Clio Wired (History 696)

I was more engaged with Raid on Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704. One of the keys to developing any exhibit or website is to determine (or guess) the audience’s wants and needs. I assumed this site was written for the general public- a wide range of ages, backgrounds, and educational levels. The brief introductory movie for “Raid on Deerfield” worked well setting the stage by providing the enough background information to convey the difficulties and struggles between French, English and Native Americans during that time period in New England without overwhelming the visitor. It was similar to introductory film at museums and historical sites such as the one at Williamsburg or the sight and sound stage show at many National Park Service sites. The movie could have taken up a little more of the screen but there was a nice balance of several meta narratives and by the end, the site’s objectives were clearly spelled out.

The entire site is well designed and easy to navigate with rollovers and hyperlinks for additional information if the viewer desires. For example, there is a link on the Story Menu page discussing the dates and calendar differences between the English (Julian) and French (Gregorian). The introduction on the Getting Started page gives a clear explanation on how to use the site and specifics of its well thought out features but is not really needed when first exploring the site. The Artifacts section includes Documents with text transcriptions with the magic lens. Object images were of good quality and provided the zoom feature for the artifacts. The site successfully uses new media in a well designed manner by including where appropriate a timeline, glossary, maps, a visitor survey, audio, a game and an easy to use teacher’s guide.

The text has been carefully written with as neutral a voice as possible given the oral traditions. It feature providing different cultural perspectives for the same event. The one page that could be a little clearer and more consistent is terminology is the http://www.1704.deerfield.history.museum/scenes/groups.do Meet the Five Cultures page, where the Algonkian and Iroquoian are mentioned in text but the map refers to the same groups as the Huron and Mohawk. The glossary and hyperlink pages provide the clarification. Also, when a viewer clicks on a culture symbol on the Home page, the hyperlink brings you to the start of the Five Cultures page instead of anchoring to the specific culture section. It’s a minor inconvenience.

As to the question of conveying the past, I think this site does a great job given that many of the main characters under the people section are fictional, based on “composite narratives” and archaeological evidence. Like a well-written historical novel that must presume since the most of the actual archival evidence is missing, these characters were developed to dramatize the stories but the scriptwriters did a good job trying to be non-judgmental by presenting five different viewpoints and several perspectives for main events. The site successfully in challenges the audience to view these “historical events” from many perspectives and clearly the depth of the essays and hyperlinks reflects current scholarship.

As a museum professional and historian, I found the page How To Make a Site Like This as interesting as the site itself. This site is effective and easy to use; it is well deserving of the Museum on the Web and AASLH awards. I would happily recommend it!