Assignment #4: Public Relations Assignment

LIS 650, Fall 2005

Dr. Andrew Wertheimer

Lynette Teruya

November 17, 2005 Getting Started

To get started on this project, I sent an e-mail to the manager of the Japanese Cultural

Center of Hawaii’s Resource Center, Mrs. Jane Kurahara. I told her that I was interested in working on a public relations project for the JCCH as part of the LIS 650 assignment and asked if there was anything for me to do. She responded and we set up a meeting at the Resource

Center for the afternoon of Wednesday, October 26.

I met with Mrs. Kurahara, as well as with the Public Relations Director, Ms. Shayna

Coleon. We spent about 30 minutes in the meeting talking about projects done in the past by other LIS students and about some of the JCCH’s current events. We decided on a PR project for the JCCH’s outreach program’s “Discovery Box” for the exhibit entitled, “Dark Clouds Over

Paradise”: World War II Hawaii Japanese Internees’ Story.

The Project

My PR project was to create a brochure to promote this Discovery Box. I was given copies of handouts to read about the exhibit and about the Discovery Box program as background information. This particular Discovery Box contains a set of materials that makes up a teaching unit on the topic of Hawaii’s Japanese-Americans’ experiences in internment camps. It includes videotapes, DVDs, photos, written materials (poems, diary entries, etc.), activities and lesson plans with which teachers of grades 5 through 12 could teach children about a part of Hawaii’s history and civil rights.

In total, I spent about 7 hours doing the readings, layouts, writing and proofreading the product. The most difficult part was the layout. I experimented with two different programs

(Microsoft Publisher and Microsoft Word). I started out with the Publisher but when I could not get the background exactly as I wanted it and it did not print well, I started all over again using Word because I could manipulate the layout better. However, I still had a problem with the margins because my printer had a larger margin requirement than I would have liked. But at least the margins looked more balanced with the Word program.

The other problem I had was with the reading materials. They were difficult to read because the sentences were too lengthy with little punctuation and sometimes that made it confusing. Because these were educational materials, I was rather surprised at the way they were written. I had to read the materials over several times before I could grasp the important parts and re-word them.

I had to do some photo editing (resizing, changing the contrast and brightness ratio) also so that the pictures could fit into my layout. The most difficult part of this portion of the assignment was lightening the photo just the right amount so that I could use it in the background. It took several tries until I was somewhat satisfied with the result.

Reflection

In doing this assignment, it made me more aware and drove home the point that it takes a good deal of planning in order to get to the final product. First, you have to do the groundwork by doing the research about the project. Then, you have to think of your audience, and only then can you begin to design your product. You must keep your audience in mind throughout the process. When doing this project, I also had to keep in mind the information that the client had wanted in this brochure. Sometimes there is so much information that needs to be packed into the product but you have to think of a way to make it not appear that way. You have to be concise and get your point across with as little words as necessary because you only have a limited amount of space.

Another thing that was different about this assignment was that you had to be creative because it involved a visual product. You had to make it somewhat appealing so that someone would want to read and look at the brochure all the way through. This was difficult because it was not at all like writing a term paper. However, it was challenging and quite fun to develop this PR product and provided an added dimension to learning about the marketing aspect of management. I hope the JCCH will like this final product and can make use of it. Surrounded by barbed wires, their loyalties What is the “Dark Clouds Over Paradise”: World questioned, many Japanese-Americans were War II Hawaii Japanese Internees’ Story incarcerated in internment camps spread across Discovery Box? the United States during World War II. While It is a collection of primary and the experiences of the Japanese- Americans from secondary resources of documents, the U.S. mainland are well-documented, many of photos, videos, DVDs and lesson plan the stories of Hawaii’s Japanese-American suggestions that teachers can use to internees often go untold. make history come alive for students. As a result, many in Hawaii do not know about What’s in the Discovery Box? this important part of Hawaii’s history. Did you  DVD, “Silent Suffering for the Sake of know that we had two internment camps here in the Children”, which gives an overview Hawaii? Do you know where they were? Do you of the World War II internment of know how many Japanese- Americans from Japanese-Americans in Hawaii and the Hawaii were sent to internment camps either Japanese-American internee being U.S. West Coast here or on the mainland? photographed  Videotape of an actual oral history FOR GRADES 5-12 interview with an Hawaii internee Content and Performance Standards  “ Labels”, a 23-minute DVD, is a The content and lessons are aligned to the dramatization about present day following Hawaii Content and Performance problems of “labeling” or name-calling Standards for Social Studies: and possible options to make a positive  HISTORY difference  Historical Empathy  Five Research/Resource sets that Students learn to judge the past on its own include essential questions and terms and use that knowledge to understand resources to research; to be used for present-day issues, problems and decision- cooperative learning jig-saw group making research  Change, Continuity, Causality  Teacher reference binder containing Students employ chronology to understand reference information by scholars such change and/or continuity and cause and/or as Dennis Ogawa and Tetsuden effect in history Kashima  Historical Inquiry  Some reference materials such as Poets Sand Island Internment Camp Students use the tools and methods of Behind Barbed Wire, compiled by Jiro Why is knowledge of this historic experience historians to transform learning from and Kay Nakano, and Ganbare by important to today’s youth? memorizing historical data to “doing history” Patsy Saiki Nationally, many students have little exposure to  Historical Perspectives and Interpretations the World War II internment of the Japanese and Students explain historical events with Japanese-Americans in Hawaii and the West multiple interpretations rather than Coast. Learning about the decisions made during explanations that point to historical linearity or this period of time and about the life-altering inevitability effects they had on peoples’ lives will help students  POLITICAL SCIENCE/CIVICS to think critically about civil liberties and the  Students understand roles, rights (personal, responsibilities of being a citizen in a democracy. economic, political), and responsibilities of It will contribute toward students’ historical American citizens and exercise them in civic empathy and understandings of the challenges to action (e.g. proposing alternatives to conflict or civil rights during threatening times. inequalities and practicing ho’oponopono)

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For more information about e . the Discovery Box please contact:

Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii Resource Center “Dark Clouds Over 2454 South Beretania Street Paradise”: Honolulu, HI 96826 World War II Hawaii Phone: (808) 945-7633, ext.42 E-mail: [email protected] Japanese Internees’

Permit No. 891 No. Permit

Honolulu, HI Honolulu,

PAID DISCOVERY BOX

U.S. Postage U.S.

ORG. NON-PROFIT NON-PROFIT A tool for teaching children (grades 5-12) the lessons of civil rights and liberties through the past experiences of Hawaii’s Japanese-