Hey this is our video, hopefully it works.
We interviewed staff members at The Middleton Public Library, asking them questions about the people that use the library. We were going to interview staff at the Meadowridge Library, however they would not let us film inside of the Library and they would not by interviewed outside.
Group members include: Jori, Kristen, Caroline, Claire, Ally, Emily C
I went to the Middleton Library and interviewed librarians and patrons about their library and the role they plat at their library.
ReplyDeleteI went with Jori to the Middleton Public Library and did the filming for this segment of the video.
ReplyDeleteI tried to put the footage on my computer...but it didn't work (thank god Emily's friends are computer gods!) Then, due to the fact that we couldn't film in the Meadowridge Public Library, I filmed Kristen giving information that she and Carolyn collected. I also helped Emily edit the final video.
ReplyDeleteI went to the second library with carolyn. it was a frustrating trip because they would not let us film anything or anyone. we ended up taking some footage outside. we lso asked the librarian a series of questions and personal observations to get a feel for the library. i later recalled and told the story on camera. i thought that the assignment was difficult given the time constraints, coordination of our schedules and then with that of the library, and the privacy regulations stood as a huge barrier for completing the assignment and the desired level
ReplyDeleteKristen and I took the full 45 minute bus ride out to Meadowridge from campus--experiencing the difficulties of not having adequate transportation! I filmed the library and its settings (in a strip mall next to a busy street.) We also talked to two of the librarians at Meadowridge about their branch and how they reach out to the lower-income residents of Allied Dr.
ReplyDeleteWell, i spent four hours in the guys next door's room trying to get the first video onto the computer, finally the figured it out, thank god, they are life savers. Then Ally and I went through and edited the film/ cut it down to five minutes. With around 25 minutes of film, that was kind of hard to do. They had footage of patrons at the Middleton library, but we decided not to include them in the final video because we didn't have patrons from the Meadowridge library to compare them to. I think we could have maybe chosen another library than Meadowridge if we called/ knew ahead of time that they would not let us film inside, but we worked with the information we got and it all worked out! :-)
ReplyDeleteTo elaborate on the video project:
ReplyDeleteThough the timing for making the video fell at a bad time for most of us, as we weren't aware of the project and with it coming up right before finals, I thought it was the perfect way to really explore and execute some of the concepts we've been studying all semester in LIS 202. As one of my class critiques I thought it was very important for the students to not only read about the digital divide but to actually go out and understand it in their own community. I got to experience this firsthand as I went to go visit the Middleton Public Library and got to sit down to interview the librarians. Though we live in the bubble of digital wealth on campus, it was amazing to learn of the struggles and issues, even of the "White Cathedral", just ten minutes away from UW-Madison. Beyond just reading about the digital divide, actually sitting down and talking with librarians really opened by eyes to the reality of the impending technology issues everywhere and helped me apply the ideas of the class in a realistic setting. I thought the project was a great way to develop the ideas discussed in the classroom and a way to force students to deal with the divide up close and personally.
I think this should be a requirement and more of an ongoing project for future LIS 202 students that would really enrich the readings and class concepts throughout the entire semester, rather than just at the end!
Expanding on my role and what I learned from this project:
ReplyDeleteI wish that I had been able to go to both libraries to see firsthand the differences in resources and types of people. Jori and I had a really great experience talking with the librarians and patrons, and no difficulty getting to the Middleton Public Library. Carolyn and Kristen didn't have such an easy overall experience, which probably emphasizes the differences between the two libraries.
Being able to interact with the librarians really gave me some perspective on the amount of work that they do for the community, and emphasized the important role that they play.
expanding on my video participation,
ReplyDeleteOur group had a pretty successful brainstorming session where we tried to figure out what theme from this class to use in our video. One of the great (but also not so great) features of Madison is its diversity. It wasn't difficult at all to pinpoint our yellow palace and white cathedral in this city.
One of the biggest things I took away from this project was that libraries have not only a discrepancy of materials, but also staffing! Kristen and I only had two librarians available to interview, and both were pretty resistant to questioning. There was a major tendency to just direct us elsewhere...to the downtown branch or to the Read Mobile. I think that is a downfall of the city branch system: blame and pressures are just transferred elsewhere because of unequal allotment.
i think that this assignment helped me to see how classroom articles are actually true in the real world.it was one thing to see the differences in funding and behavior of two libraries in the same city than it was to read it. it also had much more of an impact seeing it that reading about how one library could have so much and another could have so little.
ReplyDeleteExpanding on the video project...
ReplyDeleteI found out from this project that, first off all, editing was the hardest task to do ha ha. But really, it is lucky that we have the resources available to even do the project. Some people out there would not be able to have done what we did because they don't have access to the marterials that we have access to. Also, I realized that librarians and libraries try really hard to provide programs with the funding they have available to try to include everyone as much as possible. Not all libraries have the same funding and have less resources. The biggest thing i took away was deeper than just the project, it was the understanding that we are the advantaged that have the materials to do such projects, and that if we were the disadvantaged, it would make this project almost impossible to do.