25 Jul Revisions Upon Revisions

I have about three more weeks of my LHIP internship, and my digital StoryMaps project is in its final stages. All of the text is written and the images have been selected, so now the process is all about reviewing, editing, and obtaining permissions. It definitely doesn’t sound too exciting, but there is something nice about having a product in its later stages and just working on polishing it to be the best it can be. It’s hard to believe that a few weeks ago this project was just getting started and barely had a few jumbled sentences that tried to summarize the Hispanic legacy and heritage on Route 66 in New Mexico.

I’ve actually been having to go to the archives this past week to locate images for the StoryMaps. While I have found all of the images I would like to use (and keep stumbling upon more that, if I had infinite time and space, I would include as well), I still need to obtain permission to use them because posting an image on a website technically counts as publishing. Some of the images I would like to use do not have full citation information, and so I have to go back to the archive to find out the precise location, which is needed both as an acknowledgement on the website and for permission paperwork. I suppose, given this work and the editing, that I am in the drudgery stages of my internship, making small revisions here and there and finalizing everything before my last day. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. It’s nice to see a project to its completion and even if there are a few loose strands here and there that need to be tied up after I’m gone, I’m happy with what I’ve produced. I can’t wait until the StoryMaps is officially approved, and I can show off the work I did and further add to work that asserts the importance of Latino history to the larger American experience.