project proposal: local history
Once again, I’ve revised the concept of my final project. I had intended to focus on neighborhood history in Brooklyn, until I realized that the Brooklyn Historical Society archives are undergoing serious cataloging and aren’t readily available. For another class I’m working on a project on Eastern Market, so I thought maybe I’d transfer my idea to DC, with Capitol Hill as a neighborhood prototype.
I did a quick web survey, and found that these two sites are closest to what I want to do: Explore DC and Cultural Tourism DC. The target audience of Cultural Tourism is out-of-town tourists, with the aim of luring them off the Mall by promising shopping and restaurants in other historic districts. Explore DC provides much more information, with historical summaries of different neighborhoods and a few contemporary photographs. The audience for this site seems more general.
I’d like to target the local audience in an effort to inform them about the history they see around them every day. I think there’d be a good audience for this in DC, especially since house histories have become popular and as people are investing in real estate in the city again. They would take away from the site a better understanding of their environment, and of the importance of local history. Therefore I’d like to make a site that sort of functions like an online walking tour but with more detailed historic information.
The first page would show a map of the district with different neighborhoods delineated by colors and labeled. The viewer would click on a neighborhood to enter the site. Each neighborhood would have the same metadata/structure: a written summary of the neighborhood’s history (very short), a map, and a menu across the top. The map (probably a Google map) would contain street names and points of interest (like the 9/11 site), and by rolling the mouse over these points, the viewer would call up a historic image or possibly a quote from a primary source. I would try to balance historical periods across the points. The viewer would click on the image/quote to open a new window with information particular to that site. I hope to use a lot of images, because I think they convey a sense of place, and the intent is to have the viewer, who presumably is a resident, compare the “then” of these images with the “now” with which he/she is familiar. I’d like to include pertinent quotes from historic sources, along with summary information of the place/object/person. Lastly, I hope to use voice board technology (courtesy of a friend) so that residents can share memories about the neighborhood by leaving a message.
The site, then, is not intended to cater to tourists. Some locations may be familiar ones, like Eastern Market, but others may be unmarked houses, or street corners, or longtime neighborhood businesses or churches. Hopefully residents of the neighborhood (and DC at large) will learn to appreciate the history of the familiar around them. This also compliments my research in local history this semester.
March 20th, 2006 at 10:24 pm
Sarah, I really like the idea of targeting area residents who may or may not appreciate the history surrounding their neighborhoods. So many people simply walk by points of interest without realizing their significance. The site sounds like a perfect point of entry for someone interested in learning more about their neighborhood online.
March 21st, 2006 at 12:14 am
Sorry about having to switch, but I think the new project sounds excellent and especially since all the work on Eastern Market is in the works it’ll be a an excellent tool for historians and visitors alike!
I think that a map is a useful tool in terms of orientation–this way people can look at it online and then go downtown and actually walk the streets. Great topic!