Time Travel

On Kickstarts and Finish Lines: What a Difference a Year Makes!

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On Kickstarts and Finish Lines: What a Difference a Year Makes!

Exactly a year ago, you held the fate of a dream in your hands. We were asking for $40,000 to fund our moonshot. And in Kickstarter, if you don't reach your campaign goal, you get nothing. Now, remarkably, we are feeling the gravitational pull of the App and Google Play Stores.

Without you, we'd have never gotten our time-traveling machine off the ground!

No one's taking anything for granted, but a year on from our Kickstarter launch in May 2015, hosted by Julie Gribble and KidLit TV, we wanted to pause for a moment, take stock and recognize all of you who shared the vision strongly enough to reach out and help us cross that first finish line… before we cross the next one — toward which we inch closer every day...

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Discover Michelangelo's Best Kept Secret, Revealed after 446 Years

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Discover Michelangelo's Best Kept Secret, Revealed after 446 Years

Today I have something extra special to share. I'm going to take you inside a very secret hiding place. It was Michelangelo’s. And it dates to 1530. It is also the setting of our coming story app tour: In the Footsteps of Giants.

This hiding place was only discovered 40 years ago, after a veil of secrecy that lasted hundreds of years was finally, accidentally lifted.

It was found because the walls of the room are covered with original sketches... by the hand of the Maestro Michelangelo himself. 

But why, you might ask, was Michelangelo in hiding? 

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Five Steps to Creating a Story-driven App Tour

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Five Steps to Creating a Story-driven App Tour

Eureka! We’ve cracked the code as to how weave a story into the fabric of a place!

If you’re an author wishing to write for us, a museum professional wishing to consult with us, an educator or parent wishing to time travel with us, or if you’re just plain interested, please read on…

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Walking in the Footsteps of Giants

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Walking in the Footsteps of Giants

I write to you from Florence, Italy, where I am walking in the footsteps of Giants, specifically Michelangelo's and his David. Actually, I’m sort of stumbling about after them. But I’m on their trail, and getting closer all the time.

I'm here to walk the tour route suggested by Mary Hoffman's manuscript for In the Footsteps of Giants and to begin the process of weaving her story into this extraordinary historic place.

I've spent the past year researching the man and his works, his life and his times, in anticipation of reaching this stage in the creation of our next Time Traveler Tour.

I feel oddly close to him as I wander the streets whose names and stories I already know.

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The New Kids on the Digital Block

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The New Kids on the Digital Block

For a long time now, I’ve been straddling the worlds of storytelling, education, and tourism, not knowing where I really fit in. Then, while treasure hunting in New York, I discovered the cool new kids on the digital block.

They go by such names as Chief Digital Officer (CDO) and Director of Digital Experience. They even have their own online club, which reports that their numbers doubled worldwide from 500 in 2013 to 1,000 at the end of 2014. They expect to double again in 2015.

I met and talked shop with two of them, and now I understand where I belong.

Frank Migliorelli recently joined the New York Public Library as Director of Digital Experience, a new position that was a perfect fit for him. His mandate: to lead the development of digital strategy for the vast library network.

Now we’re not just talking about digitizing text content. Oh No! Under Frank’s direction, our understanding of what a library is and does is about to undergo serious and exciting change.

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