Washington State University Foundation representative checks out the FVM project

Brady Berkenmeier and I gave a FVM app demo today to Chrissy Shelton, special gifts officer from the Washington State University Foundation. She seemed to enjoy the experience a lot, remarking that she was particularly impressed with the interactivity, as the app was "asking me what I thought," the high-quality video reenactments (she recently had taken an audio-only tour at another site and found it rather, um, tedious), and the involvement of students, such as Berkenmeier, in the direct production of such digital media. Lots of positive feedback. Thanks, Chrissy!

ClarkCountyBlog covers the NEH grant news

Even while the details still are coming in from the National Endowment for the Humanities, local blogger Jeff Bunch and his ClarkCountyBlog already have jumped on this story and published a piece on the NEH Grant news for the FVM project. Very impressive timeliness, Jeff.  Not only a great chance for us to spread the word, also a clear example of how social media connections can lead to quick news items of community importance.

National Endowment for the Humanities $50,000 grant

More details will be coming on this soon, but I wanted to post it here first: The Fort Vancouver Mobile project recently was notified that it is one of the very few digital humanities projects in the country during this granting cycle to receive a Digital Start-Up Grant of $50,000.

More publicity for the FVM project

Brady Berkenmeier and I talked for several minutes about the FVM project on camera as part of a live stream at the WSU Vancouver Research Showcase, via VancouverArtsLive.com. At this point, it does not appear that the footage was captured for on-demand viewing, but if that changes, I'll post here.

R.A Long High School students prepping for a FVM demo

Joan Enders, a teacher-librarian at Robert A. Long High School in Longview, visited the fort this week and took a FVM demo in preparation for the bus loads of students coming to the national historic site in early May, many of whom want to give the FVM app a whirl. We still will be about six weeks away from the public launch, but the nearly completed Android version of the app provoked Enders to remark to her husband that they needed to upgrade to smartphones, and that she was really excited to get the students to have this experience. Now, we're just working out the logistical issues of getting the beta app in their hands.

More FVM in the news

Brady Berkenmeier continues to be a great ambassador for the Fort Vancouver Mobile project, through his direct work but also in his efforts to spread the word. Brady is the coda of today's Columbian story on the WSU Vancouver Research Showcase, which also features a photograph of FVM web developer Nick Hill in the background of the lead photograph.

First draft of Kane animation

As we talked as a group last month about the details and imagery of the Fort Vancouver Mobile module we wanted to produce on Paul Kane and his "wanderings" through the fort area, research assistant Brady Berkenmeier started to brainstorm how the story might look as an animation. That really caught the interest of everyone in the room, and Berkenmeier went to work. Here is his draft (sound is rough, and just for placement purposes):

 

What do you think of this as a production direction (we're not so much interested, at this point, in an artistic critique of the rough cut)?

Dr. Robert McCoy took a FVM tour recently

Dr. Robert McCoy, an associate professor of history at Washington State University, visited the Fort Vancouver Mobile display at the Research Showcase in Pullman last month and was interested to learn more. So he made a point of getting a FVM tour when he drove through Vancouver last week. McCoy, a public historian, specializes in memory and the creation of historical narratives. We had a great conversation about the project, and we plan to talk more in the coming months about potential collaboration possibilities.