Local History for a Global AudienceWisconsin Heritage Online

Emily Pfotenhauer - WiLS World - July 25, 2012

Today’s presentation

• What is WHO?

• Our work with local history collections

• Promoting content with Tumblr

• Sorting collections with Viewshare

• Sneak peak at early stage of website redesign

Wisconsin Heritage Online is . . .

• AGGREGATED CONTENT– wisconsinheritage.org portal brings together

metadata, thumbnail images and links from digital collections across the state

• SHARED STANDARDS– imaging, metadata, and digital preservation guidelines

developed by Wisconsin librarians, archivists and curators

• TRAINING AND SUPPORT– workshops, one-on-one project support, collection

hosting

PARTNERS

wisconsinheritage.org = 118,463 digital items

How it works…

DATA HARVEST

CONTENTdm

UWDC Site Search

Other OAI-compliant databases

University of Wisconsin Digital

Collections42%

Public Libraries29%

Academic Libraries

16%

Wisconsin Historical Society

8%

Historical Societies & Museums

5%

Content Providers

Why digitize local history?

Local goals

• Improve organization and searchability of collections

• Generate revenue (reproductions, donations)

• Good PR within community

Broader goals

• Support needs of researchers (genealogists, academics, citizen historians)

• Uncover rare/unique/hidden materials

• Contribute to collective knowledge base

• Understand macro through the micro

Digitization challenges for smaller organizations

• Lots of other demands on staff/volunteer time

• Often “passion project” of single individual

• Schedules may be ad hoc or seasonal

• Learning new skills, especially metadata/cataloging

• Digital preservation

• Getting the word out beyond local community

A. J. Kingsbury Project

• Langlade County Historical Society (Antigo) scanned collection of glass negatives and postcards by local photographer A. J. Kingsbury

• Tribal Historic Preservation Officers from Lac du Flambeau, Menominee and Lac Vieux Desert (UP) identified people and locations

• Tribal Libraries, Archives and Museums (TLAM) class at UW-Madison SLIS is creating metadata

“Indian and His Bride” = Maggie Bearskin Skye and George St. Germain

Undergrad interns at local historical societies

• In partnership with Material Culture Program at UW-Madison

• Supported by CaxambasFoundation

• Students get hands-on experience in museum settings

• Organizations get jump start on digitization projects

Undergrad interns at local historical societies

• McFarland Historical Society: Norwegian-American artifacts

• Portage Historical Society: Architectural photographs

• Middleton Area Historical Society: Photographs and postcards

• Three Lakes Historical Society: Archives

InfoSoup Memory Project

• Coordinated by Outagamie Waupaca Library System; OWLS staff provide centralized training and collection hosting for member libraries Collections are hosted in CONTENTdm by OWLS

• Participants so far include Appleton, Clintonville, Door County, Hortonville, Kaukauna and Oconto Falls public libraries

• Content includes photographs, postcards, books and pamphlets

Milwaukee Area Technical College

• Glass negatives depicting early vocational classes

• In celebration of MATC’s 100th anniversary in 2012

wiscohisto.tumblr.com

New website: creative rationale

Dan Saal and Jeff Ganger:

• “Our assignment is to develop an engaging aggregator of curious collections, an exciting digital screen door through which people pass through on the way to discovering their Wisconsin heritage.”

• “We need to provide a space for exploration and education concerning the collections. In a way, the site will announce, ‘Here’s what I found, and here is how YOU can explore.’”

New website: key elements

• Generous interface (Mitchell Whitelaw, University of Canberra); not “what do you want” but “here’s what we have to offer”

• Three core functions:– Look

– Search

– Participate

• Search guides targeted at specific user groups and interest areas

• Spaces for community contributions

Website timeline

• NOW: refining framework, adding content

• AUGUST: Think Tank with Advisory Committee and visiting consultant

• SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER: Feedback from members, usability testing

• LATE FALL 2012: soft launch

STAY UPDATED• Twitter

@wiheritage

• Facebook

facebook.com/wisconsinheritage

• Tumblr

wiscohisto.tumblr.com

• Portal website

wisconsinheritage.orgTHANK YOU!

Emily Pfotenhauer

WHO Outreach Specialist

epfotenhauer@wils.wisc.edu