Reflection and Statement of Purpose

Reflection & Statement of Purpose

In creating this Omeka site from the ashes of my Mini-Project, I was able to create the Omeka site, or even just the beginnings of the site that I envisioned it to be when I started. I was not especially proud of or happy with my initial site. Frankly, I just was happy to complete the minimum requirements of the assignment. After the in-class presentations, I began to see the possibilities of such a collection and exhibits. After spending two to three days collecting and tagging all about twice as many items that I initially found, I then worked to overcome the technical issues I had in constructing my original exhibit. Most significantly, these issues were the creating a tiered exhibit with separate pages for topics, embedding my opera video clip, and creating correct tags for the items I collected. After being able to master these issues, I found that the Omeka site let me indulge my inner antiquarian in researching and collecting items. I attempted to focus on primary documents such as images of portraits or first edition copies of texts to show the development or transformations of the vampire mythos in the 19th century in a more authentic context.

 The main purpose of this site is to collect primary sources for teaching and research purposes regarding a particular a field of interest of mine. That interest is development of depiction of the vampire in literature before Dracula, specifically how a minor folkloric figure became such a cultural phenomenon. Another rationale behind this site is to demonstrate that Stoker's fictional characterization of Count Dracula has more to do with other 19th literary representations of the vampire than with either the historical figure of Vlad III, Voivode of Wallachia, or with the folklore of Hungary and Romania. That is the main thesis of my project. I found that Omeka was the perfect medium for such a project. I do have plans for using this platform for either teaching or research purposes in the future.