Grunt Work

This week I spent eight hours scanning and sorting the physical copies of interview and an additional four labeling and sorting the scanned files into an excel spreadsheet file.
My last post had a pretty great summary of  what office life is like for me.

One thing I learned: to make sure everything is saved to more than one source. My computer crashed (literally... and screen separated from body). Fortunately I had been saving to a USB, but that reminded me to save it to a third source as well...

This coming (and final) week I intend to gather all of the hardcopies of what I've done and talk to Trish, my mentor. She will let me know whom I should talk to so that my efforts can be utilized by the playwright.

Unfortunately I did not get to interview more people about their lives in Sanford. However, depending on schedules, I might be able to do some of that this coming summer. We'll see. I don't have to volunteer just for school. ;)

This week is a particularly short blog because I am saving my "reflection over this full semester" for my last entry next week.  

An Office Job

           This week I spent a day in the office scanning paper, and another day labeling and sorting the digital files from those scans.

Like the transcription work, I do not feel like there is any enthralling revelation that I have from this. I am spending hours and hours processing hundreds or thousands of pages (digitally and physically) so that later someone else won’t have to.

 Here is a glimpse of what I was doing in the office:

1. The day started with a cup of coffee (see my lovely yellow mug) which I brought from home (because coffee makes every morning better).

2.Then I set up my printer/scanner. The office already had two other fax/printer/scanners but one of them could not connect to a computer and the other scanned each page independently. I needed my machine to scan 30 and 50 page documents as a single document, and so I brought one from home.

3. Then I dredged the files from the cabinet. As I opened each folder I compared them to our digital database so that I wouldn’t make duplicates. Then I scanned the transcription and permission/release forms separately (for ease of access later.) Then I stapled/paper clipped the interviews to their release forms and re-filed the physical copies alphabetically.

4. I have several new office friends now. One is the printer function which scans stacks of paper at a time. This process would be infinitely longer if I had to copy each page individually. The others come as a conglomerate: paperclips, staple remover, stapler, and sticky notes… These are the essentials of any office.

        Here you can see how much I’ve done. I feel successful when I stack it all together like that. 

 The next step is naming and organizing the digital files so that I can (finally) complete an excel. Imagine so much work for one spreadsheet?

This is why no one likes paperwork… Except that I did enjoy the repetition of the task. I don’t want to make a career of this job, but I am enjoying a few days in the office. 

So. Much. Paper.

       The last time that I walked into the optometrist for an appointment I noticed that they still kept their files in physical copies, and I wondered, why? It seems so inefficient. It seems like a difficult database to search since it is stacks and filing cabinets of paper. I now know why. It takes an incredibly long time to transfer information from hard-copy to digital database, especially if it is not impeccably organized to begin with.

       When I started my new task I thought that it would be a decent amount of work, but I had no idea of exactly how much. I hoped that I would have time to conduct more interviews. If I do have enough time for more interviews it will be a miracle. Right now I am almost overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of paperwork.

       This week I started organizing and labeling documents so that I can scan them into a digital file and then incorporate that file as a hyperlink into an excel document so that Jules Corriere, the new playwright, can make good use of the information that we already have.  

       I am really proud of myself for not getting a paper cut… yet, but I did get a crook in my neck.

Instead of the earlier work that I was doing (which required my interaction with other people) this job is really lonely. To some degree that is good. The office where I am working is secluded, so I can take off my shoes and listen to music while I sort and file and scan and list. It is nice to create my own work environment, but I do miss talking with people.

Change Will Come

                For those who have not seen Celery Soup’s production of Touch and Go (and you should) the title of this article is the name of one of their songs and a theme of their productions. I chose it because this week marks a change in my internship. I am under new supervision (My previous mentor is enjoying her vacation in China, but she will be back in time for my final review.), and my project focus has changed.  Since I have completed by four interviews my new task is organizing the interviews that have already been recorded or transcribed so that the new playwright can easily access them in the future. To that end, I spent time with Linda on Monday as she explained the current state of the documents (a combination of physical transcriptions, digital documents, and audio files) so that I may begin organizing them in an excel document. My first step has been organizing and labeling the digital files (grouping files by interviewer/interviewee). My next step will be sorting through the hard copies so, comparing them to the digital copies (checking for duplicates, etc…) and scanning copies to fill gaps in our digital information.

                Meanwhile, I am also finishing my fourth transcription.

                Something else Linda and I did while we met was travel around downtown Sanford so that she could introduce me to several other people whom Celery Soup wants to interview.

Although it will be impossible to interview and transcribe more interviews, I hope to at least conduct one or two more interviews for the database. Honestly, the interview is my favorite part of this process. The other aspects necessary and somewhat engaging, but I absolutely love talking to the people. I love hearing the new stories. I guess that makes me an extrovert?