Abay Israel and Kilsang Kim

00:02 My name is Abby. I am the baby 6 years old and today is May 22nd 2020. I am here in lovely Ann Arbor, Michigan recording with a friend colleague and co-worker by Trey Songz.

00:16 Hi, my name is well. I'm kind of deposit lien crime with a B.

00:25 Working for IMAX theater out here in lovely Ann Arbor find some great weather today. So we are supposed to have a nice conversation about what was your earliest memory of iced PSL. I was recruited as an intern for the aspiring summer internship program at the time and it was Rita Rita Bantam and even Thomas came to campus I were talking about this magical place of Ann Arbor how lovely it is.

01:21 How you would learn about Reese's you learn about students in school talk about and I didn't know about the other time. I remember coming here the very first day of my life internship program. I remember just being green. I'm people with smiling and people would like seeing hello and good afternoon and good morning, very different from what I'm used to be a self-taught like a very strong memory in my mind thinking that this place was welcoming of this place was just a place that I can find friends on Pine companionship of trunk Menifee.

02:23 I was a Grant Michigan and I was looking for a summer job.

02:32 Just tell him the economics Department posting board. This is enough.

02:39 Way back, I feel around 2003 and on the board. They had something called a nice PSR summer program computer Consultants. So this is going way back to when we still had computer rooms at the summer program nowadays. Everybody's got a tablet laptop so now but then we had two big computer rooms in Helen Newberry for the summer program. And this was a pretty good job for any graduate students, who's taking any kind of methodology courses because the pay was pretty good and boy found it was every year nearly 900,000 Internationals and the u.s. Use with gather here at Helen YouTube.

03:39 And it just one big summer party and everyone is supposed to be doing work, but I think most people are just having too much fun at the end of the day in Austin with the courses were so that was my introduction to this because I didn't know what I was at that point and when I go out there and look fun and friendly I got kind of stuff to do in never left. I'm right there with you. I'm right there with you if it's like I told it gets you you don't like me to bring you in during the summer. I came in during some I'm originally from cited in this is why I wanted to build my career and come back and then the winter hit like not winter came in 2007 and I was what is this?

04:39 What is this white stuff on my in my car. I have no heat in my car for the winter with crazy.

05:01 No, the first one the second or third one when we had the huge snow for so we basically the same weather as here in Ann Arbor weather wise. I was very familiar with careers with it more in the dreams in the summer. I live at Memorial during the winter. But yeah, you hear from a lot of our colleagues how they got kind of sucked it in when they were undergraduate to your dad first job Bank Stadium for in the summer or wait for a year on a particular project that went over to do whatever they are trained anymore program.

05:57 Remind I am I right like a message to my engine in 2005 in 2007. But between that time I did a stint of investment banking in the iron, when are the banking thing it was great for what it was. I had a good time. But then I realize like I said, I wanted to come back and I was thinking I would only stay for a year work for the 2007/2008 year end.

06:50 Michigan agreed that I write and then one year tune into 210 and 510 into 10 and I think I've been here thirteen years though. How long how long have you been here?

07:12 Miya sushi in the game start their 2003 and I think I've worked every single summer or in a part-time talking about. I think I need starchy foods high in about six or seven years ago, but I

07:28 I have become an interesting history ice pick up because I started off at the summer program as a consultant. Then I moved into the team leader position for that which was a lot more in setting up for the Computing environment for the summer program. Then threw that job. I got a part-time job working for C&S, which is the computer networking support groups. And I worked at 43 years then I finally moved over to curation ESL and into all the other departments, but I can kind of the long way and I'll secure Asian and I move to my current job which is a kind of notes around the building quite often. I'm probably one of those

08:23 1 people who've being situated in multiple places. I think Lynette might have the other record of the most moves and depending on which job I was doing and even inside the building and I think I've been in every single woman. I think you're right. I think if you beat me for sure cuz I started as an intern I went into curation. I became the park program manager for internship and then I moved into like the technology and development eldorado's menu.

09:23 How to become a supervisor to become an archive director I'm just being University of Michigan afford you that you can explore different places and come back or just explore different opportunities and I think that's a really good for you.

09:42 One of a kind of characteristics we say curation is for me The Haunting quart of ice PSR curation means actually getting the data sent in from a puppy eyes. And then that data in itself gets well basically curated such that what comes out is a totally different Beast. Sometimes do what comes in in the sense of self changing pad the usability of the data source. I'm sure a lot of methodology school students who managed to kind of

10:23 Primo so much now, but it way back is really when I was doing my graduate course is very hard to get good data to a reputation work. If so you take inner what one of our first methodology potions with I asked us to go and pick a paper a very famous paper and then replicate the results of that paper and I remember being so happy that I might have to find the actual data for that paper of the program is there was no documentation. There was no explanations. There was no explanation of what kind of Weights will use and I have to use the published paper to figure out to re in a backwoods workout by experimentation. And even with all that work I couldn't exactly get what the result that will be published in that paper. And we here in our Spirits are special education department does is make sure that's possible.

11:23 Available Legos are clearly he noted that has no errors in it. Each of the value labels are correct and documentation actually matches up. So from one of our properly curated.

11:40 Studies you should have known I doubt you have that much for my I've done it. I've done in a testing that in a weird testing online statistical analysis software and do one of the simple in a tabulations or tables and a lot of the starting point for our staff members is doing that very very important work. And once they move over to managerial positions project manager positions develop positions having that common background in the building makes it so much.

12:35 Easier for us to have this come and go to say yeah danger is important good curated data is more important than anything else and I think we have great pride in what ice PSL. The only kind of point of

12:57 Things little bit sad is it's not as wide as you know, it should be more than enough we go to conferences and when the people answers

13:08 I need to do some what we do and they say let's get stuff is free.

13:18 This exists remember to forget that one.

13:36 Oh, I will not mention any names but the thing is really really interesting thing that once we get rated and published and then released through a website would have in a lot of security uses, but it was really really really to the combination of

14:06 Actual technical problems because I think the person copy and pasted directly from wood. Perfect. I think characters in documentation could meet going to be read and learn how to do ask. That was my first choice but I remember distinctly I remember my first was the Japanese General Social Survey and I was like, I wanted something to challenge me and push boundaries and I wanted to be like, you know, I wanted to be like I am going to do this.

15:06 Japanese general what he forgot to tell me was that it was in Japanese.

15:18 I would like okay what's going on here something to reference some like okay. This is good. The court book was all printed out and it looked like he included stuff bad that I have to get injected into the machine. I remember that one of the hottest days and I can't work early because I know I didn't want to disappoint. I took all the trim. It was I don't know maybe maybe a full stack of papers heavy, but I took it to is are duplicated to get it. Okay, I can't be early in the morning 7:50. I'm picking it in.

16:18 How to walk into Uber to the other building cuz you don't want to lose that documentation the walk back in the office. I took off my shoes and even walked into the office and why you dressed like that where you know, why you flipping I was like breathing panting like I just got everything I forgot to tell you we had the digital copy already so we don't really need it.

17:09 We've had our relationship because it was a challenge but we got through it. But even on top of that I didn't didn't know at all but very well how it happened to my professor sent me on the plane like exam done on the Friday. I was on a plane on the Sunday and I came on my first day of work was on the Monday to write from from undergrad to the internship pick me up from the airport and took me to the Dome that was staying up all the time and I'm asking him questions like okay, what's some fun stuff to do around and I'll buy all the food places from Italian food. He dropped me off and I are okay. Well, I don't know where the building is. Can you tell me how do I get there? And he was

18:09 Okay. Well just take the number two or number 5 bus. I can't remember exactly what it was in the morning and take the bus and all that. But I also forgot to tell me is the direction the bus is going gets tough to come off.

18:33 Like

18:35 What happened on the first day of work is I jump on the Bus Around bedroom 8 8:30 coming to work around about 10:50. I call David like I'm in this place called. I don't know where I'm supposed to go from here and there was like, oh, oh right end of the life. I knew he was like, yeah, I don't worry about it. It's no big deal.

19:20 Oh dear is having David as your first boss.

19:26 I mean, but that's the kind of feeling like you have these memories. I'm even though they were like crazy as a tiny bit stay with you. You know, I think that's the reason why a lot of us. Do you have an idea what what the community has made if you feel like it made a difference in your life at all after getting suckered into that summer job and move them again. And yeah, I've been pretty much happy with my working.

19:58 Sorry, I wasn't have no regrets.

20:03 Burnt, you know, I will always had this attraction to working in the behind-the-scenes. So, you know back way back in school when they were school productions. I will always go for another state and work in the lighting with the old yellow when I went to Saudi Lopez a freshman. I volunteered for a welder for the University's the college's computer room switch will actually student-run. This is way back. So I really like the idea of a drink something that kind of supports the main kind of focused on everybody's what happens behind the scene is equally important and I think he ride I still saw I mean if you just got to tell somebody

21:03 The theatre archive

21:13 And this comes across I'm sure everybody in our spiritual who's ever been to an academic conference where we were in a basically flying jets PSL flash who is has the same experience is at least one or two professors or post dogs will come out to you and says, hey why don't my dissertation done because of your data set data set, which I needed to publish in a a piece for my for my 10-year evaluation. And we all have these stories that people come up to us and says, yeah, your days are actually made a huge difference in my academic career and that's always such a good feeling because we in

22:13 Holding in a little cubicles working away trying to decide by emphysema. Yes or no and we sent that in a cookies without limitation taking this really seriously because we know this makes

22:31 This one's Arrow out of Townsend, maybe something critical to somebody's actual work and the work that comes out of it becomes something that is Meaningful in the world world. It may help a policy decision. It may help to argue a particular point but having pizza that we can set come back to a kind of logical conclusion. Here. It is. We're not saying this is correct because we say so we're saying this is we do we should do this because we have this called data that somebody's collecting has shows how they collected it. So that there can't be any question on the bus. It's even you know, we can nail debate the point on how the stage was collected and what the merits of that day. Can we use it to argue this point all of that the work we do makes that transparent.

23:32 That's kind of feeling that we are working in behind the stage.

23:37 Hidden, but all influence and what we do affects could have said a lot of people is something I think we take a great Friday hundred percent agreed. So the way I definitely appreciate that one cuz I'm cuz I did Prestige work too and I realized I want to be and I'm but I appreciate all the work that goes into making a production that I feel like I've be a star is not production every single day. But one thing that I I I want to stress about my own experience here is that when I came to United States, I didn't know anybody I didn't I didn't have any family. I didn't have any friends of the time.

24:37 Live here, and I didn't know what my own career trajectory was going to be that was scared. I was honestly confused and I wasn't sure where I was going to be the next year or the next month and I feel like icpsr has created a home for me. I'm not afraid to even told some of my co-workers. They are like my family here from Rita Bond some David how much John Garcia Felicia Locklear Maggie you kill sound like we we spend so much time together and with both of our families being abroad it. It allows us to build a community that we may or may not have if I don't go to work everyday thinking now I have to go the the the gears. I feel like I can't wait to see the rest of people out of

25:37 And I can't wait to see what we're going to come up with next door from building the data actually building the technology that we're doing. I think everything that I really I know I didn't come from an environment. That was knowledgeable about academic research. We I didn't think that this was the career that I would have had when I was a kid. I thought I wanted to be rich I thought I wanted to be a superstar investment banker with so many different companies that I own as you get older. And as you go through the the Journey of life, you start thinking about what's important you start thinking about work-life balance actual substantial influence in the world and making a impact.

26:37 How to do today live with people that I think that's what I found that I could be a thought I'd like, you know, you got these Michael off of you used to come back you still think is this would the happiness that I have now on the knowledge that I'm contributing to people's lives in a meaningful way to make an extra point cell phone.

27:04 Beyonce like my kids was always it's not worth it. It's the kids that I'm happy here on my wife might be like that, but I think she she agreed with me that we made the right choice to stay around for a while and differential pan.

27:33 One of the big advantages of having worked in multiple departments at my current job until was going around the building. I only have the highest shoe leather cost in the building as I as I like to go and actually told two people rather than email or IM chat. So being in the building where

28:01 Of course she got so prickly people but interacting with an electrically is one of the I think one of the perks of sauce is everybody has their door open. Everybody's friendly everyone. He's so willing to share their expertise and they don't have to do it way, too. I know I bothered you know, somebody who has a deadline with a particular a project to attack and they'll keep me there telling me you know, who them sometimes what I need to know about making sure that I go to tickle Nuance of the issue or the task that will make a curry about and

29:02 That's something that's kind of very precious. I think in a work environment and even currently when we working in a offline online with each other in any kind of difficulty or barriers because you can think of cases where oh, I really need to talk to that person about this matters face-to-face in a in a video conferencing, please you need to gauge their reaction because you really have to be careful how you talk to them how to gauge what their reactions are or maybe if you need to persuade them on the particular issue you really need that interpersonal connection, but

30:02 Yeah, I don't really see that as a barrier because even with a quick chat.

30:11 So if they don't reply back instantly, you know, you're that busy with something and they always reply back with I'm sorry. I was in a meeting for 2 hours. I can get back to you and they will consciously reply back to this anxiety that because we don't be faced with each other. We're having communication problems. We've settled into this kind of new communication protocol and that shows how comfortable as an organization we are with each other such that there's no anxiety in about communication throughout the whole organization and I had a game I have to go to lots of different people in loss of departments doing hula different things, but I don't feel any of that anxiety and think with that with this particular message.

31:11 Be right man jumper tip because he thinks always good people are very cool tears and

31:20 It makes for a really really comfortable work environment, which I really really appreciate you but the relationship that people build while he had ice Pizarro incredible the I remember there was one summer intern like I remember the year that he he he had a checkered. He was in prison for 10 years and he got out of prison and he was taking classes while he was and he was the sophomore the time and had a 4.0 but because of his Prison Experiment, nobody would give him a job at all. Right. Nobody was even going to listen to him and give him an interview and I remember his application and this guy he really wants to do this.

32:20 Giving him a chance remember saying we went we jump through the Hoops to talk to his parole officer talk to U of M legal and make sure I want the dark or the eyes without that all the people call. This guy. This guy came during the somebody walked it. He did everything that we need them to do give that extra work on that. He helped his colleagues of the time and this seemed I went on to get accepted in multiple Ph.D. Program multiple finishes PhD in criminal justice studies on the top of the next generation of people to work for somebody wants to teach like the book.

33:20 This guy had a real impact on people's lives are the employees the professor the student. I don't think it's it's it's trumpeted loud enough right people don't hear these stories and I'm glad that at least do you have a favorite memory that you have killed president that he wants to share a tall one kind of memory that I treasure is when we go out side for my perry building a conference is where we set up and wave the big ice dance off.

34:14 Is meeting with the actual academic students but meeting with people and explaining to them about one ice PSI does.

34:34 And seeing you know, how most of the faculty will know of us. So 1 conference Kansas City horrible layout for the food. They have the conferences in one big building and ancillary building. They had all the vendors and the program's a booth so we weren't getting that much traffic but at that point I was watching I have I How I Met Your Mother and I remember you met Ted to play the game have you met icpsr at night, So the situation

35:24 The yellow foot traffic and you get even without doing anything you have people stopping by but having just one or two people come by every 10-15 minutes. I made it a challenge to capture every single person who walked by and that way they were less pressure on them because it was not many people here and they felt that they could talk to it be able to talk to them on their needs. A lot of research is a purse dogs who were working with data collected data made connections with them saying hey, once you get your day to ready for deposit, you need help to make that deposit useful to all the researches and giving out name cards then coming back after that conference and see if we didn't have that many people go by come and visit my booth but each individual person. I think I got more return pools and return contact.

36:24 From that conference and just walking to the user.

36:30 I'm getting their views.

36:33 On what we do is such a fulfilling mean that you know, you go to the conference and your morale gets charged up and says hey what we do in right and you come to the building and you trying to read that brought out and saying hey guess who I met at that conference. Guess who said everybody's morale and I think yeah. Yeah. We are making a difference. We are useful what we do in our inner in our offices and I'll cubicos is helping people. That kind of feeling is something I would not give up for anything.

37:15 You remember the time that we did the the karaoke event with the director with Maggie during a webinar?

37:27 It was great, but it's so much fun. I remember that it was another memory that I have that just found out you this was years ago Catherine bring you loving it. Now while Catherine lavender Kevin capella, we used to play that we had a Marilyn Monroe dog. We have not cut out. I will put it in the front on place in throw the building and we'd always have fun with Kevin put in like like notes on Marlins and it's not you it's me, you know, what kind of kind of really funny back and forth with hope jokes with each other and put stuff on our door. I don't remember us taking one time where we had a bunch of sticky note organizer sticky notes in a mirror love Marilyn Monroe and he came into his office and he was like

38:27 The ability to connect with friends ability to build new technology that what both of us are doing now provide data and to provide learning resources to continue to push the boundary of what social science research can be in this environment in the world where data is just becoming such a strong currency. I think I think there's no other place like icpsr concrete inspired everyday to be here in 5 to move with you kill time and I hope that we continue to build new things and build up the community. So with that being said, I really want to thank all those who listen to a story on hard house as much fun as we had to go and drill Memory Lane Paradise Theater on Pico

39:14 Yep. Thank you very much for having us. It's a pleasure to expound on his speed along and be boastful about an institution that I think has Britney need to both of us.

39:31 And hopefully people who listen to this recording. Hey come and visit us on the web.