Prophetic Documenting
Starting From Where You Are
Starting from where you are is the simplest stage of documenting.
Your first step is an obvious one: You must ask yourself what needs to be documented and why. Your response to these questions will guide all of your project efforts. How? Well, it provides clues to the kind of documents that will be most valuable to your efforts.
For example, if I am documenting my sister's experience as an essential employee through the COVID-19 Pandemic, then certain types of documents are CORE to telling her story. My responses will help me focus in on the most valuable documentation. So before you do ANYTHING ELSE, pull out that notebook and answer those two things. This applies to your existing project and it applies to the project you are starting or would like to start.
Remember, we are thinking from a "journalistic perspective." So documenting for a college research paper, a medical school project or a scientific study is different. It's still documentation, but different fields have their own methods.
Go ahead answer these questions for yourself.
Secondly, consider the type of scribal project you would like to create? For me, I might want to put together a scrapbook of my sister's experiences for our family to remember. I'm seeing my project as more a scrapbook and home video project to add to the family tree. I am choosing something I have the skill set to do right now but that someone else in the family might decide to take to the next level later.
My goal is not to make a documentary for a PBS broadcast but to help honor my sister's legacy in this unprecedented time, and create a powerful heirloom for our family to pass down to the next generation.
Your project can be simple or complex. Deciding what I plan to do with this project has the potential to help me in four ways: (1) It gives me a realistic picture of what I am actually capable of doing with my own hands; (2) It defines my audience and frames my narrative; (3) It gives me a baseline to consider what should be included in the project and what should be left out; and (4) It provides me with an opportunity to generate ideas concerning how I will preserve, share and distribute this project to family in the days and decades to come.
Here, I am challenging you to decide what type of scribal project you would like to create? Then, decide how simple or complex you would like that to be. Take a look at the four points above, and determine: what you are capable of doing right now with the skill set you ALREADY have, make a list of the kind of documentation you have or what you would like to capture, and begin formulating a reasonable plan concerning how to preserve, share, distribute or make this project available to others.
It's important to note that all steps might be relevant to what your scribal project. Most of all ENJOY your process. Don't make it a frustrating effort. The stress of documenting "certain topics" can be emotionally overwhelming without adding the "stress of work" to the equation.
Third, begin making a list of artifacts that fit your project. Earlier, I provided an example of the type of documents I would like to collect to tell my sister's story. Now is the time to consider yours. This doesn't have to be a complete list, but you can "start" with the things you already have and those you believe you may need to tell the story or strengthen the narrative. This is important because we are going to talk about how to "properly document" certain artifacts. Having this list will give you room to make notes concerning what you need to do.
And finally, I'm going to work with you to give you options and ideas on how your project can be used. While I may be producing a project about my sister to share with the family, that's not the only door that is available to me. Great documentation can position that project to be used in multiple ways and for multiple purposes.
The beauty of inclusive history is that we can share that history with others or add that history to other similar histories to receive broader insight, different perspectives and obtain a clearer view of life for essential workers "from this moment" in time.
While we will not cover this in detail in this course, YOU NEED A PLAN & A SCHEDULE! This doesn't mean it has to be deep. However, the best-laid intentions work best with set goals and fixed dates. If you don't have this, your scribal project will more than likely blow in the wind. So TAKE THIS WEEK to develop some practical goals as we move forward.