Uzi Baram writes about his experience with a former Florida colony and in doing so he addresses another individuals research. Baram began with explaining the connection between working with communities and the transitions that are to be made. Often “community organizing” is mentioned and despite the initial thought upon this term it influences building alliances. For community organizing to be successful you must expand from socio-politics to local politics. There is some notice that there is a collaborative continuum in “an act and a practice” that influences scholars working with more individuals that would consider the work a different sort of activity. Baram acknowledges Saul Alinsky (not an archaeologist) and explains that Alinsky sharpened tactics in allowing the community to believe they are building up social change. In Bradenton, Baram explains the city accidentally sold their park and when admitting this mistake a columnist named Tom Lyons question why the city wanted the park back. Through his opinion he believed the city should allow for positive caretakers to remain taking care of the park. The objective through community organizing is primarily about conservation of sites that have the potential to be lost. A group of professionals and locals network to bring more individuals together, including government and non-governmental organizations, together to preserve regions. Baram states, “The process, ideally, includes jointly negotiated approaches using archeo-heritage for building community and social justice.” For today’s perspective, there is now notice towards race, gender, ethnicity, and sexuality to better succeed at reaching the needs of each individual.
Through my understanding Gonzalez-Tennant is attempting to reach the general public of those utilizing online technology as their source of information. Through this I feel we could identify stories about the cemetery where individuals have not been entirely blessed throughout their lives. There are the occasional individuals that have outstanding marking for their loved ones with new offerings while a large majority of the others appear to have been neglected and not kept up with. Though the project we have begun is to increase knowledge of those who have gone forgotten or unnoticed I concluded there are many deceased individuals that are entirely unaware of. Virtual realities are explored through the reading and beginning with our technology advancement there will soon be an opportunity for our project to also become a version of virtual reality. Often when individuals pass away they are forgotten, this is no secret, though with archives and live through the internet these individuals remain alive. This allows for people all over to discover new, interesting stories from various locations and the legacy of people will continue to thrive, regardless of not being entirely knowledgeable of an individual personally. The research that is compiled is going to result in the way others see certain deceased individuals that have gone unheard of thus this allows for a sense of a “second life”. Continuing to document the individuals we discovery is a positive way to keep our personal experiences of the cemetery alive as well as the individual we discovered.
