Resource Links: Museums and Social Media 101

I'm teaching an introductory workshop today for the Museum Association of Newfoundland and Labrador on social media and museums.  As a resource for workshop participants, and for those of you out there with an interest in museums and how social media can be, or is being, used, here are links to some of the materials I'll be talking about today:

Video Introductions:

• Social Media Important Tool for Holocaust Museum
• Social Media in Plain English
• Social Media Revolution 2011
• Museum uses email, social media to drive interaction

Websites:

• Ask a Curator reviewed
• Ask a Curator website
• Social Media Case Study: Brooklyn Museum
• Social Media and Museums: Royal BC Museum Blog
• Museums Pursue Engagement with Social Media: NY Times article
• Social Media Handouts: National Museums Scotland
• @ICH_NL on Twitter
• Intangible Cultural Heritage Newfoundland Labrador (Facebook)
• Tweetdeck
• Twitterfall

Folklore students on fire, hookers, townies, and the #sjtweetup

In this edition of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Update for Newfoundland and Labrador, a group of folklore students under the direction of Dr. Jillian Gould is on fire; we celebrate Culture Days in St. John's with a tweetup and panel on social media and culture; Melissa Squarey talks rug hooking with Betty White; and we launch a new public oral history interview program, Tales of Town, in partnership with The Rooms.

Download the pdf here.

Panelists bios for the Sept 30th #sjtweetup

On Friday, September 30th, the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Newfoundland Historic Trust, will be hosting a St. John’s Tweetup event at the Newman Wine Vaults Provincial Historic Site on Water Street as part of Culture Days. It is a chance for anyone to learn more about how social media is being used in the arts and culture sector in St. John’s, and to meet those people face-to-face that you’ve only ever talked to in 140 character tweets. As part of the event, folklorist Dale Jarvis will moderate a panel discussion with people in the cultural sector on the role of social media in local arts, how it is working, and where it is going.

The Tweetup doors open at 6:30pm, with the panel discussion starting at 7pm.

Who are the panelists?


Jennifer Barnable (@JennaOfAvalon) is a writer, photographer and communications professional from Ferryland, Newfoundland who now resides in downtown St. John's. With degrees in cultural anthropology and public relations, Jennifer has spent most of her career working in the arts and cultural industries.

John Gushue (@JohnGushue) is an online editor with CBC News in St. John's, and contributes regularly to radio and television programming. He writes a weekly column on digital culture for the St. John's Telegram, and publishes a blog called Dot Dot Dot.

Elling Lien (@thescopeNL) is editor of The Scope, a weekly, independent alternative newspaper which focuses on local arts, culture, and current affairs in the St. John's region, and which provides live tweets of St. John's City Council meetings.


You can RSVP for the event here.

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: Knot Tying

This week's photo is of Captain Jan Negrijn tying knots at the Twine Loft, Trinity, as part of Doors Open in 2007.

Knot tying is one of the topics that comes up from time to time as I do workshops in communities about skills and traditions they are worried about losing. At one time, every sailor and fisherman knew dozens of knots, a huge body of specialized knowledge that is not as widespread today as it once was.

Along with that, there were all kinds of folk beliefs about knots, such as knots in a piece of string, which, when buried, could be a cure for warts.

If you've got memories or thoughts on knots and knot tying in Newfoundland and Labrador culture, drop me a line, so to speak.

If a piece of string of any kind is placed outside the house on the eve of St. Brigid, the good saint will walk on it, and that a piece of the cord worn about the leg or foot will be a talisman against all injury from falls and accidents due to stumbling. 

 -PJ Kinsella, Some Superstitions and Traditions of Newfoundland

A few quick pics of Henry Vokey's schooner, Trinity, Newfoundland

I'm here in Trinity for the Wooden Boat Museum of NL conference and AGM. It's been a while since I was in Trinity, so it is great to see the fantastic progress Mr. Henry Vokey, master  boatbuilder, has made on his schooner. Last time I was out this way, it looked like this.

Now, she looks gorgeous. A few quick pictures below.

Here is an interview with Mr Vokey one year ago.

Recitations on the air! CBC radio hosts folk poetry phone in

This Friday, CBC Radio Noon with host Ramona Dearing will be all about the old-fashioned yet timeless tradition of recitations! Local author and recitationist Dave Paddon will be in studio doing a couple of his incredibly witty pieces. And they want to hear from you, too! Phone in at 709-722-7111 / 1-800-563-8255

The show will be broadcast 12:35-1:30 in Newfoundland / 12:05-1 in most of Labrador.

The Voices of Nurses: Clothilda Benson

As part of a partnership between our office, the School of Nursing, and Memorial University's Digital Archive Initiative, we've been putting a series of interviews with nurses online. One of those recently-added interviews is one conducted by Marilyn Marsh with former nurse Clothilda Benson, recorded in 1987, when Ms Benson was in a nursing home with Parkinsons disease.

In this recording Ms. Benson recalls her nursing career; early memories at Cook St.; nursing training at the Grace; the 3 year nursing program; Margaret Canning; her days as a nursing student; her active life before she was a senior; working 12 hour shifts; nursing teachers; doctor lectures; nursing curfews; social activities of a nursing student; discipline; 12o' clock late leave; changes in the career; the Grace in the past and present; manual labour; patient care; family; nursing standards; and treatments for childbirth.

Listen to the interview here

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: Folk Art, Compliments of Vic

I'm not sure exactly how old this photo is, but I know I snapped it, on slide film, in Bay de Verde, possibly about 2001.  I love how much is crammed into this little display: fishing boats, dorries, part of what looks like an old make-and-break engine.

If you know anything about Vic, or about the objects in the photo, email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca.

#SocialMedia #sjtweetup @newmanvaults for @culturedays

A tweetup and panel on social media, the arts, and culture in St. John’s

Friday, September 30th, 6:30 pm

Newman Wine Vaults Provincial Historic Site

436 Water Street,

St. John’s, Newfoundland

What is a Tweetup?
A tweetup is an event where people who Twitter come together to meet in person. At a tweetup you meet the people you might only otherwise know virtually. A tweetup is a great opportunity to connect with people in your online network. There have been a few tweetup events organized for St. John’s so far, with meeting places as varied as a local restaurant and a local beach.

What is Culture Days?
Culture Days is a collaborative pan-Canadian volunteer movement to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of all Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities. Annual, Canada-wide Culture Days events feature free, hands-on, interactive activities that invite the public to participate “behind the scenes,” to discover the world of artists, creators, historians, architects, curators, and designers at work in their community.

What’s happening in the Newman Wine Vaults?
On Friday, September 30th, the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Newfoundland Historic Trust, will be hosting a St. John’s Tweetup event at the Newman Wine Vaults Provincial Historic Site on Water Street as part of Culture Days. It is a chance for anyone to learn more about how social media is being used in the arts and culture sector in St. John’s, and to meet those people face-to-face that you’ve only ever talked to in 140 character tweets. As part of the event, folklorist Dale Jarvis will moderate a panel discussion with people in the cultural sector on the role of social media in local arts, how it is working, and where it is going.

Panelists TBA in a future posting!

• RSVP on Twtvite
• Visit the Culture Days Event Listing

Tuesday's Folklore Photo: Norman Currie and Bull Bird, Britannia Newfoundland

I've got a lot a great photos that I've been amassing over the past three years of the intangible cultural heritage project, and it seems a shame to not share some of them. So, with that in mind, I'm going to start a new weekly folklore photo posting, and put a new photo up each week.

This week is a favourite, of Uncle Norman Currie with his boat model, Bull Bird, shown here at the dock in Britannia, Random Island.  I'm not sure of the date on this one, but Uncle Norm passed away a few years ago, and this was one of his last model projects.

One of my favourite stories about him was one I heard from Jim Roy, his nephew-in-law. Apparently, Uncle Norm had an old boat that he had made, with an inboard motor of some type. The propeller shaft had snapped, and when he was told it would cost him $100 to have it welded, Uncle Norm took a cheaper and slightly more ingenious route. He got someone with an angle grinder to smooth off the end of the shaft, then cut a foot off the stern of the boat, and rebuilt it a foot further up, shortening the boat, and allowing the shorter propeller shaft to protrude the correct distance from the back of the boat. Apparently, it worked, and the boat was reportedly even more stable than it had been before the alteration.

A great example of making do with what one has.

Thanks to Jim Roy, Lower Lance Cove, for the story and the photo.

6-hour marathon telling of Jack Tales now online

Earlier this year, the St. John's Storytelling Festival hosted an event called "Jack Cycle" at The Ship Pub. That 6-hour marathon telling of Jack Tales is now online at www.jackcycle.ca, with full videos of each performer.

As the Cycle website relates, "Jack Tales encapsulate elements of the Newfoundland character that have evolved over five centuries: courage, cleverness, generosity, handiness, hardiness, honesty, humility, naïveté, wit, and a general belief in the impossible (amongst other traits). In the stories, Jack comes to represent the Newfoundland character."

And so, the stories include not only traditional Newfoundland folktales, told by the likes of Anita Best and Andy Jones, but also cultural commentary on Newfoundland identity by speakers including Richard Cashin, and Ryan Cleary.

"We hope this will be a resource," says organizer Chris Brookes, "so please pass on the URL to anyone interested."

More photo treasures from the Newman Wine Vaults

A while back, I posted about a small digitization project we were undertaking with Provincial Historic Sites and the Newman Wine Vaults. Those photos have been scanned and placed online as part of Memorial's Digital Archive Initiative. They show the interior and exterior of the Vaults and adjacent buildings, and show that the Vaults were used for storage of more than Newman's Port, including things like Javex bleach and potatoes!

This exterior photo, taken from Water Street, shows the west end of the Vault warehouse, and two now-demolished buildings. Also visible is the "Book and Bible" shop, located where Babb Lock and Key is now.

Any vintage car experts out there? I'd love a rough date for this one! Post your suggestions.