JCHC First Look: QR Code

New for the JCHC! Go ahead and scan this code with the QR reader on your smartphone.

This took me a little while to manipulate to get a working code with our logo embedded, but I am very pleased with the results.

Let me know what you think.

-Nathan

JCHC First Look: New Website Feature

Hello everybody,

It's been busy here at the JCHC.  We have a bunch of new projects in the foreground right now that are really starting to take over.

First of all, we are beginning work on an app for smart phones that will act as a digital tour guide for Brookville's historic Main Street.  The project is still in the very early stages, but we are definitely excited to dig into this one.

Another new item that we are working on is setting up a digital database for our patrons to search for names through our archives of newspaper articles.  This feature will allow users to find out basic information about the person that they are searching for and see what newspaper clippings we have on file related to them.

I just recently designed two buttons for the website for our users to find this new feature.  They won't be installed onto the site until it's fully functional, but here is a preview of the buttons right now:

-Nathan

JCHC First Look: "Drumbeat To War"

As March approaches, so does the opening for our first 150th anniversary commemorative Civil War exhibit, Drumbeat to War.  This exhibit is planned to feature depictions, dioramas, and original artifacts dealing with the recruiting process, training, and camp life of the recruits from Jefferson County at the start of the war.

In 1861, many Americans thought that the Civil War would only last a very short time.  Originally, a term of service that men signed up for in the spring of '61 was for a period of only three months.  Soon, the American people would realize that the war would last a lot longer than only three months.

Our exhibit captures the excitement and expectations directly related to 1861.  Right now, we are trying to finish everything up before the opening.  For me, this means work on designing signage.

Take a look at what the gallery housing the exhibit looks like at the moment:

-Nathan

JCHC First Look: Civil War 150th Anniversary Commemoration

Hello everybody!

Today has been spent working on getting the word out on the next big thing going on at the JCHC.  What we are planning is a five-year commemoration of the Civil War.

2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the war, and museums and historical organizations across the country are busy putting together exhibits and programs to commemorate the people effected by the conflict.

To read more about our plans and efforts, please follow this link to the JCHC e-Newsletter presenting the first information about the commemoration.
(Note: This is a sneak preview of the e-Newsletter scheduled for delivery on Monday, Feb. 14th)

A lot of excitement can be felt around the History Center as we prepare to unveil our very first contribution in this five-year event.

Keep looking for updates along the way as more information can be shared about our commemorative celebration.

-Nathan

JCHC First Look: More Civil War Maps

Hello everyone.  Work here at the JCHC has a definitive focus on the Civil War right now.  So, I was hard at work designing more maps today.  I made some alterations to my previous designs.  Mainly, I included the Mason-Dixon Line and dotted lines marking the path from location to location.  Take a look:

I'm really pleased with my progress on this project.  I'll post a picture of what the final display looks like when it's finished.

-Nathan

JCHC First Look: Civil War Maps

As I've mentioned before, the JCHC is participating in the Pennsylvania Civil War 150th Anniversary movement.  Since 2011 marks 150 years since the beginning of the war, we are currently in the process of developing a new exhibit about soldiers from the area and life as a Civil War era soldier.  One thing that was needed were some custom maps to be put on display...so, this is where I got to apply my technological skills.

Basically, we needed an 8" x 10" map that showed desired locations.  What I did, by using Photoshop, was merge together outline maps of a few states that include borders and major rivers.  I then had to pinpoint exact locations, mark them on my map, and label everything.  I'm quite pleased with how these turned out.  Here is an example:

Now I have to go finish my work on the rest.  Feel free to leave questions and comments.

-Nathan

JCHC First Look: New Brochures

Hello everybody!  Today, I have been working on finalizing my designs for new informational brochures for the JCHC.  Tonight is a board meeting, so I wanted to get a more solid example of a final product done for the board to see.  I have three different brochures to share as well as a revision of the "Personal Tour Guide" pamphlet.  Take a look at what I've created:

Information for Teachers

Information for Students

General Information

Personal Tour Guide

I'm pretty pleased at the way these turned out.  Let me know if you notice any mistakes or misspellings or have any suggestions for ways to improve upon the design.

-Nathan

JCHC First Look: New Museum Guide Pamphlets

Today I had the chance to finish up my work on the new and updated version of our museum informational "Self-Tour" pamphlet.  Take a look:

This pamphlet is a bifold, so imagine that the top picture is the outside, which would be folded right down the middle making the right-hand side the front cover.  The bottom picture would be what opens up on the inside, and the left-hand side of the top picture is the back cover.

I think this is an improvement on what we had.  I also designed it so I can go in and change the text descriptions whenever our exhibits change.  What do you think?

Feel free to leave questions or comments.

-Nathan

JCHC First Look: 105th Editing

I thought I'd share some updates on my 105th video project on this dreary, wet day in Brookville.  Yesterday, I finally finished doing the last of the video screen captures from Google Earth that will act as the primary focus for the project.  So, today I started sitting down and putting everything into iMovie.  The way I'm editing this is by year; 1861 will be it's own video, as will 1862, 1863, and so on.  I also have separate videos for my title sequence and the credits.  This will essentially allow the viewer to select the year in which they would like to view.

Now that everything is in place in iMovie, I sat down with a pencil and a sheet of paper to write narration for the movie.  Here is a picture of the mess:

While drafting the narration, I realized that there is need for more supplemental visuals in the video.  This will help to break up the monotonous virtual tour of the Google Earth screen captures.  If you take a close look at my narration under 1861, you'll notice I have marked where a "Secession Graphic" will fit into the video.  I searched to find something that I liked and could use, but this was not very successful.  So, I decided to make my own.  Here is what I came up with:

I think that this will work nicely in the video to show the Confederate States and when they actually seceded from the Union.  This is the first of what will probably be many supplemental slides that will be created over the course of editing.

These slides aren't the only thing that I've been working on today.  I also started some music editing for the video.  I found a Library of Congress page with primary sources for Civil War Music.  On it, I found a download for a version of the Civil War era song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"performed by the Airforce Band of Liberty.  I wanted to see what music would sound like in the intro for the project, so I used GarageBand to adjust the audio levels to fade in and out in the timeframe that I needed:

After the initial editing, I put the newly created .mp3 file into the iMovie.  Take a look and listen to what the intro the the 105th project might end up looking like:




That may or may not be the actual music that I use in the final version of this, but I wanted to play around with some audio to get an idea of what the end product will be like.

Feel free to leave comments or ask questions.

-Nathan

JCHC First Look: 105th Menu Setup

A busy day requires two posts :)

I've been working with iDVD to design a format for the project that will allow interactivity through the touch screens in our museum.  What I had in mind was a menu in which you could select a particular year that the regiment was active, and then you would be shown a video of the events that occurred during that year.  I started fooling around with the iDVD program to see what I could come up with.  Here is an early version of what I'm envisioning:

This setup will ideally allow you to just "touch" one of the years and be taken on a visual journey through that year.  We'll see how this all comes together in the future.

-Nathan

JCHC First Look: 105th Title Slides

Back to work this week on the 105th video project.  Instead of spending my day fooling around with Google Earth again, I figured I would spend some time with the overall design of the video.

The first thing I decided needed some work was the opening title for the video.  So, I spent some time with Adobe Photoshop CS5 designing a basic title.  What I came up with was an image of an old Civil War era map on a piece of tattered and worn parchment paper.
Take a look:

The process for making this involved me finding this parchment texture through the Google Image Search:

                                             

Then, I had to find a map texture to overlay on the parchment.  Once again, Google Image Search was used to find this:

Once I had the two images that I desired, I did a bit of simple photo editing with Photoshop to layer the images together and blend them into one.

The next step was to add the title text.  For this step I first made a slide with "Tracking the Wild Cats:" and then made a slide with "Tracking the Wild Cats: The Story of the One Hundred and Fifth Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers."  By having two slides that are just slightly different, I was able to transition them together to get a neat effect.

Check out the test video:

That about does it for now...
Time to go work on some more slide design for the video.

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or comments.

-Nathan

JCHC First Look: 105th Video Test

Today, I decided to start experimenting with screen capture and video editing.  The software that I use to capture the video from Google Earth is called iShowU.  I tested out a few different video screen capture software for Mac OS X, and this one does everything that I want and is relatively easy to use.  For the editing software, I'm running iMovie '08.  In middle school, iMovie had just come out on the market, and my school actually offered a class in iMovie editing (which was one of my favorite classes I've ever taken).  The software has changed a lot since the last time I was an active user, so I'm still getting used to some of the features that this newer version offers.

I did a few tests to see how the editing will work on this video and compiled it into a preview to share.  By no means is this anywhere close to what the final project will look like, but it does offer a little taste into what the end result will include.

Enjoy!

Sorry about the end of the video.  I was having a little trouble getting the timing down for the narration, but I wanted to share this preview.  This is still very much a work in progress.  Whenever I have more clips to share, I'll definitely post them.

-- For anybody that uses YouTube, feel free to subscribe to my new channel.  It will be the host to all the videos I make while working at the JCHC.  --

http://www.youtube.com/NJPearceJCHC

As always, feel free to contact me for questions or comments.

-Nathan

JCHC First Look: Tracking the 105th

I've been hard at work on a project dealing with not only Jefferson County history, it also has deep ties to Civil War history.  For those of you who don't know, the American Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865.  Next year, being 2011, marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.  In Pennsylvania, there is a statewide partnership of history organizations coming together to create a project called Pennsylvania Civil War 150 (PACW 150).  PACW 150 will honor and commemorate the lives lost and the freedoms gained through the war.


Because of PACW 150, you can expect new exhibits within the JCHC starting next year.  This is where my project comes into play.  Right here in Brookville, a group of young men were formed into the 105th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers.  They were active in the war from 1861 all the way to 1865.  Here at the History Center, we thought it would be a good idea to display some artifacts from the 105th, share their photos, and most importantly, tell their story.  Since my goal here at the JCHC involves using technology throughout the museum, I started planning a project that will present the story of the 105th in an interactive manner.  In the museum, we have some touch screen monitors that include some narratives to go along with the exhibits.  My goal is to use one of these monitors to display a video made by using Google Earth that displays not only the locations the 105th found themselves, but also narratives of the events at each major location (battle information, outcome, assignments, etc.).  I envision being able to walk up to the touch screen, touch what year you'd like to hear about, and then being taken on the journey with the 105th.


Yesterday, I finished plotting the points within Google Earth for this project.  Here is what it looks like:

Each of the yellow pushpins represents a certain date that was important to the 105th.  At each of the pushpins, a balloon filled with text pops up, describing the events that took place at that location on that date.  Here is what one looks like:

Once I have all the balloon captions to my liking, the next step will be to screen capture the "flight" from one pushpin to another.  At each pin, the balloon will pop up and the text will be visible.  However, my plan is to also narrate the video once all the screen capture is done and I start the video editing.  Click here for a very low quality example of what video will eventually look like.  (Note: the software used to take this screen capture is not the same that will be used to make the actual video...the choppiness will disappear in the final project)


That about wraps up the first look into my first project at JCHC.  Be sure to check back for more updates in the near future.  If you have questions or comments, feel free to contact me.


-Nathan