Summer 2006 to Present |
(In Production)
Overview
A joint collaboration between the University of Michigan’s School of Information and the Archives of Michigan, the Untitled Prison Project website will provide online access to research and educational resources on the subject of state prisons, reform, and related social topics.
The website will feature the State Prison of Southern Michigan (SPSM) and the archives of the Rev. Albert Ewertt, Chaplain of SPSM (1933-1935). The materials are provided by the Archives of Michigan and include inmate stories, letters, artwork, and photographs.
Status
During Summer 2007, much of the content to be featured on the website was digitized and along with my partner, Kate Bergeron, it has been cataloged for use on the website. As I continue to work on processing the digital images, Kate works on creating inmate, facility, and offense records. In the coming months we will also work towards integrating teaching aids and other learning guides for researchers and students.
The website is built on the Expression Engine content management platform. The following screenshots show our working documents for data models and relationships, work flows for creating image and inmate records, and a proposed site map.
Screenshots
Overview
Over the past two summers I have worked at the Archives of Michigan on a few different projects. One of which, the Untitled Prison Project, warrants it’s own entry.
Additionally, I have worked to digitize portions of the Doug Elbinger photographic collection. Elbinger has photographed politicians, artists, musicians, and events in the state of Michigan for nearly four decades. Currently, selections of his work are scheduled to be featured in an exhibit on Michigan politics, which is set to coincide with the 2008 Presidential elections. In managing this collection, I produced digital contact sheets, high resolution scans and derivatives of selected works, applied metadata, and created a naming convention and management scheme.
Lastly, I customized the design interface of the Archives digital collections website. The website is built on the CONTENTdm content management system platform, which is largely PHP and database driven. In order to provide a more unique experience as well as represent the personality and value of the Archives, I created an interface that incorporated aspects of the Archives collection while maintaining the infrastructure and functionality provided by CONTENTdm.
Screenshots
