As my time this semester at Conner Prairie is coming to an end, there have been many different techniques and tools that have contributed to my success during my internship. Something that has contributed the most to my success in this internship is communication. Throughout my entire internship, I have been in constant communication with different people at Conner Prairie. Anytime I have ever needed anything there has always been someone to help. This type of communication has made it easier for me to understand what is expected of me and the goals that need to be achieved by the end of the semester. This goes together with the importance of collaboration. Every meeting I have with my mentor Ryan, we discuss what I am currently working on in relation to my exhibit and the ongoing projects Ryan is working on. Although this may not seem like direct collaboration, hearing the different ideas/ strategies Ryan is using has allowed me to look at problems from a different perspective. Communication and collaboration have played an incredibly important role in the creation and success of my project.
Something that has been challenging within this internship is learning how to condense. In one of my previous classes, Museum Studies, we had to create a fictional exhibit and write a grant asking for its funding. It was my first time seeing and learning about how important it is for museums to convey information that is understandable to a majority of their visitors. Taking what I learned from Dr. Crew’s class and applying at Conner Prairie has been easy, but also very difficult. The main difficulty was learning how to condense my information. A lesson that was stressed during my class with Dr. Crew was how it important it was to say what needed to be said with as few words as possible. Although my project is digital, I believe the same reasoning can be applied. The topic of my project is also quite broad. So, when it came to creating the historical interpretation of the material, I had to choose my words very carefully. I had to structure my material in a way that would make sense to the majority of Conner Prairie’s audience. Although this was a challenging obstacle, I was able to overcome this obstacle by taking my time and reading my research thoroughly. Overall, I have not had any obstacles that communication can’t solve.
