Sometimes History Rhymes

Tool Review: Storybird (https://storybird.com/) I reviewed the Storybird site to assess its usability, usefulness, and features.  Storybird offers art and reader inputs to inspire and help writers.  Artists can create accounts to submit work for use by the writers as inspiration and to populate their stories or books. Storybird plans a Promotion and Publishing feature for its popular users, and to help monetize their works. This seems like an interesting approach to create a creative community, but I am not sure if you need to sign up for art to get inspired (that could just be me).  Browsing the internet, a museum, or a gallery may have the same effect.  It also seems geared more towards children's books and poetry.  This site is interesting, but I don't think it fits my interests or goals.  That said, I do seem some users and communities that could benefit from this approach and collaborative support. Project Update No significant changes fr...

Crowd Sourced Projects       Technology now allows easy collaboration, reviews, inputs, and cooperation on crowd sourced projects and research.  Historians once had to identify and convince collaborators or partners to work on a project.  Appeals to the public or peers had to use phone, mail, conferences, etc..  Now, with a few clicks or a video camera, a historian can post a problem and ask peers, historians, or the public at large to help.        I am not aware of any Northern Virginia related crowd sourcing projects, but the Netflix series Making a Murderer and the Podcast Serial energized the public about unsolved crimes, or questionable investigations, trials, and convictions.  These have spawned many Podcasts that examine cases and ask local communities and listeners to contribute and help.  Some popular Podcasts are Up and Vanished , Truth and Justice , Breakdown , Undisclosed , and Actual I...

Source: Julie Carey, Twitter Stonewall Jackson statue defaced at Civil War battlefield in Virginia By Justin Wm. Moyer and Antonio Olivo By Justin Wm. Moyer and Antonio Olivo   October 4 at 2:20 PM https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/stonewall-jackson-statue-defaced-at-civil-war-battlefield-in-virginia/2017/10/04/21c343c0-a920-11e7-94ce-4f901ed36a82_story.html?utm_term=.204fa6e2f882 A Washington Post article reports that someone threw paint on the base, and spraypainted "Dead!" on the Stonewall Jackson statue at the Bull Run Battlefield. I photographed the statue last week during my research.  The statue itself is ridiculous because of its super-heroic depiction of Jackson (he looks like Superman on a horse), but its placement at the site is a fair and appropriate question for debate. This was the location that earned him his nickname "Stonewall," but he was a Confederate general fighting against the US Ar...

Project Status Update       I signed up for an ArcGIS trial account which allowed me to upload files and media.  I looked at a few examples and started playing with the tools/features.  I am still learning, but I have gotten more comfortable with the program.  Editing/controlling the uploaded media is difficult (ie: rotating or re-sizing a JPEG).       For research, I visited the Bull Run Battlefield National Park twice and took notes and pictures of the key terrain and locations.  Using several books and online references, I have sketched out a timeline of the battle which will direct my ArcGIS Cascade.      I am starting with a short overview of the Civil War's start, followed by the skirmishes that led to the battle.  I will then cover the fights on Matthews Hill, Henry Hill, Chinn Ridge, and then the Union withdrawal/retreat. I have the data I need, now I just need to build the briefi...

If you want to see more: https://www.pinterest.com/patmckinney82/battery-rodgers-alexandria-va-civil-war/    For my Pinterest Project, I found digital photos of Battery Rodgers, a Civil War gun battery in Alexandria, VA, 1863-1865.  The site no longer remains, but photos do exist from the era.  I never heard of this site, so I am interested to research more.  The site was named after CAPT Rodgers, US Navy, who was killed in an attack on Fort Wagner, South Carolina.  An earlier assault on Fort Wagner was depicted in the film Glory about the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Both photos, Battery Rodgers, Library of Congress

Northern Virginia Historical Archive      The Northern Virginia History Archive, a project to record the transformation of Northern Virginia, allows users to upload content and contribute to its collection.  I uploaded five pictures from my recent research at the Bull Run Battlefield.  The site is simple to use and search.  I had no issues uploading the pictures.  It was unclear how to tag the photo locations to the map, otherwise it was intuitive.  http://novahistory.ctevans.net/ Online Archive      The online Internet Archive, www.archive.org, is an exhaustive resource for free digital media that includes audio, music, video, books, and internet pages.  I have used the site for years for the free live music portion, but I explored the other areas for this class.  One highlight, The Wayback Machine, which catalogs historical views of web pages.  I researched a website that I discovered in high sc...