Christopher Voltz

Postcard Self-Reflection
Spring 2017

This semester, I got to do the work that no one really thinks about. I got to do data entry
for Florida States Postcard Archive. Its a job that allowed me to be the person behind the
scenes, doing the things that make the message happen. My job as an intern at the Postcard
Archive was to input data from we could find from the card in order to categorize them and
ultimately, tell a story from these cards. This spring, I categorized my experience into three
different sections: office work, the ground work, and the creative work. With the great guidance
of Michael Neal as my supervisor, I was able to input cards into our database on a regular basis
and also explore the archives inner-workings in order to complete an exhibit that would be
shown on the archives public website.
To start, my experience with the internship started before this Spring semester. I first
heard about it from a class I took with my eventual supervisor, Michael Neal. It struck me as
rather odd at first. I had no idea of the true potential of postcards in a modern, digital age and I
thought it was going to be rather irrelevant. However, in seeing Mr. Neals passion for the
project, I decided to give it a chance. Also, it gave me the chance to work with one of my
favorite professors in the department.
At the start of the internship, I had no idea what to expect. I had no database experience
prior to this and had no idea what editing a postcard even meant. Day one of the internship was a
meeting in the Williams digital studio in which Mr. Neal instructed us interns on the use of the
Dublin Core system, which is a system that classifies and categorizes our database. I compare it
to how libraries use the Dewey Decimal system to categorize books. However, this system was
not as user-friendly as Mr. Neal would put it. It took me a long time to realize the significance
of this system. Additionally, we got style guides that were used to act as a reference for how Mr.
Neal expected the interns to follow the Dublin Core and also input additional material in the
archive. We also learned how to scan postcards and eventually upload them onto the archive. The
final steps of the meeting were to go over the rest of the semester. The first half was made to
have interns input cards into the system and continually check their word count in order to meet
the demands of the internship. The second half was dedicating to editing existing cards in the
archive in order to update them and either help them go onto the public page or just fix any
errors that were missed. The final step of the internship was to create our very own exhibit to
post into the archive. It was relatively broad and could have been on any topic related to post
card production, messages from the postcards, or even using postcards as a reflective piece.
The beauty of this internship was the freedom and independence of work. There was no
office structure or anything like that. Our group had a meeting once a week to discuss any issues
and eventually learn other skills like editing a postcard or eventually how to make an exhibit. My
office was my desk in my room. The trust that Mr. Neal had in the interns to complete their work
was incredible and invigorating compared to a lot of the other places I have worked for before.
My system was simple. Pick up 10 or so postcards and start to input all of the information
possible for them on the weekend. This includes the title, production dates, messages, etc. Once
all the information was done, the file would be saved as a private item so no one could see it
publically because it was lacking the important piece, the postcard.
On Tuesdays, I would go into the digital studio and start to scan all the post cards I had
entered. Scanning consisted of scanning both sides of the postcard and editing down the white
space around it so whenever it is put into the archive, it is the full image by itself. After I was
done scanning, all the images were uploaded into the file I had originally saved as private and
then made it public for the archive.
This process would repeat until I completed about 60 cards for the archive. I wanted to
make sure I had a strong word count before going into the exhibit. The exhibit was one of the
items that initially drew me to internship. When Mr. Neal introduced the exhibits some interns
had worked on previously, I was amazed at some of the work. With that, I thought that the ability
to tell a story would be a really fun way to wrap up my internship experience.
I had no idea what my exhibit was going to consist of at the beginning of the semester.
Over time, I started to really understand the meaning of postcards which helped me to understand
the significance of the Dublin Core. It is not just for categorizing, it is for rhetorically making
sense of the intent of the cards. I am a strong believer in everything being rhetorical and
postcards fall in the category of everything. It was shocking for me to discover as I spent more
time in this internship, how the human experience and perspective has not really changed
throughout the years. We all still have the same questions and we all go on similar journeys. I
think the modern perception of the past was that everyone was more conservative and less
outspoken. However, in reading the messages of these cards, I couldnt help but notice that was
the farthest from the truth. These were real people expressing their real thoughts in a very
personal way. Postcards have the added rhetorical element of being a hand-made object. Not in
terms of how it is produced, but the true intent behind them is the rhetorical element. For
example, an email saying thank you may be thoughtful but a hand-written note is conceived as
more thoughtful. We as humans perceive it as such because the message was hand made. I
believe that is why postcards share such sentimental value with people, even when they are not
written on.
Therefore, I decided to create my exhibit on capturing that human element piece. As a
writer, I know basic story elements and I know the structure of the Heros Journey. The basic tale
tells of a hero going through a journey in order to gain new perspective. They have to want
something and have an obstacle in their way in order to achieve it. This story was something that
I thought could be relevant for the exhibit. So, I decided to set up a tiered exhibit. My goal was
to show multiple routes and options as life gives us all multiple paths and options and we must
choose some along the way. Starting at the beginning with one postcard that describes the
beginning of life and eventually funneling that into four options in the middle of life and then
back down to one at the end seemed reasonable.
Ultimately, I had the most fun creating this exhibit because of the freeform structure
behind it. I didnt have a rubric or general school expectations to follow. I was just told to make
something. That encouragement by Mr. Neal was so greatly appreciated as I was free to express
what I thought the significance of postcards were in whatever way I wanted. I felt a lot more
connected to these cards then I did whenever I was just inputting them into the database. It was
much easier for me to take one image and infer and put on my own baggage to create a larger
story that connects from the beginning until the end. The exhibit challenged me to work more
creatively than I had before with my major as well. I believe a lot of the affordances of the
Editing, Writing, and Media major are about practicality and knowing how to do things.
However, I think the major key to understanding basic rhetorical devices is in not being afraid to
be creative and just think about what makes sense and what challenges you as the author of your
work. I felt like I had a purpose of telling a story and I was compelled to tell it the best way I
knew how, which in the end is rhetorical like Ive stated before.
 I thoroughly enjoyed this internship opportunity. It was fun because of the freeform
structure and the challenge it gave me to think bigger about things. I definitely feel more
competent in running more of the behind the scenes work now because of this opportunity. I
learned that being this person behind the scenes is important. It takes confidence and creativity to
create a truly remarkable product and it takes a lot of time and effort to truly wow your audience
who sees it. Just in the time that Ive been an intern for this archive, I can see the impact it makes
on the people who view it. They are always generally surprised by what they get out of this
archive and what they learn, either about times before them or just people. It was a fascinating
experience and one that I would not shy away from in the future.
If I could give any advice for this internship, it would be to encourage interns to work this
experience for longer than a semester. At times, I did feel rushed, especially with juggling
classes, my other job as an RA on campus, and applying for jobs after graduation. I think a year
would allow people to become more immersed in the experience while also giving interns more
administrative experience running an archive. I know there are a lot of things that can be fixed
with the database we use, but only one semester of work is not enough to understand the overall
structure of how to create a truly functional site. With that, I believe that the exhibit portion
should not be changed at all. It needs to be encouraged. It was my favorite part of this experience
as it challenged me and made me think about how in a few weeks, I will just be another member
of the general public who can access the site, which made me a little sad.
Mr. Neal was a wonderful and caring supervisor that has a great support staff around him.
He encouraged all of us and his passion for the archive made all of us better at our jobs. I
appreciated his tutelage during my time with the archive.

Input/Editing Word Count = 5,743 Words

Exhibit Word Count = 1,805 Words
Final Word Count = 7,548 Words