Recollection Wisconsin’s Digital Readiness Community of Practice (CoP) connects Wisconsin’s public history practitioners and knowledge keepers with the skills, tools, and resources to support digital readiness at their institutions. This community is open to all and is aimed in particular at volunteers and staff in local historical societies and historic preservation organizations.
You are invited to connect with the Digital Readiness Community of Practice by:
- Joining digistew, the Wisconsin Digital Stewardship email list, to stay informed about upcoming events and new learning resources to support your digital project work.
- Checking out the recordings and other resources from the virtual, community-based Digital Readiness Fairs offered in Summer 2021.
- Learning more about what peer organizations in the state are working on through Digital Projects Case Studies.
2020-2021: Building a Statewide Digital Readiness Community of Practice
From October 2020 – December 2021, Recollection Wisconsin partnered with WiLS and the Wisconsin Historical Society to build a Community of Practice to support digital readiness – the knowledge, tools, resources, and infrastructure to provide online access to archives and historical records – in small and under-resourced local historical societies and historic preservation organizations across Wisconsin. This work was made possible by an Archives Collaboratives Implementation Grant (RJ-103067-20) from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), the granting arm of the National Archives.
The community of practice came together for four virtual Digital Readiness Fairs held June – August 2021. Each Fair was hosted by a local partner: Appleton Public Library, Crandon Area Historical Society, Pioneer Village/Barron County Historical Society, and Kenosha County Historical Society. The Fairs reached 269 individual registrants from 121 different organizations. Presenters included staff and volunteers from local and county historical societies as well as faculty and archivists from the University of Wisconsin system and private colleges, not to mention a teenage volunteer from a county genealogical group. Presentations and resources are available on our Digital Readiness Fairs web page.
We worked with the Community of Practice to design, develop, and test a suite of resources to help public history organizations plan and carry out digital projects:
- Digital Readiness Levels
- Digital Readiness Toolkit
- Digital Readiness Glossary
- Digital Project Planning Worksheet
- Digital Projects Case Studies
- The Toolkit Blog: Digital Projects Support
Grant information:
- Proposal narrative
- Semi-annual report (April 2021)
- Semi-annual report (September 2021)
- Final report (March 2022)
Community of Practice Launch Committee
Throughout the implementation grant, a Launch Committee made up of staff and volunteers from cultural heritage institutions across Wisconsin met regularly to identify priorities, plan events, offer feedback on resource drafts, and provide guidance on building peer-to-peer support networks.
Launch Committee members:
- Chris Allen, Kenosha County Historical Society
- Ben Barbera, Milwaukee County Historical Society
- Bonnie Byrd, Waukesha County Historical Society
- Michelle Gobert, Forest County Historical and Genealogical Society; University of Wisconsin-Extension
- Jennifer Gurske, Madison Trust for Historic Preservation
- Joe Hermolin, Langlade County Historical Society
- Cheryl Kern-Simirenko, Stanley Area Historical Society
- Janean Mollen-Van Beckum, History Center of Washington County
- Tammy Schutz, Barron County Historical Society
- Katie Stilp, Appleton Historical Society; Appleton Public Library
- Robin Untz, Lake Mills-Aztalan Historical Society
Launch Committee advisors and coordinators:
- Kristen Leffelman, Wisconsin Historical Society
- Janet Seymour, Wisconsin Historical Society
- Vicki Tobias, WiLS
- Kristen Whitson, WiLS
2019: Planning a Digital Readiness Community of Practice
From July-December 2019, Recollection Wisconsin partnered with WiLS and the Wisconsin Historical Society on a community-driven planning process to improve support for digital readiness in local historical societies and historic preservation groups. We surveyed the Society’s local affiliates, hosted community conversations, and facilitated strategic planning sessions. This work was supported by an Archives Collaboratives Planning Grant (RJ-RJ-103067Planning-20) from the NHPRC.
Read more about the planning process.
