How we created The Family Corner Store: A PEI History

I had read the book by Frank Zakem about his family and growing up on PEI during the 20 th century. I thought that this was a wonderful family story. I also saw something that was a Canadian story. A visible minority starting out in Canada with everything they owned on their backs and the desire for a better life. They walked the streets and roadways of our country. Many of the residents looked upon them with fear and mistrust. Over time these immigrants gained trust, integrated into the society and finally, in a leap of faith on both parts, lifted one of them to the top of PEI political power in just under 100 years.

I thought a story like this could be told on the Internet. I was able to get support from Canada's Digital Collections for four young people for 16 weeks. I gave the project over to Geoff Murray and had him organize and manage the project.

Two of the group members were organized to make a story from 1888 to 1988 using the information everyone gathered. They went to interview several people in their homes and using a tape recorder kept notes of the conversations. They also went to the P.E.I. public archives, the UPEI and Confederation Center Libraries.

They then laid out a time line spanning 100 years on a long sheet of paper. Each major event of the overall story was written out as well as each item needed to show that event. Therefore we had all the necessary pictures, sounds, and story components ready to put together. All we needed was a story to hold it all together. We made a detailed composite fiction story told by a young girl writing an assignment for school.

We had few pictures until one member was able to get many old postcards. They were cleaned up using Photoshop and made ready. A sound file for the Lebanese Anthem and the Island Hymn was created. Sara's voice was recorded in the office using a good microphone and a portable sound booth. Copyright was obtained before this work was done.

The other two group members were also busy working on the technology. They decided to use Macromedia Flash MX and Dreamweaver MX to build the two sites because they were the best tools to use for the job.

In the end, like a well oiled machine, all the components came together and the result is a high-quality educational site. We hope you enjoy our work.

Nigel Cuthbertson

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