Historical Reenactments 
with Twitter
Free status update service
"What's happening?" in 140 characters
Messages called "tweets"
19% of American Internet users use Twitter

Followers/Spectators: 
Experience history in bite-sized, micro-updates
Gain a sense for the actual timing of events

Participants/Content Creators: 
Evaluate primary sources from individual historical figures
Represent historical personae using social media tools
Collaboratively simulate historical events through individual characters

Cold War History course implementation: Cuban Missile Crisis
Marion Jensen
Tom Caswell
Rob Barton
Dr. Victor Lee
Dr. Brett Shelton
Utah State University
Marion Jensen (@marionjensen)
Tom Caswell (@tom4cam)
Rob Barton (@robmba)
Dr. Victor Lee (@vicariouslee)
Dr. Brett Shelton (@beshelton)
What is
?
TwHistory
Twitter + History
Questions?
Learning Objectives
Photo credit: msun523
Waterloo photo credit: jf1234
Setting up a TwHistory Reenactment
Currently involves multiple tools
4-step process
@TwHistory
http://TwHistory.org/
Step 3. Combine All Character Tweets
Create a Master Google Spreadsheet
Check timing and sequence
Step 2. Research & Write Tweets
Used Google Spreadsheets to collaborate
One character per sheet
Estimate time of events
Shorten to tweet length

Step 1. Establish Community & Communication
Used Google Groups
Find/share online historical sources
Collaborators select historical figures
Step 4. Schedule & Send Character Tweets
Pre-schedule tweets to be sent at specific time/date using SocialOomph.com
1-5 tweets sent per Twitter account per day
All tweets appear together on Twitter list
Future Ideas for 
Reenactments:
Lewis & Clark 
       expedition
Apollo 14-17 missions (40th anniversaries, 2011-12)
Titanic 100th anniversary (2012)

Future development of TwHistory.org:
Thanks to a generous grant from the Talis Foundation
Provide all tools via TwHistory.org
Allow reuse with varied timelines & start times
Link locations/maps with tweets
Future
Directions
1847 Pioneer Trek (In progress)
Battle of Gettysburg
Cuban Missile Crisis



Recent Projects
 
The Big Idea
Began in Spring 2009 while attending a conference remotely
Hundreds of people in the Twitter channel
Idea: Real-time, virtual, historical reenactments using Twitter
 
Photo credit: jf1234
=LEN(C61)