  
• Ask special collections about getting copies of stories found

• Max:
  • Work on archive for website, work with DKC to add tags to sources, create archive, automate it
  • Wrap up research loose ends

Week of March 18-22

• Leah: 
  • Edit footage from recorded interviews 
  • Send citations to Max. 
• Lexi: 
  • Edit footage from recorded interviews and pictures 
  • Send citations to Max 
• Maggie:

• Finish getting the map together 
• Finalize digital map 

• Max: 
  • Finalize bibliography
  • Keep tagging sources

Week of March 25-29

• Leah: 
  • Add finished videos to website 
  • Write descriptions of campus locations on their pages
• Lexi: 
  • Embed edited videos and pictures to the website 
  • Create instructions on how to navigate the site
• Maggie:

• Finish Contributor list 
• Add digital map 

• Max:
  • Accessibility Week:
    • All pictures have alt-text
    • Transcriptions and captions for all video/audio
      • Create transcriptions using web Microsoft Word
      • Embed into video/link with audio
    • Work out best colors for contrast with background and text
      • Apply to entire website 
        • See DKC for any Q’s or Hurdles

Week of April 1-5

• Leah: 
  • Write homepage– site description and instructions for using the map 
  • Add bio to about page 
  • Create legacy page 
• Lexi: 
  • Look over website and make edits 
• Maggie:

• Finalize/test QR codes 

• Max:
  • Finalize any accessibility problems
  • Pick up any 

Week of April 8-11

• All:
  • Finalize website
  • Print QR codes & post around campus 
  • Submit 

Roles: 

• Site Layout/Website Work
  • Writing the pages on the website – All
    • Homepage
      • Brief overview – Leah
      • Interactive Map – Maggie and Max 
        • Using Google My Maps
      • List of contributors – Maggie 
      • Instructions on how to navigate the site – Lexi 
    • Story Pages – All
      • Interactive map links to the individual story pages
    • About the Site Page – Maggie
  • Graphic design for WordPress – Lexi
  • Citations/resources page 
    • All make individual bibliographies – All
    • Combine and make into one big bibliography – Max
  • Review site for consistency and make edits as needed – All
  • Summary/Legacy page – Leah
• Research
  • Talking to Special Collections – Lexi & Leah
  • Conducting interviews with current students – Lexi & Leah
    • Come up with interview question
    • Contact and schedule with interviewees
    • Record video and audio interviews
  • Listening to archived oral histories – Lexi & Leah
  • Finding historical photographs in the archives – Maggie & Max
    • Finding and mapping the locations of where these pictures were taken – Maggie & Max
    • Building the interactive map – Maggie & Max
• QR Codes: generating, printing, and posting around campus – All

Accessibility Plans: Use the Digital Knowledge Center’s Accessible Web Design Guide

• Detailed Alt Text for all pictures – Max
• Captions and transcriptions – Max
• High contrast text and background – Lexi 

Legacy Page

• Screenshots of each page of the website 
• Summary page of the website 
• All images/videos backed up on one platform

Use of Generative AI

• If we were tech wizards and had the permissions to do so, putting all of the oral histories and Bullet articles into an AI’s learning model, then input a map of campus with all of the locations. 
  • This would (again, if we were super tech wizards) be able to generate a virtual map of campus with ALL stories that were tagged by location in the Bullet and Oral Histories. 

Final Project Due Date: April 11, 2024 (finished by April 4)