Excavating the secrets, scandals, and untold stories hiding below the surface of life, and giving voice to the characters who make or made those hiStories happen.
One week ago today, on the last morning of our 38-day Kickstarter campaign that involved four live events and uncountable networking meet ups, taking me first to Florence, then from London to Nashville to New York to Rhode Island, back to New York, then to London, then Paris, and back to London again, I awoke at 4:30am GMT with a start.
It had become commonplace for me to sprint for 16-18 hours a day between dog walks and 4-5 hour nightly naps. Some nights I didn’t really sleep at all, merely rested, while going over the to do list again and again in my head. I was running on sheer adrenaline by this point – that and the fumes of way too much caffeine ingested for way too many days that coursed through my veins and caused my nervous system to fritz out at even the slightest provocation. I was exhausted, but exhilarated and unwilling, unable to stop, because one thing was clear: The crowd was behind me. YOU were behind me. I now had a responsibility, not just to myself, but also to the TTT&T Team, who had all worked so hard and given me so much, as well as to a community of supporters that was expanding daily with every new campaign backer, twitter follower, and Facebook friend.
On the penultimate night of the campaign, I stopped work early – at about 8:30pm. I couldn’t hold my head up any longer, couldn’t will my fingers to type another word. As I closed my computer, we had only $750 left to raise. I felt certain we would make that goal by midnight GMT the next day. I fell to sleep quickly and slept soundly...
In my work as an author and publisher, I am motivated by a simple, observable truth: many young people — and even some adults — find history boring.
They bridle at the suggestion that they might enjoy time at a museum.
They tolerate the family tour of a historic destination, anxious to get back to their friends both online and off.
The truth is, all they lack is a little context.
History is a collection of great stories: Stories of extraordinary adventures, incredible innovations, revolutionary breakthroughs, horrid acts of injustice. If told well, such tales can capture even the youngest imaginations.
So how can you help #TurnHistoryOn for the young people in your life?
Ciao! Buongiorno! This week I write to you from Florence, Italy, where I'm busy hunting for traces of Michelangelo for our coming Kickstarter Campaign video. I'm gathering some lovely donation rewards as well ;).
This post is dedicated to Sree Sreenivasan, Chief Digital Officer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Compelled by his challenge – outlined here – to find and “do something” with a set of Paul Revere’s spurs, I became inspired to craft a mini- Time Traveler Tour for the Met.
What follows is a snapshot of my brain in the midst of the digital storytelling process. I hope you enjoy this Case Study Spurred by Paul Revere.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask them in the comments.
Sree’s Challenge: Locate Paul Revere’s spurs.
His Clue: The spurs can be found in the Met’s Arms and Armor exhibit.
The Hint: As I set off, I found myself chewing over a vibe I'd received from one of my Met hosts that the Arms and Armor exhibit was perhaps an odd place for a set of antique spurs. This sounded like a “pain point” to me: like the museum had these great objects, but didn’t know quite where to put them.
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.