National Council on Public History

LINDSEY WIECK, ST. MARY’S UNIVERSITY

Proposal Type

Roundtable

Seeking

• Seeking Additional Presenters
• Seeking Specific Expertise
• Seeking General Feedback and Interest

Related Topics

• Digital
• Public Engagement
• Social Media

Abstract

This panel seeks to highlight and discuss some of the different ways that public historians are using Twitter and other social media to facilitate interdisciplinary discussions related to public history. Topics of discussion include how we do what we do, why we do what we do, and what our dream social media conversations about public history would look like.

Description

Over the past several years, a vibrant community of #twitterstorians has emerged, bringing many opportunities for historians to discuss their practice and how our work relates to the contemporary events that surround us.

This panel seeks to highlight and discuss some of the different ways that public historians are using Twitter and other social media to facilitate interdisciplinary discussions related to public history. Topics of discussion include how we do what we do, why we do what we do, and what our dream social media conversations about public history would look like. We hope to include both those who are creating communities for discussing public history, as well as individuals who foster interdisciplinary conversations.

This proposal originated with Jessica Knapp, Lindsey Wieck, and Jenna Magnuski’s formation of @PubHistLearns this spring, as an attempt to produce a forum for interdisciplinary discussions of resources and media of interest to public historians.

Panelists would include Knapp, Wieck, and Magnuski of @PubHistLearns. We have also reached out to several other panelists including:
-Jason Herbert, founder of #hatm (Historians at the Movies)
-David McKenzie, fosters conversations that bring together graduate students, museum professionals, and university faculty about
-Glory Turnbull, St. Mary’s University graduate student, on using twitter as empowerment, both as a source of networking about public history and academia, but also to better find and articulate one’s identity.

We’d also love to reach out to include:
-An organization like the AASLH to discuss how they use social media to foster discussion and create community
-An Atlanta institution using social media to connect with the public and have conversations.

We would also live tweet this session to solicit engagement with the audience and those at home. Additionally, a live document on Google Drive could be crowdsourced to describe the various hashtags and scheduled chats that comprise the #twitterstorians community, allowing new users to engage quickly with the community at large as well as subgroups relevant to their work.

If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Lindsey Wieck, [email protected]

All feedback and offers of assistance should be submitted by July 1, 2019. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.

Discussion