History Hub is a community and crowdsourcing platform designed for cultural institutions and individuals interested in researching history. It connects users with 'citizen experts' to answer common research questions while increasing visibility for collections and promoting public knowledge. The platform is free to join and encourages collaboration and quicker access to information.

1. Dana Allen-Greil
@danamuses

2. Does your organization have
collections or information?

3. Do people ask you questions about
your collections or information?

4. Do you (or someone else on staff)
answer those questions?

5. Do these questions and answers
have any connection to history
(things that happened in the past)?

6. This platform is for you!

7. What is History Hub?
A community and a crowdsourcing platform for people
interested in researching history

8. < Relatable real world example >

9. How I get to
Netflix and
Pandora
How I conjure
“House Hunters International”
with my voice

10. But I don’t want two remotes

11. No one wants two remotes

12. How do I find out how to
consolidate to one remote?

13. How do I find out how to
consolidate to one remote?
“Research question”

15. “Researcher”

16. Um, no.

17. Um, no.

18. But, um, no.Okay, helpful.

19. The experts
on this research question
were not in my
Facebook network

20. There had to be a better way

23. 2 hours later: answer from citizen expert (who does not work for Comcast)

24. < / sad trombone >

25. But!
 I asked a specific research question
 I got an answer within hours
 People who are knowledgeable
(“citizen experts”) helped me
 The answer is now available to anyone
who Googles a similar research question

26. How might this model work for
cultural institutions?

27. This platform is for you!

28. History Hub is
powered by the same
platform as the Apple
Support Community
(Which I know none of
you have EVER used.)

30. Common Types of Questions
• People who aren’t sure how to start their
research
• People who have hit a dead end

32. Citizen expert

34. Insert your
logo here

37. Nerdy questions!

38. Network effects
Stop answering
the same question
over and over

39. We are looking for partners
to test the model

40. What’s in it for
your organization?

41. Connect with people
looking for answers that your
content and experts provide

42. Bring visibility
to lesser-known collections

43. Contribute to the public
knowledge base
(and stop answering questions
again and again)

44. Did I mention it is free for
anyone to participate?

45. Get people answers more
quickly (and more completely)
with help from other experts,
including the crowd.

46. Try it out and let us know how
we can make it work for you.

47. How to begin?
 Visit history.gov
 Create a user account
 Have us do a demo for your reference staff
 Post your Frequently Asked Questions
 Add logo next to your user accounts to indicate expertise
 Identify a community of interest or topic to cultivate

48. Existing
Communities
What would you like to see?

49. This platform is for you!

50. Let’s talk!
historyhub@nara.gov