1.
Tom Caswell @tom4cam
Marion Jensen @marionjensen
Justin Ball @jbasdf
Dr. Joel Duffin @oxtralite
Rob Barton @robmba
@twhistory
Creating Collaborative Historical
Narratives with Social Media
Funded by the Talis Incubator
for Open Education

2.
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.

3.
The Big Idea
 Attending conference remotely
 Hundreds of people in the Twitter channel
 Idea: Real-time, virtual, historical
reenactments using Twitter

4.
Objectives
1. Experience history
from multiple
perspectives
2. Gain a sense for the
actual timing of events
3. Appreciate subjective
nature of historical
narratives

5.
When History goes viral
 Gettysburg reenactment
 High School teacher followed
 Used in Cold War History course
Boo-yah!

6.
Process
1. Establish community & communication

7.
Process
2. Research & write tweets

8.
Process
3. Combine all
characters
4. Check timing
& sequences
5. Schedule
tweets
6. Serve and
enjoy

9.
Recent Reenactments
 Gettysburg
 1847 Pioneer Trek
 Cuban Missile Crisis
 Tweet The Exodus
 Titanic concept piece

10.
Future Reenactment Ideas
 Lewis & Clark expedition
 Apollo Missions 40th anniversaries
 Titanic 100th anniversary

11.
Beta.twhistory.org Features
 Single-button Follow
 Character Management
 Timed Tweets
 Spreadsheet Upload

12.
Demo

13.
Future Directions
 Flexible rebroadcasting: compressible
timelines
 Use geolocation data to create
reenactment tweet maps
 Automate initial localization with Google
Translate (crowdsource it from there)

14.
Top 10 Things I Learned from
TwHistory
1. 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.

15.
Thank you
Tom Caswell @tom4cam
Marion Jensen @marionjensen
Justin Ball @jbasdf
Dr. Joel Duffin @oxtralite
Rob Barton @robmba
@twhistory
Please visit us at
http://beta.twhistory.org