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Dr. Ortiz lead a tour of SPOHP's busy offices for journalism students in 2014.

College of Journalism and Communications Students Share Oral Histories with Visual Storytelling Web Applications

It only took an hour for College of Journalism and Communications undergrads taking part in an exercise during their Visual Journalism class to make history by setting a campus precedent: they were the first to ever create stories using visual storytelling web-based applications to share oral history interviews from the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program’s archives.

The archive, nationally recognized as one of the largest in the U.S., began with the founding of the program in 1967 by UF professor and oral history pioneer Dr. Samuel Proctor. As a result of the visual stories they created, the class was invited on a tour of SPOHP’s office in Pugh Hall and congratulated on their efforts by Dr. Paul Ortiz, program director, and Deborah Hendrix, digital humanities coordinator. Dr. Ortiz also encouraged the students to apply for the SPOHP internship program, pointing out that skills used for both journalism and oral history have much in common.

The course instructor, doctoral student Elaine Sponholtz, has volunteered with SPOHP as an interviewer and podcaster. This summer, she interviewed for the St. Augustine Civil Rights collection during a commemorative reunion event with participants from the largest mass arrest of rabbis in U.S. history, organized by the St. Augustine Jewish Historical Society to commemorate the historic event on its fiftieth anniversary.

Student work from the class can be found on Storify, Exposure, and Storehouse.

SPOHP By Sign BestCJC Student Projects:

  • “La Casita: A Story of the Latino Population at UF,” by Kelcey Thomas, 9/23/2014, on Exposure.
  • “Women’s Roles During the Vietnam War,” by Laura Cardona, 9/23/2014, on Exposure.
  • “Thelma Jordan: Alachua’s First Black Female Population,” by Ashley Pancoast, 9/16/2014, on Exposure.
  • “I Never Will Forget,” by Caylee Dawn, 9/2014, on Storify.
  • “Bridging the Gap,” by Antara, 9/2014, on Storehouse.
  • “Willing Warriors on Both Sides,” by Emily S. Cochrane, 9/2014, on Storify.
  • “We Are One People,” by Heather Reinblatt, 9/2014, on Storify.
  • “Mary Bahr, Female Soldier,” by Alison Eckerle, 9/2014, on Storify.
  • “Oral History Project: Southern Honor,” by Allie Hershorn, 9/2014, on Storify