As I work on my digital project, I will keep two audience personas in mind:

          Persona 1

Name:

Carla

Demographic:

Late 40s, upper middle class, married, white, Catholic, lives in an affluent New England suburb

Descriptive Title:

Busy mom of three teenage girls who was a history major in college and works part-time

Quote:

“My girls are my world, but I still love to learn and have fun!”

A Day in a Life Narrative:

Carla rises at six and makes lunch for her daughters and herself. She drives to work and interacts with members of the public for several hours a day. When school is over, Carla drives one daughter to work and then heads to a state track meet with the other. After texting with her third daughter, she drives home and makes dinner. Carla makes time to call friends and her dad.  She takes a quick walk and then watches the news with her husband. Before bed, she checks her email, her social media sites, and her favorite online shopping sites.

End Goals:

• To learn about women from the past
• To get more familiar with online historical primary sources, especially newspapers, for her own enjoyment and to help her daughters with their history homework
• To become comfortable working with digital tools
• To be a part of a project that will preserve the past
• To make productive use of her online time

          Persona 2

Name: Elizabeth and her Public Library patrons

Demographic:

Mid-50s, upper middle class, married, white, feminist, Catholic, from Ireland, works in an industrial New England town, lives in a rural town

Descriptive Title:

Tech Savvy Public Library Director with focus on community outreach who has responsibility for a local history collection.

Quote:

“Everyone has a story.  Let’s learn about people from the past and preserve our local stories.”

A Day in a Life Narrative:

Elizabeth rises at seven and makes breakfast for herself, her husband, and her son. She turns on NPR and drives thirty minutes to work at the public library in the neighboring state. Arriving early, Elizabeth reads her email, checks her social media sites, and peruses online versions of as many newspapers as possible.  During the morning, Elizabeth consults with the Reference Librarian about print and online collection development. Later, she greets the Friends of the Library members who are helping her research for the town’s Bicentennial celebration. Before she heads home, Elizabeth finds time to add a few more local history items to the state’s digital history project. As she drives, Elizabeth thinks about how she can create a series of participatory Women’s History Month events for the library.  After dinner with her family, she checks her email and social media sites and then spends the rest of the evening reading a biography.

End Goals:

• To learn about more fascinating women from American history to explore for personal enjoyment and collection development
• To locate information about women from her area for publicity for her event
• To have a series of participatory women’s history events that will:
  • Be fun and informative for participants
  • Generate publicity for the library
  • Offer an opportunity to highlight and provide information literacy regarding the research tools that the library has
  • Teach digital humanities skills to people of all ages with an interest in women’s history and local history
  • Utilize the digital tool training and women’s history components of the event to entice Millennial women to come to the library on a more regular basis
  • Create a sense of community that will empower the participants as their research and digital skills improve
  • Celebrate women’s achievements