I’m thrilled today to introduce a project that combines my biggest interests--oral storytelling and cultural heritage outreach. It’s appropriately called Tell History.

And it was developed by Alex Whitcomb and Sarah Hayes. They’re crowdsourcing video-based memories that they tie to themes, timelines and maps. We all have a friend or relative who has a fascinating story to tell. TellHistory.com can help you help them to share that story in historical context. It’s also an inspiring story about how you can take your passion, and evolve it into a platform for the greater good. Listen as Alex and Sarah describe their own bit of history in the development of this project….

1. What has the response been like?
2. I know from personal experience that it can be very difficult to build engagement in digital projects. How have you gotten so many folks to contribute videos to the project?
3. Tell me a little about how Tell History works ...
4. I think it’s interesting that you use a Theme of the Week to focus your contributions. How do you identify those?
5. What kind of audiences are contributing to Tell History, and what kind of stories are capturing your attention?
6. You’ve made it very easy for folks contribute to Tell History. Describe that process ...
7. How have you been using social media to support the growth of Tell History?
8. What kind of stories and themes are you focusing on for the future?
9. Describe what your “big picture” goal is for Tell History ...
10. A project of this scope only happens because of people who believe in you and what you’re trying to achieve. Are there any folks who have contributed to the site that you’d like to give a shout-out to?
11. How do folks connect with you online?

And that was Alex Whitcomb and Sarah Hayes. If you'd like to learn more about Tell History, you can find shownotes from this interview--along with all the relevant links-- at voicesofthepast.org.

While you're there, check out the series called “DigitalHeritage 1-2-3” These posts each contain three stories or websites that are on my radar, with a little bit of analysis about how they might be useful to you.

Have you ever dreamed of what it would be like to go back in time to take part in a historical event?

Our guest today has been involved in helping many folks do the next best thing. Her name is Carrie Phillips, and she is the director of marketing and communications at Historic Columbia in Columbia, South Carolina.

Historic Columbia used digital media to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the burning of that city during the American Civil War.

Can virtual connections and digital media yield tangible benefits for heritage resources? Dale Kronkright says “yes.” And, that’s based on his experience as head of conservation at the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe New Mexico. In this interview, he’ll talk about the Georgia O’Keeffe Imaging Project. The project field-tested three technologies in “Computational Imaging” and brought its audiences along for the ride with real-time updates on the social web. Their approach was profoundly effective, without being too complex from the production standpoint. There’s a takeaway here for most any heritage project.

This show explores an approach to new media that we rarely get to see -- a coordinated, research-based strategy that brings together cultural heritage institutions throughout a country. One of the organizations spearheading  this efforts is the Royal Commission for the Ancient and Historical Sites of Scotland (RCAHMS). This interview features Philip Graham, Public Engagement Manager for RCAHMS. Philip will talk about the Digital Futures for Cultural Heritage Initiative, and how is own organization is going beyond social media engagement to encourage user-contributed content. If you’ve struggled to build consensus about digital outreach even within your own institution, you’ll find this interview compelling.

Pompeii: It's the world's most recognizable archaeological site. But did you know it was also the place where the iPad was first used as a field documentation tool. Archaeologists working at Pompeii have been pretty progressive in communicating their finds through new media as well. Working in this milieu of old and new is Dr. Steven Ellis. He directs the Pompeii archaeological research project at Porta Stabia. In this interview, he'll talk about the iPad project, including what it was like to be featured in an Apple ad campaign. Additionally, he'll explore other emerging technologies being used at the site and tell us the story about why he chose archaeology as a profession.

Have you  ever wanted to learn hieroglyphics? What if a podcast could help you with that? There is one out there and it's produced by this episode's guest. His name is Vincent Brown. Vincent is kind of a new media renaissance man, with a focus on Egyptology and the pyramids. In addition to the podcast he created, he also maintains blogs and a very active Twitter community. That's one of the things he's going to talk about is optimizing your Twitter participation for creating a community: crafting relevant tweets and how to optimize those with hashtags as well.

Click here for the transcript.

What if you could take your vacation time to not only see a new place, but meet new friends and use your hands to preserve built heritage all at the same time?

That's just the kind of unforgettable experience Jamie Donahoe facilitates around the world. She co-founded Adventures in Preservation with the mission to save the world’s architectural heritage by supporting community-driven preservation projects that seek to create economic and environmental sustainability.

Jamie has a very down-to-earth personality that comes through in her communication online as well. In this interview, she talks about how she uses the web to tell the stories of heritage resources. But, just as importantly, she'll explore how the Adventures in Preservation concept came about, and hopefully give you some insight into developing and marketing your own heritage brand.

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In this edition of the Voices of the Past audio podcast, we'll meet Kaitlin O'Shea. Kaitlin is the creator of the Preservation in Pink blog and newsletter. She will explain how the iconic pink flamingo, and a group of bloggy friends, have helped her  find her voice to take the conversation about historic preservation to a wider audience.

Click here for a full transcript of this interview

This episode features Jennifer Souers Chevraux of the blog MuseoBlogger. Now Jennifer helps museums and cultural organizations engage their audiences by developing compelling experiences and using new media to cultivate a new generation of patrons. Here's that interview.

Click here for a full transcript of this interview

“Who are you?” A simple question, but one that could take someone on the adventure of a lifetime. For Mike O’Laughlin of Irish Roots Cafe, it took him on a trip to discover his Irish roots and began his journey to help others find theirs using his books, blog, podcast and personal tours of Ireland. Today we join Bethany Frank as she talks with Mike O’Laughlin. Mike is going to explore the ease of podcasting and how he uses it to share connect folks around Irish heritage worldwide.

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Founded in 2009, The Archaeological Box is a media-rich website that incorporates features like Google Maps and podcasts in two languages. It also incorporates a store and professional accounts. In this interview with Matt Thompson, the site's founder, we're going to explore the concepts of content management systems, including Drupal, and what goes into supporting the site through social media.

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Today we're talking to Carla Schroer of Cultural Heritage Imaging. CHI is a small company based in San Francisco--the social media capital of the world--that's doing some interesting things through photography and photosharing through Flickr. They focus on rock art and technologies related to photography in heritage research. In this podcast, we'll explore how CHI is implementing its social media policy based on its strengths, priorities and available time.

Click here for a full transcript of this interview

Today we have kind of a special show for you. Traditionally we try to promote independent bloggers who are talking about heritage online but this time, we’re actually talking about a very large governmental agency. And specifically I’m talking about the Library of Congress. Now I’m sure that you are probably aware of the Library of Congress’ partnership with Flickr and Yahoo, and sharing so much of its image catalog online. It’s been hugely popular -- seen by millions of people. We’re going to examine the Flickr partnership, how it started, and what lessons the Library of Congress has learned as a result of this partnership. Now I was fortunate to be able to visit with Michelle Springer and Helena Zinkham who are heading up the Flickr efforts there. And they cover a lot of ground in this podcast. They talk about issues of policy, what it’s like to work with a social media company when you’re a large government organization, and also, among the folks who are commenting on their photos and who are contributing data, how they're actually using that data, and getting it back into their system.

Click here for a transcript of this interview

Marion Jensen is something of a social scientist because he experiments with social services like Twitter to help put history into context. He is the founder of TwHistory, a collaborative Twitter project in which participants retweet historical events using original source documents in real time as they happened in history.

He also has an all-time classic blog tagline: “those who forget history are doomed to retweet it.” Marion is also an educator and author of several books. In this interview, you can hear  just how passionate he is about inspiring connections to the past.

Click here for a full transcript of this interview

John Leeke was videoblogging for nearly a decade before YouTube was even invented. And he was taking about heritage preservation. His "campfire chats" have created a community throughout the world and inspired countless folks to take up the preservation trades. In this interview, he talks about getting started in video blogging, the modern tools he uses, and why he's an active, if reluctant, Facebook user.

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When Lisa Louise Cooke's daughters bought her an iPod a few years ago, she was barely even aware of podcasting as a business. But that gift would go on to inspire one of the world's most popular genealogy podcasts. In this edition of the Voices of the Past podcast, Lisa talks about how she turned her passion for genealogy into a dream career. Plus, she talks about the unreality of starring in the reality television show "Texas Ranch House."

Click here for a full transcript of this interview

On the edition of the Voices of the Past, we meet Greg Lemon. Greg originated the popular MythShow podcast. In this interview, he talks about the importance of the storytelling tradition, building a quality web presence around your podcast, and setting personal priorities with new media.

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Nina Simon, the blogger behind the popular Museum 2.0 site, talks about why she believes social media is the key to helping museums and heritage groups connect their constituents with their content. Among the topics covered are the time investment required for social media as well as how to use social media philosophies to better visitor experiences without necessarily using the web tools.

Click here for a transcript of the interview.

When it comes to the protection of cultural resources for the long haul, conservators are on the front lines: providing hands-on TLC, whether it's in a museum or at the scene of a natural disaster. Now, a new group has formed to provide a support network for young conservators and newcomers to the field. Rachel Penniman is the chair of the Emerging Conservation Professionals Network. In this podcast, she discusses how the group is using the social web to give a voice to the next generation of heritage caretakers.

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Michael Phillips has had a dream that he hopes will someday spread to the rest of the world: to create "sense of place" with video. It seems the tech world has helped set the stage for that dream, incorporating video functionality into everything from mobile phones and music players. With his website and blog, iGuidez, Phillips provides a template for capturing and sharing special sites for netizens everywhere to enjoy. In this interview, Michael Phillips talks about how he developed iGuidez, and the challenges of running a heritage website.

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Dale Jarvis is a member of a diminishing class: the storyteller. Yet, he is finding ways to share his art with whole new generation by reaching out to "use the media that they are using." Whether it's a podcast of traditional stories told by school children or telling stories 140 characters at a time on Twitter, Jarvis explores the web to find new ways to connect folks to their heritage. In episode of Voices of the Past, we talk to Dale about the online tools he uses and what kind of impact the Web will have on the preservation of cultural heritage.

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Maggie Struckmeier of Past Horizons Heritage Media talks about inspiring regular people to volunteer with archaeological excavations using a variety of online media. Past Horizons features an interactive magazine, a blog and a YouTube-style site exclusively for sharing heritage video.

Click here for a transcript of this interview.