The Challenges of Archiving Student Work for Multiple Audiences
Gardner Rogers (Project Supervisor, Ethnography of the University)
At his presentation, Gardner Rogers spoke about the Ethnography
of the University (EOTU) Initiative, and the difficulty in archiving
student work for an online audience. He recalled the significance
of the research-based learning process by way of a rhetorical analysis
method that stores published student initiatives accessible via
a new Ethnography
of the University web site.
As of now, the web site is funded as an initiative through the
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. It was created with Inquiry
Page (now iLabs) software developed by the Graduate School of Library
and Information Science (GSLIS). According to Rogers, the site hopes
to receive more server space as students begin to use digital photos
and videos that will require a larger capacity. Currently the site
houses one HTML preview page of what students have done, including
a summary. This in turn links to a PDF file, or the destination
of the viewer. Ultimately, creators of the site wish to have everything
in PDF because they do not know of any file method better at the
moment: although they are willing to investigate alternatives. The
PDF file proves to be a consistent format that allows one to upload
and convert their document in one swoop, Rogers explained.
Rogers said there are two main concepts that the campus should
understand in regards to ethnography, which is the branch of anthropology
that deals with the scientific description of specific human cultures.
First, that undergrads can be researchers, but also must initiate
research, and second, that we should treat the University as a composite
of narratives. Therefore, the goal of EOTU is to "sponsor interdisciplinary
undergraduate research on the University, and archive this work
in web accessible form for the UIUC community and beyond."
He recognized how in the past, ethnography has received ugly connotations
that claim that our own point of view is critically important in
comparison to those around us. It is through these different narratives
on the campus, or essentially different human perspectives, that
will allow people to "pay attention." Rogers stressed
that to be successful, you simply "don't listen to just what
gets said, but who says it."
He feels that undergrad research "is really central to why
they're here in the first place," and that although it is harder
to institute within a larger University setting, maintaining this
standard is crucial to learning. The EOTU site should satisfy the
needs of multiple viewers including current and future student users,
who Rogers claims are the "primary audience," as well
as current and future faculty and instructors, campus administrators
and staff, outside visitors both interested in student writing or
ethnography, and even just those interested in what students have
to say about Illinois. He also hopes to make his web site a digital
archive that may be used by other schools. "I really like what
happens when you bring other universities into the mix," Rogers
said. In fact, he says that "we have a series of conflicting
narratives" on campus, as freshmen are bombarded their first
year with a plethora of organizations to join that claim each is
simply part of the "freshmen experience."
On the EOTU web site, research narratives "ripe for analysis
and deconstruction," prove to hold some plausible answers to
pressing University questions through rhetorical analysis. Ethnographic
research asks questions that find out more about the sources behind
the information and research presented, Rogers explained. Learning
begins with questions, and is a cyclical process. You need to "ask,
investigate, create, discuss, reflect, ask . it never freaking stops!"
Rogers said enthusiastically.
Eventually those involved with the project wish to "set up
broad categories in which student work habitually falls" on
the site to make it arranged in an easily navigable manner. One
may ask,"'why bother with all of this?" To Rogers, the
answer is simple. "Student writing matters in and of itself.
Undergrad students have taught me a boat-load." He says that
having and maintaining an historical record of student initiatives
will yield an insurmountable amount of insight for the future. Although
Rogers believes that "showing the product, what students do,"
is more important than looking at grades and other academic credentials,
that the research-based learning process ultimately even outweighs
the product.
About Gardner Rogers
Gardner Rogers is Program Coordinator for EOTU and is completing
his dissertation on photographs and fiction of the American South
from 1930-1976 entitled "Whose South?" In 2002 Gardner
won both LAS and campus awards for excellence in undergraduate teaching.
This is his second brown bag presentation for CITES EdTech.
- By Lauren Eichmann
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