OGDENSBURG — An ongoing project to use digital technology to highlight Ogdensburg’s history will be expanded with the help of a grant from the Northern New York Community Foundation.
The $4,500 allotment will be used by Ogdensburg Historian Julie Madlin to increase the number of locations to be affixed with special quick response codes. So-called QR codes are used to link a user with a smartphone to an external information source, often a video or podcast.
Ms. Madlin began a project in 2015 to raise awareness of Ogdensburg’s multiple historic sites by producing short history videos and linking those videos to specific locations through QR code.
Last week, city officials announced that Ms. Madlin’s project, called “Take a Walk Through History,” will be funded with a $4,500 grant from the Northern New York Community Foundation.
Since 1929 the foundation has raised, managed and administered an endowment and collection of funds to benefit communities, individuals and nonprofit organizations across Northern New York, according to the agency’s website.
In Ogdensburg, the recent allotment to the city historian to further her technology-driven project will enable Ms. Madlin to expand the walkable city history tours using technology platforms such as Thinglink and Moviemaker to create new short films, podcasts and interactive posters, according to city officials.
To date, 11 tour stops have been completed in the city. However, with the Northern New York Community Foundation grant, Ms. Madlin is expected to substantially expand that number, focusing on areas surrounding the city’s Library Park National Historic District. Later plans will involve focusing on art and culture and life along the Oswegatchie River.
Among those collaborating on the project will be the Ogdensburg Public Library, Friends of the Ogdensburg Public Library and the Frederic Remington Art Museum.
In an update to the City Council, Ms. Madlin presented an outline explaining how she will use the grant money. She said that as city historian she has taken an inventory of the projects that need to be completed.
“I have included a five-year plan for your perusal,” Ms. Madlin said. “Please note that my five-year plan does include multimedia projects, public lectures, short history films, oral history, walking tours with signage, podcasts and a French-Canadian Festival.”
In 2018, Ms. Madlin plans to create videos and podcasts of the former Masonic Lodge and the Silvester Gilbert House site. Other locations to be promoted through the technology include Bell Mansion, Bean Mansion and the G.S. Forwin Mansion.
Ms. Madlin said she will host an expanded walking tour of the city in the summer of 2019, as it relates to the project.
Ms. Madlin, a teacher at Heuvelton Central School, has previously promoted her historic QR system as being a great learning tool for educators, historical writers and the public.
The project was initially funded in 2015 with a $1,000 grant from the Sweetgrass Foundation in Canton.
For more information, contact Ms. Madlin at her blog, ogdensburghistory.blogspot.com. #ogdensburghistory
Comments
Post a Comment