Tom Caswell @tom4camMarion Jensen @marionjensen

Justin Ball @jbasdfDr. Joel Duffin @oxtralite

Rob Barton @robmba@twhistory

Creating Collaborative Historical Narratives with Social Media

Funded by the Talis Incubator for Open Education

What is Twitter?Free status update tool.What's happening? in 140 characters.Messages are called tweets.19% of American internet users are on

Twitter.

The Big IdeaAttending conference remotelyHundreds of people in the Twitter channelIdea: Real-time, virtual, historical

reenactments using Twitter

Objectives1. Experience history

from multiple perspectives

2. Gain a sense for the actual timing of events

3. Appreciate subjective nature of historical narratives

When History goes viralGettysburg reenactmentHigh School teacher followedUsed in Cold War History course

Boo-yah!

Process

1. Establish community & communication

Process2. Research & write tweets

Process3. Combine all

characters4. Check timing

& sequences5. Schedule

tweets6. Serve and

enjoy

Recent ReenactmentsGettysburg1847 Pioneer TrekCuban Missile CrisisTweet The ExodusTitanic concept piece

Future Reenactment IdeasLewis & Clark expeditionApollo Missions 40th anniversariesTitanic 100th anniversary

Beta.twhistory.org FeaturesSingle-button Follow Character ManagementTimed TweetsSpreadsheet Upload

Demo

Future DirectionsFlexible rebroadcasting: compressible

timelinesUse geolocation data to create

reenactment tweet mapsAutomate initial localization with Google

Translate (crowdsource it from there)

Top 10 Things I Learned from TwHistory1. There was a girl who really would stand at the bow of the Titanic

after her nightly escapades.2. Fort Bridger was just a couple small log cabins.3. No one really won the Battle of Gettysburg.4. Never leave the percussion cap on the hammer of your rifle.5. If you don't burn towns as you march through them, the ladies treat

you nicely.6. Don't tie up the president’ horse within rope's distance of a sinkhole.7. If you're considering deserting the army, be prepared to dig your own

grave and then be shot in it.8. Only 3 of the 4 smokestacks on the Titanic were real; the last one

was decoration.9. The best time to raid the enemy's camp is just when they're sitting

down to dinner.10. History can be fun and interesting.

Thank you

Tom Caswell @tom4camMarion Jensen @marionjensen

Justin Ball @jbasdfDr. Joel Duffin @oxtralite

Rob Barton @robmba@twhistory

Please visit us athttp://beta.twhistory.org