Digital collections first allowed for the “movement” of text.  Ease of correction improved attention to the words, increasing editing, which promoted clarity, and actually, more content.  This movement drew more attention to placement of the words on the page, and the evolution of ‘text’ (a newspaper term) in ‘space’ as opposed to on a page.  Technological innovations have placed the power of movement, placement and publication into the hands of an individual, away from big machines with numerous workers.  (An unintended consequence has been the loss of jobs in the publishing industries, but that is another story).  For public history, this “movement” has resulted in reformulating “the exhibit” from a static “display” into an “engagement process”.  Audiences have become used to instant access to information and overloaded by the constant barrage of information both useful and useless.  Public history has needed to innovate to capture and engage (hold the attention of) its audiences in order to help them slow down and help them reflect upon the meaning of their past, present and future.

Ronald Grele’s, “Whose Public?  Whose History?” critiques traditional history for focusing on the grand “dramas of wide sweep and broad interpretation, up-beat pageants which trace a major theme in American culture and point to the inevitable success of the United States as a nation.” He asserts the creation of a “monograph {reading} elite”, “isolation from peers and the market place” are the results from this form of historical work.  Grele calls for skill based historians that can enable the public to “do their own history”.  Progressive historians have been around for a long time and so have the critiques of their work, my own favorites being the work of Charles and Mary Beard, Gerda Lerner, Estelle B. Freedman and the courage of Stacy Shift to tackle ‘familiar’ public histories with new approaches.  My own question of Grele would be, ‘Have “members of the public” had the time to reflect deeply on their own circumstances in context?’  Analysis of recent voting history demonstrates that in interpretation of one’s own place in society is skewed by many factors. (NYT, Vance)  I agree with Grele that a participatory engagement with history will promote “understanding their role in shaping and interpreting events” but I also believe that time for a historian to focus on analysis is equally important as the skills of presentation and engagement.  In a perfect world, the expansion of both areas would be an economic engine providing jobs and an informed, active democracy (though, if that isn’t progressive, I don’t know what is).

In the meantime, new digital tools, like Omeka, provide assistance to the historian or public institution enabling them to:

• access collections previously restricted by distance and preservation requirements
• illustrate ideas with popular and archival resources
• create global audiences
• encourage response and interplay with artifacts and ideas
• provide resources to both examine and perhaps challenge traditional beliefs
• generate global conversations
• stimulate new ideas and public action

It is therefore crucial that we utilize the digital resources and platforms to encourage public interest, memory and reflection utilizing familiar and intriguing mechanisms (images, questions, puzzles, games, instant information).  When the attention has been captured, it becomes the historian’s job to expand the perspective, depth of awareness and suggest consideration of the varied meanings of these histories.

Understanding the history of Cleveland Women can benefit by incorporating the tools, resources, platforms and utilizing the theories of Digital Public History.  Three projects, among the multitudinous, excellent projects that have been created; have particularly captured me as guides for addressing the history of women in Cleveland: Citizen Archivist Dashboard, Digital Harlem and the Western Reserve Historical Society.  These sites are obviously very professional and were created through large budgets which can cover the costs of time, teams, multi-partner collaboration, and expertise of all types including: historians, archivists, designers, artists, IT systems architects, developers, programmers, etc. But, each of these sites contains elements and draws attention to aspects which the Cleveland Women needs to incorporate to target its audience and enable historical thinking about the role and significance of women in Cleveland’s past.

1. I am beginning with Citizen Archivist Dashboard because the particular aspect of this site is a bit further down the road for Cleveland Women – Community Engagement through Crowdsourcing. Citizen Archivist Dashboard has the same ability that I experienced in one other site New York Public Library’s Building Inspector, you get on that site and do not leave for at least an hour.  (Well, I really only spend 10-15 min at a time on Building Inspector but I went there whenever I was bored on the phone or waiting for an appointment, until I quit cold turkey). However, Citizen Archivist Dashboard not only provided the capture and engagement of Building Inspector it actually stimulated investigation and historical reflection and analysis.  Bright colors and design, positive and powerful messaging “You Can Transcribe It”, “You Can Tag It”, “You Can Make it Happen” invite the audience to participate.  Clear directions on the crowdsourcing page and direct links to the archive home page; which again uses color and easy click navigation buttons, while providing both attractive and engaging feature elements and connections to the various types of activities a user would need to access within the site.  This site has the innocent surfer embedded in exploring history before they know what happened!
2. WESTERN RESERVE HISTORICAL SOCIETY    …The newly redesigned Western Reserve Historical Society site is another site geared toward inviting the visitor with clear design and easy navigation. While Citizen Archivist Dashboard invites the user to help with the work of the National Archive and/or utilize the collection, the Western Reserve Historical Society primarily invites the user to visit the various sites of the society and/or utilize the collection. Both sites use “motion” headlines, block areas, clear type and color, reinforcing the concept that these digital resource sites need to keep the audience and its needs and desires first and ease the passage into the depth of content.  The resource trove now made more accessible from the Western Reserve Historical Society is extremely valuable for the source material and work of Cleveland Women.  A caveat to the accessibility of the archival collection on this particular page is that the featured “Research & Collections” tab is targeted to a general audience and provides links and access to the museum & site public collections, whereas the access to the research collections is on the small navigation bar at the very top of the page under the title “Online Catalog”, easily overlooked.
3. Digital Harlem is closest to the form of analysis and community history that is being explored in Cleveland Women. History is explored primarily through the lens of community, focusing on physical setting and the connections between relationships as they play out in that physical setting.  Digital Harlem has provided a model pathway for digital historical analysis. Specifically it allows for the compilation of the various aspects of a large amount of information in manageable chunks through categorized accessible databases. It provides the context of place through mapping tools.  It enables exploration of the ‘impact of time’ through user interface with the timeline.  It provides a ‘historical analysis’ (context) page where on-going interpretation and research can be engaged.  Content, tools and resources that both general and research audiences can access are easily found.  It encourages engagement and contribution to the project in various ways.  Digital Harlem provides both immediate access to historical information, drawing in both general and specialized audiences, to grapple with the full scope of historical themes, relationships and complex webs that exploring a community encounters.

Omeka provides a platform to begin collecting the individual items and structuring the elements of a history similar to Digital Harlem, but clear and uniquely focused on Cleveland Women.