Spring break was not exactly a break (at least on my end). I continued refining the site/archive, installing and configuring plugins. Once we figured out our metadata and configured our Contributions forms, as a team we entered data: each fridge represented as a collection, each fridge object as an item, as any contributed item to that fridge, a part of the fridge’s collection. We entered all the fridges in our database, representing all 5 boroughs. We prepared tutorials for how to contribute to the site. Next, we started getting contributions from our audience. It was fascinating that our site was functioning technically and also as intended – our archive kept growing, with our fridges now mapped out, represented via photos and stories.

In order to also host oral history items on our archive, I installed/configured the OHMS plugin suite and a new template for our site as required by OHMS. We presented our site to class, refined our presentation, and finally presented at the GC Showcase. One of the best things about building projects (or any creative work, really) is sharing them – thanks so much to our classmates (fun and very constructive feedback) and everyone at the showcase! To Dr Maney, to Micki Kaufman, to Stefano Morello, who were critical contributors to our project. And of course, to our fridge community!

Of course props to my fantastic teammates. It was a pleasure to work with everyone – I looked forward to all our meetings! It was a lot of hard and very rewarding, enjoyable work!