I want to share some Web sites that do a remarkable job of sharing, and often engaging visitors with, cultural heritage and a sense of place. Please take a look and comment on the features that you find most effective in communicating a sense of place.
North Country Folklore
I discussed their Register of Very Special Places in an earlier post. Take a look at their many exhibits about place in the Aidrondacks region including “Good Food Served Right.”
Coeur d’Alene Native Names Project
Larry Cebula wrote about this project on his Northwest History blog. Omeka offers a similar capacity for geolocation.
My Brighton and Hove: a living history of Brighton and Hove
This beautifully designed site manages to convey both a sense of humor and a lot of local pride along with great details of the areas history and culture. Look at their feature encouraging ordinary folks to contribute to the site.
Virtually Dartmoor: Interactive Visits to the National Park
There are a growing number of sites integrating oral histories, shared stories, and local landscapes.
Memoryscape
Toby Butler has done something similar for everyday landscapes or “memoryscapes.” You can read an interview with Butler about these projects.
Citylore
New York City’s Citylore produced Place Matters several years ago and has recently updated the site that lets visitors nominate their favorite local attractions much like North Country’s Register of Very Special Places. Citylore is developing City of Memory a new site to share stories, images, and even digital stories of places in New York. These are more highly produced sites but Omeka will be able to share similar content linked to maps.
See previous posts for more about Omeka.
