Final Reflection

In order to ensure that every member of the group contributed equal work and effort to the online exhibit, the group contracts were used. In theory, having each group sign the contract places an amount of seriousness and obligation to the project. However, it would be unrealistic to think that every student would be committed to working hard. For this reason only, the contracts are flawed. Regardless, the Plaza Midwood Neighborhood group attempted to follow through with their contract as closely as they were able. Problems with the group meeting regularly prevented the contract to be followed exactly. However, every goal set forth was reached and members of the group contributed to the final product.

The easiest component of the contract to follow closely was the mission statement. Our goal was to show the history of Plaza Midwood’s evolution and revitalization in a user-friendly way. We accomplished this without a doubt. Each component of our exhibit works to educate readers about the history of Plaza Midwood. Our strongest emphasis rests on the revitalization of Plaza Midwood due to the efforts of the Neighborhood Association in the 1970s and 1980s. Most of the information already produced about Plaza Midwood focus on the neighborhood and residential areas. As a result, we focused our efforts on the business and civic aspects of Plaza Midwood. We did, of course, include information about events and the Neighborhood Association.

As you can tell by this description of our group’s mission, it is not exactly in line with the contract. The evolution was organic and ended up tying our project together seamlessly and, in some ways, effortlessly. Although we show diversity in the Plaza Midwood Neighborhood, revitalization in the 1980s is the more prominent component of our exhibit.

Unlike the ease with which our group could follow the mission statement, the division of labor was more difficult to manage. The difficulty our group faced with getting everyone to sit down and work on the project together made it difficult to allow one person to do the tasks set forth in the designated committees. For instance, there was a chair of item processing and research oversight, but everyone did these things equally. It turned out that every person became responsible for his or her own research, problem solving, metadata, and items. The chairs did not do any more work to ensure consistency throughout the website than anyone else.

By the closing weeks of our project, Sean, Susan, Jennifer, and I made great efforts to get together and edit all of the existing sections of our exhibit. We also made sure the existing metadata was consistent and as complete as possible. We attempted to track down last minute images to make our exhibit as complete as possible. However, we all did this work together and shared the responsibility of all of the committee designated duties.

Sticking to the outlined schedule was the most difficult for our group. Because one person created the schedule without an understanding of the priorities and obligations of the other group members, there were multiple conflicts. That being said, we accomplished all of the goals that were set forth. For instance, we each decided what areas of Plaza Midwood that we could research by mid-September. We had begun to upload items and metadata by the end of September. Due to the difficulty some members of the group had with tracking down important bits of information, we were unable to write the exhibit “stories” by October. However, our captions and metadata was being structured and organized throughout October.

As we began to construct our individual research stories, available members of the group edited the written work. By the end of November we were all doing editing and polishing, as projected in our schedule. There is always room for improvement, but with so many sets of eyes, we hope that we have caught the typos and inconsistencies of our exhibit.

This being said, I think it is important to note that it was very difficult to find old pictures of buildings. This was most clear when we were scrounging through the Carolina Room at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library looking for a photograph of Harris Market. Perhaps this is because one small grocery store wasn’t big news in 1936. Also, Plaza Midwood going through renovations in the 1980s may not have been big news to the city of Charlotte. Other transformations were occurring in Charlotte, so perhaps Plaza Midwood slipped through the cracks. This made research difficult.

Although our group faced difficulties with meeting and communicating with all four members, we managed to reach all of our desired goals and put together a well thought through and easy-to-navigate website. Our exhibits flow well from one topic to the next. Because our topics overlap, it is easy to follow the story of Plaza Midwood’s revitalization. We even added an additional simple page entitled: Chronology. Here, we compiled the dates from our research into an easy-to-understand chronology. We hope that this will make our site and the history even easier to follow and understand. This site is, after all, supposed to be an easy resource about the business and civic institutions in Plaza Midwood. We also included a map that points out all of the structures that are discussed in our exhibit.

Overall, most group members put forth equal time and effort into the exhibit. Our various strengths were pulled together into a very successful online exhibit. Some had great knowledge of the Plaza Midwood area, others new a lot about how to operate Omeka, and a few had a firm grasp on what an exhibit should say and look like for readers. With all of our talents pulled into one exhibit, our contractual obligations were upheld. We were true to our mission, everyone contributed to the effort to construct the website, and our exhibit goals were reached in the most timely fashion possible.