#CanadaReads : Rebecca Loves her Paperbacks

So I'm preparing to move into my first home.  And with moving comes packing and with packing comes obligatory review of all objects in one's possession and after 6 years of canadiana, history-themed university studies I was shocked (okay, reminded) to rediscover books on Modern Latin America and Modern China among my collection.

No need to fear, Tim Cook, Arthur Lower and the symbols of Canada and its Canadian publishing houses dominate the shelf - and that's the way it will most likely always be, but what about these outliers?  What to do?  Admittedly the books on Modern China and Modern Latin America are quite heavy (especially the former) and I know I've barely cracked the spine of either.  If, after almost three years on this same bookshelf I have not cracked the spine of books that are very much outside my realm of study and interest, what should become of them?

Should they be offered to one's friends via Facebook or Twitter? Should they be forgotten and sent to the dumpster?  Although the answer I'm leaning toward is none of the above - I still don't quite know why I feel like the books need to accompany me on this next step of my journey called life.  I continue to acquire books like the sort by Tim Cook and Arthur Lower and all those maple leaf loving volumes - and at a rate that I cannot keep up with.  I have yet to read books received for birthdays and Christmases of old and I continue to ask for new additions to my bookshelf.

My relationship with reading has been a long one.  The first chapter book I remember reading on my own was one in the long series of Bobsey Twin books that my father bought for me from second hand book stores across Nova Scotia.  One night, as usual, Dad and I were reading on my parent's bed - one chapter a night (or two), and then he couldn't go on - it was the end of his day and so the book lay beside him - forgotten.  I was wide awake and keen to keep reading.  So instead of waiting for Dad to read out loud to me I took the book back to my bed and began what would be years of reading into the night.  When I told him the next morning he was, in my memory, quite upset and insisted on finishing the book himself as well to know what happened.  Until I was assigned an abridged version of Les Mis (en francais) in the 10th grade that's the last time I lay on my parent's bed reading a book out loud with my Dad.

I read so much - from mysteries (Bobsey Twins and Nancy Drew), to childish stories (the Sweet Valley High/Twins saga) and built up an impressive library of my own.  Today the fiction is in short supply and the non-fiction seems to rage and make an impression.  Packing up that last box of books this morning I realized how little of it I'd actually read.  Why do we collect books?  Why not just go to our local library?  There's something comforting about a bound book.  Not that this is the point but I really despise the idea of reading an entire book on a tablet.  I love being that person on the bus who whips out their paperback book and removes the tasselled book mark to the chagrin of those around her.

Once I've moved into my new place I have a few changes to make aside from some paint colour.  One of them is getting back into the habit of reading.  My bus ride will be a bit longer than it is now, giving me the perfect opportunity to always have a good book in my bag - no matter how heavy it is.  That said, I might leave the massive copy of Loyal She Remains - A History of Ontario at home for rainy days. I hope I'll be able to start enjoying reading again after 6 years of trying to enjoy the articles and texts assigned at school.  I've tried so hard to always love reading but one shouldn't.  One should enjoy it and try not to force one's self to read, simply to complete the task. Some days it's just too tempting to watch an episode of Sex and the City instead and if that's the case - that's what I'll do.

I know this has been a bit all over the place but so am I.  My books are divided amongst numerous boxes, my mugs are all either dirty or wrapped in newspaper and I don't even have a pen left on my desk.  In a few weeks I hope to be a bit more settled and ready to get back into the reading scheme of things - and I hope that will also influence the writing side of things - as my mother always told me - to become a better writer one must read.  In this day and age that doesn't necessary mean paper-bound books, but for me that's where I'm going to start again and see where it takes me.

Next week I'm taking my boxes to the east end, and my bookshelf will be re-organized.  Not by theme, not by topic and not by author.  It will be organized by read and unread.  And I will work through that unread section no matter how many new additions it receives over the next months and years.  And that, will never end.

Thoughts from Underhill

This past Friday I had the opportunity to present some of the ideas I ramble on about here in public, face to face with other history students and enthusiasts and even a CanStud or two in the crowd at the Underhill Graduate Colloquium at Carleton University. I called my presentation "The Historical Narrator on Twitter" and was slotted to present alongside a good friend and colleague who looks at hate on YouTube, specifically Holocaust denial within a session about the Digital Humanities.

My main points were the following and I will address them in a bit more detail below.

• I asked who some of the historical narrators on Twitter are
• I asked about their responsibilities
• I presented some of my own work as a case study, specifically my project about the #SpringhillBump which I completed in the fall of 2012.
• I turned to the topic of entertainment value vs. educational value which is the main topic for this blog and questioned whether or not it has to be one or the other
• I briefly talked about sharing the stage with other narrators and then before concluding I shared some best practices that I've been able to glean from my work and experience.

• I asked who some of the historical narrators on Twitter are
• My main point here is that there too many historical narrators on Twitter to count, keep track of etc.  So I based this part of my presentation on my own Twitter feed and users I follow.  So the usual culprits are organizations like Parks Canada, the Heritage Canada Foundation, Canada's History (a history magazine), the Historica-Dominion Institute and of course university centres like the Carleton Centre for Public History (run by the lady who I sat beside!)
• I also touched on individuals who are narrators of history on Twitter and in this case I feel as though a network is most important because this is how I have connected with them.  I follow several individuals who tweet about history or who tweet about their own lives, as historical figures who are present on Twitter do. (i.e. Sir John A Macdonald, Queen Victoria)
• I asked about their responsibilities
• I started at the top, what's the responsibility of a narrator? It's to orient the audience
• So how does a narrator do this on Twitter?  Through their profile description and twitter handle
• And what about within their tweets?  This is where hashtags and clues like #tdih (this day in history) come in really handy
• I presented some of my own work as a case study, specifically my project about the #SpringhillBump which I completed in the fall of 2012
• You can read about the event itself in one of my other blogging adventures http://springhillbump.blogspot.ca/ which was linked to a school project where I explored the role of the historical narrator on Twitter
• Within the case study I turned to the topic of entertainment value vs. educational value which is the main topic for this blog and questioned whether or not it has to be one or the other
• Example 1: The Ottawa Rough Riders and the Toronto Argos get incorporated into a tweet about a mining disaster in Nova Scotia.  It was all true but for whatever reason it didn't seem to generate any excitement
• Example 2: Will & Kate, I encourage you to read the blogpost both about Prince Phillip's visit to Nova Scotia during the disaster and Will & Kate's visit to Slave Lake Alberta in the wake of the fires that destroyed much of the town just months before the royal couple's visit to Canada in the summer of 2011
• I briefly talked about sharing the stage with other narrators and then before concluding I shared some best practices that I've been able to glean from my work and experience.
• In terms of best practices I presented the following as the top two: Use of profile description to orient the audience with regard to time period, objectives of project etc. AND the espousal of a constant voice and style of narration throughout the story being told
• I suggested and questioned other potential best practices such as the use of hashtags and @mentions, and the use of multimedia content

Overall, this experience to share my research and thoughts on the topic was really valuable and I encourage anyone who is similarly enthusiastic about a topic to do the same.  It's a great opportunity to put your ideas out there in a really supportive environment and to get feedback from people who are potentially a huge wealth of information and ideas for you.

Divergence: Assasin's Creed & History

Although my blog has been focusing on Twitter I’ve taken a moment here to switch media and talk about video games and history, or more appropriately, historically-themed video games like the ever popular Assasin’s Creed.  The Globe and Mail article on the topic got me going this morning and I’d like to address a few points that hit closer to home with my usual entertainment value vs. historical fact theme.  For your reference you can find the article here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/are-video-games-like-assassins-creed-rewriting-history/article9237302/?page=all

This article is an interesting addition to the others that have already been written on this video game and although I’m unsure as to what inspired this particular article to be published this week, the issue is nowhere near NEW.  The popularity of this particular video game, and its Canadian roots, are perhaps behind the recent media attention and I was drawn to it while perusing Tweets this fine Saturday morning instead of doing my course readings.

"But it has also tossed video games into the battle over how loyal entertainment has to be to history."

So are there rules? No.

Are there best practices? I'm sure there are.

Are there lessons learned?  Undoubtedly.

Do we care? It depends.

Not having studied much American history (shameful admittance) I have not been able to pick up on the sometimes subtle and sometimes obvious historical discrepancies within the game.  All of this said, sit me down in front of a WWII shooter and maybe I'll have something different to say about it.  These issues are not new; they're perhaps just newer to the video game industry.

"Common sense does suggest that we ought to care more about the pervasive effects of history mangling in video game: They are more popular (in sales), more anti-establishment, and played by millions of impressionable young people who could conceivably take fiction for fact."

The other day I was over at a friend’s house and was reading back issues of MacLean’s magazine (NERD ALERT).  I came across an article about the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary (article: http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/01/10/newtowns-pain/) and was surprised to find a reference to the popular (even in my house) video game, Call of Duty.  The message I got from the article was that because a child had played Call of Duty he understood how a gun worked and was able to escape the shooter while he was reloading his weapon.  I never thought I would ever be happy to know that a small child had played Call of Duty and taken something constructive from it (other than the message that war is bad).

But in this case we’re talking about history and video games are just one of the many media through which we all absorb information, be it right or wrong.  Just because I’m a university-educated person doesn’t mean I automatically know what is right or wrong in a historical movie, book or video game.  So this something we have to be aware of, but to what extent can we blame a privatized industry for what a public (education) industry isn’t teaching kids?

"There were many arguments along the way.  The game-play designers wanted rain gutters, so Connor could climb them.  Mr. Durand pointed out that rain gutters did not exist at the time.  His strict attention to detail paid off.  The game's version of Boston's State House is so painstaking that State House archivists have asked to use Ubisoft's documents in restoring the building."

This is pretty cool, especially with my experience in Heritage Conservation and knowing the amount of research necessary to develop plans for respectful restoration work.  And presumably in this case, the historian got his way and there are no rain gutters.  That said, I’ve watched Connor jump and climb around Boston and he is no way, shape or form in need of rain gutters.  He’s kind of Spiderman-like which just makes things that much cooler.

"The game's compelling, it's immersive, even when the history is, shall we say, sloppy.  It's a compelling way of connecting with the past and de-connecting with one's daily concerns.  We shouldn't hold video games to a higher standard than other forms of entertainment."

AGREED.  It’s a game, that’s it.  Could it be used as a teaching tool?  Sure.  Could Gone with the Wind be used as a teaching tool?  Saving Private Ryan? Titanic? You name the historical film and I assure you there is a teacher out there who has used the film in some way or another to teach or show perceptions and interpretations of history.

And in the end, isn’t that what it’s all about?  Museums, cultural institutions, the film industry, novels, it’s all about interpretation and showing the side of the story that helps along the fluff, right?  We all need to be comfortable choosing how much we’re willing to go ‘along with’ a story for the sake of the story, and that’s something that’s personal.  Flagrant disregard for historical fact is one thing, minor alterations is another.  Where does Assasin’s Creed fit?  Not sure, but I don’t feel comfortable making that judgment based on my own historical knowledge and limited time (compared to my husband) with the game.

That said, New England is beautiful in the 1700s (and yes, I just googled American Revolution to make sure I had the right century).

Shark Week & the Biebs?

What do history, Justin Beiber and Shark Week have in common?

They may seem completely unrelated, but linking something that can seen as mundane (like history) with something exciting (to some people) like Justin Beiber or Shark Week (a week of shark themed television) is just one way to engage with a new audience that may have never been exposed to your tweets before now.

Of course Justin Beiber and Shark Week are just two examples and there are lots of people, places and events that you can link historical content to in order to expand your horizons in terms of audience engagement and relationship building on social media like Twitter.

How, do you ask, do I link Shark Week to Canadian history?  Well, google is a great place to start.  Searching “Sharks Canadian History” on Google this morning I got some interesting results that give me a really great jumping off point: the Canadian Museum of Nature, a website on Marine Biodiversity and the Canadian encyclopedia.

Growing up in Nova Scotia and often going swimming in the cool waters off our gorgeous coastline I always asked my parents, “Are there sharks?” to which they would respond, no.  So when I was prompted to find some links between sharks (to tune in with Shark Week) and Canadian historic places I thought – gee – this isn’t going to go well.

Well surprise, surprise – Great White Sharks are spotted and/or captured every 2 – 3 years around Nova Scotia, PEI etc.  One of the places they’re known to frequent is the iconic Bay of Fundy.  So I went out on a limb and searched ‘Bay of Fundy’ in the ever so trusty historicplaces.ca database and came back with a few results including this historic lighthouse http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=11808&pid=8893&h=Bay,Fundy.

So maybe we could craft a tweet like this: “Shark spotting is rare in the Bay of Fundy but if you climb this historic tower you might have a better view http://ow.ly/hzjoO #SharkWeek”

The hashtag, discussed in a previous post, is key here because the audience range will be greatly expanded by its inclusion and will even potentially generate retweets and mentions that will even further expand the audience.

The key is in choosing what events, people and trends to link your product to.  Do you think it will be beneficial for you to link your product to Justin Beiber?  There’s most definitely a need to strike a balance between appealing to a new audience and continuing to engage the one you already have.  There must be a mix and this is where analytics and stats can really help.

Sending out tweets at a usual time of day (say 9am or 10am) might be more often viewed by an older demographic whereas tweets later in the day or at lunchtime might work better for a younger crowd.  It all depends on what kind of message you want to send and who you want it to get across to.

Giving people a usual time of day at which to check and see what you’ve tweeted is nice – and if you want to add additional tweets throughout the day tell your audience when and why.  Special events, tweet chats, etc. are ways to engage your usual audience and draw in new followers.

So really, I’m not sure if #SharkWeek and Justin Beiber have anything in common except for trending on Twitter once in a while – but they can both help cultural and historical organizations share their message beyond traditional audience members and reach that much further into the Twitterverse.

Trending Now: #CDNHistory?

Trends.  It’s what’s going on.  It’s what’s in the news – or really – what’s happening on Twitter.  It might be a phrase that seems completely normal or a place name like NYC that you’ll recognize right away.  Or it might be something like #HarmonizersAreEpic.  If anyone can shed light on this for me it would be greatly appreciated.

It is one thing to tweet using a trending hashtag like, for example, #NYC.  It is another to try and anticipate hashtags that may trend in the near future and therefore potentially increase the popularity and visibility of your tweet and ultimately your message.

Here are some examples, and in looking at these tweets that use hashtags, we can evaluate the measurable response and talk about how hashtags help but can also hinder.  And of course, we’ll do all of this while analyzing tweets about history because we all know that we all love the #canucks or the #habs but what about #builtheritage and #cdnarchitecture?

I began this quest by searching #cdnhistory on Twitter.  I made sure to open my search parameters by selecting ‘All Tweets’ and found 14 tweets that used the hashtag in the past 24 hours.  Here’s a pretty screenshot!

Quick analysis: 14 tweets, 7 users, 13 original messages, 1 RT (retweet)

Of the 13 original tweets (by 6 users) I found the following:

Tweet	User	Engagement
Regina's oldest family-owned business to close after 107 years in the decorating biz. http://bit.ly/VMySUe  #yqr #cdnhistory	@MatthewCruchak	None
Canada: A History of Resistance?http://hendersonsjr.blogspot.com/2013/01/canada-history-of-resistance.html … #sjrcanhis#cdnhistory Please blog with our students.	@Henderson204	None
Jan. 17, 1961: @JGDiefenbaker signs Columbia River Treaty with President Dwight D. Eisenhower. #cdnhistory	@theMapleTap	1 RT
@theMapleTap you are making a habit of cutting and pasting our copyrighted CanadaTimeline content; please cease and desist. #cdnhistory	@canadatimeline	None
Happy Birthday Jim Carrey, actor, comedian, born OTD in#canadianhistory in 1962: http://bit.ly/S8bI9Z  #cdnhistory	@canadabirthdays	None
Happy Birthday Jacques Plante, winner of 5 straight Vezina Trophies, born OTD in #canadianhistory in 1929: http://bit.ly/XcBu9B #cdnhistory	@canadabirthdays	None
Happy Birthday Mack Sennett, Keystone Kops kreator, King of Comedy, born OTD in #canadianhistory in 1884: http://bit.ly/XcAG4F #cdnhistory	@canadabirthdays	1 RT
OTD in #canadianhistory: 1979 - Edward Schreyer installed as 22nd Governor General, replacing Jules Léger: http://bit.ly/XcA9Q4  #cdnhistory	@canadatimeline	None
OTD in #canadianhistory: 1957 - Royal Canadian Navy commissions HMCS Bonaventure: http://bit.ly/XcyOsC  #cdnhistory	@canadatimeline	2 RTs
OTD in #cdnhistory: 1839 - Sir John Colborne appointed Governor of British North America: http://bit.ly/XczDSh	@canadatimeline	None
Today's Canadian Birthdays - January 17: http://bit.ly/S88RxM  -#cdnhistory #canadianhistory #cdnbiography	@canadabirthdays	None
This Day in Canadian History - January 17:http://bit.ly/XcyOsC  - #cdnhistory #cdnpoli#histoireducanada #canadianhistory	@canadatimeline	None
#IdleNoMore and the Lessons of History: http://rabble.ca/news/2013/01/idle-no-more-context-history …. #cdnpoli #cdnhistory @ActiveHist	@SeanCarleton	4 RTs, 1 Fave

Some observations.  The feed is dominated by two users: @canadatimeline and @canadabirthdays.  Interestingly enough, it is neither of these two users who ultimately garners the most attention, but it is @SeanCarleton who links his post about the #IdleNoMore movement to #cdnhistory.  So if I were relatively new to Twitter and I wanted to search for users who tweeted about Canadian history, and presuming I knew enough to search with ‘#cdnhistory’ I would have come across these tweets.

They are tweets about Canadian history but they vary widely in interest, to the wider Twitter world and to myself and they get me thinking – if I wanted the ‘world’ to know about some of the birthdays or facts presented above, how would I do it?  What kinds of hashtags might I use?

Example: @canadianbirthdays: Happy Birthday Jim Carrey, actor, comedian, born OTD in#canadianhistory in 1962: http://bit.ly/S8bI9Z  #cdnhistory

This is a great example because it’s a tweet about a Canadian actor/comedian, essentially a celebrity.  This means it should be able to garner more attention than 0 retweets and 0 favourites.  Overall this depends on the end goal of @canadianbirthdays.  If the goal is to simply tell users that, hey, today is Jim Carrey’s birthday – then they’ve succeeded.  If other users want to take advantage of Jim Carrey’s celebrity status and promote another aspect of Canadian History, they can do so, effectively taking things one step further.

Some quick facts about Jim Carrey before even leaving the Google Search Results page.

(Some of his) Movies: Bruce Almighty, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Truman Show, Yes Man and of course, the iconic, Dumb and Dumber

Quick Facts: Born January 17^th, 1962 in Newmarket, Ontario.  He lived in and around Toronto during his early life.

Based on these facts there are few different routes one could go to link one’s content to this celeb’s birthday.  The fact that he shares a birthday with current First Lady Michelle Obama makes it clear that perhaps a link with her could probably propel one’s tweet a bit further, but for now we’re focusing on #cdnhistory and for now she’s probably better linked to #ushistory.

1.     Links could be made with other historical events on January 17^th, 1962 (or other years).

2.     Links could be made with historic places (designated) in Newmarket, or other towns around Toronto where Carrey and his family lived in the 1960s and 1970s.

3.     Links could be made with the history of comedy in Canada.

4.     Links could be made with the history of film in Canada.

5.     If one was willing to dig a bit deeper, they may find information that would help them make a stronger link between Carrey and a historic person, place or event.

This only relates to hashtags if you can then use a hashtag, whether it’s already established or not, to promote your tweet.  Place names, dates, names of people etc. could be helpful but it depends on the coverage you want to get and ultimately the interest that the users show!

Next time: What do history, Justin Beiber and Shark Week have in common?