HistoryPin replacements

[Translucence]

I'm not entirely sure why it's been happening but a couple of different institutions in my city who have access to lots of historical photos have released their own alternatives to HistoryPin.

One has just been advertised on some of the history Facebook pages that are massively popular at the moment. I can't see it since it's on iPhone and I'm Android, but I'm pretty certain it doesn't allow people to add their own photographs.

I'm not sure where HistoryPin is on the funding/developing cycle, but you might want to ask this institution why they chose to ditch HistoryPin and pay someone to develop a new app - could provide valuable critical feedback. They only ever posted 14 pictures to HistoryPin.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-07-03/melbournes-historic-buildings-on-show-with-new-app/5566632

http://www.historypin.com/channels/view/33356/#!photos/list/

[Jon Voss]

Hey Chris,

Thanks for the heads up.  Just looking at their app on iTunes, they've done some cool things with it that are pretty custom to their collections, like having categories and challenges.  It's a great history app and their doing it themselves surely gives them a lot more control over things and access to users they wouldn't have through our app as it is.  Totally agree that these sorts of examples give us a lot of insight into the market for historical photo apps. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hoddles-grid-street-history/id844781429?mt=8

Jon

Jon Voss
Historypin Strategic Partnerships Director
ph. 415-935-4701

-------------------------------------------

We Are What We Do 
London | San Francisco

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Historypin Community" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to historypin+...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[robin aka georgiawebgurl]

It's interesting but from reading the article, it seems to be focused on 1)highlighting the library's collections (branding) and 2) localized/niche project.

Coming from a higher ed and library background, I can see how and why this happened. Not only is a product developed by a  library a way to demonstrate their relevancy (look what we did ! <even if outsourced - no one outside will be likely to understand that) but it also provides access to those users, a more tailored experience (in theory), and the ability to clearly claim ownership (rights management). Privacy and confidentiality of patron records may be another issue.
Another factor is a history of underfunding IT staffing in libraries, which impacts not only development, but even partnerships, testing, and inhouse knowledge. It may that they received a grant (many digital library projects are grant funded) that mandated this development. I don't know that any of these factors are relevant in this particular case, but there are so many reasons for inhouse development in libraries.  I am never surprised when I read about a library doing development.
   
I alluded to the need to prove relevancy already, but libraries especially, are suffering tremendously from financial pressure, not only here in the US, but elsewhere. Libraries are being asked to prove their importance every day, so they are looking for very visible ways to show that.

Just my thoughts,

Robin

@georgiawebgurl

--
http://contentdivergent.blogspot.com

[Jon Voss]

Thanks for your thoughts on this Robin!

Jon

[Mike Strange]

I have tried and tried again to convince Merton Park Archives (south west London) to take part on History Pin if only to promote their photographic project. It is a tremendous resource of 15,000 images but only as a collection with minimal means for user participation.   See http://photoarchive.merton.gov.uk/

Perhaps you might like to talk to them Jon?

Mike

[James Morley]

I agree with the comments made so far especially around funding and
motivations, and also localisation and targeting audiences. Not quite
sure how far I would go saying they've done anything special or unique
though (but I haven't tried it, only seen the screenshots).

Accepting that some things are givens - for example funding streams
and the 'look what *we've* done' factor - I think the real questions
are i) do these bespoke apps really give value for money; and ii) what
can platforms like Historypin be doing to play a part in this and in
the meantime develop relationships of mutual benefit.

So the sorts of things that spring to mind are localised, branded
subsites/apps (white label, if you like), and/or providing broader
tools and infrastructure such as a platform for storing images and
metadata (including crowdsourced metadata), curation/commenting tools,
backed up by a good API.

In terms of reality check, I'd point you to the line on the app page
which, three months on, says "We have not received enough ratings to
display an average for the current version of this application". In
fairness, I'd also point to the stats on Historypin that show under
1,000 profile views and average image views in the low tens. Even more
reason to combine resources and efforts rather than diluting I'd say.

Best, James


---
James Morley
www.jamesmorley.net / @jamesinealing
www.whatsthatpicture.com / @PhotosOfThePast

[James Morley]

Our messages crossed Mike, but it reminds me of something I missed
from my reply, something that always baffles me. Institutes seem very
reluctant to adopt any third party platform, until it gets so huge
they then think they can't afford not to (think Twitter, Facebook
...). Maybe some really strong, well promoted case studies would help
twist some arms? And suggesting partnerships rather than just 'come
and use our site'.

---
James Morley
www.jamesmorley.net / @jamesinealing
www.whatsthatpicture.com / @PhotosOfThePast

[SLNSW Innovation]

State Library of New South Wales actively contributes to Historypin http://www.historypin.com/channels/view/35045/ as do a variety of other institutions

Richardson and Visser have good advice on selecting social media platforms to connect the right audiences with GLAM assets in the Digital Engagement Framework http://digitalengagementframework.com

---
Mylee Joseph
mylee....@sl.nsw.gov.au
State Library of New South Wales
www.sl.nsw.gov.au

[Jon Voss]

More great stuff here, really appreciate getting all of your thoughts on this, and Mylee your work and the referenced write-ups are fantastic resources.

Mike, we really don't do much soliciting content these days and for the most part are focusing on ways of engaging with communities and utilizing cultural heritage collections to have a measurably positive impact on social capital in communities. That's looking more and more at putting the right tools in the hands of community organizers and people already pulling people together around history/memory/storytelling on a local level. We also have a lot of institutions that we work with on funded projects (which we often design together for specific funders) to reach particular aims or community outcomes. The thing I also notice about this particular collection is that they have a reselling option built in to their platform, so I'm guessing they're pretty married to that, though I agree that a geospatial discovery option would lead more eyes to their collection.

James, agree about your ingredients and am looking forward to hearing more about your recent learnings and efforts soon!

Jon