Thinking about the audience for your digital history project is an important step in any digital history project.
Few of us, especially in the nonprofit world, have the luxury of creating these types of online projects without a defined purpose: to educate, to motivate, or to engage a specific population. We might hope to create a resource for students and teachers on a specific topic, or aim to persuade people to come visit our sites in person. In other words, we want to accomplish something specific with our digital projects.
So how do we know if we’re succeeding?
Audiences for digital projects are just as important as those for public events. You don't want to be talking to an empty house.
Once a digital project has launched, how can you make sure that your selected audience has not only noticed you, but also is acting or learning or thinking in the way you hoped they would?
First, you need to confirm just who *is* using your site. You can use a tool like Google Analytics to track numbers of users, which pages are getting the most traffic, how long users stay on the site, and much more.
You probably also want to reach out to users directly to get their feedback. SurveyMonkey is a simple, free tool for creating online surveys. Or you could email a questionnaire to users (or people you hope are your users). If you have access to potential audience members at public programs or other in-person events, you could ask them to fill out paper surveys or interview them directly.
But be prepared: you might not like what you hear. Users might misconstrue your main theme, or be confused by your site structure, or hate your color scheme. Heck, you might learn that your desired audience isn’t even using the tool you’ve carefully chosen, adapted or crafted for them.
All is not lost! Sometimes, you can get your goals back on track with a little strategic marketing. You can’t expect your chosen audience to stumble upon your digital history project on their own. You need to publicize it in ways that will connect with your chosen audience: on list-servs, in social media, in newsletters or in the media, at public events, etc. Make sure your new project is getting the attention it deserves.
If you’ve already marketed the heck out of your digital project and you still aren’t connecting with the right audience, you may need to get more creative.
Why else might your chosen audience not be using your site? Do they need additional training, or enticements for using the digital resource? For example, if you’re hoping to connect with teachers, would it help to hold training workshops to give them the confidence to use your site in the classroom? Or perhaps a digital scavenger hunt or other online contest could help encourage your selected audience to explore the new digital resource?
Worst case, perhaps you need to tweak either your tool or your ideas about who is your audience. But you might just learn something that will help make your current and future digital projects successful.
Image: Pixomar / http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=905
The National Endowment for the Humanities announced today $21 million in grants for 215 humanities projects.
This funding will support a wide variety of projects, including research fellowships and awards for scholars, the preservation of humanities collections at smaller institutions, traveling exhibitions, and humanities initiatives at historically black colleges, institutions with high Hispanic enrollment, and tribal colleges and universities. Grants awarded today will also support training for museum and archive staff to preserve and enhance access to their collections, while NEH Challenge Grants provide support for long-term humanities activities. NEH announced awards in three special grant programs: Bridging Cultures Through Film, Bridging Cultures at Community Colleges, and Bridging Cultures Implementation Grants for Public Programs.
Mid-Atlantic Regional grant recipients:
Delaware: 2 awards, $595,000
University of Delaware, Preservation Education and Training, Project Director: Debra Norris. Project title: Graduate Education in the Conservation of Historic and Decorative Arts, Objects, Furniture, Textiles, & Photographs.
Winterthur, Winterthur Museum, Challenge Grant, Project Director: Lois Price. Project title: Endowing the Director of Conservation Position at Winterthur.
Washington D.C.: 9 awards, $1,242,439
Association of American Colleges and Universities, Bridging Cultures Community College RFP, Project Director: Caryn McTighe Musil. Project title: Difference, Community, and Democratic Thinking: and NEH Bridging Cultures Prjoect.
American University, Fellowships for University Teachers, Project Director: Richard Sha. Project title: Imagining the Imagination: Science and British Romanticism, 1750-1832.
George Washington University, Fellowships for University Teachers, Project Director: Gayle Wald. Project title: A History of “Soul”, the First Nationally Televised Program to Showcase the Black Power Movement.
Heritage Preservation, Preservation Education and Training, Project Director: Lori Foley. Project title: Alliance for Response: A National Program on Cultural Heritage and Disaster Management.
American Historical Association, Bridging Cultures Community College RFP, Project Director: Robert Townsend. Project title: American History, Atlantic and Pacific, An NEH Bridging Cultures Project.
Office of the Secretary, Office of Public Records, Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: Clarence Davis. Project title: Preservation Assessment and Purchase of Monitoring Equipment and Storage Materials to Preserve Archival Collections.
Foundation of American Institute for Conservation, Preservation Education and Training, Project Director: Eric Pourchot. Project title: Professional Development for Conservators: Providing Preservation and Access for the Humanities.
Unstaffed Independent Scholars, Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars: 1. Project Director: Jules Witcover. Project title: Evolution of the Vice Presidency in Politics and Governance. 2. Project Director: John Perpner. Project title: Political and Social Activism in African American Concert Dance: Eleo Pomare and the Black Arts Movement.
Maryland: 2 awards, $55,885
Bowie State University, Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: Katherine Hayes. Project title: Preservation Assessment of University’s Archives and Special Collections.
University of Maryland, College Park, Fellowships for University Teachers, Project Director: Robert Levine. Project Title: The Lives of Frederick Douglass.
New Jersey: 6 awards, $564,929
Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts, NEH on the Road, Project Director: Nancy Maguire. Project title: NEH on the Road: Wild Land.
Drew University, Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars, Project Director: Edward Baring. Project title: The Spread of Phenomenology in Europe During the 20th Century.
Community College Humanities Association, Bridging Cultures Community College RFP, Project Director: David Berry. Project title: Advancing the Humanities at Community Colleges: An NEH: Bridging Cultures Project.
NJ Institute of Technology, Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars, Project Director: Zeynep Celik. Project title: The History of 20th Century Controversies Over the Possession of Antiquities.
Princeton University, Fellowships for University Teachers, Project Director: Christian Wildberg. Project title: A New Text and Translation of the Hermetic Corpus, a Collection of Greek Theological and Philosophical Texts.
Montclair State University, Bridging Cultures Through Film, Project Director: Fawzia Afzal-Khan. Project title: Female Singers and Muslim Tradition in Pakistan from 1947 to the Present.
New York: 27 awards, $2,777,882
Albany Institute of History and Art, Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: Tammis Groft. Project title: Preservation Assessment for Archival Collections.
SUNY Research Foundation, Albany Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: Karen Brown. Project title: Digital Preservation Readiness Assessment to Preserve Special Collections and Archives.
Bard College, Challenge Grant, Project Director: Roger Berkowitz. Project title: Endow Junior Fellowships, Humanities Lecturer, and Humanities Programs of The Hannah Arendt Center at Bard College.
Western New York Public Broadcasting, Bridging Cultures Through Film, Project Director: David Rotterman. Project title: The Railway that Built a Nation.
CUNY Research Foundation, Queens College, Fellowships for University Teachers, Project Director: Karen Strassler. Project title: Media and Political Communication in Post-Suharto Indonesia.
Hastings Center, Challenge Grants, Project Director: Erik Parens. Project title: The Hastings Center Humanities Research Initiative.
Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars, Project Director: Anthony Cerulli. Project title: The Study of Gurukula: South Indian Traditional Medical Education and Its Classical Texts.
Columbia University, Fellowships for University Teachers, Project Director: Mary Pollard Murray. Project Title: The Prison as a Site of Literary Community and Writing in Early Modern England.
Barnard College, Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars, Project Director: Jonathan Rieder. Project title: A Reinterpretation of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”.
New York University, Preservation Education and Training, Project Director: Hannelore Roemich. Project Title: Conservation Training for Preservation and Access.
Mount Vernon Hotel Museum and Garden, Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: Mary Anne Caton. Project Title: Purchase of Environmental Monitoring Equipment to Preserve Collections of the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum.
AFS Intercultural Programs, Inc., Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: Carlos Porro. Project Title: Preservation Assessment and Storage Materials to Preserve Archival Collections.
Century Association Archives Foundation, Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: Russell Flinchum. Project Title: Staff Training and Environmental Monitoring Equipment to Preserve Archival Collections.
City College of New York, Awards for Faculty, 1. Project Director: Emily Greble. Project Title: Islam and the European Nation-State: Balkan Muslims between Mosque and State, 1908-1949. 2. Project Director: Gregory Downs Project Title: The Ends of the War: American Reconstruction and the Problems of Occupations.
Women Make Movies, Inc., Bridging Cultures Through Film, Project Director: Riva Freifeld. Project Title: Buffalo Bill and the Influence of the American West on European Culture.
Leo Baeck Institute, Inc., Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: Renate Evers. Project Title: Purchasing Preservation Materials to Preserve a Rare Book Collection.
New York University, Preservation Education and Training, Project Director: Howard Besser. Project Title: Graduate Education for Moving Image Specialists.
City Lore: NY Center for Urban Folk Culture, Bridging Cultures Implementation Grants, Project Director: Steven Zeitlin. Project Title: Poetic Voices of the Muslim World.
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: Roberta Elliott. Project Title: Preservation Storage Materials to Rehouse the Photographic Archive.
Teachers College, Columbia University, Challenge Grants, Project Director: Anand Marri. Project Title: History Education for All: A Proposal to Establish a Center for History Education at Teachers College at Columbia University.
Rochester Institute of Technology, Preservation Education and Training, Project Director: James Reilly. Project Title: Sustainable Preservation Practices for Managing Storage Environments.
University of Rochester, Fellowships for University Teachers, Project Director: Janet Berlo. Project Title: Fakes, Replicas, and Other Vexed Identities in Native American Art History.
John Jermain Memorial Library, Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: Jessica Frankel. Project Title: Preserving Collections Related to Early Rural Life on Long Island, New York.
Town of Southampton, Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: Sundy Schermeyer. Project Title: Develop Disaster Preparedness and Response Plan and Staff Training to Preserve Archives
Long Island Museum of American Art, History and Carriages, Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: William Ayres. Project Title: Purchase of Storage Furniture and Preservation Materials to Preserve Historic and Textile Collections.
Woodstock Artists Association, Inc., Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: Josephine Bloodgood. Project Title: Preservation Assessment to Preserve Art Collections.
Pennsylvania: 8 awards, $318,531
B.F. Jones Memorial Library, Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: Linda Helms. Project Title: Preservation Assessment to Preserve Archival Collection.
Franklin and Marshall College, Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars, Project Director: Bennett Helm. Project Title: Defining Moral Communities: Respect, Dignity, and the Reactive Attitudes.
Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, Humanities Initiatives: HBCUs, Project Director: Marilyn Button. Project Title: Lincoln University of Pennsylvania’s Global Heritage and Legacy.
Millersville University, Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars, Project Director: Tanya Kevorkian. Project Title: The Musical Experience in German Baroque Towns.
Chatham College, Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: Rachel Rohrbaugh. Project Title: Purchase Storage Furniture to Preserve the University’s Archives Collection.
University of Pittsburgh , Fellowships for University Teachers, Project Director: Ronald Zboray. Project Title: The Bullet in the Book: Uses of Print Media during the Civil War.
Swarthmore College, Preservation Assistance Grants, Project Director: Amy McColl. Project Title: Preservation and Disaster-Preparedness Assessment to Preserve the Library’s Special Collections.
Pennsylvania State University, Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars, Project Director: Gonzalo Rubio. Project Title: The Earliest Semitic Literature: Ebla and Early Dynastic Mesopotamia.
For project descriptions and for winners outside our region, please visit the NEH website.
(From neh.gov)
It may be a bit early for New Year’s resolutions, but it’s never a bad idea to build time into your professional life for learning new digital skills.
Fortunately, you have plenty of great options for building new digital humanities skills whether you’re looking for a semester-long class, a one-week seminar, a single lecture, or just a list of tips.
Before you get too far, look at local universities’ offerings for classes, professional development opportunities, lectures and events that may help fill in gaps in your knowledge or connect you with people who have the skills you seek.
You might also be interested in the classes offered at Digital Humanities Summer Institute, sponsored by the University of Victoria, Canada.
Next, check out what’s offered at upcoming conferences. Not surprisingly, many professional organizations host seminars or workshops in concert with regional or national meetings. See what’s offered by the National Council on Public History, Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations and American Association of Museums, among others, that focuses on new trends, new software and technology, and other useful professional development topics in the digital humanities.
Another great option is to seek out a THATCamp – the Technology and Humanities Camp. Created by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, THATCamps are collaborative, productive “unconferences” where participants shape the agenda based on their own needs and interests. If you don’t see an upcoming session that works for you, you can propose organizing your own.
You can also skim through archived notes from past THATcamps online at each camp’s web site, like the one from September’s THATCamp Philly (there’s a list of more past events here). Of course, THATCamps are not alone in posting session materials online after the fact. For instance, the organizers of the annual Museums and the Web conferences post a selection of past conference papers online here.
If one group’s programming is over your head technologically, don’t be discouraged. There are plenty of options out there. You may want to check out some of the events listed here: “Conferences for Digital Humanities, Digital Archives, Digital Libraries, and Digital Museums.”
Last but not least, you may want to take the initiative to teach yourself some new skills. With some creative online searching, can find any number of forums, wikis, list-servs, digital books, articles, and more to walk you through how to develop a strong digital exhibit, how to encode text, how to use social media, and much more.
