Heritage Town Hall: Blogroll for 8-26-08

August 26, 2008 by Jeff Guin
Filed under Blog

Welcome to the Heritage Town Hall.

These are some of the most thoughtful and interesting blog discussions right now (that we know of) related to the topic of heritage preservation.

The folks taking the time to share their thoughts in these quality posts appreciate your comments on their blogs.

Heritage values=Zen Habits? The popular life balance blog argues yes!

Paul Michael blogs about growing up in England, fascinated with the opportunity and diversity of the United States. But the corporatized American he discovered seven years ago deflated his dream. Walker writes about a documentary called “America Unchained” that follows Dave Gorman (yet another Brit),who seeks to cross America without spending any money at a corporately owned establishment. It’s much tougher than you think! Michael says:

“Life is about experiencing the differences and the riches that make us all so unique. And if I have to pay a dime extra for a can of green beans or a gallon of gas, well, maybe that’s well worth the price.” Read more at Zen Habits.

Strength for America through Historic Preservation Policy

Donovan Rypkema, principal of PlaceEconomics and President of Heritage Strategies International, recently wrapped up series of blog posts on why historic preservation should be an integral part of US foreign policy. He also offers up 10 ways for the U.S. federal government to start, including: follow-up services for visitors, conference scholarships, short-course training, development banks, Department of Interior international office, federal agency expertise, a specific line item in foreign assistance, Ambassador’s Fund expansion, taking the lead on Habitat Agenda item IV C-8, and trade negotiations. According to Rypkema:

“If there is one adjective that describes the impact of historic preservation it is that one – healing. Healing our cities, healing our neighborhoods, healing our downtowns, healing our small towns, healing our economies – all by healing our historic resources.”

If historic preservation has proven to be such a healing tool in America, it needs to be a healing tool supported by America in the rest of the world..” Read more at Heritage Strategies.

Investigating the power of voice via virtual museum

Just when you thought she couldn’t possibly be any more inventive, Nina Simon kicks it up a notch with a brand new experiment in conversation: The Voicemail Museum. If you’ve never heard of Nina Simon, check out my podcast interview with her. With Voicemail Museum, she is looking to explore the potential use of cellphones as feedback devices, learn more about the relationship between feedback format and quantity/quality of input, and find questions that yield amazing visitor-created content. Simon says:

“This could be a really simple and powerful way for visitors to share comments using their own devices. The museum would set up a bunch of unique voicemail accounts for different exhibits and then post the phone numbers on text labels. A museum without a phone system could even do this the way I did: register free phone numbers with a web-based voicemail service and receive the messages directly to your email inbox.” Give her a ring.

That’s all from the Town Hall for now. Heard any other great conversations on heritage out there? Let us know about it.