Are QR Codes the historical markers of the future and has the future already arrived?

My proposal involves the creation and use of QR Codes to enable visitors at an historical site or museum to easily access an on-line historical resource, such as a related blog post, a Wikipedia article, or a smartphone app that enables users to explore additional digital content.

This QR Code (generated by the RedLaser Classic app) will link your mobile device to Lower Scioto Blog and my recent post on Picnic Point, a scenic overlook in Ohio's Shawnee State Forest.

I imagine that this session could fall under the genre of a “general discussion.” First off, let me say, I only yesterday figured out how to create QR codes on my iPhone (see the code on the left) and besides an NPR story about the use of QR codes on headstones for on-line memorials, I’ve not heard or read about how QR codes are being used in public history projects.  I’m just interested in learning more and thinking creatively about what uses QR codes can be put to in the practice of digital history.

To illustrate a possible use, imagine that you are in an art gallery, which is exhibiting documentary images of local points of interest in your community.  Next to one set of images, affixed to the wall, is a QR code directing any interested party who happens to have a smartphone to a historical blog or some other digital resource about the documented historical site.  Imagine physically imbedding QR codes on signs at historical sites.  Imagine QR codes as modern-day historical markers.

Perhaps a general discussion of the possible uses of QR code and GPS mapping technology in the marking of historical sites could be the topic of general discussion?

I think the proliferation and acceptance of digital publication is the defining issue of higher education right now. We all know that libraries are cutting down on paper journals and paper books, and we also know that electronic books and journals are gaining acceptance. And yet, there is surprisingly little dialogue amongst most members of the academy about what this will mean. I would like to promote that dialogue, with an open discussion about the future of digital publications in the humanities. Some possible questions to get us started:

How can academic journals succeed using digital content? What are the financial implications of digital journals for institutions and libraries? How can we as producers and consumers of these journals guide the transition in ways that work best for our discipline?

What standards should be established for interactive books and journals to assure that reading does not turn into casual browsing/watching?

Are digital textbooks a better value for students? Or, is this format being pushed as an attempt to eliminate the used book market?

What are the challenges to maintaining high academic standards in a digital world?

My idea is for an open discussion, with each participant proposing a question that we discuss for a few minutes before moving on to the next question.

Best,

David Trowbridge

This idea came to me when I was working with City Lore’s (New York) Place Matters project. Can we re-imagine our cities through interactive and shared stories? And how could “ways of seeing” and “ways of employment” of these stories contribute to new ways of reading, understanding and valuing our built environment?

Recounting stories of everyday places where we live and work can spur active engagement with others who share these spaces with us, revive interest in our built environment and encourage stewardship of our patrimony. The need for collaborative storytelling to create a public culture takes on a sense of urgency when established traditions and ways of life disappear and new ones emerge. This is true for many US cities where old demographics and culture have given way to new inhabitants, economic practices and cultural life. Merely telling stories is not enough in these cases – rather citizens should be inspired to participate and contribute in a collective retelling of stories thereby producing a public discourse that is invested and engaged.

Such a project is truly interdisciplinary and collaborative because it allows us to expand horizontally using a website as a portal to experiment with multiple forms of place-storytelling. It involves multiple modalities of dissemination – local residents uploading their stories, scholarly searches, stories curated by specialists, media and multimedia stories.

I will bring in multiple examples of similar projects done is different cities. It seems like scholars have already WRITTEN such place stories. I am more interested in discussing alternative (to brochures, monographs and book) visual and digital forms of dissemination that may actually be more democratic and may reach more diverse audiences than the traditional University Press scholarly books.

At last year’s NCPH in Pensacola, some of the standout panels were on museum collecting and collections.  It’s surprisingly unusual for colleagues from history organizations to have a chance to come together and talk about the practical and philosophical issues we run into every day of working with objects.

I therefore propose a session for an unstructured discussion on museum collections.  Some issues we might address:  dealing with donors, provenance issues, found in collections items, collecting strange/controversial/unwieldy things.