historical storytelling through technology

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Preservation Leadership Forum Historical Storytelling Through Technology Sheila Brennan, Lauren Northup, and Jessica Marie Johnson JANUARY 16, 2018

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Page 1: Historical Storytelling Through Technology

Preservation Leadership Forum

Historical Storytelling Through TechnologySheila Brennan, Lauren Northup, and Jessica Marie Johnson

JANUARY 16, 2018

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Speakers

• Sheila Brennan, Director of Strategic Initiatives, Roy

Rosenzweig Center for History New Media

• Lauren Northup, Director of Museums, Historic Charleston

Foundation

• Jessica Marie Johnson, Assistant Professor, Krieger

School of Arts and Science, Johns Hopkins University

• Priya Chhaya (moderator), Manager for Online Content

and Products, National Trust for Historic Preservation

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THE (HI)STORY WE SHARE

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Objectives

1. Show examples of how you can use technological

tools to tell inclusive stories

2. Provide clear practical advice for using technology to

tell historical stories

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Broader Questions to Ponder

• As we save places, how do we leverage technology to

expand the stories we are telling?

• How does technology enable us to be more inclusive in

our work as preservationists?

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Twitter Handles: #PreservationForum

• Sheila Brennan: @sherah1918 @chnm

• Lauren Northup: @HistoricChas

• Jessica Marie Johnson: @Jmjafrx @afrxdiasporaphd

• Priya Chhaya: @priyastoric

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Telling the Story of the National MallSheila Brennan

Director of Strategic Initiatives, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History New Media

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Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

• Founded in 1994– To use new media to incorporate

multiple voices; reach diverseaudiences. To encourage popularparticipation in presenting andpreserving the past

– 34 million annual visitors to dozens of digital projects

– 45 people: historians technologists,designers, outreach specialists

• Find us: rrchnm.org

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Most visitors see the National Mall as this:

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The Mall once looked like this:

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How would anyone know?Enslaved people were

bought and sold near

the Capitol.

A president was

assassinated in a

railroad station that no

longer stands.

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Interpretation with mobile website mallhistory.org built in Omeka

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Many entry points to content:Maps

People

Past Events

Explorations

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Exploration ?s designed to entice

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• Was the Mall ever segregated?

• Why is this space called a

“Mall”?

• How have protests on the Mall

changed over time?

• Why do people say the

National Mall is built on a

swamp?

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Explorations answered with 5 primary sources

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Explorations = Exhibits in Omeka

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User Testing!

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• Inexpensive

• 3-6 people, each round

• Improves the project in

formative stages

• Content and the website’s

user experience

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Learn more about what we did:

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“Building Histories of the

National Mall”

Download it now through your

GoToWebinar control panel.

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Historic Charleston FoundationInstagram & The AppLauren Northup

Director of Museums, Historic Charleston Foundation

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Historic Charleston Foundation

• Founded in 1947; based in Charleston, South Carolina

• Owns two house museums—the Nathaniel Russell

House and the Aiken Rhett House; engages in

advocacy, outreach, education, and museum work

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Instagram:@historiccharlestonfoundation

• Started in 2013

• 50,000+ followers

• “Reverent irreverence”

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• Photo taken of Aiken-Rhett

House backstairs

• Photo used to tell story of

the enslaved people in the

Aiken-Rhett house,

specifically the cooks, using

specifics

• 17 comments, 2,147 likes

Example Instagram

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Historic Charleston Foundation App: The Idea

• Context:– Declining visitation to our

traditional restored house museum—the Nathaniel Russell House

– Rising visitation to non-traditional house museums e.g. McLeod Plantation, the Aiken-Rhett House

– Success of the Instagramaccount

• Thoughts:– Traditional docent-led tour of a

restored historic house no longer working

– Desire for a fuller picture of Charleston

– Need to engage with audience in non-traditional ways

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The Plan…

• Working with New York-based museum consulting

company Museum Hack

• Approach is to disrupt the traditional museum model

• Develop a Charleston Preservation App, free to download

from the App Store

• Seek to include all the stories in the app, including African

American history, women’s history, working class history,

stories missed out from the traditional tours of Charleston

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Using New Technology

• Audio Guides– Three audio guides: one for

each house museum plus one for Charleston looking at the city through the city’s preservation

• Text Stop Guides– 300+ text stops on points of

interest throughout the city

– Geo-location on the app allows people to find the nearest points of interest

• App-Based Delivery– Devices available at the house

museums; hope is that most people will download the app

– Free guide to Charleston; allows us to draw people to our house museums

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Cuseum: Partnering with Tech Companies

• App development carried out by Cuseum

• Concept of free app with donation button

• i.e. “public radio model”

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Preview of the App

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App Landing

Page

App Map with:

Points of

Interest

and Geo-

locationStarting Page for

Aiken-Rhett

House Audio

Guide

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City Guide—Stories Told

• Mother Emanuel AME Church

– Tells the history of the oldest AME congregation in the US South

– Discusses the murders on June 17, 2015

– Uses both narrative and interviews with Dudley Gregorie, councilman for Charleston District 6 and trustee of Emanuel AME

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City Guide—Stories Told

• Cigar Factory – Tells the story of the Cigar

Factory strike, where “We Shall Overcome” was first used as a Civil Rights anthem

– Tells the story of the rehabilitation of the structure

– Uses both narrative and audio samples

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City Guide—Stories Told

• Grimke Sisters House– Tells the story of the Grimke

Sisters: scions of a prominent planter, who became outspoken abolitionists

– Tells the story through narrative

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City Guide—Stories Told

• James Missroon House– Now headquarters of

Historic Charleston Foundation

– Tells the story of Robert Scott Smalls: an enslaved pilot who escaped in 1862 and later became a politician

– Tells the story of Historic Charleston Foundation

– Uses both interviews and narrative

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The Challenges

• Museum Hack are storytellers, not historians

• Internal discussions over the direction of the

organization

• Technological challenges such as providing WiFi and

devices

• Institutional inertia—“If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”

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Social Stories: Digital Storytelling and Social MediaJessica Marie Johnson

Assistant Professor, Krieger School of Arts and Science, Johns Hopkins University

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Examples:

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@SlaveryUVA

(Twitter)

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@Every3Minutes

(Twitter)

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#BGMB

(Twitter, IG, Blog)

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#SlaveryArchive

(Cross-Platform)

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#ADPhD

(Cross-Platform)

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Colored Conventions

Project

(Omeka)

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The Haitian

Atlantic

(StoryMap)

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Cheat Sheet of Platforms:

• Twitter

• Tumblr

• Instagram

• Hashtags

• WordPress

• Omeka

• StoryMap

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Cheat Sheet for “Best Use”

• Respect, Power & Control, and Harm are issues on the internet – (esp.

Inclusive Histories; Difficult Pasts)

• Justice, Empowerment, Social Change are possible—even probable—

using digital tools

• Play is serious work. Play is cultural and it is political.

• Non-social media platforms are still important

• There is no cheat sheet for being a better human—collaborate, speak to

community, discuss ethics, privilege, power, and intention BEFORE

choosing platform, BEFORE funding, BEFORE everything.

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In Summary

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Practical Tips• Be deliberate in choosing what technology to use.

• Leverage your sources (text, imagery, video, audio) to tell the full

American story.

• Develop partnerships.

• Look for open source products.

• Make sure to user test your work.

• History is complicated. Using technology to tell those stories is also

complicated. Don’t let that make you afraid.

• Choose a platform or social network appropriate for your audience.

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QUESTION AND ANSWER

Use the chat box on the bottom right to ask questions of the speakers.

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Further Reading

• PastForward: Technology Reading List

• Historic Charleston Foundation Launches Preservation

App, Parts I and II

• 2017 PastForward TrustLive: Tech, Zenka

• Upcoming: Forum Journal

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Twitter Handles: #PreservationForum

• Priya Chhaya: @priyastoric

• Lauren Northup: @HistoricChas

• Sheila Brennan: @sherah1918 @chnm

• Jessica Johnson: @Jmjafrx

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Coming Up on the Forum Webinar Series

Building Easement Stewardship

Are you looking to become more proactive and thoughtful in your preservation easement stewardship? How do you develop procedures and capacity to operate your easement program efficiently? This webinar will discuss elements of an effective and sustainable easement program. Perspectives from both nonprofit and government preservation easement holders will consider the opportunities and challenges for easement stewardship today.

Join us Thursday, February 1.Register at forum.savingplaces.org/forum-webinar.

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WEBINAR

TOGETHER WE ARE FORUM

Thank you!

Visit Our Website:forum.savingplaces.org

Watch for Upcoming Webinars & View

Webinar Archives:forum.savingplaces.org/forum-webinar

Contact Us:[email protected]