Pictured below is a synthesized version of my notes from the Town Hall meeting Maggie and I attended last Wednesday. I split up my notes into three sections: struggles (the challenges the Congolese community currently face), resources (what is being used/can be used to improve these conditions), and goals (both short term and long term).
Since the last class Susannah and I decided to each tackle one major aspect of the site. I worked on our home page and included more information on how our project is unique and important for our area. Susannah took on adding more information on male laborers and the wages they earned and how they fit into the society of North Adams. Personally for me trying to create our homepage was really hard. I want it to be short enough that people will not get bored reading it or skim it and loose out on important information, but I also wanted to include enough detail and information to entice people to explore the site further. Finding the balance between the two was really difficult and I think it still needs some work but I decided stepping back and taking a look at it tomorrow with fresher eyes would be best.
It is interesting how things change. Take our website for example. What we started out imagining is not what it is turning out to be. Some of it is compromise, some is technology, and some is direction and purpose. This week we decided to not do the Prezi. I worked on bringing color, texture, and interest to the project by adding pictures and after I was finished with that, I went back to the Prezi and realized that what was created within the web pages was much better. Also, I noticed that the Prezi created a significant delay in launching the main menu. So, instead of a Prezi, we decided that the main menu will be used as our “thesis” page and the sub menus will prove our thesis. I feel like this ideas is much cleaner and organized. I also played with the menus a bit more. I noticed that the drop-down menus off the main menu were also causing delays and even preventing the main page from coming up. When I got rid of the drop-downs, the problem when away. Now the sub menus will only exist on the left sidebar, this looks much cleaner. I also added sub menu hotlinks within the page. I have a problem with a lot of scrolling so this provides an alternative to users like myself. One can simply click on the section they want to see OR just scroll down the page – it’s a win/win. Other than adding content, one of the bigger tasks that I need to finish on my pages is fixing the citations. We combined pages and in doing so the citations got out of control. For me this will be a matter of printing the pages and highlighting what goes with what. The thing that I’m most confused about is citing pictures. As of right now I have the URL saved for the pictures until I understand what it is that I need to do.
It still feels rough, but it’s coming along!
I believe the site is coming along swimmingly! Amy and I have decided to diversify our site with more photos and graphics in lieu of using Prezi. This is a current decision that we may be willing to change, but feel pretty confident about. We’ve been looking through new sources to use while discussing the comparative page on Mexican and Apostolic social institutions and culture. I think we’re a little concered about adding content because 1) it isn’t thoroughly edited 2) we don’t have as much as we thought 3) we’re both basically perfectionists.
Amy also reconfigured our drop down menus which make them exactly how I like them! Very thankful to be able to collaborate with someone who is more technically advanced and detail oriented than I am. Overall this project is coming together and I am excited!
(When hasn’t a blog ended in that?)
Many of us have heard of the concept of Brain Drain – – but not as much consideration has been given to its lesser-known cousin, Brain Waste. Brain Waste is the phenomena where immigrants with higher education and specialized knowledge are forced to work lower-skilled jobs due to the insurmountable language barrier they face when moving to a different country. Thus, there is a significant amount of wasted brainpower in communities across the country.
“23 percent, of the nearly 7.2 million college-educated immigrants ages 25 and older in the U.S. civilian labor force are affected by brain waste” (McHugh et al. 2014)
The burden of brain waste is certainly felt among the Congolese in Kirksville. Many people arrive in the US with advanced degrees, yet the majority of the Congolese population works in the Kraft food factory and Farmlands food processing centers, where they are not able to use their knowledge or professional skills they have gained from their degrees back in the Congo. Getting re-certified in their area of expertise is often a time-consuming and difficult process, especially with limited ability to use English.
Brain waste also has an impact on community integration. The schedules for the factory workers are typically 12 hour shifts, with a few days on and a couple of days off. Some people work during the weekends. This can limit the interactions between factory workers and those who don’t work in the factories. One can argue that this community isolation is a latent effect of the brain waste problem that forces immigrant communities into lower-skilled jobs.
I look forward to hearing firsthand accounts of how this issue has impacted the Congolese community here in Kirksville, and what is being done to combat it. Kirksville seems to be always looking for more ideas for economic development, so perhaps it is time to look at the people and resources already here.
References:
Batalova, Jeanne, Michael Fix, and James D. Backmeier. “Untapped Talent: The Costs of Brain Waste among Highly Skilled Immigrants in the United States.” Migrationpolicy.org. December 2016. Accessed September 27, 2017. http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/untapped-talent-costs-brain-waste-among-highly-skilled-immigrants-united-states.
McHugh, Margie, Jeanne Batalova, and Madeleine Morawski. “Brain Waste in the Workforce: Select U.S. and State Characteristics of College-Educated Native-Born and Immigrant Adults.” Migrationpolicy.org. December 07, 2016. Accessed September 27, 2017. http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/brain-waste-US-state-workforce-characteristics-college-educated-immigrants.
“What Is the Cost of Brain Waste for Highly Skilled Immigrants in the U.S.?” Migrationpolicy.org. December 07, 2016. Accessed September 27, 2017. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/content/what-cost-brain-waste-highly-skilled-immigrants-us.
After a few days of going over feedback from the rough draft of the site, I have finally begun making some edits. I haven’t gotten as far as I would have liked, but I am pleased to say things are definitely moving along. Today I made some adjustments to the Home page, adding some additional instruction on the structure of the website and what visitors may expect to find. Based on feedback regarding our menu, I added a description of the different sections and their subpages. I linked every page so that a visitor may click on Locals, for instance, and be taken to that page, or they can click on Economy and Culture to go to that page. I am hoping that this description will be sufficient in explaining the website so as to avoid any confusion concerning the structure. I have also begun linking all abbreviations so that clicking on them will redirect a visitor to the Glossary and Bibliography page. So far I have only completed this task on the Home page, but since we have decided this is the direction we want to go in, it should be easier from here on out to link all other abbreviations on the site.
I have added the “UP NEXT:” area at the bottom of the Home, Locals, Land, and Economy and Culture. I also added an image on the Land page that I feel illustrates “land leases” and “scenic easements” nicely. Perhaps one of my biggest successes concerns footnotes. While building my last website, I experienced absolutely no trouble linking footnotes, but I was told that not every theme is as footnote-compatible as the one we used, so it wasn’t unexpected when I faced difficulties with the BRP site. After much help from Amanda, one of UNCA’s magnificent librarians, we obtained a code that would allow us to link the superscript number to the footnotes section at the bottom of the page. Amanda took care of the one footnote on the Home page and left me with the code, but it proved more challenging than I expected. After a lot of confusion and links that led nowhere, I finally got the code to work properly on the entire Locals section! I still haven’t figured out how to force the link to take the viewer directly to the coinciding note below, but it does in fact redirect the reader to the footnotes portion of the page. I’m not sure I can articulate the relief that I felt at that moment.
Although the site is coming along nicely, I still feel a small amount of anxiety regarding our primary sources (or mine, rather). There has been—and still is—so much to sift through. From maps to superintendent reports to newsletters to oral histories, the amount of information that we have to process is overwhelming. However, anxieties aside, I have every confidence that the website will turn out fantastic. At the very least I have managed to gain the attention of a certain Dr. Anne Whisnant on Twitter! Perhaps this is due to the hashtags that I use fairly regularly or because someone from the UNCA History Department professor mentioned our work to her, but either way we now have outside professionals paying attention to our project which is perhaps the most exciting and terrifying thing that an undergraduate student can experience.
For today’s assignment, we have been tasked to critique our classmates websites, and let them know what we liked or didn’t like about their site. Of course we must be constructive, and I know I personally appreciate criticism since it will help make my site better. I will attach links to their websites, for the Keene State Team and the MCLA Team, so that it is accessible for perusal.
The Keene State Team consist of two students, Patrick and Kernan, whom both have shared with us a project that details the Finnish History in Newport. I personally think it is quite fascinating and appreciate the extensive archival work they have both done. They have both done projects with COPLAC before, so I definitely think that this has given them an edge to the project in which they can apply their experience to make this project successful.
Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
The MCLA Team consists of two students, Kaitlyn and Sussanah, whom both have shared with us a project that details the Irish in the Massachusetts area. I really admire their hard work and dedication to this project, especially since they started school at a later date than I did, and did not physically meet one another until September if I remember correctly. Nevertheless, they have produced quite the project for first time COPLAC students as myself!
I really love seeing collaboration being done so effortlessly, or at least that is what it appears to me as an observer! Both teams have been working so hard and I wish them the best in their endeavours.
Until next time, Maria.
Please feel free to take a look at the digital COPLAC contract, which I have taken the time to perfect it from its initial form and includes a formal research proposal as well.
Here you will find my working thesis: “The Native American group known as the Wichita Indians suffered through immense forced migration during the 19th and 20th century due to Anglo – American influences in Northern Texas; hence the lack of current representation in places such as Wichita Falls, Texas.”
Until next time, Maria.
Having completed the first rough draft of our website, we realized that things turned out a bit differently than we had expected. I don’t think this is a bad thing, just different. As a History student I am quite used to my research taking an unexpected turn, so this wasn’t difficult to cope with. I was happy to see that there ended up being more writing on some of the pages than I had originally anticipated. Even the most of the shorter pages have a footnote or two! We are also relieved that we have finally settled on a menu, subpages, and colors for the site.
Even with our little successes—the footnotes, a decent homepage, a glossary and bibliography that are slowly but surely growing—we realize where we are lacking. We did not include all of the pictures that we have on the actual website yet, but we didn’t need to in order to realize that we need to obtain some more images. I also recognized where I needed more sources and what sources were absolute goldmines.
It has been a long and stressful couple of weeks, but it is nice to have a (very) rough outline of our website. At the very least, it gives us a better idea of how we would like to develop the website from here on out.
As we chip away at our project site and research we continue to discover dates that reveal information regarding the Finns in Newport. In some aspects of our site we will synthesize the information to tell a story based on the facts and figures that we believe to be useful. However, it is our hope to provide a history of the Finns in Newport that is as complete as possible. Therefore, we want to create a timeline to document almost all of the dates we have discovered that reveal the story of Finnish immigration. To do this we are creating an incredibly vast timeline. Through the timeline we will tell a detailed story of the Finns in Newport and provide information that might otherwise have no good reason to be documented. We believe it is important to give the public this information so that visitors to the site can find what is useful or interesting to them and have a variety of information to review and discover from.
Creating the timeline is somewhat tedious given the amount of dates that we have compiled thus far, but it is also helpful for us to synthesize our findings, especially given the fact that we have a vast array of resources that we have used throughout our project of developing a more in depth history of the Finns in Newport. Also, the timeline will likely be a useful tool for students and teachers who may use the lesson plans/ educational content provided on our project site. Integrating proper media into the timeline is the next challenge, and I have yet to decide if it is necessary at all to incorporate images and outside links besides citations as I believe it may take away from the clarity of the timeline, which is already going to be heavy with information.
Creating the first draft was really fun. I created most of the design aspect and added the all the pages, which is something I really love doing. Being able to move things and see how it all comes together is both really rewarding and also a little overwhelming. Now we have to start editing and figuring out where everything is best placed. Susannah and I worked together on the overall look of the website and then we split up to actually add the information. Susannah worked on the Homepage, the Hoosac Tunnel page, and the Historical sketches page. I created the content for the Maps of the Irish Journey page (which we still need to add a bit more to our timeline, but for now it is really great to have it up), the Irish Potato Famine page, as well as the Irish Arrive, Irish in the Workforce, and the Saint Francis of Assisi Church pages. Collectively we created the About Us, Contract, Photos, and Bibliography pages.