Landscape, Environment, Location, Community, Local Culture, are really terms that describe Public History, in a space some people call “Home”.  People’s homes and pasts, are their identity.  Public history has a dual responsibility to convey information about the past, but it also has to resonate with the culture it is expressing.  Good public history creates a story that so well reflects people’s identities and captures their memories, that even difficult subjects can be addressed.  Traditionally, history has been drawn from objects and documents that people can feel and touch.  Stories written, passed down orally or conveyed in song or drama helped to portray the human experience through direct contact.

Digital public history expands the tools used to interpret and connect to the past.  For example in “World War One: Love and Sorrow – A hybrid exhibition mobile experience.” Visitors choose from among eight characters in a mobile application to guide their museum experience.  This character and Bluetooth technology helps them personalize and focus on specific aspects in the themes of the exhibit: ‘Spirit of the Times’, War Experience, Wounds, War at Home & Life after with the ultimate goal of exploring the true cost of war.  The character & technology particularly enable the visitor to identify with the Victorian Gaze, encounter stories that are usually avoided, and engage and debate in new ways and expand access to resources and the exhibition beyond the gallery through on-line support.  Technology creates an excitement and a new interesting way to challenge what might first appear to be a familiar past.

Digital History is mediated.  It is viewed through a lens that may be video (camera angles and focus determined by the director) or captured and digitized documents, images, or collections. These processes make the object more accessible and usually more visible or clear, but the context, texture and dimension may be lost.  Often the creation of Digital History requires the assistance of experts who may not be from the local community.  Involving the local community in the creation of these histories can result in better understanding and authentic experience that makes history ‘come alive’.  All history is about connections between people and the forces that are operating around them.  Even when it is local, it is reflective engagement with a period that no longer exists.  Effort is required to make intersections between the past and present both familiar and informative.  Mobile Apps, collected as galleries in sites such as Historypin, Clio & Curatescape Projects, make these connections for resident and visitor (actual or virtual) highlighting the uniqueness and significance of our homes.

Home on the Range

Mobile technology is also providing ways to engage with specific stories of the past in real time and place.  Curatescape Projects, Histories of the National Mall, Museum of London, Street Museum, Walking Cinema, and Murder on Beacon Hill are sites that enable users to access history based on  their physical location bringing up stories that are identified by GPS signals.  Instant information is a daily experience. Providing information when visitors need it addresses the culture that expects choices and is highly time sensitive.  Walls are tumbling.  Institutions that can meet potential audiences at the moment their interest is generated, in styles that are familiar actually draws them into a relationship.  Positive, preference-based experiences helps patrons “get the most out of a visit without having to dig through information that isn’t of interest … this concept while relatively new to museums, is common practice in industry.”  Baer et al.   Learning does not happen only in classrooms.  Having a web presence, makes the museum or public heritage site an active and accessible resource.

According to Mark Tebeau, “oral history and digital practice share an underlying activist endeavor, one that breaks down traditional power relations and re-imagines communities as part of the process of scholarly production.” The Curetescape platform developed first in Cleveland Historical “integrates public history, oral history, and digital humanities practice.”  It provides an alternative perspective by focusing on the storytelling process.  Rather than objects or images, tales are sought from the community and recorded and the stories of the city are collected.  Voices of the past, as well as image and interpretation are immediately available in the geo-located spot. Mobile technology is like a tap on the public shoulder, raising awareness of the connections of culture and inviting further investigation.  It makes public institutions relevant in daily activity and on the street!

ET Phone Home

Integrating the analysis of “landscape” and digital humanities reinforces specific practices and raises new awareness of some practical considerations in my mind.  It is significant that that all “homes” are not the same.  Reflecting on how and why a ‘place’ has its own unique character and how people live and interact in that space, is enriching to both the people that live there and visitors.  Locating actions, events, connections and people to a specific spot helps make them real.  ‘Anchoring’ locations, serves the same purpose as a timeline, enabling us to identify connections of human activity and aspiration.

When we tell our stories we need to recognize that people come from different homes that impact their experience of the story.  This ‘home’ arises not only from their cultural background which may differ from the site of the story, but also in their interests and means of engagement:

• The “Idea” person likes to understand how the ‘big picture’ works.
• The “People” person is attracted to personal and emotional connections.
• The “Object” person is attracted by the aesthetics of the object.
• The “Physical” person seeks physical and sensory experiences.

Baer, et al. “Beyond the Screen”

Our stories will be better appreciated and understood if we include ‘handles of familiarity’ for our audiences to grasp and connect.  There are practical considerations of presentations no matter the location: do people have access to the technology, are the instructions clear, what are the difficulties a stranger might experience, etc.  “Design” is the tool we can use to reflect on the entire experience of the engagement.  The design process includes far more than colors or letter styling.  If we approach digital humanities projects with the concept of collaborative design, an inclusiveness of expertise, resource, engagement, audience,  tools, and perspectives, we have a much higher chance of success.

“The purpose of a museum experience, public heritage site, (or good digital humanities project) is to create ‘memorable moments’”. Hart  Homes are spaces filled with the good and the difficult and they shape our experience.  When we open our homes, guests bring new ideas.  We share our experiences and our stories.  Our lives are understanding increases and our lives are richer.

Notes:

Tebeau, Mark. “Listening to the City: Oral History and Place in the Digital Era.” Oral History Review 40.1 (2013): 25-35.

Hart, T. and Brownbill, J. “World War One: Love and Sorrow – A hybrid exhibition mobile experience.” In Museums and the Web Asia 2014, N. Proctor & R. Cherry (eds). Silver Spring, MD: Museums and the Web. Published September 19, 2014.

Baer, Brad, Emily Fry and Daniel Davis. “Beyond the Screen: Creating interactives that are location, time, preference, and skill responsive.” MW2014: Museums and the Web 2014. Published February 1, 2014.