At the Board Meeting in Chattanooga we voted to proceed ahead with the member email project. Experiments conducted in June and July showed that the web-based system offered by Constant Contact was easy to use and met our needs quite well. You can sign up using the form on knightsia.org There will be a similar signup form at the main SIA web site by mid-November.
This is an opt-in, value-added program. You need to opt-in by signing up. It does not replace any of our current publications, but adds value through more timely information and supplemental materials.
It's still an experiment, so constructive comments are welcomed.
jay
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
It's the Society FOR not OF!
Grrr, I was cleaning up the Augean Stables, aka my office, and some equally cluttered computer files, and stumbled across not one but THREE different places where somebody I've had dealings with listed us as the "Society OF Industrial Archeology" Too late to correct them now, but I'll be more aggessive and careful to correct in the future.
It's all about branding...
jay
It's all about branding...
jay
Thursday, July 24, 2008
California Association of Museums Green Museums Initiative
My friends at the Computer History Museum pointed me at the page from CAM about their Green Museums Initiative. Many SIA members have associations with museums. As folks concerned about preserving our industrial past, we should also show concern about our future, and getting your favorite museum to be more green is a great project. I'm on the GreenStep team at CHM, and it's been very interesting to see the impact of even simple steps.
Go GREEN!
jay
Go GREEN!
jay
1956
There is an odd temporal coincidence that I hit while working on SIA 2008, but haven't written about. It's the year 1956 that ties together several different threads from SIA 2008. (No, don't bother calling Scully...)
In 1956, Fairchild Semiconductor was founded by former employees of Schockley Semiconductor who balked at William Schockley's management. (He called them "The Traitorous Eight", which stuck, they were amused...) A huge chunk of the semiconductor industry was founded by "Fairchildren", folks who had worked at Fairchild and went on to start their own companies. We drove by several of them, and stopped at the Intel museum.
In 1956 IBM shipped the first disk drive, invented by Rey Johnson and a team of researchers at 99 Notre Dame in San Jose. The Computer History Museum has one of these RAMAC disk drives in a restoration shop. Many of the SIA 2008 tours departed on paths close to 99 Notre Dame, and the site was a Treasure Hunt stop.
In 1956 Malcom McLean converted a WWII T2 Tanker into the first container ship. I don't know where that ship, recristened the IDEAL-X, was built, but T2's were built at Bay Area shipyards like the Kaiser complex in Richmond. Container ships now dominate shipping. Our visit to the Port of Oakland put folks right next to the Hanjin Lines container port.
If only I could find a 1956 connection for the Over the Hill tour!
jay
In 1956, Fairchild Semiconductor was founded by former employees of Schockley Semiconductor who balked at William Schockley's management. (He called them "The Traitorous Eight", which stuck, they were amused...) A huge chunk of the semiconductor industry was founded by "Fairchildren", folks who had worked at Fairchild and went on to start their own companies. We drove by several of them, and stopped at the Intel museum.
In 1956 IBM shipped the first disk drive, invented by Rey Johnson and a team of researchers at 99 Notre Dame in San Jose. The Computer History Museum has one of these RAMAC disk drives in a restoration shop. Many of the SIA 2008 tours departed on paths close to 99 Notre Dame, and the site was a Treasure Hunt stop.
In 1956 Malcom McLean converted a WWII T2 Tanker into the first container ship. I don't know where that ship, recristened the IDEAL-X, was built, but T2's were built at Bay Area shipyards like the Kaiser complex in Richmond. Container ships now dominate shipping. Our visit to the Port of Oakland put folks right next to the Hanjin Lines container port.
If only I could find a 1956 connection for the Over the Hill tour!
jay
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Adaptive Reuse in Istanbul - SantralIstanbul
I was chatting with Computer History Museum Registrar Allison Akbay, at her going away celebration about her recent trip to Istanbul (her husband is Turkish, so they visit there). She told me about an interesting adaptive reuse project for an early coal fired power plant that has been transformed into an energy museum. This is part of a much larger adaptive reuse project that includes the relocation of Bilgi University to the site. Dunno when I'll get to that part of the world, but if anybody is traveling there, sounds worth a stop. (She said it's "an adventure" to get there on public transit. The site is so new it doesn't show up on most maps.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silahtara%C4%9Fa_Power_Station
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SantralIstanbul
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silahtara%C4%9Fa_Power_Station
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SantralIstanbul
Monday, July 7, 2008
THAT'S How to Do IT!
SIA President Mary Habstritt gave me a pointer to the Save Brooklyn's Industrial Heritage web site. (Full disclosure, she had done some consulting to the sponsoring organization.)
This, IMHO, is what ANY serious industrial heritage preservation effort needs. A rich visual environment mixing current and historical images, an interactive map (as a map afficianado it's interesting that I don't recognize the vendor, it doesn't look like either Google or Yahoo!), and good historical detail. I'd argue that it needs some way for folks to join in, and help build a community. How 'bout creating a Flickr tag/group so folks could contribute their own images and ideas to this worthwhile effort? What other ways could they use to engage folks??
Compelling web sites are just another tool and don't replace more conventional forms of advocacy, but certainly can extend the reach of our passions for industrial heritage preservation. This is a good one to use for ideas about YOUR site (deliberately ambiguous...)!
jay
This, IMHO, is what ANY serious industrial heritage preservation effort needs. A rich visual environment mixing current and historical images, an interactive map (as a map afficianado it's interesting that I don't recognize the vendor, it doesn't look like either Google or Yahoo!), and good historical detail. I'd argue that it needs some way for folks to join in, and help build a community. How 'bout creating a Flickr tag/group so folks could contribute their own images and ideas to this worthwhile effort? What other ways could they use to engage folks??
Compelling web sites are just another tool and don't replace more conventional forms of advocacy, but certainly can extend the reach of our passions for industrial heritage preservation. This is a good one to use for ideas about YOUR site (deliberately ambiguous...)!
jay
Monday, June 30, 2008
Maps and Mashups
Shortly after Google launched Google Maps in 2005, the first mashup was created, an automatically generated map of apartments for rent listed on Craigslist. Since then, a huge variety of map based mashups have been created. Indeed, Yahoo! has an experimental tool that creates a map mashup from any site that has addresses!
For the first year or so, creating a mashup required some reasonably heavy duty web programming, not that hard, but certainly beyond the skills of most folks. The game changed when Google added the My Maps feature. Now all you had to do is put down a point, a "push pin" on a map, and add rich content to it. Subsequent users of the map could click on one of your "push pins" and get access to the content you'd created. It gets even better when you can point to images stored in photo sharing web sites like Flickr.
That site and most of the other major photo sharing sites also offer the option of geocoding your uploaded images, that is, you can tell folks where this picture was taken. My new mobile can do this automagically (as soon as I figure out the hopelessly obscure setting to do so...), so every pix is identified as to where I was when it was taken.
So, why am I blogging about "ancient" technology, gosh it's three years old!
Well, 'cause I think anyone who has a web site with some IA content should create interesting maps relating that content. At the very least, you should have a map that shows how to get to your museum or whatever. For things like SIA Chapters, making a map of "interesting" sites in your local area is really easy, and of great value to our outreach mission. A couple of thousand people have viewed the IA Sites In Northern California map linked off the Knight Chapter web site or the Historic Highway Bridges map derived from the Caltrans survey.
Ultimately, I'm interested in "location aware industrial heritage touring". There are MILLIONS of devices out there that know where they are, and can connect to the internet at very high speed. What if we had tools to create a guided tour with rich multimedia content that took you through an interesting neighborhood or wonderful industrial heritage site? We can do this NOW with a LOT of work, but we need to create tools and guidance to allow anybody to do it. Come along, contribute your ideas and gimme a hand!
jay
For the first year or so, creating a mashup required some reasonably heavy duty web programming, not that hard, but certainly beyond the skills of most folks. The game changed when Google added the My Maps feature. Now all you had to do is put down a point, a "push pin" on a map, and add rich content to it. Subsequent users of the map could click on one of your "push pins" and get access to the content you'd created. It gets even better when you can point to images stored in photo sharing web sites like Flickr.
That site and most of the other major photo sharing sites also offer the option of geocoding your uploaded images, that is, you can tell folks where this picture was taken. My new mobile can do this automagically (as soon as I figure out the hopelessly obscure setting to do so...), so every pix is identified as to where I was when it was taken.
So, why am I blogging about "ancient" technology, gosh it's three years old!
Well, 'cause I think anyone who has a web site with some IA content should create interesting maps relating that content. At the very least, you should have a map that shows how to get to your museum or whatever. For things like SIA Chapters, making a map of "interesting" sites in your local area is really easy, and of great value to our outreach mission. A couple of thousand people have viewed the IA Sites In Northern California map linked off the Knight Chapter web site or the Historic Highway Bridges map derived from the Caltrans survey.
Ultimately, I'm interested in "location aware industrial heritage touring". There are MILLIONS of devices out there that know where they are, and can connect to the internet at very high speed. What if we had tools to create a guided tour with rich multimedia content that took you through an interesting neighborhood or wonderful industrial heritage site? We can do this NOW with a LOT of work, but we need to create tools and guidance to allow anybody to do it. Come along, contribute your ideas and gimme a hand!
jay
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
SIAWiki - an Experimental Wiki
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Slides - What Can the SIA Do?
A chance meeting with Deborah Douglas, Curator, Science and Technology at the MIT Museum, brought some thoughts into sharper focus. We were chatting about preserving the heritage contained in slide collections. They are hard at work on the slides of "Doc" Edgerton, "the man who made time stand still" via the invention of numerous techniques for very high speed photography. She was pleased to hear that MTU has started on Robert Vogel's slides. Both projects are very ambitious, and are planning to have a significant web presence for the results.
Their efforts include very high resolution scans and reasonably complete documentation, pushing the costs per slide above $1 (it costs about $0.25 for a basic, commercial scan), and beyond. EXCELLENT, preserve these unique insights for future researchers who really need the best possible imagery!
As noted in an earlier post, I am hopeful about the collections of our most prominent members. I am far less hopeful (at the moment, keep reading) about the excellent collections of SIA members who may not have achieved international prominence, but have images with unique insights into particular industrial heritage sites.
My "elevator speech" "...and when one of our members passes away, the heirs look at the slides and say 'Gosh, it's just pictures of a junkyard, no need to save them' and a bit of our industrial heritage disappears."
What should the role of the SIA be in preserving this heritage? We're less than 40 years old, and don't have any permanent archival facilities. Still, can we be a catalyst/sponsor to spur preservation of these collections?
One of my all time favorite quotes is from Soul of the New Machine, where an exasperated project manager tells a team member "Not everything worth doing is worth doing well!" Even low resolution capture of historic images is better than losing them.
Again, as always, more questions than answers, stay tuned...
jay
Their efforts include very high resolution scans and reasonably complete documentation, pushing the costs per slide above $1 (it costs about $0.25 for a basic, commercial scan), and beyond. EXCELLENT, preserve these unique insights for future researchers who really need the best possible imagery!
As noted in an earlier post, I am hopeful about the collections of our most prominent members. I am far less hopeful (at the moment, keep reading) about the excellent collections of SIA members who may not have achieved international prominence, but have images with unique insights into particular industrial heritage sites.
My "elevator speech" "...and when one of our members passes away, the heirs look at the slides and say 'Gosh, it's just pictures of a junkyard, no need to save them' and a bit of our industrial heritage disappears."
What should the role of the SIA be in preserving this heritage? We're less than 40 years old, and don't have any permanent archival facilities. Still, can we be a catalyst/sponsor to spur preservation of these collections?
One of my all time favorite quotes is from Soul of the New Machine, where an exasperated project manager tells a team member "Not everything worth doing is worth doing well!" Even low resolution capture of historic images is better than losing them.
Again, as always, more questions than answers, stay tuned...
jay
11 Most Endangered Industrial Heritage Sites - Some thoughts
The National Trust for Historic Preservation publishes an annual list of the 11 most endangered historic places in the US. There have been a few industrial sites on the list in past years, but their net is pretty broad, and the industrial heritage sites we know and treasure might not make their prioritized lists. The list is a great thing, and benefits these sites immensely. Recognition by a national organization with excellent connections and influence has helped many of these sites in past lists to survive. The record isn't perfect, but even if not every site is preserved, it's a great thing that some are.
I wonder if the SIA (and perhaps allied organizations?) should undertake creation of a similar list? We are all WAY too familiar with seeing a significant industrial heritage site simply disappear with little or no public awareness or comment. By helping to identify significant sites that pass some level of SIA scrutiny, we, as an organization can help local groups preserve these sites.
Obviously, this needs LOTS more thought and work before even becoming a proposal. Right now, consider it to be just some more musings. But, isn't that what all blogs are...
jay
I wonder if the SIA (and perhaps allied organizations?) should undertake creation of a similar list? We are all WAY too familiar with seeing a significant industrial heritage site simply disappear with little or no public awareness or comment. By helping to identify significant sites that pass some level of SIA scrutiny, we, as an organization can help local groups preserve these sites.
Obviously, this needs LOTS more thought and work before even becoming a proposal. Right now, consider it to be just some more musings. But, isn't that what all blogs are...
jay
Monday, June 23, 2008
Location Aware IA Tours
iPhone 2.0 contains a GPSr (I'm a purist, it's a Global Positioning Satellite (r)eceiver), as does my much cheaper Samsung Blackjack, and millions of other devices. My Blackjack is a 3G device, capable of megabit/sec connection in most cities.
How can we take Cannery Life (an SIA 2008 Tour), the Google Street View of the area as part of Google Maps, external links to the History San Jose Cannery Life web site (the inspiration for the SIA 2008 tour) and turn it all into an engaging, captivating, informative look at a now gone aspect of San Jose's industrial history? Oh, and by the way, I don't have any money to spend on this. (blew it all on the data plan...)
As little as two years ago, this would be impossible to realize on a shoestring budget, now, hmmmm, anybody really know how to figure out where somebody is and pop the appropriate images, data etc?
How would we tell a visitor to the area that 10 min from her downtown SJ hotel is a cool, safe walk in an interesting area that even locals don't really know much about?
What about YOUR area? If we had simple directions on how to create this sort of thing, what would YOU like your visitors to see about the industrial heritage of where you life and work?
More questions than answers at this point, stay tuned...
jay
How can we take Cannery Life (an SIA 2008 Tour), the Google Street View of the area as part of Google Maps, external links to the History San Jose Cannery Life web site (the inspiration for the SIA 2008 tour) and turn it all into an engaging, captivating, informative look at a now gone aspect of San Jose's industrial history? Oh, and by the way, I don't have any money to spend on this. (blew it all on the data plan...)
As little as two years ago, this would be impossible to realize on a shoestring budget, now, hmmmm, anybody really know how to figure out where somebody is and pop the appropriate images, data etc?
How would we tell a visitor to the area that 10 min from her downtown SJ hotel is a cool, safe walk in an interesting area that even locals don't really know much about?
What about YOUR area? If we had simple directions on how to create this sort of thing, what would YOU like your visitors to see about the industrial heritage of where you life and work?
More questions than answers at this point, stay tuned...
jay
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Virtual Chapters
It's our tradition to have members of each of our Chapters stand and be recognized at the Annual General Meeting. After I had done that at SIA 2008, it struck me that quite a few SIA members are not members of a local Chapter. In many cases, there isn't a Chapter in the area.
That shouldn't prevent folks from doing some of the things Chapters do, like organize tours, publish newsletters, and advocate for industrial heritage preservation.
So, let's organize a "Virtual Chapter" that anybody, anywhere can join. I've put up some place holder items on the knightsia.org forum If this takes off, it's easy to set up a more sophisticated mechanism.
We usually create a name for our Chapters, most often a local figure relevant to IA. Any suggestions?
jay
That shouldn't prevent folks from doing some of the things Chapters do, like organize tours, publish newsletters, and advocate for industrial heritage preservation.
So, let's organize a "Virtual Chapter" that anybody, anywhere can join. I've put up some place holder items on the knightsia.org forum If this takes off, it's easy to set up a more sophisticated mechanism.
We usually create a name for our Chapters, most often a local figure relevant to IA. Any suggestions?
jay
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
My Goals for the SIA
First, thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve the Society as Vice President for the next two years. I hope that with your help, Mary Habstritt, the incoming Board and I can move the Society forward.
There are a several things on my agenda as Vice President. Some of these are “stretch goals”, things that are ambitious and might not be fully achieved in the next two years. An organization cannot achieve great things without reaching for things beyond the current grasp.
First, we must improve the technology we use to find, reach and stay in contact with our members, friends and allies. Although we will continue to reach members via standard mail, I’d like to see us move aggressively to use electronic means of communication to improve timeliness of communications and reduce costs. This is more than email, it includes RSS feeds, text messaging, and social networking. Anybody want to help build a copy of the Troy Gasholder in Second Life? How about a YouTube video on one of the sites YOU are passionate about? We also need to find ways of being discovered by new friends and allies. Improving our web presence and relevance is part of this, as is seeking new ways to engage the public in industrial heritage awareness and preservation. There are millions of geographically aware mobile devices out there, what can we do to point out industrial heritage sites as one gets near one of them?
We must find ways of reaching under-served demographic groups. We must broaden our geographic base, and actively seek out new potential members and allies in the ranks of students and young professionals, and in the immense cohort of the Baby Boom, now entering active retirement with resources, interests, and time to get involved in our activities. Coming up with new programs and events to entice, captivate and engage new members is a top priority for me.
I am also very excited about aligning our interests in industrial heritage preservation with the green movement. Existing industrial buildings in creative adaptive reuse are exceptionally green. It is particularly interesting to see how leading edge companies have achieved formal green certifications for buildings over 100 years old. We need to make sure our interests are in sync with the organizations, processes and people in the green movement, and to seek creative alliances with other organizations and people in the historic preservation community who share a green vision with us.
Finally, I was struck by the risk of losing vital parts of the documentation of our industrial heritage while working on SIA 2008. It was a delight to hear that Robert Vogel’s slide collection has been donated to Michigan Tech, and to see the initial steps being taken to make it available to the public. I spoke with other prominent SIA members who were taking similar steps. However, we have a rich legacy of imagery in the hands of individual members who, on their own, have collected slides etc. documenting our industrial heritage. I plan to propose programs in which the SIA can foster the preservation and greater dissemination of these collections. This is still an embryonic idea, and I’d welcome inputs, ideas, and discussion on it.
Thank you for your support. Let’s make something HAPPEN!
jay
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)