We’d like to share a couple of awesome ways to share, view, and experience historical media.
SepiaTown is a user-driven database that matches historical photographs with locations on Google Maps. Users upload photographs, add the location the photograph was taken, the date it was taken, and any additional information about the picture. The “then/now” feature provides a side-by-side comparison of the historical photo to the Google Maps Street View. Users can do a keyword search, or look at images associated with featured locations. Check out the SepiaTown Blog to learn more about features and collections.
The ARIS game platform uses historical images and videos to create mobile games that allow the player to relive past events in the locations that they took place. An example is the game Dow Day, which displays videos and images from Dow Day in 1967 when a player visits certain locations around Madison.
ARIS was created to allow educators to create mobile games that integrate learning and augmented reality (the concept of using technology to add additional information to an existing environment). Educators/developers have created more than historical games using ARIS. Some examples include, campus tours, museum exhibits, foreign language instruction, bird and plant species identification, and one from the Library of Congress on using primary sources. Games created by ARIS are currently only available on the App Store.
