Final Reflection

For my project I created the website, Dolval, Haiti: A Village of Hope. It can be found at http://www.ashleysiegel.com/portfolio/edit6190/haiti.htm.

Appropriate Use of Technology

Now that the Dolval, Haiti website is complete, I am very glad that I choose the web as the tool to present information about Haiti. I could have just posted pictures on a site such as Kodak’s, but this would only have showed people photos and wouldn’t have included video, a song and lyrics, cultural questions, or a map of Haiti. I could have also created a PowerPoint show and included all of these forms of media, but people located in many different locations would not have been able to access it then. Because I have created a website, people can ask about Haiti, I can now direct them to the site. This has already been useful several times. Often when people ask, it is in a casual conversation where it would not be appropriate to pull out a laptop and show them a PowerPoint show. Instead, they can go home and view the website at their own pace and time frame. It also does not require that I remember to send them a file through e-mail.

Appropriateness of Project for the Audience

The audience for my project is adults that are connected to the organization of Haiti Cheri, Cumberland Community Church, or friends that helped send us to Haiti. Because this is such a wide audience with people located in many different states, creating a website worked perfectly. I have been able to tell people about the site for them to look at later, my husband posted a link to the site in a forum for his customers that helped us go to Haiti, and I have also been able to e-mail a link to specific individuals who have asked for information and pictures. The language used in the site, the videos and pictures shown, and the additional resources provided, all are geared toward an adult audience.

Evaluation of Project, Description of Implementation

To get a better understanding of the effectiveness of the Haiti website, I asked five people to help me. In a one-on-one conversation, I first asked them about their current knowledge of Haiti. I wanted to find out if they knew where Haiti was located, what they have heard about Haiti from the media, what they know about Haitian culture, and what they think the average Haitian lifestyle might be like. Participants at this point shared things like:

- I have no idea where Haiti is located

- Isn’t Haiti located in the Caribbean?

- I have heard that Haiti is very dangerous

- I really do not know much about Haiti

- Do they speak Spanish in Haiti?

- I think that they are probably very different from us.

- The people in Haiti are very poor and have manual labor jobs

Next, I had my five volunteers go to the Dolval, Haiti: A Village of Hope website. I asked them to look around, click on the questions, view the pictures and videos, and get a feel for life in Haiti. I then spoke to everyone again to see what new perspectives they had. People shared statements like:

- After going to the site, I feel like I know more about Haiti at a personal level rather than just news. It is easy to lump everyone together, and you forget to see them as individuals.

- I must admit that my knowledge of Haiti and the Haitian people prior to viewing your site was limited. I could point to Haiti on a map and make partially accurate generalizations about the standard of living based on knowledge of similar locales in other parts of the world, but I had never spent any significant time learning about Haiti, specifically.

- During the 15 minutes I spent on your site, the photos I saw of the large city of Cap-Haitian and the description of its poor sanitation, impoverished economy, and high rate of crime gave me a deeper understanding of the specific external pressures that face the city's inhabitants.

- Economics notwithstanding, their culture exhibits a richness of community not found in far wealthier nations, certainly not in most American cities.

- I feel more informed and also more interested in learning about Haiti's past and present and what support individuals and organizations in America and elsewhere can offer to help the Haitians provide for their own richer future.

Based on the volunteers’ reactions and comments, I think that my goal of helping others to have a better grasp on life in Haiti, as well as see both the differences and similarities between Haitian lives and our own was accomplished.

Final Reflection

As I have begun using the site with people, there are several things that I would already like to add and tweak. First, I would like to add more of a description to the answers to the cultural questions. Initially, I just gave what the Haiti response would typically be, but I think a longer explanation would be useful. I also want to add descriptions to some of the photos. I was really trying to find a balance between letting people form their own thoughts and impressions without me steering them a particular way, and giving them enough information to understand what was going on. The titles at the beginning of the videos help, but some of the still photos need at least titles.

Looking back on the project, I can really see how it affected me. When I was in Haiti, I really saw the people as individuals who were intelligent, caring, and giving. As time has progressed, the individual memories of each person become blurry, and it is easy to over generalize what they are like. This project really reminded me to see them as individuals, but at the same time to appreciate the overarching culture that they live in. This project also helped me to put myself in my audience’s shoes, and think about what it is like to view and learn about a new culture. I realized that I couldn’t assume that they already knew certain things, or would come to a particular conclusion. I also did not want to try and make them believe or see the people of Dolval the way that I see them. I wanted people to see the people of Dolval for themselves, and to be able to wrestle with their own thoughts.

EDIT 6600 Project Update

As I have developed the website on Haiti, I have really used the Noel article to help me think about the important aspects of the Haitian culture that I should share. Noel says in the article, Developing Multicultural Educators, "Although earlier definitions focused more on artifacts and customs, current conceptions of culture have looked at the underlying beliefs and perspectives that give rise to those manifestations of culture. This way of looking at culture move the focus away from the surface, outward aspects of culture and points our attention to the deep structure of culture, to people's beliefs and understandings of the world." This struck me as being so true about what we typically think of when we hear the word culture. In school, growing up, we would make food eaten by a certain culture, or maybe wear clothes that resembled those of a particular culture. We rarely talked about how a group of people might view the world differently.

Through my Haiti website, I would like for people to be able to experience Haitian culture a little more clearly. I have developed a few questions that will help people begin to shift the way they view culture. The questions present a situation and ask the user how they would respond in their own life. Then they go to the next screen and see how someone from Dolval, Haiti might respond. As Noel says, though, "There is always a concern with assuming that a culture can be characterized by a few characteristics. The danger is that stereo types about entire groups of people will be formed." To help and avoid creating stereotypes, I have tried to only list characteristics that cannot be seen in a right or wrong way. They are just common differences that someone would notice if they visited Dolval.

I have also added many links to videos taken in Haiti that show everyday life. They show them worshiping at church, building a school, and kids singing and playing. The videos shows how they interact with each other. I hope that seeing them move, and laugh, and sing, and build will help others to have a view of Haiti that is different than what is portrayed in the media. There are places of hope in Haiti, where people love each other, work together, and love to learn new things about people who are different from them.

As the website is being completed, I would like to use the website with a few people from my church, friends that supported us when my husband and I visited, and other people that are associated with the organization, Haiti Cheri. I will ask the users a few questions before they view the site, and then ask them a series of questions afterward. The questions before will focus on their prior knowledge of Haiti. The questions afterward will focus on what their impressions are of the people of Dolval. I would like to see if their thoughts changed after seeing the videos, the photos, and the questions. The people that will be using the website have access to up-to-date computers with high speed internet. They should be able to view the videos without any problems. Several people have already accessed the videos to make sure that software downloads would not be a problem. After more testing is complete, I will be interested to see what changes need to be made. Will I need to add additional questions? Should I add more descriptions to the photos or are the broad descriptions for each category enough? There will also probably be changes that need to be made that I cannot even foresee. I look forward to showing others what I have created!

EDIT 6600 Project Proposal Update

Originally, I was planning on using this web site with two different audiences. The first was going to be high school French students. The other audience was adults interested in Haiti, or more specifically the organization Haiti Cheri. I quickly realized that trying to meet the needs of two audiences was much more difficult and that neither need was going to be met adequately. Because it was going to be difficult to coordinate with the French teacher, I decided that I would focus on the adult audience. I also decided to simplify my compare and contrast question section. I would like to present several situations and have readers look at a range of possible responses. After making a mental note of how they would respond, the user could click next and see a common Haitian response. These questions would address communication styles, organizational styles, and intellectual styles rather than typical clothing, food, and types of houses used. Below is the revised version of my project proposal.

1) Issue

As a result of a trip that I took this year, friends, family, and other Cumberland Community Church members have been interested in learning more about Haiti. Many have asked to see videos, to hear stories, to see pictures, and to see a map of where we went on our trip. They would also like to learn basic information about Haitian culture. One issue that I noticed after returning from Haiti was that many people either know so little about Haiti, or that what they do know is very skewed by what they have heard through the media.

2) Objective

I would like to provide a way for people to experience Haiti so that they can see both the differences and similarities between Haitian lives and our own. Through a web site that I will design, I will focus on the people of Dolval, a village located east of Cap-Haitian. I will help others to have a better grasp on life in Haiti through video, pictures, guided questions, and links to outside resources.

3) Description

Subject:

The people and daily life in Dolval, Haiti.

Audience:

Adults that might be interested in the site could include members of Cumberland Community Church, as well as people who are interested in or have donated money to the non-profit organization, Haiti Cheri.

4) Culture

Often when we think of culture we do not see beyond differences in food, clothing, homes, and other external expressions of culture. This web site would allow students and others to see the external, through pictures, videos, and music, but would also allow them to see a little bit deeper. It would show them about typical Haitian communication styles, organizational styles, and intellectual styles through guided questions that compare and contrast these styles with a reader’s styles.

5) Timeline

I will speak with the Director of Haiti Cheri to see if they have suggestions about information that should be included on the site. These conversations will take place the first week of class. I will then begin the design and development of the web site the second week to get the framework of the site roughed out. Next, I will begin adding the video, pictures, questions and other details to the site. To assist in the implementation and evaluation phase, I will be getting the help of several members of Cumberland Community Church.

EDIT 6600 Project Proposal

1) Issue

As a Media Specialist in a high school, I had one of the French teachers request video and other materials that will help her teach about the Haitian culture in one of her classes. We found that it was very difficult to find current information, especially video of Haiti. Most of what we could locate was out of date or focused more on the political struggles in Haiti.

Also, as a result of a trip that I took this year, friends, family, and other Cumberland Community church members are interested in learning more about Haiti. Many have asked to see videos, to hear stories, to see pictures, and to see a map of where we went on our trip. They would also like to learn basic information about Haitian culture.

2) Objective

I would like to provide a way for students and others to experience Haiti so that they can see both the differences and similarities in Haitian lives and our own. Through a web site that I will design, I will focus on the people of Dolval, a village located east of Cap-Haitian. I will help others to have a better grasp on life in Haiti through video, pictures, guided questions, and links to outside resources. The web site will also support the French teacher by giving her students the opportunity to go beyond just a verbal description of Haiti.

3) Description

Subject:

The people and daily life in Dolval, Haiti.

Students:

The students that the web site will be used with will be both high school French students, as well as other people interested in learning more about Dolval, Haiti. Others that might be interested could include members of Cumberland Community Church and people who have donated money to the non-profit organization, Haiti Cheri.

4) Culture

Often when we think of culture we do not see beyond differences in food, clothing, homes, and other external expressions of culture. This web site would allow students and others to see the external, through pictures, videos, and music, but would also allow them to see a little bit deeper. It would show them about typical Haitian communication styles, organizational styles, and intellectual styles through guided questions that compare and contrast these styles with a reader’s styles.

5) Timeline

I will speak with both the French teacher and the Director of Haiti Cheri to see if they have suggestions about information that should be included on the site. These conversations will take place the first week of class. I will then begin the design and development of the web site the second week to get the framework of the site roughed out. Next, I will begin adding the video, pictures, questions and other details to site. To assist in the implementation and evaluation phase, I will be getting the help of several high school students, as well as several members of Cumberland Community Church.