Approaching the End (and a New Beginning)

Last night was my final presentation for my current round of graduate school. Going last, I took a brief moment to savor the feeling and then...it was gone. As of now, I have a final research paper to complete and that should be it. And yes, I am savoring my final research paper (which is sad). It's been a fun (albeit challenging) ride, and I have enjoyed it immensely. At the same time, it isn't quite over.

In January, I will be presenting a poster at a colloquium at CUA and attending the American Historical Association's annual meeting here in DC. Later in the month, I am looking at going up to my old stomping grounds in Philly and attending the American Library Association's midwinter meeting, and come next summer, I will be attending the ALA's annual meeting out in Vegas--followed by the Society of American Archivists' annual meeting back here in DC.

The bottom line is, even when the schooling stops, it doesn't really end. Because new scholarship is always introduced, and because new topics are constantly addressed (digital preservation, emerging technologies for processing digital collections, improving outreach, etc.) it's imperative to stay informed. Plus, it's just good practice to keep networking (never know who you're going to meet).

That said, while I won't have a syllabus assigned to me in the near future (thank you!), I still have some personal pet projects I will be working on. I want to familiarize myself with some open-source digital collections management software. I have a solid understanding of CONTENTdm, but I'd like to see what some other applications can do, and see what advantages they may have. Because I wanted to focus on free tools, I will be making use of ones mentioned on this site:

http://oedb.org/ilibrarian/5-free-and-open-source-tools-for-creating-digital-exhibitions/

-Omeka
-Collective Access
-CollectionSpace
-Open Exhibits
-Pachyderm

Figure I will be scanning some old postcards I have which are in the public domain and uploading movies and music and running tests to see how the products hold up for ease of editing/creation, navigation, and aesthetics. Figure this should keep me busy for a few months. Ultimately, it will serve as a personal test to see if I want to pursue a PhD.