Category: Project Ideas (Page 1 of 2)

Colby as a place. Historical community of grads and current students and faculty.

Resources: special collections, Earl Smith, Marriner,

Sense of place.

For my research project, I want to produce an informative website or photo book of the history of the buildings and facilities at Colby. With the development of the new downtown dorm, athletic center and boutique hotel downtown, the scenes of campus and downtown Waterville are changing rapidly. I became initially interested in this idea after watching the videos taken on campus with Colby students and saw the same buildings that we see on the main quad today. After doing a little Google research, I found it hard to find information on the history of the buildings themselves and how Colby has grown as an institution over the years.

One interesting difference between the buildings that have been built in the past, and current projects is the source of much of the funding for those buildings. The new athletic center was funded by $100m of bonds, but all the buildings that have been here for decades, like Olin, Mudd, Keyes, Diamond, were funded by generous philanthropists and grants. I would like to explore why that is the case. The difference in sourcing of funds is an interesting, unexplored concentration that I could narrow down my project into. I want to be able to portray a larger scope of what has changed on our campus and in the town over time, while keeping my research content focused and not become overwhelmed as the scale of this project could be very large. I think a website could be a good digital medium that would allow people who are also interested in the topic to learn more, and could draw attention to this subtle change in how we fund expansions. It can also be a good way to chronologically tell a story by scrolling through from the start to the present.

I will need ITS support in creating a website that I can put all of my work on. Maybe a WordPress or a ArcGIS site would be good for this kind of project. I’m pretty familiar with HTML and have made websites before, so I think I can make this without much assistance. I will also need to meet with Special Collections to see what kind of resources and media that they have for this project. I know that they have lots of historical images, maps and other documents that could be digitized and published on my website to bring interesting material together. Also, articles in the Colby Echo could convey the voices of students from each time period. There are a variety of sources that I could explore to portray a more high level view of how things have changed over time.

I want to do this project because it is a topic that really interests me and I believe the information is not readily accessible and I intend to do so. I think the idea of a website would be useful and will last a long time. I can make the website editable so people taking ST235 in the future could go more in depth and continue what I begin.

I was intrigued during the visit to special collections when the librarians brought up the idea of being able to dig into the profiles of Colby College Alums, all the way back to the 19th centuries. As someone who has always found an interest in the study of people, I was fascinated with the thought of being able to have a better comprehension of the lives of Colby College students of the past. My goal is to be able to capture the community and the atmosphere in which Colby students embodied decades and centuries ago. I wanted to understand and dig into the roots of Colby College and the rich history that came with this. With this being said,  I needed find a way to be able to encompass the general sense of the school through the alumni profiles.

With this being said, I found that the hardest part of this project was that I didn’t know which alumni’s to choose and how I would go about being able to capture an entire school’s environment through one person. There are also tens of thousands of profiles I had to go through in order for me to truly capture this. After meeting with Erin Rhodes, she brought up the idea of going through the Colby Echo, instead of the alumni profiles. Not only would this save me the time of going through one profile at a time, the Echo would also be a great place for me to read and see the truest of thoughts of Colby College and the voices straight from the students. I still need to find a way to narrow the angle and focus on a specific element of the Colby Echo, but I definitely believe that the student run newspaper would be a great source for me to gain more insight on the history and environment of Colby College in the past.

My long term plan is to work alongside special collections here at Colby and either publish my findings/project onto the website that they are already running, or to upload my work onto a WordPress that is connected through the special collections as well.

The Madawaska region has a rich heritage of Brayon-Acadian culture that spans for hundreds of years. Now, due to the areas dying economy and the desire of young people to be part of the “modern world”, the culture and history is dying along with the aging population. While early on just a safe-haven for Acadian’s fleeing British aggression and defectors of a New France, the geographic isolation of the region served to incubate a rich way of life unique from the rest of the continent. Through the centuries of surviving and entertaining themselves in One of America’s least habitable climates, this group developed unique food, art, dialect, music, dance, folklore, religion and common values, all underlined with a spirit of freedom, self government and independence. At one point to attempt to remain neutral from North American geo-politics the region even declared itself a separate nation entirely, and to this day the region still has an officially elected president of the Madawaska Republic, and flies the nations flag at the mayors office along with the flag of Acadia, the former independent nation destroyed by the British where many members of the region settled after fleeing from. I’m the first generation on my Mom’s side to grow up outside of this region but grew up surrounded by the culture both at home and in the frequent trips I have made to the area throughout my lifetime. The culture is part of who I am but very few people understand anything about it, it is very important to me that this heritage not only be preserved, but made accessible and exciting through a digital medium so that more people can learn about it, and maybe can even encourage it’s continued development through interest in the region. I would love to attempt to write a screenplay about one of the more thrilling periods of the regions history, bootlegging during the prohibition, and present the story in a way that is seeping with the unique culture and way of life as a backdrop. My focus will be on the folktales surrounding Maxime Albert, the regions most notorious figure during this period. I have not checked the genealogy but he is from the same parish with the same last name as my great-grandmother so I also like the potential local/personal aspect of his stories.

The biggest technical issue will be finding a time to go visit the archives up there this Spring, as well as translating the texts for my own use. It is at least 4 and a half hours from Waterville so I will need to make an extended trip, however my Mom has agreed to go up with me and help find and translate documents and we will stay at either my families camp or my Mémères, which is closer to the archives. Another issue may be finding authentic stories of this bootlegger, however there is plenty on the internet and I’m sure I can find more at the archives or through word of mouth. I will not be needing any resources for this project.

Overall, I think this project good bring a lot of well-needed attention to this beautiful but often-overlooked area. I am excited to begin working on it and see where the research takes me.

For my term project, I plan to digitize stories of love at Colby- including familial, romantic, and platonic -and demonstrate the ways in which the expression of love has evolved on campus over the past couple of decades. Additionally, I will document this experience via the production of a documentary style short-film that would conclude with an interview with the student who wrote/received the letters. By better understanding the different ways that love, and more broadly emotions in general, have allowed students to emotionally survive on campus, we can see how the struggles of students have remained static. Furthermore, by moving the letters onto a new platform I can ensure that all members of the Colby community, including staff, faculty, and students, can enjoy these artifacts which may otherwise be forgotten.

Thus far, I have identified a treasure trove of letters sent to and from a former Colby student to their family back home. In these letters are the stories of a person of color braving the new frontier, faced with challenges they couldn’t have expected. These letters allow us to empathize and understand the experiences of this student. By documenting the narratives that this individual shares with his mother, we are left with an immortalized online exhibit that demonstrates the inheritance of struggles from one generation to another. This work would also provide a lens that illuminates the lack of institutional memory at Colby. More specifically, if the struggles of Colby students today are the same struggles that students of the past faced, then there is a larger problem that the Colby community must address.

Furthermore, through the production of the short film, I hope to encapsulate my own experiences as a student of color on this campus and compare it to the sentiments shared in the letters. A majority of this work would require a video camera, internet access, and a basic understanding of website development. I will also need to have access to the letters themselves. Throughout this entire process, I will be working closely with Special Collections in order to protect the integrity of the artifacts. Additionally, I will be needing their expertise to transfer the pieces into the online realm. The letters shift the impact of paternal bonds to center-stage.

Over the course of this semester, we have identified and interacted with online databases, user-generated models, and creators who share the stories of their creations. Through all of these discussions, I found that what we really lack on this campus is a history; one that includes both joy and love along with the trials and tribulations that college throws at students. Although the aforementioned letters share struggles that a student of color may face, they also show the blossoming of love. During this time in Colby’s history, where tensions are high between students and the administration, I think that it is integral to share the stories of hope.

For my research project I want to map the progression and development of the rap industry through its artists. I love almost all music but it all started with hip hop and rap, and I want to tell the history of the art by separating artists by time period region and influence while telling a little bit about there individual history and discography much like musicmap.com has done but instead of a concept map do it on a physical map of the United States. Region plays a huge role in the history of this music as different genres came from different areas and similar artists emerged from the same areas around the same times as a result. Rap music began in New York and was heavily influenced by funk and disco at neighborhood parties during the 1970’s. During this time artists scratched old records (break down an existing song into its individual sounds and re-align them as you see fit) to change there sound entirely and rap over the new beat. Then during the 1980’s it spread through the entire east coast and artists started to be able to make a real living off of it as artists began making their own beats to go along with the raps. During the late 80’s gangsta rap came out of the west coast influenced by the struggles of everyday live in low-income areas in the greater Los Angeles area and began a long trend of anti-establishment themes in rap music, while the drum machine created a new bass heavy bouncy sound in the south. In the 90’s east coast gangsta rap emerged and a rivalry developed between the two coasts all exploding at the Source Awards. It was a time where rhyme schemes and lyrics determined talent. In the south slower bass heavy rap songs were growing popular that would eventually influence and develop into trap music in the 2000’s and then to mumble rap in the during this decade, where lyrics and rhyme schemes have much less meaning. The other genre of rap that followed east coast gangsta rap during the 2000’s was heavily influenced by R&B with a heavier bass-line with lyrics talking about the party scene or sex life and brought the music to a wide variety of audiences. The music industry has become one of the more lucrative industries in the country and rap music continues to be in competition as one of the most popular genres for this countries younger generations. How this came to be is important to illustrate for the people that brought it to where it is today and would be interesting to anyone else who enjoys the music. In terms of technical issues I think finding the right map-making software is the only one but I will need to collect materials discussing individual artists regions, and time periods in order to accurately fill out the map. Most of the resources and materials I will need to complete this project will be found online but I will use the library for sources discussing the actual history of rap. As I mentioned I only need to find the right map-making software for this project but other than that I don’t think I will require much from ITS or the library. I spend way too much of my time listening to and looking for new music and my love for that began with hip hop and rap. Illustrating the history of this music through a digital map would be something I would very much enjoy doing myself while offering a good resource for those who enjoy the music or want to learn about it’s role in the social and political spheres.

I would like to propose a digital project on the issue of international students at Colby College. The presence of International students on campus has shifted dramatically over the years in terms of demography, nationalities, social classes, and races due to globalization and the development of the college. These issues also led changes in various perspectives of how International students were represented as well as recognized on campus. It is a trend that more and more international students from different places in the world are coming to Waterville to get an education and spend four years of their lives here. Therefore, a project depicting the “internationals on the hill” will be interesting to both past international alumni, current international students, and perspective international applicants.

There are different individuals or group of people currently conducting projects regarding international students. Maggie Libby and her student research assistants are collecting past photos and multimedia materials on Colby Megazine publications as well as Colby Echo on stories depicting international students. Qiam Amiry ’09 and his other colleagues in Advancement Office are working on relationships with many international alumni. Sue McDougal has been working as the Dean for International Students for a long time at Colby. Therefore, I will communicate between these parties to collect multimedia materials in regard to International students’ presence on campus.

This project was inspired by several initiatives that past students had done including Uzoma Orchingwa ’14’s film Black on the Hill, Annie Lee ’20’s film Popul[asian].

For this project, I am envisioning a digital published multimedia website which curates some of the materials from the collection from special collection including pictures, recordings, and publications, with a short documentary-style video on Dean Sue McDougal embedded on the website as the story arc. By doing this project, I’d like to digitize a collective memories on Internationals and their experience on the Hill.

I have always had a fascination with family history, I am lucky enough to have a well documented timeline of my family on my mothers side.  In World War II my great grandfather Sydney Williams joined the 10th Mountain Division.  In 1939-40 was the first discussion of creating a military division meant for fighting in the mountains.  After training in the Colorado mountains in preparation they fought their way through the Italian alps during the war.  While Sydney was at war he sent letters home to his wife, his children later created a book with all of these letters put together.  What I would like to do is create an interactive map that shows the route that he took through the alps during the war, while also digitalizing the letters.  With dates on all the letters, I would be able to show where the letters were written (generally) along the route.  

Because this is my family history, I find great interest in this.  I believe that it may be interesting to others as it would give an insight into a division in the war that is not well known for. This project could take different paths from here as well.  It could be more general and show all the different paths of the 10th mountain division, along with battle locations, critical events, and general information.  However, this would take a considerably longer time in research.  

On the technical side I would need to plot the routes on the map and create an interactive interface for the user to navigate.  To digitize any text from the book containing my great grandfathers letters, I found apps such as Finescanner that allow you to take photos of text and convert that into a document.  I believe the hardest part would be the programming to make the interface.  I will need to collect a copy of the book contains these letters from my grandfather, along with the maps he has (will just ask for photos of the maps).  

The technical support I will need is troubleshooting any problems and brainstorming ideas for the programming side of the project.  In addition, I would need to use a map API and utilize satellite as it shows a cool graphic of the alps and their vastness.

This project would create a tool that members of my family could use to interact with what my great grandfather experienced during WWII.  With only a finite number of copies of “Dear Mary: Letters Home from the 10th Mountain Division (1944–1945)” it would be an interesting digitalization of his experience that would allow easy access to his story.  That being said, this idea only just came to me and I would be happy to develop this idea into taking a different approach by digitalizing military routes of different divisions, or battalions, for a more general use by the public.  It could start off by following just one company through the war and portraying where they went and what they did through an interactive map.  Again, this might take more hands to complete as the research would have to be more extensive.  

I have been thinking about a couple of ideas for my project. I am interested in the history of music, and I am trying to think of a good way to be able to put something in that vein into a digital project format. I am also interested in the history of Colby, thanks to our visit to special collections. I was reading through old echo articles about the fraternities on campus pre-1984 and articles looking back on their impact and how the mark they left on the college was felt post-1984. It was very cool to see how the culture on campus has changed through the years and I think this would be a good project idea to carry out.

If I were to pursue the music project, I think I would try to document the official history of music listening/purchasing/streaming from around the 1800s to today. This would include everything from theater, concerts, vinyl records, and early radio, to today’s larger music streaming services like Spotify, Soundcloud, Napster, iTunes, etc. I have always had an interest in music and the means by which we listen to it and how this affects culture.

If I were to do the project involving Colby and the frats, I would initially try to find all the articles in the Colby echo I can pertaining to that subject, and then perhaps expand to local newspapers to see if the frats had any impact on the town or the state of Maine. I know that some chapters were created here at Colby, so it would also be a cool idea to see what, if anything, other schools’ frats have done to impact their communities, good or bad.

Immigration of great-grandparents from Germany prior to World WarI. World War I front lines. Letters. Paper company. Sponsored many others. Generosity. Charles Bloch. Grandma daughter has documents.

Grandfather Marvin Sears, opthamologist, eye pressure medicine. Wild. Yale library.

I am currently exploring a few ideas, that are mostly related to family history. These types of projects interest me because I am close to them and the resources are easily accessible. One is related to my families past and participation in wars, and the other is related to my grandfather and the research he did. I would like to do these projects because they also let me get to know more about my family. These two would probably end up in a website format.

My family does have some historical item related to the wars, however I do not know if it will be enough to make a full project out of. The wars focused on would be World War I and II. Letters and stories, and audio is all that I would be able to provide at this moment.

My grandfather is a well known ophthalmologist who did a lot of research and has many slides that I think would be interesting to convert into digital. I don’t know how to do that but I think it would be interesting. While the group that may be interested in this sort of project might be small (maybe ophthalmologists), I think it would be an interesting idea.