Five Steps for Getting Started with Collecting History Online

by the Echo Project
Center for History and Media, George Mason University


1) Read the "Collecting History Online" chapter of Dan Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig's book Digital History at http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/collecting for an overview of the field, its technology and methods.

2) Visit the Echo website at http://echo.gmu.edu for specific examples of collecting projects, with an eye for projects that seem similar to your proposed project. There are a number of examples at the Collecting Center: http://echo.gmu.edu/collecting.php.

3) Following the advice from the Digital History chapter, try to write up a detailed plan for your project, thinking about your target audience, how to reach them, and the appropriate technologies required. A number of collecting projects have made use of the Survey Builder, which was developed with these projects in mind; this free tool and others are available from the Center for History and New Media at http://chnm.gmu.edu/tools/.

4) Since an online collecting project involves many other variables in addition to the actual gathering of recollections and documents, you may also wish to read other chapters of Digital History (or buy the whole book). Especially helpful for collecting projects is the chapter on "Building an Audience", which provides strategies for promoting and advancing your website.

5) If you have questions or need advice on planning or executing your project you should feel free to contact the Echo team:

Dan Cohen (primary contact)
dcohen@gmu.edu
(703) 993-4524

Josh Greenberg
jgreenb2@gmu.edu
(703) 993-4531

Tom Scheinfeldt
jscheinf@gmu.edu
703-993-4213

Olivia Ryan
oryan@gmu.edu
703-993-4585

Roy Rosenzweig
rrosenzw@gmu.edu
703-993-4532