When you last heard about Nicaragua on this blog, Denise, Victoria, and I had just returned from a trip to the country in August.
Jane Mirandette at Simmons, October 2006.
Along with Hagar Shirman, I currently serve as co-chair of Simmons International Relations (SIR), a student group at GSLIS focused on international and multicultural librarianship. In November, the group brought Jane Mirandette to Boston to speak about her lending library program in Nicaragua. We also presented a short video based on our experience in Nicaragua this summer. And I spent some time with Jane laying the groundwork for improvements to her web site.
Around the same time, I decided to return to Nicaragua in January. Unlike last summer, I now have some ideas on specific things that need doing. For this trip, I hope to focus on two goals:
1) Shoot additional video to expand the piece we produced for the SIR event into a full documentary on the SJDS Biblioteca Movil and the Hester J. Hogsdon Libraries for All program. This will hopefully include shooting interviews with people involved with the program in Nicaragua, as well as additional ?B-Roll? footage of the library in action.
2) Continue working with Jane on the web presence for the two organizations, with the goal of setting up a system that can be updated by staff and volunteers in Nicaragua without having to rely on outside assistance. This should allow the web site to be kept more current, improving communication within the country and with potential donors and volunteers internationally.
A fringe benefit for me will be another opportunity to improve my Spanish, which I?ve continued to work on since I returned this summer. And I?m hoping to see a few parts of the country that I missed on the last trip.
Unlike the band of GSLIS compatriots from this summer, I’ll be traveling on my own this time — a different (interesting) experience.
Over the next few weeks I will be posting additional updates about my experiences in Nicaragua. Stay tuned!