History at a swipe


  • March 5, 2014
  • /   Shannon Nickinson
  • /   community-dashboard

All Jay Clune wanted was a cup of coffee on the long, bleak drive from Pensacola to Tallahassee.

Clune was with fellow UWF professor Patrick Moore in March of 2006 on that drive. Moore pulled out his computer to try find the closest rest area or gas station where Clune could get a java fix. And they began to wonder.

Other than fast food restaurants and gas stations, what else could you put into a computer and learn about a place you might just be passing through?

Being historians, they thought about the “small museums and historic sites that are sometimes two miles off the road,” Moore says.

Moore and Clune thought that for $5,000 they could create the app they dreamed of. The price tag some six years later is pushing $250,000, but Moore says it is the investment in content from credentialed historians -- as opposed to crowd-sourced applications -- that set Next Exit History apart.

Next Exit’s development dovetails nicely with the growth of the burgeoning cultural history tourism industry. It differs from site-specific apps with a similar premise, developers say, in that it is free, dynamic and not limited by geography.

Next Exit Old Christ ChurchMoore, the public history program director at UWF, says the end goal is that “you could be in your car and drive all the way to Alaska be able to use it. The goal is to create a resource to organizations that will bring visitors to them.”

There are more than 56,000 sites in the database, which is maintained by Historical Research Associates, a historical research company that does work in corporate histories, litigation, Native American tribal issues and cultural resources management compliance.

“They have 40 years worth of research data,” Moore says. “We wanted scholarly vetted info that was accurate. Google Field Trips is like a shot in the dark about what you might get.

“What we look for in terms of quality content is something brief (200-250 words), like an historical haiku. It has to be interesting, compelling, rapid to get through, and it must make you want to learn more.”

Next Exit users also can create backpacks -- sites grouped by theme or geography -- that can be built, for instance, while your are connected to wifi and downloaded to your smartphone. That way when you are off the beaten path and internet connectivity is sketchy, you’ll still have access to your backpack.

David Strohmaier is project manager for Next Exit History with HRA. He lives in Missoula, Mont. He says that the partnership with Moore and others at UWF has given the work that his company has done for decades new life in a digital world.

“We struggled with how to make this more engaging to the public, and that’s where this has gotten us excited about the world of mobile and digital storytelling,” he says.

One such project, Strohmaier notes, is under way in Great Falls, Mont., that would create a Lewis & Clark Trail backpack highlighting sites thematically or geographically tied to the famed explorers in that region.

Users also can create backpack themes around what tickles their historical fancy, or about sights to see on the way to visit the grandparents.

“We’re in discussions with some groups who might just want their one local historic sites to be hosted by Next Exit, and some organizations to create backpacks of sites along an historic trail that could include up to 300 sites,” Strohmaier says.

A backpack that Moore wants to develop would highlight African-American heritage in Pensacola. Another would expand Next Exit’s offerings in Warrington, North Hill, East Hill and throughout the city at large.

Next Exit at Chappie James house

With 450 years of history across multiple cultures to draw from, Pensacola couldn’t be a better tapestry upon which to draw.

“We have have resources to tell a great narrative here,” Moore says.

Next Exit will always be free, Moore says. And its database is always expanding, with sources in the Czech Republic, Australia, St. Lucia and elsewhere beginning to gather content.

An updated version should be out in the first or second quarter and will add a gaming feature that Moore says passed the beta test group of Boy Scouts he had to chaperone on a recent camping outing in Georgia.

“We’re looking for how do we get the audience that isn’t that interested in history but is interested in other things,” Moore says. “It is designed to appeal to the sixth-eighth grade demo, but all ages can enjoy it.”

Here’s how it works, according to Moore:

When you get close to a site, you check-in. Then you earn points toward badges, like a Pensacola antiquities badge. It has a trivia question element that is based upon the interpretation Next Exit  provide or something that is at the site. You have to answer the questions and earn points. That aspect is based on the junior ranger program at the Gulf Islands National Seashore.

The next step is a scavenger hunt item, this is based on a geocaching model, where you check in and look for something when you get there.

With the gaming feature there can be an additional component with it. For example, if you achieve a certain level, you get discounts at venues or restaurants in the city where you are.

“It’s kind of a cool way that people who might not care can learn without even realizing their learning,” Moore says.

The updated version also tells which people have accessed it where. Moore says it’s pretty popular in the downtown core, near Old Christ Church, and in Historic Pensacola Village.

“We’re finding hits on the old drive-in theater in Ensley. The T.T. Wentworth Museum had a stuffed cat people loved to learn about.  I guess if you see a stuffed cat while you’re on a sixth-grade field trip, it sort of sticks with you.”

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