Seven years ago I opened my cellphone and called [murmur], learning about the history and people of Kensington Market as I walked its streets. Founder Shawn Micallef said in an interview "[murmur] is everyone's stories and the personal connection makes it unique. After listening to a story you won't walk by a place the same way again." It was so useful and effective; in Paris last summer I would try to read all the plaques and whined to my wife, "Why don't they have [murmur]?
But technology moves on, and now we demand images and better
quality sound; enter the iPod and iPhone. Heritage Toronto has
jumped on this, and is now presenting iTours of Don Mills, The Toronto
Islands and Spadina. Built Heritage News
writes:
"The first iTour visits one of Canada's most renowned
post-war suburban
communities, Don Mills. Dave LeBlanc, the Architourist for the Globe
& Mail guides us through the development of this unique modernist
community, with contributions from those who designed it including
Macklin Hancock, Douglas Lee and Henry Fliess.
The second iTour
travels to the Toronto Island, recounting
the history of our historic natural retreat. This iTour has been
designed as a bicycle tour that travels from Hanlan's Point to Ward's
Island. Residents and actor Mathew Ferguson and writer Alison Gzowski
also provide their thoughts on the culture and history of the Island."
But we have not scratched the surface of what we can do with
these technologies, to educate, to promote and to excite people about
heritage. The Museum of London has
mashed Google Maps, the GPS in the iPhone and their library so that
wherever you are, you can look at your screen and see what is notable
around you. More remarkably, "The really clever thing about this app is
that if you are in the
location pictured, you can click on the "3D view" button and the app
will recognise your location and overlay the historic image over the
current view - augmenting the reality that the built in iPhone camera
perceives."- you see the past through a window that is your iPhone
screen.
But it can work both ways; citizens with smart phones can
send us information and photos of buildings at risk, demolition by
neglect, or just what matters to them, creating a bidirectional
database. Every time I see the energy and information poured into the Brantford facebook page I see how
effective these tools can be in getting people to care about their
communities. We are just getting started.
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