Hey girl, let's meet in Ottawa and get public

29 March 2013 – Cathy Stanton

digital media, digital history, media, education, profession, training, conference

You may have noticed by now that Public History Ryan Gosling has been reappearing in select locations. His handlers, Rachel Boyle and Anne Cullen, will be presenting a paper on last year’s PHRG phenomenon as part of a panel on “Connecting Communities” at the National Council on Public History meeting in Ottawa next month, and we’ve been very happy to have their help for some advance conference promotion. (You can get a preview of their presentation ideas here.)

PHRG won’t be the only live-tweeter at the conference, and this panel is just one of many (along with some special sessions and events) focusing on the digital dimensions of public history practice. Below is a round-up of what’s happening:

WEDNESDAY

• The conference will kick off with the return of THATCamp NCPH (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.–click here for more information). It’s a great chance to learn, brainstorm, share, build, and network (socially and electronically). And it only costs $25 for the full day!

• From 3-5 p.m., there will be a Working Group on developing online exhibits, “Exhibiting Local Enterprise.”

THURSDAY

• At 8:30 a.m., “Rethinking Place-Based Mobile Interpretation” and “WordPress as a Public History Platform”

• At 10:30 a.m., “Diverse Approaches to Divergent Audiences: Flash Exhibits, Eternal Divisions, and Engaging Millennials” and “Connecting Communities: Social Media and Public History Practice”

• At 1:30 a.m., “Going Public with Digital History” and “iCommunity: Digital Media, Family Heirlooms, and a Global Audience”

• At 3:30 a.m., there’s a roundtable on “Making Environmental History Public through Digital Technologies”

FRIDAY

• At 8:30 a.m., “Reaching the Public through the Web: The Practice of Digital Active History” and “Historical Podcasting and its Public”

• At 10:30 a.m., the Working Group “Teaching Digital History and New Media” will convene

• From 12:15-1:15 p.m., join us for the second brown-bag Lightning Talks session, where conference attendees spotlight their new projects in two-minute presentations. A great way to find out what’s happening in the digital public history world!

• At 1:30 p.m., “Television is not Radio with Pictures: Reimagining Scholarly Editing in a Digital Age” and “Engaging Younger Audiences through Video and Documentary Products”

Last year’s prototype Digital Drop-In session got rave reviews from participants who came for targeted answers to their digital project questions.

• From 5-6:45 p.m., concurrently with the Poster Session (which features lots of exciting digital history projects) and the Consultants’ Reception, you’ll be able to get some quick, smart, targeted advice from a panel of digitally knowledgeable public historians at the Digital Drop-In session.

SATURDAY

• At 10:30 a.m., there’s an open forum on “The Future of Publishing and Communication, from The Public Historian to Social Media.” Everyone is invited to join us for this follow-up to last year’s open forum.

• At 1:30 p.m., “Oral History in a Digital Age: The Ethical and Practical Challenges of Making Stories”

• At 3:30 p.m., “Introduction to 3D Technologies for the Public Historian”

And of course this blog (using the Annual Conference tag), our Facebook page, and our Twitter feed (using the hashtag #ncph2013) will be active throughout the conference as well. There will be wifi throughout the conference meeting spaces, and we’re looking forward to a lively set of digital and f2f conversations before, during, and after the meeting in Ottawa!

~ Cathy Stanton, NCPH Digital Media Editor