New Technologies Help Ashfield History Project

I am a writer, long interested in history and genealogy, so working with the Ashfield History Project seemed a natural choice. Since my experience is with Web technologies, I have been trying to harness a bit of the power of the Internet to help us collaborate, communicate, generate ideas, and soon, edit and publish the third volume of Ashfield History.

My first project was to create a Web site for the project. You can find us at http://www.ashfieldhistoryproject.org. It's a simple Web site, designed to be easy to navigate with up-to-date information about the project. It is the door to several collaboration tools which I would like to introduce to you.

First, most of the Web site is now generated with "Wiki" software. It sounds exotic, but what it means is that the whole community can help us create the Web site. While there are some protected pages, mostly for administrative purposes, other pages, like the Ideas page, are open to anyone who would like to jot down their inspirations. By having a public venue for posting ideas, we hope to encourage many more people to participate—and to inspire their neighbors! As the project progresses, the wiki will also allow us to edit the outline together, add and edit entire stories, and more.

To add your idea, click "Ideas" on the main Web site. Then click the Edit button at the bottom of the page. Then add your ideas and click Save. That's all there is to it.

Next, we're using "blog" software to keep a diary online about the progress we've made so far. You can see our Blog by going to the News section of the Web site (or by going to ashfieldhistoryproject.blogspot.com) We welcome your comments. Just click on the "comments" link at the bottom of each post to tell us what you think.

Third, we have an email list that we use to share comments, scheduling, ideas, and the like. Having an email list makes it easy to make sure that everyone in the group gets the message. And while the list is pretty low-traffic, you can also choose to view messages only online in order to keep your inbox free. If you're interested in working with the Ashfield History Project, please consider joining the list. You can get more information about how to join by clicking Join Us on our home page, or by going to http://groups.google.com/group/ashfieldhistoryproject

Finally, we're using Flickr, a photo-sharing site, to share images and photographs that we hope will either spark ideas for articles, or help illustrate the final book. Our Flickr group can be found at http://www.flickr.com/ashfieldhistoryproject