Cathy Maloney

I wanted to share that I enjoyed the session yesterday with Chris Brown.  Seeing his “mini-studio” set up in the conference room and witnessing the conversion from a casette to digital was very interesting. One of the reasons that this appealed to me is because an employee of a company in NYC brought in a casette tape to VOICES last week from a funeral service from 2001 that was found (in a closet, drawer, who knows).  Seems like this is often the case.  I was able to sit with Frank Skornia as he converted from casette to digital.

Hi Lauretta:  I too was frustrated as it took SO long to input information.  I learned that this is common after speaking to the folks at Voices.  Frank, the Rockstar, told me that one victim took HIM 24 work hours to put in data.  Better to do it right the first time.

It is time-consuming and tedious at times, but worth it to the families!

I am really excited to be taking a class on campus but especially this course.  It is wonderful to be able to share my internship experience with all of you but also, it is great to take back what I am learning in class to Voices.  Combining the two experiences has really helped me understand the process.

I have a business background but also love information – paper, digital, any format.  To be able to project manage an archival collection is like heaven to me.  The best of both worlds – project management AND libraries – yea!

For me, I wish that the class was also offered in the Fall and Spring.  Five weeks is a short amount of time to learn so much.  Moreover,  I am really loving the course that I don’t want it to end – it is nice to be connected to the others in the program.  As we all know, there are few classes on campus and there is nothing like class interaction (in person) to enhance the learning experience.

I hope, like Sharon, that my 580 project this Fall will be able to connect with the Voices project.  I am not sure how and would love some thoughts from the group.

I spoke with Frank at Voices and he suggested that perhaps I do my research on “Best Practices in Digital Archiving.”  I like this idea but was hoping to do something that is a bit more personal.

Ideas anyone?

Like Lauretta, the story shared by Mary about the gentleman carrying the parachute to work has been on my mind.  I told this to Mary this past Monday when I met with her.  We were talking about the strategic plan and the future of Voices.  I told her that, in my opinion, the stories were the most important.  They are haunting and need to be told.

I have been at Voices for six weeks and still, I am amazing each day.  I have also had the opportunity to witness the staff at work and still hear them talking about the victims, the families, etc.  It is my sense that they still “feel it” every day.  I think that this is a necessary component that is needed in order to do this work.