Creating a Digital Record of Coronavirus Experiences
As the Corona virus (COVID-19) pandemic spreads throughout the world, the Utica College Center for Historical Research hopes to create a digital record of peoples’ experiences during and after this global event.
The Pandemic Oral History Project’s (PHP) mission is to collect, preserve, and make available to the public the personal accounts of the people of the Mohawk Valley in Central New York State. Digital recordings will be made available, free of charge, through https://nyheritage.org/
How to Share Your Story
To share your story, find a quiet, comfortable location. Sit down, and record a conversation of your experiences either alone or with a friend or loved one. You can also choose to be interviewed but be sure to practices safe social distancing. Please make sure your conversation is at least 10 minutes long. You should also try to find a location that is free of distracting background noise such as street noise or household appliances. Not sure what to talk about? Here are some ideas to get started: (These are only suggestions, not required questions/answers)- How has the pandemic affected you?
- What were you doing before it started?
- How has your life changed?
- What are your days like?
- How are you staying connected to family, friends, work, or school while social distancing?
- What changes have you noticed most in your community? In the environment?
Your recording can be audio-only or video:
- You can use a smartphone, digital recorder, or digital camera to record your conversation.
- If you choose to do a video conversation please use landscape orientation with your camera or phone. Note that the largest file size we can upload is 1GB. If your interview is larger, it will have to be in two or more parts.
- You may also submit photographs, documents - essentially anything you can digitize - along with your collection. Scanned images must be at least 300dpi and saved as TIFF or JPG files.
- Please fill out a metadata sheet for your digitized objects and upload via this link: POHP Metadata.
Once you are ready to submit your collection:
- fill out the necessary information and upload everything via this POHP Google Form