What's this? A Post Without Pictures?

What Public History and Digital Media has meant to me...
by Jeff Stewart

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to summarize my thoughts regarding my first and only experience in a public history class. First of all, I had never really heard of public history prior to entering the history program at U.C.F., and had never given a moment’s thought to museums and how they were created. I have visited museums all of my life and have gone to educational web-sites ever since there have been educational web-sites and again, had never for a moment thought about what went into the development of those physical and virtual exhibits. Public History and Digital Media changed all of that for me.


While my career thus far has put me to work primarily in the hospitality industry, both in the hotel/lodging, and in the food and beverage aspects of that industry, I have never really enjoyed what I did for a living. What I did enjoy, was when I was able to design a new business, a new product line, a new service, etc.


When I decided to go back to graduate school and become a historian, I saw myself as giving up on all that I had done in my previous career and donning a tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbows. I would stride among the ivy covered buildings with a pipe in my mouth and little round glasses down on the tip of my nose; occasionally dispensing wisdom to wide-eyed undergrads who would eagerly eat up every word that came from my mouth. Then of course, I would periodically have to take off my tweed jacket, replace it with a leather one, grab my bull-whip and hat, and have to run off to some exotic location to take part in some dusty, spider-web covered, history oriented adventure. And of course, in the end I get the girl. This is the life of a historian, right?


So where am I going with all of this? Well, Public History and Digital Media has changed all of this for me. I now see the nebulous, fog shrouded outline of a new career for myself. I don’t know specifically what shape it will ultimately take, but I now see that I can meld the aspects of my former career that I enjoyed and was good at, with the study of history. I can find a way to teach history without walking around in a tweed jacket with little round glasses on the tip of my nose. I have nearly perfect eye-sight, so that never really made much sense anyway. And besides, I hate pipe smoking and am afraid of mouth cancer, so this new direction really should work out better for me in the long run.


While Public History and Digital Media has primarily dealt with, obviously, digital media, it seems to me that telling a historical narrative can take a thousand forms. I think that Dr. Walter’s digital re-creation of the 1964 World’s Fair is going to be fascinating. I also think that traditional museum displays can be brought up to date with new technologies and as such can be made far more interesting and informative. The ideas that we have discussed in this class can also be adapted to educational vehicles such as documentary films as well. The concept of the “virtuous circle” is one that I believe will be useful in whatever aspect(s) of narrative presentation that I will ultimately pursue as a career.


The “virtuous circle” it seems to me, has its roots firmly in the repetition of information notion that advertising/marketing professionals have practiced ever since there have been advertising/marketing professionals. It also uses aspects of communication research such as the Elaboration Likelihood Model or ELM that academics in that field have been investigating for the past twenty or so years. People remember information that they have seen over and over again. They are then persuaded by that information when they internally elaborate on that information and make it their own. The virtuous circle concept accomplishes both of these tasks. One stroll through a museum will result in very little information being retained, much less internalized. When the same information is seen, for example, on a web-site after the museum visit, then that information begins to find purchase in the mind of the museum visitor. They can then internally elaborate on that information, making it into their own, and enjoy their subsequent visits to the museum even more.


So in summary, what has this class meant to me? Well for one, I am not looking at the career of a historian in nearly the same way. I still have a hankering to write books, but I now want to do more. I want to design and build things; web-sites, museum exhibits, non-museum exhibits, and perhaps even make documentary films. I don’t really know specifically how I am going to do this yet, but every journey starts with that first step. Public History and Digital Media has given me that first step. We’ll just have to wait and see where that journey will eventually go.

Well, it ain't the Louvre, but...

While walking up to the Orange County Regional History Center, it is hard to not be impressed. The old courthouse that was converted into a museum has been beautifully restored and truly adds to the beauty of downtown Orlando. Not only is the building striking, but the grounds that the visitor walks through on the way to the main entrance are not only attractive but also a highly appropriate representation of central Florida. The fountain surrounded by cypress trees and bronze alligators creates an ambiance that is uniquely central Florida and this is to say nothing of the bronze Florida “cracker” wrestling an alligator.

As I walked through the large front doors and into the rather impressive atrium, I could not help but be a little excited about my museum visit. I gladly handed over my $9.00 (oh wait, I have a student ID, make that $7.00) and followed the cashiers advice by proceeding to the 4th floor to begin my tour.

When I arrived at the base of the “Grand Staircase”, which incidentally is pretty grand, I noticed what could be perceived as a Mercury space capsule next to the men’s room door. I wanted to conduct my visit in the manner recommended by the cashier, but could not resist investigating this oddity. The space capsule was a crudely fashioned fiberglass mock-up of a Mercury space vehicle. When I say “crudely fashioned”, I am being as generous as I can be. The reason that I know that it was supposed to be a Mercury capsule is the plaque labeling it as such. The plaque identified it as Freedom 7, the capsule that carried Alan Shepard on America’s first flight into space.

While I can only assume that the general shape and dimensions are the same as Freedom 7, but aside from that, it had very little in common with the real thing. Besides being placed next to a bathroom, the display (for lack of a better term) seemed to be designed as an interactive way to experience being in a Mercury capsule. There is a hole in the side allowing visitors to sit on a plywood bench in the spaceship. Once seated, the visitor can flip two or three toggle switches that do nothing, and stare at a piece of paper with instruments printed on it that I assume is supposed to represent an instrument panel.

Hoping that this mock-up was little more than an afterthought, I proceeded up the grand staircase (did I mention that it really is fairly grand) to the fourth floor to begin my visit. The first exhibit, “Discovering a Paradise” is a fairly immersive environment that shows the visitor a few artifacts and some displays representing pre-Columbian indigenous life. There is also a little bit about the geography and geology of Florida. Well, it’s not the Smithsonian, but it’s not too bad. They play some environmental sounds that help with the immersion, but I kept thinking that maybe some smells might help as well. Maybe the odor of a cypress swamp and a campfire smell when the visitor gets to the indigenous couple? There really is nothing in this exhibit that could be considered as interactive, but it is not a bad start to my visit. I like the outdoor sounds.

The next exhibit deals with life in Florida for both the Seminole Indians and the European settlers. Again, there is not much in the way of interactive activities, but the displays like the log cabin and the orange orchard were somewhat interesting and a decent way to display the artifacts that were dispersed throughout the exhibit.

Rather than continue this play by play of my museum visit, I think that I will point out some of my overall impressions of the OCRHC. First off all, there is virtually no interactive activities of any kind. Those few push buttons that start video screens or light up lights on a map should not be considered as interactive. The displays are well designed and built, but are for the most part pretty boring. Something as simple as adding odor to the more obvious places (orange orchard, cabin, swamp, etc.) would add an awful lot to the immersion aspect of these displays. One display attempts to replicate the inside of a train. The visitors have the ability to change the view out the windows of the train. This would be a perfect spot for video screens and other interactive technologies, but instead buttons just turn wood panels around to change the views.

Another problem I have with the OCRHC is its choice of material and its allocation of space. First of all, I roughly calculated the total space allocated to the exhibits and determined that about 28.7% of the total space in the building is exhibits. Another 4.2% of the space is taken up by a full size court room that offers little in the way of information about why it is there. The rest of the space in the building is public areas such as restrooms, hallways, a large meeting room, and areas that are off limits. Lest anyone think that I am exaggerating my figures here, I didn’t even include the first floor which has no exhibits except the “Mercury capsule”. If one were to add in the first floor, that percentage of space given to exhibits goes down even further.

The allocation of the small percentage of the building tasked to exhibit space is even divided up strangely. A large amount of space is used for a display about the Orlando Predators arena football team. From what I have heard, the league went out of business due to lack of interest on the part of paying customers. Why should so much space in an Orange County history museum be allocated to a failed business that had only a minimal impact on the people of Orange County. Disney on the other hand has had, shall we say, a more significant impact on the area but has virtually the same amount of space and pathetically few artifacts in its display.

I was impressed however with the live actors that the museum employs. One could view this as the ultimate in old school interactivity. The museum uses people dressed up as specific historical characters and talks to groups of school kids about their characters place in history. The group of kids that I watched, really seemed to enjoy the presentation and were highly engaged; frequently asking questions and making observations.

Well, as I stated in the title, the Orange County Regional History Center is not one of the worlds great museums. It might not even be one of Florida's great museums, however, the students that I saw visiting while on a field trip did seem to be enjoying their time there. They seemed to respond especially well to the in-charachter presenters. While it is easy for an adult to be critical of the history center, I suppose that the real intended audience will have the final say.

Wow, What a Way to Teach Math!

Especially when it comes to children, interactive games can be one of the most effective ways to educate. I recently discovered just how effective this could really be on a trip with my 9 year old nephew to Epcot Center. One of the first attractions that we visited that day was a fairly new addition to the park called the Sum of all Thrills. After our visit there, my nephew could not stop talking about it for the rest of the day.

While the Sum of All Thrills is not history related in any way, the approach it takes to education could be applied to virtually any field. It is set up specifically to teach math skills by allowing park visitors to first design, then build, and then ride on their own roller coaster. Of course, this could not be done in the real world but by employing an unusual assortment of technologies, the Disney Imagineers have managed to pull off the task in the virtual world.

To start with, the visitor sits through a short video that explains how math is crucial to roller coaster construction. They discuss topics such as inertia, g-forces, and potential energy and how these all interact in a successful roller coaster design. For example, if the roller coaster car does not have enough speed going into a loop, then it won’t be able to make it all the way over. If it has too much speed going into a turn, then uncomfortable g-forces will be experienced by the rider or worse yet, the car will fly off of the track.

The nascent coaster designer/builder/rider then goes to the design phase where he or she works on a Microsoft Surface type worksurface. The designer decides on how high to make the hills, how many loops to employ, how fast the car will be going, etc. They also have the opportunity to decide the overall theme of the ride; will it simulate a bob-sled ride, a traditional roller coaster, or a ride in a jet fighter.

The most exciting part of the ride comes next. There are two roller coaster style seats affixed to the end of an industrial robot arm. Each seat has a hood with a video screen that blocks out all visual cues except what is on the video screen. On each screen, there also is a small picture in picture that shows the face of the person in the other seat. Once the ride begins, it is difficult to differentiate the ride from an actual roller coaster ride, except that there is no real roller coaster anywhere that can do in the real world what this coaster does in the virtual world. Suffice it to say, this ride is a blast.

When the visitor first began the design process, they are given a small plastic card that is swiped through a card reader. This is how the system keeps track of each coaster design and which design to load into the machine when it comes time to ride. We named our coaster design the Subzero Torpedo, and when we swiped our cards in the simulator, the Subzero Torpedo was immediately loaded. The card also gives the rider a web-site to go at a later date. This site, mathmovesu.com, allows the designer to continue using the math principles learned to design and ride new and different roller coasters and learn other related math principles.

As I mentioned earlier, my nephew wanted to spend all day designing and riding roller coasters. He lost all interest in everything else at the park. Unfortunately for him, everyone else in our group wanted to do other things, so he was left with begging us to go back to Sum of All Thrills for the rest of the day. I can’t remember him every begging to take part in an educational activity like this before. I’d say that Disney and the attraction sponsor Raytheon have successfully married entertainment and education.

If I had any criticisms of the attraction, I would have to say that it would have been nice if the web-site had used the ID number on the card to show me the Subzero Torpedo on my home computer. This would allow the park visitor to show his or her friends what they had done and this would further expand the universe of people learning these math skills. I can’t help but think that it my drive a few more people to Epcot Center as well.

Images Images Everywhere!

Well, anyone who knows me can tell you that I am a huge airplane geek. I am particularly a fan of historical experimental aircraft, and as such am a frequent vistitor to the Dryden Flight Research Center photo archive. While the photos are only available as JPEG's, they are available for the downloading in a wide variety of resolutions some of which are quite large. Just for example, the vectored thrust XF-15 pictured here was available as large as 1600 x 1200. Some of the images are available in even larger formats.

What I also find convenient about the archive is the logical way that it has been designed. If you are looking for a particular aircraft, you just go to that model grouping (F-15 Eagle for the example above) and scroll through until you find the specific aircraft that you are searching for. Let's say for example that I need a picture of an X-15 (not to be confused with the F-15 in the above picture) perhaps with a pilot standing nearby. I just go to the X-15 section, and the archive gives me convenient sort of page flipping method of scrolling through the pictures until I find the one that suits my needs. This particular photo of an X-15 actually was available at a resolution of 5100 x 4000! I could put that on a billboard...

Another aspect that I find helpful is the amount of information that they provide with the photos. Just in case you are wondering who the silver suited gentleman standing in front of the X-15 is, the archive gives us the following info: Aircraft X-15, Number ECN-413, NASA research pilot Milt Thompson stands next to the X-15 #3 ship after a research flight. Milton 0. Thompson was a research pilot, Chief Engineer and Director of Research Projects during a long career at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. Thompson was hired as an engineer at the Flight Research Facility on March 19, 1956, when it was still under the auspices of NACA. He became a research pilot on May 25, 1958. Thompson was one of the 12 NASA, Air Force, and Navy pilots to fly the X-15 rocket-powered research aircraft between 1959 and 1968. He began flying X-15s on October 29, 1963. He flew the aircraft 14 times during the following two years, reaching a maximum speed of 3723 mph (Mach 5.42) and a peak altitude of 214,100 feet on separate flights. Thompson concluded his active flying career in 1968, becoming Director of Research Projects. In 1975 he was appointed Chief Engineer and retained the position until his death on August 8, 1993. The X-15 was a rocket-powered aircraft 50 ft long with a wingspan of 22 ft. It was a missile-shaped vehicle with an unusual wedge-shaped vertical tail, thin stubby wings, andunique side fairings that extended along the side of the fuselage. The X-15 weighed about 14,000 lb empty and approximately 34,000 lb at launch. The XLR-99 rocket engine, manufactured by Thiokol Chemical Corp., was pilot controlled and was capable of developing 57,000 lb of thrust. North American Aviation built three X-15 aircraft for the program.The X-15 research aircraft was developed to provide in-flight information and data on aerodynamics, structures, flight controls, and the physiological aspects of high-speed, high-altitude flight. A follow-on program used the aircraft as a testbed to carry various scientific experiments beyond the Earth's atmosphere on a repeated basis. For flight in the dense air of the usable atmosphere, the X-15 used conventional aerodynamic controls such as rudders on the vertical stabilizers to control yaw and movable horizontal stabilizers to control pitch when moving in synchronization or roll when moved differentially. For flight in the thin air outside of the appreciable Earth's atmosphere, the X-15 used a ballistic control system. Hydrogen peroxide thrust rockets located on the nose of the aircraft provided pitch and yaw control. Those on the wings provided roll control. Because of the large fuel consumption, the X-15 was air launched from a B-52 aircraft at 45,000 ft and a speed of about 500 mph. Depending on the mission, the rocket engine provided thrust for the first 80 to 120 sec of flight. The remainder of the normal 10 to 11 min. flight was powerless and ended with a 200-mph glide landing. Generally, one of two types of X-15 flight profiles was used; a high-altitude flight plan that called for the pilot to maintain a steep rate of climb, or a speed profile that called for the pilot to push over and maintain a level altitude. The X-15 was flown over a period of nearly 10 years -- June 1959 to Oct. 1968 -- and set the world's unofficial speed and altitude records of 4,520 mph (Mach 6.7) and 354,200 ft in a program to investigate all aspects of manned hypersonic flight. Information gained from the highly successful X-15 program contributed to the development of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo manned spaceflight programs, and also the Space Shuttle program. The X-15s made a total of 199 flights, and were manufactured by North American Aviation.

Now that is all of the information that I could ever need regarding a single photograph! I put the info into a very small font because I figured that very few people would actually want to read it. Just take my word for it, it is a very in depth explanation of what is in the photograph. It does not however, give any information about the photo itself such as; who took it, what sort of equipment were they using, or the camera settings such as f-stop, shutter speed, etc. I can't imagine how this could be important, but if the information was available, it would have been nice if they had included it. It would have also been nice if they provided raw uncompressed files such as .tif or .nef (Nikon) but since the resolutions available are so large, this is hardly a major concern.

All in all however, I am very impressed with this particular archive. It is easy to use, free, and doesn't require the user to go through any sort of registration in order to download and use the images. I will admit to being ignorant of the precise rules regarding use of these photos, but NASA does provide a page describing their privacy and usage policies. Quite frankly, I was too lazy to read it. I just wanted to look at all of the pretty pictures of some of my favorite X-Planes!

Digitalizing Historical Consciousness

I will be honest; I dislike authors who write like Claudio Fogu in Digitalizing Historical Consciousness. As Shakespeare once pointed out, brevity is the soul of wit, and in this essay, Fogu is anything but witty. To me, the purpose of writing is to communicate your ideas. In order for this to happen, the reader has to understand what you have written. Writers like Fogu seem to go far out of their way to insure just the opposite. Consider the following sentence; “Quite grand in scale and endowed with a system that reproduces and modulates the sound of Latin speech, as one is ‘driven’ around the Roman Forum, the digital Forum lacks systematic means to make a ‘rigorous and systematic distinction between proofs and probabilities,’ which (in theory) constitute the epistemological creed of microhistorians.” (Fogu, 114) I will be perfectly honest and say that I have no idea what the author is trying to say in this sentence.

However, I will try to discuss what I believe that the author is trying to say in this essay. I believe that Fogu is addressing the idea that historical simulation is different from historical representation in several key ways. When a person plays a video game, they are not reliving a perfect historical reenactment of a particular event. Take the JFK Reloaded game for example. Although I have not played the game myself, I can assume that there is some sort of learning curve associated with trying to shoot the President. It seems likely that the player generally gets better at it with each successive attempt. In fact, the player is getting better at playing the game and not necessarily better at doing what Oswald did so many years ago. A keyboard and mouse do not behave in the same way as a sniper rifle.

Oswald, on the other hand did not get successive attempts to improve his performance. Likewise, he was holding a sniper rifle and not a mouse or keypad. The video game in this case does not recreate the situation experienced by Oswald. It does however educate the player as to some of the variables that existed in Dallas the day Kennedy was shot. In the essay, Fogu discusses the attempt to perfectly simulate the sun-angle in the simulation of Rome on a given day. Fogu quite correctly points out that the light inside a Roman building on a certain day would have as much to do with the weather patterns [rain, cloud cover, etc.] as would the sun angle at a particular hour. I may be completely wrong about this, but I believe that Fogu is trying to say that in this way, historical simulations may mis-lead as much as they educate.

If that is what the author is saying [and I’m not completely sure that it is] then I agree. However, historical simulation does have its role. You may not be able to simulate the Roman Forum as it was at a particular moment, but you can give the visitor and idea of what is was like in general and leave it up to them to make the leap as to what it was like during a particular historical event. You cannot recreate exactly what Oswald dealt with as he assassinated the President, but you can further educate the visitor of the exhibit or player of the game on some of the intricacies of a specific historical event.

How Much Is Too Much?

Having watched “JFK Reloaded” several times now, I am particularly struck by the comments regarding the video. The passion and emotion surrounding this particular historical event are clearly very strong even though nearly a half a century has gone by since the assassination. The death of President Kennedy has not yet been relegated to the dust-bin of history and will likely remain a controversial topic for many more years.


What surprised me the most was that many of the commenters were primarily concerned with their particular score in the game. There were even congratulatory comments aimed at the game player’s particularly high score. A few of the comments focus on the graphic nature of the wound Kennedy suffers, and a few more saw the whole exercise as an attempt to exploit the death of a beloved (by some) public figure.

While all of this banter is interesting, I suppose that the most crucial question is, is this a tool of historical education or not? Is this game a proper way to educate the public about an especially gruesome event or just a puerile and grotesque way to emulate a vicious crime in a virtual and consequence free environment? The answer is yes…

It seems likely that games like this do allow some to live out their fantasies and commit a heinous act while at the same time forgoing any of the consequences that ordinarily would accompany such an act. At the same time however, the game players are themselves investigating the intricacies of the historical event in a way that many of them might never do in any other sort of medium. Sure they may be congratulating each other on the high score, but each and every one of them has in essence “lived” the murder of a President in a way that they never could or would in book, movie, or static museum display.

I disagree with those who criticize the gore of the game. The blood and gray matter were there in Dallas. They are part of the history of the event. To leave them out would be a disservice to the story. Sure, children under a certain age should be shielded from the ugliness of some historical events but that certainly holds true of any presentation.

The Kennedy assassination (John F.) still maintains a firm hold on many. Games like this are sure to stir up controversy as well as educate players on the facts of the event. I just wish that the assassination of President McKinley and other nearly forgotten historical events were as well presented and remembered.

Mea Culpa!!!

When I went back and looked at what we were to blog about, I discovered that I did not discuss what I was supposed to discuss. I was supposed to discuss the occurrences of interactivity in historical web-sites and how good or bad I find them to be. Quite frankly, I am not a fan of any sort of interactivity that I have seen thus far. Everything that I have seen comes off as somewhat frivolous entertainment that does not tell a historical story. Even the commercial sites that are not attempting to be historical do not seem terribly engaging.


I have been to the web-site for the TV show “The Office” and while they are clearly attempting to draw in fans on another level other than just watching the show, I fail to see what it accomplishes. For instance, the web-site for the show mimics the web-site of the company Dunder-Mifflin that is featured on the show. The URL is DunderMifflinInfinity.com. As for interactivity, they provide a running Twitter feed as well as some games based on the show, but it is hard for me to believe that anyone would become so engaged with this web-site that they would patronize the show any more than they all ready do. They might perhaps try to get their friends involved, but if the like the show, they are likely to try to get their friends to watch anyway.

One of the more imaginative aspects of Dunder-Mifflin Infinity is the feature where visitors and fans of the show can create their own branch office with other fans. While this is not much different than fan clubs of the past, it does create some amount of excitement for the TV show that might not have otherwise existed.

The cartoon South Park which airs on Comedy Central includes quite a bit of interactivity within their web-site. Visitors can download desktop wall-papers, screen savers and the like. They also include some rather rudementary games, but since rudementaryism (word?) is a fundemental part of the show, the simplicity and silliness of the games seem somehow appropriate. While none of these features are particularly groundbreaking, they do mirror the overall theme of the show rather well and could possibly generate additional excitement for the show in the downtime between airings.  

As for interactivity though, it seems to me best when the technology helps the visitor further understand whatever information is being presented. I can only imagine how interesting it would be to be able to virtually walk through the Titanic both before and after the iceberg. Perhaps in the virtual environment the exhibit visitor could watch the final moments above water and ride the ship to the bottom. It would be both exciting and educational. It would both draw people to the site as well as teach them something about the wreck itself. To be honest, I haven't really seen anything out there that accomplishes this.

Museum Assignment Selection

I suppose for my museum visit I will visit the Orange County Regional History Center. This is not only because it is convenient, but also because I've never been there before. Well, to be perfectly honest I have been to street parties and concerts by the front door of the History Center, but I have never been inside.

I am a little disappointed however that this upcoming exhibit will not be there until after this semester has ended. It is a traveling exhibit of movie clothes and costumes. It might turn out to be rather boring, but there is alway the chance, however remote, that they might let me wear the Bat-suit!

Why Warbird Restorers Should Not Design Their Own Websites

Well, for those of us who are passionate about old airplanes, there are few sites that get our blood boiling as much as seeing a once broken down C-47 take to the air once again. When you enter an aircraft of this vintage, you are overwhelmed with a dizzying array of sights, and smells. Old airplanes just have an aura about them that is not found anywhere else.

A first time visitor to the interior of one of these retired warriors experiences not only the surprisingly cramped confines, but also the smell of the cracked leather crew seats, oil and hydraulic fluid from the engines and landing gear, a faint odor of long extinguished electrical problems, and other various sensory perceptions. I can still remember the first time I stepped into a World War Two airplane (it was in fact a C-47 Gooney Bird like the one in the photo) I was most struck by the signs of wear surrounding each and every switch and knob on the instrument panel. Although I was not old enough to even drive a car, I could see by the amount of wear on each control, just how much time the pilots had spent adjusting that particular switch or knob. I could see that the throttle quadrant was rubbed bear of any markings of any kind. Likewise, the left side of the left control yoke was rubbed similarly bear. In my mind’s eye, I could see the pilot feverishly working the yoke in his left hand and the throttles in his right. I was instantly transported to a dark and stormy night, with two young pilots, leaning forward in their seats and squinting their eyes, straining to find an airfield that they hoped more than knew was there.

I was there. I was not only in an old airplane, but I was also in that airplane with an aircrew that was not sure if it was going to be safely on the ground when those two big radial engines stopped turning. I had my hand resting on the same bulkhead that they had grabbed a thousand times. I was standing on the same piece of floor where they had stood and wondered about how the flight was going to end.

While it is not the plane that I was standing in as a young kid, I am thrilled to see this particular Gooney Bird, Tico Belle, take flight once again. I am glad that some other kid will have a chance to experience the same sort of visceral reaction to her that I did to that other C-47 so many years ago. I am not however, thrilled with the web-site that I can only assume is set-up to draw people to come see this remarkable bit of aircraft restoration.

To my way of thinking, a web-site for a museum, art gallery, aircraft collection, etc. should stimulate as much interest in visiting the attraction as I felt that day in the airplane. That same sense of awe needs to be projected toward the visitor to the web-site. Ever since that day in that C-47, I can't get enough of airplane museums, collections, and air-shows. I didn't just see it once and say, "That was great, now I never have to do that again!" I believe that a history web-site of any kind should have the same effect. The visitor needs to have the same sense of wonderment that they experience in the physical location. They too will then want more. Like me, they will not only want to visit the location once, but many times.

The museum that restored the Tico Belle is the Valliant Air Command Warbird Museum in Titusville, FL. Please click on the link to view their web-site. What you will see is a white background with a hodge-podge of text and pictures that does nothing to entice the visitor to explore the site. The site gives the visitor little more than a map to the museum, a vague explanation of what is there, a list of the operating hours, and a plea for donations. There is nothing that grabs the visitor and lets them know what could be experienced at the museum and why these aircraft are significant.

While there does not seem to be any really good examples of what I would like to see in such a web-site, I am somewhat impressed with the web-site for The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Clearly, Moma has a much larger budget, but the flash imagery on their home page at least entices the visitor quickly with vivid colors and changing images. It seems more likely that the visitor will see something that catches their attention as those very artfully shot images are presented.

As for non-museum sites, both Nikon USA and Bing also use vivid imagery extraordinarily well to engage visitors. I have personally gone to Bing and completely forgotten why I went there in the first place. Instead of looking for whatever it was that I was looking for, I end up trying to find out exactly where that picture was taken. The large scale and well shot picture draws me in. The tiny pictures and blathering text at the Valiant Air Command site does not.  

 

Perhaps I was a little judgemental...

Alright, after reading several things about Second Life, including the Richard Urban paper, I can see a little more light at the end of the tunnel. While the fidelity of SL is in my opinion still too primative for true museum or gallery work, I can see that as the platform progresses, public history applications could become useful and appropriate. I have also read that Linden Research is attempting to dramatically segregate the more "adult" activity in SL from the rest of the "worlds." I suppose that it remains to be seen just how successful these efforts may ultimately be, but as it is now, it is difficult to get past the creepiness element in SL to enjoy its other features. Just as the World Wide Web was little more than a curiosity in its early days, SL may one day also evolve into a truly useful tool for the public historian.

I may not look good to you now, but you should see my avatar

I recently went on Second Life for the first time. Second Life I have found is a strange mix of both the old and the new. At first glimpse, it is both confusing and awe inspiring. The technology that allows the Second Lifers to create these fantasy worlds is impressive to say the least and that is to say nothing of the potential that this technology holds for the future. As for the present however, once the newness and sense of awe wears off, the visitor to these worlds quickly finds him or herself quickly descending into the worst and most banal that the internet has to offer.

To be fair, I am sure that there are filters to tailor ones visit to Second Life, but during my limited time with SL, my impression was that the vast majority of users were either looking for, offering, talking about, selling, buying, displaying, fantasizing about, preparing for, and often times, engaging in... a virtual version of sex. What occurred to me most profoundly was that if these users spent ten percent of the time that they have invested in SL actually interacting with real live people (without the internet, outside the home, face to face, etc.) most of them might actually find another person with which they could engage in whatever sort of intimate relationship that seems best to them. I guess this is my way of saying that as extraordinary as SL is, it must have taken unimaginable levels of effort on the part of its users to make it as impressive as it has become.

The technology that has gone into SL is amazing however. One can only imagine what the future holds for this platform. It is certainly easy to see some sort of conflation between SL and the various social networking and micro-blogging sites such as Facebook, and Twitter. If the technology ever progresses to the level where it is possible to photo and video-realistically recreate people and scenes from real life on SL, then this would certainly eclipse all of these other platforms. In this context, it is easy to imagine a coming together of real and second lives in a way that is both tantalizing and terrifying.

 

It seems as though I have a blog now...

Well, I never really considered myself a blogger, but here I am... I don't really know what to blog about, so here are a few thoughts about the book Electric Dreams, by Ted Friedman.

I think that the idea of a "utopian sphere" is interesting but maybe a little too Star Trekkie. I love the idea of a public space with the free exchange of ideas, but it seems that maybe the reason that the informational hierarchy that existed before the internet was that some bits of information were better or more useful than others. It is great that every garage band with a laptop can essentially publish themselves by using the internet, but this doesn't mean that their music is worth listening to. Likewise, every crackpot (including the author of this blog) on the planet can publish their every musing on a myriad of web-sites, but honestly, how much time do you spend listening to what every crazy person that you meet on the street has to say? Is there any more validity to posting something on the internet than there is to just walking up and down the street screaming non-sensical thoughts as loudly as your voice will allow? It seem clear to me that some sort of normative hierarchy will always find its way into any new type of public space.

I do agree with Friedman's overall argument (at least as so far as I understand it). In his final attack on the concept of technological determinism, Friedman correctly points out that technology is what a society or culture makes of it. The use or implementation of a particular technology is not deterministic but rather the result of how a culture embraces that innovation. Just ask Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway, what he thinks of this determinism. Before his invention was named, he and Steve Jobs routinely stated that the Segway (or Amber or It or whatever they were calling it at the time) was going to change the way cities were designed. In retrospect, that claim seems a tad overstated. It is still unusual and somewhat of a novelty to even see a Segway outside of Disney World, and that technology certainly has not changed the way people live in any meaningful way. Now if you will excuse me, I am going to publish my blog, set my Tivo with my cell phone, and Skype a friend who is vacationing on the moon.