My name is Alina Moody and I am a freshman at
George Mason University taking part in the OSCAR Research Assistant program. As
part of the OSCAR program, I am working on the GMU Broadside Photograph
Collections project alongside Mr. William J. Patty. My daily tasks working on
the Broadside collection include scanning in negatives of pictures taken around
campus by members of the Broadside newspaper during events such as Mason Week
and basketball games throughout the years so that they are the right size and
the subject is clearly visible. Once I scan in a set of negatives, I insert
data regarding the scanned pictures into a metadata spreadsheet in Microsoft
Excel. I have to be meticulous in my work so that I do not harm the old 35mm
picture negatives.
While scanning in the old negatives during work,
I frequently stumble upon new information regarding the ways that campus and
Fairfax have changed over the years. Just this week, I found out that Mason hosted
an International Dinner Dance with a variety of cultures involved in the event
in April of 1998. Working on the Broadside Project helped me expand my
knowledge regarding Microsoft Excel, and the scanning of pictures. I feel that
both of these experiences will prove useful as I pursue a career working with a
magazine; having experience with not only the literary side of things, but the
visual side, will help me as an editor.
