Category Archives: Technology

AASLH Refreshes its Website

AASLH website 2013The American Association for State and Local History refreshed its website at aaslh.org, launching a significantly improved and enhanced version that’s rich with color and photos, along with continually updated news, blog posts, and tweets laid out in a magazine format.    You’ll need to explore the various pages to discover the new features and content, but I especially like News and Views to quickly soak up what’s happening and the Learn and Search Interests pages, where you can browse popular topics with just a click of a mouse, such as “administration” or “funding.”  There’s also a Your Feed page that allows you choose from a menu of topics that interest you, such as “best practices” or “historic houses” and viola! you get a special page created just for you.

As a member of the AASLH Council, I officially receive the credit for the new website, but it actually belongs to the AASLH staff, particularly Rebecca Price, Bob Beatty, and Terry Jackson.  This new website has been a longtime in coming, but it was worth the wait.

PS.  If the new website comes up broken, as it did for me at first, just refresh your browser to clear its memory of the old website.

Video: Refuse to Fold: Heritage Tourism in the Mississippi Delta

This 35-minute video is the first cut of a working documentary by Brian Dempsey and Angela Smith about heritage tourism and the Mississippi Delta Blues, featuring Jimmy “Duck” Holmes from Bentonia, Mississippi.  Dempsey and Smith were PhD students in public history at Middle Tennessee State University four years ago when they produced this video.

Amazon.com May Help Your Fundraising Efforts

AmazonSmile customer start-up page.

AmazonSmile customer start-up page.

This holiday season, Amazon.com is mixing business with charity in its newest project, AmazonSmile.  By shopping at smile.amazon.com instead of plain old amazon.com, 0.5 percent of the value of their purchases will be donated to the customer’s preferred charity (i.e., a $100 purchase becomes a 50 cent donation).  When first visiting AmazonSmile, customers are prompted to select a charitable organization from almost one million eligible organizations.   What’s even more amazing is that there seems to be no limit to the amount Amazon will give to charity, although as of now auto-renewed subscription purchases and digital products aren’t included.  Donations will be made by the AmazonSmile Foundation, so customers using AmazonSmile will not be able to claim donations as charitable deductions.

Charitable organizations can register for free to receive donations at Continue reading →

Video: History Matters. Students Matter.

http://vimeo.com/76743251

Angela Smith, assistant professor and director of the public history program at North Dakota State University shares this six minute general overview of the value of history and how the Public History Program at NDSU has contributed through several student projects.  This video was presented at the College Honors Day on October 11, 2013.

AASLH Award Winners

Lee Wright at the History List created a Slideshare presentation of the 87 history projects that will be receiving awards today from the American Association for State and Local History at their annual meeting in Birmingham, Alabama.   You’ll see exhibits, books, websites, preservation projects, outdoor multimedia tours, and much, much more.  It’s an easy way to get ideas for your museum and historic site (perhaps your staff can watch it over lunch together?).

Lee also mentioned that he’ll be offering the “Make this Holiday Historic” at the History List again in December to promote events, gifts, and membership at historic sites and house museums but may include some tweaks to make it more engaging.  If you are interested in participating (I especially encourage sites that are in a city or region that’s a tourist destination), contact Lee@TheHistoryList.com.

Video: History Lives in Charleston

Charleston, South Carolina has one of the most active convention and visitor bureaus in the nation and it has embraced the value of history and historic preservation in its promotion of the region.  This past year they launched a series of videos on different distinctive aspects of Charleston, including “History Lives,” which features interviews with George McDaniel of Drayton Hall, Kitty Robinson of the Historic Charleston Foundation, Charles Duell of Middleton Place, and Robert Russell of the College of Charleston.  At 5:41, it’s a bit longer than most videos I’ve shared previously but it’s a good example of content, production, and pacing.  If you’d like to see all of their videos, visit the Charleston Area Visitors and Convention Bureau website or their channel on YouTube.

Video: A Virtual Summer Camp using Google+

Invention meets social media in a summer camp format.  In 2012, MAKE held a Maker Camp on Google+, introducing an online summer camp inspired by the creative and diverse maker culture.  It was a six-week program featuring 30 days of projects and activities for teens 13-18. Every day a different counselor posted how-to instructions and hosted a Hangout, giving campers a chance to ask questions and show off their projects. It was free and open to everyone with a Google+ profile.

How can new technologies transform or expand your programs?  Can Google+ or Hangout help you work with colleagues to complete projects?  Check out what the Henry Ford Museum is doing with Maker Faire Detroit.  Can your summer camps incorporate some ideas from Maker Faire®?

History Organizations Gathering Awards

The American Alliance of Museums announced the winners of its 2013 Museum Publications Design Competition, which identifies the best in graphic design in fifteen different categories.  This is a juried competition and we send our congratulations to all, but especially to (given the bias of this blog):

  • Drake Well Museum for their journal, Oilfield
  • Kentucky Historical Society for educational resources.
  • US Holocaust Memorial Museum for their 2011-12 annual report
  • Museum of Flight (Seattle) for their 2011 annual report
  • Museum of the City of New York for the journal, City Courant
  • National Archives for their Girl Scout Welcome Activity Badge Cards
  • Peabody Essex Museum for their members magazine, Connections
  • Peabody Essex Museum for invitations to the Cultural Conversation and Ansel Adams events
  • Peabody Essex Museum for educational resources
  • Shaker Museum (Mount Lebanon) for the 2012/13 annual journal

I love good design and I applaud all the winners.  One thing about design contests, however, is that they’re only about design Continue reading →

History News for Spring 2013 Arrives

History News, Spring 2013

History News, Spring 2013

It’s mid-June and the spring 2013 issue of History News just arrived.  If you’re wondering why it’s late, it’s my fault.

Katherine Kane and Bob Beatty invited me to write an article that would highlight this year’s annual meeting theme: “Turning Points:  Ordinary People, Extraordinary Change.”  I was honored—and challenged.  Heroic stories of ordinary Americans changing history would be inspirational but too easy.  So I focused on us —the ordinary people who work in history organizations—to explore how we can provoke extraordinary change in our communities and audiences.  Nice idea, but it went through a dozen revisions that trampled deadlines in the process.  I hope it’s worth the wait.  I’ll be posting excerpts from it along with the entire article starting next week (have to give the AASLH members first opportunity!).

But if you don’t find my article satisfying, there are plenty of alternatives in this issue: Continue reading →

Video: Russian Museum of Architecture promo

http://vimeo.com/66306288

And now for something completely different, a one-minute video promoting the Museum of Architecture in Russia.  Created by Saatchi Russia, it’s a humorous spin on the “little old ladies” that guard museums and historic sites.  If you understand Russian, could you tell us what’s going on?