How do we make knowledge more accessible without losing its meaning?
What happens when cultural knowledge becomes easier to reach, reuse, and separate from the people, places, evidence, and histories that give it context.
This page is a working research notebook. It gathers interpretive notes from across the archive and, over time, reviewed contributions that add context, correction, documentation, or firsthand knowledge.
Notes from the archive
VOICES OF THE PAST · Podcast interview · 2010
John Leeke and the Heritage Video Blogger
John Leeke used online video to make hands-on preservation knowledge available far beyond the places where he practiced it. What made the material useful, however, was that the technique remained attached to a practitioner, a process, and accumulated experience. Greater access did not require stripping the knowledge of the human context that gave it authority.
Historic Preservation · Video · Craft Knowledge · Digital Access
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VOICES OF THE PAST · Oral history · 2026
Greg Baldwin: An Oral History Built to Be Explored
A long oral history contains precisely the digressions, context, contradictions, and detail that make it valuable—and difficult to navigate. The layered presentation used full audio, transcript, video chapters, and contextual writing to create multiple entrances without replacing the complete source. The experiment asks whether accessibility can expand without making the history smaller.
Oral History · Interpretation · Accessibility · Context
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VOICES OF THE PAST · Project retrospective · 2012–2014
Pinterest, Flickr, and the Road to GLAM-Wiki
Ballooning postcards on Pinterest and ceramic Christmas cards on Flickr tested how collection material could travel beyond the institutional catalog without becoming detached from archival context. The later move into GLAM-Wiki pushed the same question from visibility toward reuse: how can cultural material become easier to find, cite, teach with, and build upon while retaining provenance and interpretation?
Digital Heritage · Collections Access · Social Media · GLAM-Wiki
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HOMETOWN HERITAGE · Newspaper column · 2009
Seven Myths About Bousillage: How Creole Buildings Were Really Made
Drawing on interviews with preservation practitioners, the column corrects misconceptions about a traditional building material. It illustrates why making craft knowledge widely available must also preserve the expertise, distinctions, and practical contexts behind it.
Craft Knowledge · Creole Architecture · Context
HOMETOWN HERITAGE · Newspaper column · 2010
Finding Free Natchitoches Heritage Media Using Wikimedia Commons
The article encouraged the reuse of freely available heritage media. It also invites a continuing question: how can images and documents circulate more widely while remaining connected to their origins and reliable contextual information?
Open Knowledge · Media Reuse · Provenance