Professor Terry Park’s class, AMST 238: Forgotten/Remembered: The Korean War and Asian/American Culture, explores the complex threads and resulting tapestry of the Korean War. Professor Park wanted his students to create a shared resource in the physical world to allow Wellesley community members to serendipitously discover and engage in a small way with this rich tapestry.

Using Tascam audio recorders, telephone mics, Skype, and Google Hangout, students recorded oral histories from U.S. Veterans of the Korean War, Korean War civilian survivors, and Korean American adoptees. Once they collected the histories, students used these rich primary sources, relevant course materials, and keywords to write an analysis of the oral histories, helping their readers follow the threads through the greater fabric.

We linked the digital knowledge with the physical world using culturally significant objects called bojagi. Each bojagi was labeled with a tag identifying and sharing biographical information about the storyteller as well as a QR code. Reading the QR code with a mobile device brings the viewer to a Google Site page where s/he could listen to the oral history, view maps, and read the student’s analysis.

The bojagi were displayed in the academic quad in November 2015 and in various academic buildings in spring 2016.

Faculty: Terry Park
LTS Staff: Rebecca Darling
Keywords: Oral Histories, Google Sites, audio recording, audio editing, exhibit

Image credit (thumbnail and above): Rebecca Darling