We went Off the Map[p] with Clio

Map[p]-a-thon Agenda
August 17th, 2019
2:00 - 4:00P ET 
​Learning Lab @ Blount County Public Library



2:00 - 2:10: Welcome to “Off the [M]App-a-thon!
The point of today is to move your historical research and place-stories into a mobile app for others to use and contribute to. The long view is that Maryville and Alcoa will be able to archive and curate many places and tours so that residents, young and old, can learn about our histories. 
During today’s session, consider joining a weekly, intergenerational group at the library to continue this work. 
Go around room and say name, what school/institution you’re from, and why you’re there. OTM Alum briefly describe what they researched during the spring sessions. 

2:10 - 2:25 Intro to Clio

Paraphrase the following description from website (also say that the app was created by David Trowbridge and team, faculty at Marshall University in West Virginia who has been super kind and helpful):

“Clio is an educational website and mobile application that guides the public to thousands of historical and cultural sites throughout the United States. Built by scholars for public benefit, each entry includes a concise summary and useful information about a historical site, museum, monument, landmark, or other site of cultural or historical significance. In addition, “time capsule” entries allow users to learn about historical events that occurred around them. Each entry offers turn-by-turn directions as well as links to relevant books, articles, videos, primary sources, and credible websites.

Clio offers a compelling intellectual challenge as professional historians work with local history experts to create and vet entries in an open digital environment. Ambitious in scope, Clio allows scholars and their students to publish humanities scholarship using an innovative digital format that will instantly reach a broad audience in ways that cannot be replicated by traditional forms of publishing. We believe that there is something powerful that occurs when our sense of the past connects with our sense of place. We hope that you will use Clio to connect with the history and culture that surrounds you.”

Show five minute video (make available other videos: Clio YouTube Channel)

Students to go Login/Register green button in top left → Classroom login green button on left → Select “University of Washington” in dropdown menu → Select “Off the Map” in dropdown menu for Classroom category (only one) and enter “OTM” in password field. 
Start creating new locations by hitting green “Submit Location” button
Depending on who is there, students can choose the locations from the walking tour they created. This may be a solo endeavor if only one student rep is there from the former group. 

2:25 - 3:30 Work Time 

Don’t focus on the quantity of locations that you map but the quality of each place-story or entry. You want as many different kinds of artifacts (text, historical photos, links to video, sources) as possible per entry. This may mean you don’t have enough locations by the end of the day to connect them into a comprehensive walking tour. That’s OK. 

If you need additional help with historical documentation, sourcing, photos, please consider heading back to the BCPL archives and asking the staff some pointed questions with which they can be helpful. Here are some other helpful links for historical images and info: Blount County Virtual Archives and Digital Photo Collections. 

3:35 - 3:50 Share out 

How did it go? Individual or group progress
What’s left to do?
Other places not yet considered that are highly important?

3:50 - 4:00 What’s next? and Closing

Weekly intergenerational meetings to continue the work. If interested, or know someone else who is, email Katie and/or Tom. Additional information on the Off the Map Website.
Tell your friends and family about this ongoing project and have them look at Clio.
Contact Katie, Tom, Mr. Mark White, Mr. Ken Brown with follow-up questions and opportunities. 

Thank you!