There was a time, a million years ago, that being an intern meant coming to an office everyday and surviving a mundane task list that included requests for photocopies and frothy lattes. No matter what their jobs, interns had to physically BE there. Now, not so much.
Over the summer, SITES' was elated to host one of the Smithsonian's first "virtual" interns. Well, maybe "virtual" is a bit misleading. She's a real person, not a google-eyed avatar, so perhaps she's more of a telecommuting intern, plugging away totally offsite on a string of important projects. While we were in Washington, DC, Kara Pajewski, a 2008 graduate of New Mexico Highland University, was building Flash videos for us in Sante Fe, New Mexico. She was charged with creating movie-trailer-style videos for a few of SITES' traveling exhibitions.
When it comes to digital production, there's really no need for people to be in the same office, state, or even country. Indeed, wikis and other shared editing platforms make it feasible that collaborators never have to see each other face to face. We were happy that Kara did fly out in April to meet us and get the logistics of her assignment, but after our initial conversation, Kara took the information and ran, posting draft versions of her video online for the Smithsonian team to review, review, review.
Isn't technology marvelous? Kara's final version of her American Letterpress: The Art of Hatch Show Print exhibition overview is posted on our YouTube Channel, along with an array of other content-related videos.
What do you think? We think Kara did a fantastic job!
Nice work, Kara! The addition of music--especially from Smithsonian Folklife--really adds polish.
Posted by: Ann Carper | October 04, 2009 at 09:30 AM
I highly agree with your assessment that she really did a FANTASTIC job. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Posted by: Albert Strausbaugh | September 25, 2009 at 07:47 PM