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.