essential online tools for historical societies

ESSENTIAL ONLINE TOOLS FOR HISTORICAL SOCIETIES

2013 League of Local Historical Societies & Museums Annual Meeting 

Building on a Strong FoundationFriday, November 1, 2013

Barre, Vermont

AGENDAIntro - Why Digital Tools are Essential to Historical Societies

1) Social Media• Facebook

• Twitter

• Pinterest/Instagram

• YouTube

• Google+ Local

2) History Tools • History Pin

• Dipidy

• The History List

• QR Codes & Smartphones

• Fundraising

• Digital Archiving

3) Website Essentials

4) Free tools for Nonprofits

5) Tips and Tricks

6) Q&A

VERMONT DIGITAL ECONOMY PROJECT

• Nonprofits Advising

• Small Business Workshops

• Farm and Forest Workshops

• Downtown Wi-Fi Zones

• Town Websites

• Library interns

• Community Forum and Calendar

Funding and support:VDEP is funded by a grant from the federal Economic Development

Administration, with substantial in-kind support from IBM, Microsoft and each of the partners.

Created by the Vermont Council on Rural

Development, with the goal of constructing more resilient communities after

the 2011 floods, the Vermont Digital Economy Project is a continuation

and expansion of the work performed by e-Vermont. This Project will offer free support that will speed

flood recovery, spur economic development

and job growth, and improve community

resilience to disasters. http://vtdigitaleconomy.org/

http://vtrural.org/

ABOUT US• Rob Fish has over fifteen years of community outreach experience with various

community development and advocacy projects in Maine, Vermont, and Michigan. He has also managed the web and social media presence for several groups and taught digital literacy in a small village in western Ghana. Rob has a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Vermont. Rob now advises nonprofits in the effective use of online tools on behalf of the Vermont Digital Economy Project. In his capacity as Non Profit Advisor, he has worked with historical societies and museums in Bethel, Plymouth, Rochester, Bridgewater and Ludlow. 

• Adriene Katz has a master's degree in Museum Studies. After museum internships in Colorado, Maine, and Utah, Adriene currently works for the Shelburne Museum. With extensive experience in social media, websites, and blogs, she is also familiar with collections management procedures, as well as the collections management software, Past Perfect and Mimsy. In October 2012, Adriene presented to the attendees of the unconference, "Archives on a Shoestring," which was held at the Vermont Historical Society, about a digital project she did while working at Rufus Porter Museum in Maine. She also wrote a social media handbook for a non-profit in Colorado. Her interests include early American history, and decorative arts.

CHALLENGES FACING LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETIES

• Dwindling Volunteers - Most are volunteer run – as volunteers dwindle hours are reduced, as is the ability to curate history. New blood is needed, young people who are excited about community history.

• Declining Visits and Interest - A recent national study revealed that the core audience for history museums is white, older, and upper middle class.

• Lack of Funds- Local societies that rely on grants or subsidies from the local and state government increasingly faced draconian budget cuts, while competing for an ever-shrinking pool of private and government grant money..

WHY ARE DIGITAL TOOLS ESSENTIAL FOR LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETIES?

• Increase access to local history

• Recruit volunteers, members and donations

• Protect history – a back up in case disaster strikes

• Promote interaction and engagement with history

• Become a community resource

• Leverage mobile and geo-social technology

• Audience expects you to use technology

• Peer learning - connect with & be inspired by others engaging with history.

• Fundraising

WHY SHOULD YOU INVEST IN SOCIAL MEDIA?

•What are the current demographics of your historical society?

•Who is your audience? Need to grow it? Who’s missing?

•Who are your volunteers? Need more? Different skills?

•Who are your donors? Have you tapped online donors?

Pew Research first started asking about social networking site use in February 2005, just 8% of internet users—or 5% of all adults—said they used them. As of May 2013, 72% of online adults use social networking sites. 

WHO IS USING SOCIAL MEDIA

Crowdsourcing

information

Facebook

Events

Document Current Events Contest

s

LOCAL GOOGLE+ PAGES (GOOGLE PLACES)

http://www.google.com/+/business/

• Displays your location on a Google Map

• Enhanced Search Results

• Highlight Your Collection• Increases SEO rankings• History Trails?

As a tweet, history moseys away from the confines of academic corners, becoming accessible to a more diverse audience. Makes history more human.http://hnn.us/article/115324#sthash.zM7wd8QP.dpuf

Twitter is a Micro-Blogging Platform messages limited to 140 characters

HOW TO USE TWITTER

• Promote museum exhibits and programs

• Elicits questions from the public

• This Day in History snippets

• “Live Tweeting” historical events

• Make history relevant for today

See more at: http://hnn.us/article/115324#sthash.zM7wd8QP.dpuf

Through Twitter, the society can deliver a spoonful of easy-to-

digest history: interesting, and free from the burden of heavy

long-windedness that often stereotypes it.

THE RISE OF ONLINE CURATING

As modern mobile technologies such as smartphones with high quality built-in cameras and access to social media networks have offered new possibilities for people to engage, participate, document and share their experiences, new photography practices have emerged.

http://crowdresearch.org/blog/?p=5993

With Geo-tagged photos from their locations, museums can truly understand their visitors’ behaviors. They can measure the success of particular exhibitions and tweak their displays according to the feedback received in the photos.

Visitors re-categorize and document their experiences 

http://nitrogr.am/blog/30-museums-on-instagram/

TAGGED BY LOCATION OR HASHTAG

http://spots.io

http://web.stagram.com/tag/plymouthvt/

• Sparks interest• User generated

content• New breed of

researchers and curators

“Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web.”  • A new audience

• User generated content and increased engagement

• Makes history fun! A hobby! • Use it to build family histories• History tours and developing thematic content

housed at multiple historic societies.• Links with Facebook and your website

VERMONTERS USING PINTEREST

http://www.pinterest.com/waldronrhodes/historic-vermont/

http://www.pinterest.com/verdemountain/fun-history-from-my-community/

VERMONT HISTORY ON PINTEREST

PINTEREST: STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY EXAMPLE

http://www.pinterest.com/mainehistory/

LOCAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY EXAMPLE

http://www.pinterest.com/duxburyhistory/

HOW IT WORKSThink of it as a visual bookmarking system.

Each "pin" or image is linked to the site in which it was pinned from

TIP: Create Very Specific Boards. Creating a too general of a pinboard, like "Genealogy" will quickly fill up and become unmanageable to search and locate specific pins.

Sample Ideas: Genealogy Toolkit, Plymouth Vermont Families, Bennington Battle, Tropical Storm Irene – Wilmingtonhttp://familycherished.blogspot.com/2012/10/top-12-tips-for-using-pinterest-f

or.html

 This drives content to your site

Integrating Pinterest invites and reminds people to share the image -- more online attention and reaches more people

Q

• Engage students by tasking them with visiting town elders and recording oral histories.

• Convert old VHS or 35MM films to increase accessibility.

http://www.historypin.com/

• Make a map of historical places in your community.

• Share content on other Social Media Platforms.

• Collaborate with other historical societies and museums.

• Crowd source additional information.

What is Dipity?Dipity is a free digital timeline website. Users can create, share, embed and collaborate on interactive, visually engaging timelines that integrate video, audio, images, text, links, social media, location and timestamps.

http://www.dipity.com/

QR CODES (QUICK RESPONSE CODES)

By simply scanning a QR code decal with a smartphone, anyone can quickly pull up information about historical sites throughout the area — including photos, architectural classification, historical significance and much more. Make one at

• Audio Tours• Smartphone Apps• Podcasts

Additional ways to leverage smartphone technology

http://www.qrstuff.com/

MOBILE AND CROWD-SOURCE FUNDRAISING

http://www.indiegogo.com/

http://paypal.com/

https://squareup.com/

http://www.kickstarter.com/

• Accept donations at events

• Sell postcards, photos, etc

• Fundraise for large projects – capital projects

• Increase community involvement and ownership

Since launch in 2009, 5.1 million people have pledged $853 million, funding 50,000 creative projects. 

WHY DIGITIZE?

• Some items are too delicate to display/ handle

• Increase access to collections

• Make collection searchable

• Promote collections

• Public expects it

• Back up just in case disaster strikes

http://www.musarch.com/

http://sumac.com/

http://www.museumsoftware.com/

http://ehive.com/

http://www.collectiveaccess.org/

http://omeka.org/

WEBSITE ESSENTIALS• Contact information

• Hours

• Signup Forms

• Donate Button

• Keep navigation simple

• Social Media

• Images

• Responsive – works on smartphones and desktop web browsers

• Be able to manage it yourself

FREE TOOLS FOR NON-PROFITS

• Google for Non-Profits

• Free email @yourdomain.org, calendar, and apps

• Google Adword Grants

• YouTube Channel

• DreamHost – free web hosting for 501(c)3 nonprofits

• TechSoup - Reduced price or free software and hardware

TRICKS AND TIPS• Recruit interns or volunteers from local schools

Students are digital natives. Use them to collect oral histories or produce videos.

• Make your historical society a center for local research. Integrate wi-fi internet access and genealogical resources, such as Ancestry.com.

• Don’t try to do everything! Pick the social media channels you enjoy and do it well.

• Find your voice. Tell stories. Know your audience.

• Develops procedures, policies and guides for social media and other digital tools.

RESOURCES

•Vermont Digital Economy Project Non-Profit: Digital Needs Assessmenthttp://vtdigitaleconomy.org/content/nonprofit-digital-needs-assessment-application-services

•American Alliance of Museums -- Media and Technologyhttp://www.aam-us.org/resources/professional-networks/media-technology

•University of Delaware -- Sustaining Placeshttp://sustainingplaces.com/read/marketing/

•Webinars, through membership groups, such as New England Museum Association http://www.nemanet.org/lunchwithnema/index.htm

•BizFriend.ly – uses Facebook API to walk you through setting up a Facebook Page http://bizfriend.ly/service.html?2

•On Twitter #musesocial

QUESTIONS?

Rob Fish, Non Profit AdvisorVermont Digital Economy Project

802-488-5143rob@vtrural.org

Adriene KatzShelburne Museum

802-338-8612adriene.katz@gmail.com