National Council on Public History Conference- Part 5

Today is the final installment of the NCPH Conference Digital Projects Showcase.

The eighth project was on the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania battlefields and creating an interactive history about them. The interactivity comes in with the creation of a digital map giving people a choice on how to tour the sites from a remote location (who will hopefully want to visit the sites in person) or from the physical sites themselves. Still in an unfinished state (with some improperly coded links) the maps were created using Google and provide information about hotspots including pictures. What I see is encouraging so far and when the project is complete it will include 3D models, flyovers and panoramic photos in a multi-layered map meant to interpret and provoke these sites. In mapping these elements digitally, it preserves the integrity and history of the physical site and provides users with an active role in their interaction with the maps. The link to the homepage for these sites can be found here (http://www.nps.gov/frsp/) off of the National Park Service website. Just click on Virtual Tours under Quicklinks when you get there to see what has been completed thus far. The links to the google maps themselves do not work (possibly due to the maps being unfinished) but the one for Fredericksburg can be found here.*

The next project was called Mapping the American Civil War: Cultural Heritage on the Web and when completed will consist of all sites related to a Civil War event. Okay, so not all, there are some criteria for inclusion. First, it must fit the general theme and time period. Second, the site must be extant and interpreted. It also must be publicly accessible and the owners of these sites must agree to have their property included in the listing. The GIS coordinates also need to be verified. The presentation discussed the numerous hurdles faced during this project the biggest I feel is the scope of the project. Every site involved in the Civil War spanning multiple states. Clearly this is a project that could only be done online because of this scope...so much data! In addition to Civil War sites, the project will also list sites pertaining to the Civil War's legacy, Civil Rights. Another issue the project team talked about running into was that of outdated websites listing information on these sites. Related to that is the accuracy of these sites and multiple sites copying off of one another. Another website issue is trying to rid descriptions of sites from bias when the information garnered about these sites is clearly biased. Biases can come simply from owners wanting to "pump up" their properties to draw more visitors. The goals of the project (in addition to the overall mapping) are to reduce the overwhelming amount of data, provide interested parties with places to go when travelling and to put these interested parties in touch with locals who know more about the sites than what is provided on the central mapping site. Currently the website is not live, the expected launch date is January 2010 and will not be a static site as the creators expect to keep it constantly updated. I wish them the best of luck, it will be an amazing website I'm sure.

The final project also involved mapping, this time of Fox Point a now bisected (due to the highway) neighborhood in Providence, Rhode Island. One of the things I liked about this project is that it was created by graduate students from Brown, I would have liked to seen more projects from students, but perhaps in a different session. I found the concept interesting and it tied in nicely to my thesis in terms of project output. The problem addressed here was that of what to do with oral histories to make them more accessible for the public. The solution? Memory mapping. Using Google Maps the Brown students transcribed oral histories and then linked them online. When the histories mentioned locations a virtual pin is placed on the map and the part of the oral history that mentions it is posted along with it. In an effort to include photos, a flickr site was created which allows people to comment on photos, add memories (and their own photos) and reconnect with other residents. Scribd is another site used for the project which allows site visitors to scroll through the oral history transcripts. Sadly this website seems like it was a just a semester project, and indeed it was called a prototype that won't be developed further (but will it be added to using the same format for the rest of the oral histories?) I wish it would be developed more as I did enjoy it and the local connection that it had.

I truly have enjoyed writing about them and giving my opinion on them. It was so worth the price of the conference and many of the projects have given me ideas of things I can do now or in the future with my own projects. Out of all of the projects presented, the Fox Point project was the first one that I explored online and I have since employed some of the methods used there in my thesis related website. I have begun mapping John Ronayne's life via Google Maps, more on that sometime later, maybe.

Sadly I was not able to attend the follow up on Saturday morning because RIPTA buses don't run the necessary route that early. Did anyone reading this get to go? It was Session 28 at 8:00am.

* Due to the possibility that the broken link is intentional due to the unfinished nature of the project, feel free to ask me to remove the link if you are associated with the project. Likewise, feel free to contact me if the broken link is not intentional and you would like to know how to make it work so that others may view the maps.

National Council on Public History Conference- Part 2

One of the main reasons why I registered for the NCPH Conference was because of the Digital Projects Showcase, a mega-conference session of sorts in which 10 projects were presented for a total of about 15 minutes each. It was sponsored by the Museums and the Web conference (which I really want to go to but can't). I made sure that I got there early so that I could get a seat up close and success! I was one of the first few people in the room so I grabbed a good seat. Unfortunately the room was so long and narrow, many people who did not get there so early ended up in the back, making hearing and seeing difficult. What made this session interesting in the conference managing sense was that because of its organization, people were able to come and go between sessions (and people in the back could move up to the front). I think the format was a resounding success and I hope that future conferences will continue to use it for at least some sessions.

The first project showcased was the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank, capturing memories of those affected by the hurricanes Katrina and Rita. As Michael Nelson from the University of New Orleans put it, the Memory Bank is preserving the stories of people who fell between the media extremes (which were stories of heroes or of crimes from desperation). It follows the format of the 911 Archive structure, and was created in collaboration with the Center for History and New Media using Omeka, a digital collections program.* After these hurricanes, one will remember, people from New Orleans were scattered from the area, which created a dilemma for the project because without people and their photos and memories, the project cannot exist. The solution for this was obviously to get the word out, but I found the method of doing this to be quite creative. The first is the use of posters displaying Katrina Crosses to catch one's attention and the information of how to reach the project and contribute a personal story. The second is the use of mailer cards. Each of the session goers received an example of this. In a simple sense these are twice the size of a postcard so that they can be folded in half and secured shut. On the inside is space for someone to share their story. It can then be mailed off where the story will be collected with others and entered into the Memory Bank. I love how that method makes project participation so easy for people. That of course works best for those who have access to the cards in some way. The first Mardi Gras after the hurricanes saw an influx of people returning to the city of New Orleans for the first time (consisting of visiting but still displaced residents and tourists). The Memory Bank used this opportunity to reach people by printing their own Mardi Gras cups for people to use. I think that was brilliant and very original, using the history, heritage and culture of the area to aid in the project. They have even created a Skype account as another method in which people can tell their story. One of the interesting things I learned was that the money FEMA had for documentation after the hurricane went into building documentation and not oral history. Thankfully this project has helped to document the memories, photos, and blogs of the average person who witnessed and suffered from this devastation. These things most certainly would have gone undocumented and eventually would have been lost completely had the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank not been created. The website for it can be found here at http://www.hurricanearchive.org/. They are still collecting people's stories, and it currently contains over 25,000 items.

The second project was the Massachusetts Studies Network (I'll be calling it MASN). What started 5 years ago at UMass Boston as an attempt to collect photos that represented life in Massachusetts, blossomed into a collection consisting of 1,300 photos and stories, creating a digital portrait of Massachusetts. Using volunteers, freelancers and one part-time worker, MASN runs what is called the Massachusetts Memories Roadshow numerous times a year across MA. This is done in a format similar to the TV show Antiques Roadshow (which I love). In an event, people are allowed to bring in about 3 photos showing life in MA at some point in time. These photos are scanned into a computer and the stories that go with these photos are recorded. In return, oral history/photo scanning donors get a keepsake photo of them with their photos at the event and the satisfaction of having preserved local history. Held at local historical societies or community buildings, local residents past and present of all ages can interact and find common ground. One of the challenges this project faced was how to make it extend beyond a physical event? One way was to create a social network hosted on Ning, which allows people to connect with one another digitally and continue to share interests, photos and stories. There is also a Flickr group. Both of these sites brought up questions after the presentation about copyright issues that go way beyond what I understand at this point. I was excited by this project and it was amazing to see what could be accomplished without funding (especially when each Road Show costs $8,000 to $10,000 to run). The website for the social group is located here at http://mastudies.ning.com. The link to the Flickr group is http://www.flickr.com/groups/massmemories, it is newly live and I'm sure that more will be added to it as time goes by.

Part 3 will be comprised of more of the projects showcased during the session starting with GIS in Annapolis.

*This is probably the most general of definitions of Omeka and in no way does it justice from the little I know about it. I really hope to learn how to work with it at some point in the not too distant future (aka grad school).