Making Collections Accessible

One goal of this conversation is to encourage regional institutions to make their collections as broadly accessible as possible. But, how can we encourage folks to do that who are still nervous about digitization and open accessibility? Here's one answer:

http://usingdata.typepad.com/usingdata/2009/03/web.html

Have you successfully made the case for accessibility? What worked for you?

Transforming Communities with Free Google Tools

Check out this article re: towns using Google tools to envision preservation projects. Any of you have success using Google tools in history projects? Know of local examples?

Interactive County Maps and Data

The Newberry Library just announced its online Atlas of Historical County Boundaries. A very cool free and interactive resource that includes "maps and text covering the historical boundaries, names, organization, and attachments of every county, extinct county, and unsuccessful county proposal from the creation of the first county through 31 December 2000." The Pennsylvania page is at http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/statepages/Pennsylvania.html.

"We've got a scanner, now what..."

I've bumped into a few small historical associations and museums recently who have decided to digitize their collections. In several cases, these "digitization projects" don't amount to more than buying a scanner, making scads of jpegs, and saving it all locally. How can a small history organization with limited funds do a better job of making collections accessible? Any suggestions for guides, resources, or etc. that I can point these folks to? Also, what are your favorite examples of small local history institutions doing big things with digital collections?

Welcome!

Hey everyone, thanks for visiting DHF. My hope is that we can use this space to begin talking about HOW to talk about doing digital history in Philadelphia. You can obviously do digital history anywhere, but since there are so many interesting projects percolating in our own backyard, makes sense to get to know one another and see if we can't all benefit from the exchange.

To get this thing rolling, I'm interested in articulating a set of goals and premises for DHF. See what I've posted (right column) and tweak at will. Let's find a comfortable set of shared goals and go from there...

Oh yeah, tell your friends to join in the conversation too. And if you'd like to be a "frequent contributor," let me know and I'll sign you up for admin privileges.

Best,
Seth

p.s. I'm not committed to Blogger either, so feel free to suggest alternative platforms.