Digital projects often require many resources to be successful. This includes the labor of individuals who help to make collections available and usable online. One current Fondren digitization project that is very labor intensive is the Shepherd School Recording Digitization Project. This multi-year project has digitized thousands of vintage Shepherd School of Music performances.

Jihyun Kim, Shepherd School Graduate Student in Composition, has worked on the project for two years. She has participated in several activities, including digitizing cds, matching reel-to-reel recordings with their printed programs, and packing reel-to-reels for third-party digitization. However, Kim says that her current work is her favorite. She is currently using the digitized recordings and programs (available in the Rice Digital Scholarship Archive) to generate time-stamps that will help users navigate the recordings. Kim’s work is helping to make this collection easier to use by helping visitors more easily find and listen to specific works.

Jihyun says that she has learned a lot during her time at Fondren. In addition to learning about the digitization process, she says that she has realized the importance of the musical recording. It serves as a long-lasting record of the work. Kim says that, as a performer, this will encourage her to think about both creating a good performance for the audience and for future listeners.

You can learn more about Jihyun and hear some of her work at her website.