Welcome Roselani Summer Intern Justin

We’re happily welcoming our newest Roselani Summer Intern and AMIA Pathways Fellow, Justin Martin! As usual, we are putting him through the paces of telling everyone about himself with our introductory interview. Enjoy learning more about Justin in the interview below!

My name is Justin Martin, and I am from Los Angeles, California. Some things about me are that I enjoy watching Sumo Wrestling, building arcade fight sticks, and photographing independent wrestling shows. I received my bachelor’s degree in Asian American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles. I recently graduated and received my Master’s in Library and Information Science with a specialization in Informatics. Something I am particularly interested in is researching adaptable digital preservation strategies and how they can better safeguard collections in libraries, archives, and museums for perpetuity. 

What brought you here to ‘Ulu‘ulu? What are some of the things you’re hoping to learn during your internship with us?

What brought me to ‘Ulu‘ulu was my connection with a lot of the materials held within the archive. During my second year in my MLISc program in my TV History and Preservation class I wrote a research paper on the historical importance of an underrepresented form of television content and advocate for its preservation. The program I had written about was Dr. Glen Grant’s Chik’n Skin: Tales of Supernatural Hawaii special which aired locally on Halloween in the mid-90s. I remember watching it as a kid and being frightened at the practical makeup effects especially for the faceless woman or “Mujina.” During the process of gathering research materials I had stumbled upon ‘Ulu‘ulu’s collection and saw that all of the production tapes were held as part of the KGMB collection. 

Some things I am hoping to learn are how to crosswalk metadata from one collection management system to another and inspecting and cataloging physical media like magnetic tapes and film. Because this is my first time working in an archive, I am just curious in general about the day-to-day operations.

What projects are you working on at ‘Ulu‘ulu?

Some projects I am currently working on are quality controlling and metadata verification video files of digitized Betacam and Hi-8 tapes from collections such as Hawai‘i Congressional Media and the 100th Legacy Organization. I am also working on transcribing ENG (Electronic News Gathering) of KGMB logsheets. One project that finished the first phase is archiving ‘Ulu‘ulu’s legacy website by creating HTML and PDF files to preserve the look and feel as they transition from their current system MAVIS to their new collection management system Recollect. 

Is there anything about the items you are working with that is surprising or unexpected?

One of my ongoing projects is creating enhanced descriptions of digitized files and selecting clips that would be used as playback when a user accesses a collection on ‘Ulu‘ulu’s website. I was scrubbing through a program called Slack Key and Other Notes from 1977 and noticed a lot of familiar musicians like Olomana, ‘Auntie’ Genoa Keawe, and Mackey Feary. Haha I did cry a bit when Nightbird was playing during his interview segment.  This was the music I remember growing up listening to this music mostly from my dad going through his CD collection. 

Now that  you’ve been at the archive for a little while now, have you found a favorite aspect?

I love being able to work on a different project everyday. Since I worked in different capacities of archival work previously, it’s fun when I have to pivot on my projects and shift priorities. If I did have to choose a favorite it would be tied with the technical part of transcoding and quality controlling KGMB ENG files and cataloging and inventorying new acquisitions. I do enjoy being detail oriented even if it means to triple check that all materials are accounted for to ensuring sure a file name matches within a spreadsheet.

What are you watching right now that you’d like to recommend?

Actually [it’s been] the summer Grand Sumo tournament haha so I’ll be cheering for a rikishi named Takayasu Akira who is half Filipino and Japanese. But in terms of TV shows I would recommend Sanctuary, which I still think is on Netflix. The season is very short with only eight episodes but it follows the story of the main character named Kiyoshi Oze who is tough and natural at sumo but he’s rough around the edges and goes against the discipline and tradition of what is expected from a rikishi.

Thank you for taking the time to share about yourself and your goals with all of us, Justin. We look forward to a fun summer working together!

Through the generous support of the Henry Ku‘ualoha & Muriel Roselani Giugni Fund of the Hawai‘i Community Foundation, and in partnership with the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) Pathways Fellowship Program, the Roselani Media Preservation Internship is offered each year at ‘Ulu‘ulu to give a student of merit who is committed to the preservation of our media history the opportunity to acquire practical experience in a moving image archive.