The Fate of Historic Preservation in Times of Economic Downturn

The chapel on the University of Georgia’s campus, full of more than 175 years of memories, was a fitting site to host a discussion about historical preservation. Friday, preservationist Suzanne “Susan” Turner spoke to a group of about 45 attendees for the Sigma Pi Kappa’s annual preservation lecture concerning the influence of the current economic recession on the preservation of historical sites and gardens.

Turner emphasized the need for people to preserve places from the past in order to tell their stories. “I take for granted that people understand the value of historical places,” said Turner. “But people don’t; that’s why there’s people like me and some of you in the audience.”

April is historic preservation month at UGA. Turner’s speech was among many events hosted by Sigma Pi Kappa, which is an international honor society founded at UGA for professionals, students, and faculty of historic preservation. The group also hosted a cookout and exhibits for members and visitors.

Turner has enjoyed a long career as a preservationist. Some of her work has included completing cultural landscape reports for historic sites, analyzing the gardens of plantations, and heading her own preservation firm. Looking back on her time spent preserving antebellum homes in Louisiana, Turner said it was, “Analysis that gave me such pleasure to understand the landscape of my home state.”

Historical preservation both benefits and suffers in the current economic situation, according to Turner.

She said, “Today it is difficult to talk about the value on anything in this economic flux.” For many, the value of land has gone from the historical significance of a place, to the opportunity to make money. When economic times are good, people often spend money to change significant parts of historical places.

To illustrate this point, Turner spoke of one of her current projects working on a historic home in Houston, Texas. The garden, originally designed by the well-known planner Frederick Law Olmsted, has undergone significant changes per the request of the home’s current owner. The obvious disgust in Turner’s voice as she described the ostentatious planters, fountains, and conservatory the owner placed in the garden added to her spoken belief that they did not fit with the home’s style.

Sometimes, however, a historical place makes changes in order to remain functional. Turner discussed the famous New Orleans City Park. The beautiful historic site has allowed visitors peace and tranquility in the middle of the bustling city. In the years after the disastrous hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the park had to rebuild. As Turner said, “The hurricanes caused the loss of the very fabric that held [the people of New Orleans] together.”

FEMA had promised the park $42 million to help the efforts, and according to Turner, the park planners had to put reports together quickly. Problems arose, as there was little historical documentation for research and planning. Turner said, “The fate of the historic park is still not a high priority for park administrators.” As with the theme of her speech, Turner emphasized that the park planners have changed important historical aspects of landmarks in order to make money.

Historic preservation, however, may benefit in the face of the recession. Basing her argument off of Time magazine’s article, “The End of Excess: Is This Crisis Good for America?” Turner said that the economic crisis would benefit historic and cultural landscapes. No longer would people frivolously throw in money to change parts historical landmarks in the face of economic downturn.

Turner sees herself as an activist in maintaining the significant aspects of historic locales. She knows that she, and others like her, must work to keep landmarks preserved in order to tell the stories of the previous owners. As Turner said, “We must be agents of change in a shift that must happen.”

 

        

A panel of experts visits UGA to talk about the television and computer

According to a group of experts that visited the University of Georgia on Friday, there is more information about the primetime TV show Lost than there is porn.

Although this may not have gotten the direct message across, it shocked the audience that were at UGA's Miller Learning Center to attend a discussion on television and the computer. Led by Horace Newcomb, who is director of the Peabody Awards, the event had five panelists with two critics and three members of universities around the US that study how television and the computer affect each other.

One opinion shared by all five panelists and Newcomb was the idea that social networking sites online are affected by primetime TV. "Half of the top topics on Twitter are about television," Alisa Perren said. Perren also mentions the "race to a million followers" between Ashton Kutcher and CNN. "Both Kutcher and CNN found themselves on TV, so they are affecting the internet like every other TV personality through this race."

Twitter is not the only social networking site that combines television and the internet. On April 12, thousands of people used the status feature on Facebook to let others know about Susan Boyle and the YouTube video that came from her performance of Britain's Got Talent. Boyle is the 47-year-old woman who made her debut and shocked millions around the world by singing a song from Les Miserables called “I Dreamed a Dream.”

With Susan Boyle having over 15 million hits on YouTube, "this is a great example of a viral video," said Aaron Barnhart, a panelist and TV critic of http://www.tvbarn.com/. He mentions that a viral video "are blowing up" and becoming a lot more powerful recently.

Maureen Ryan, a TV critic for the Chicago Tribune, talks about the idea that discussions and people’s comments to these discussions are becoming “viral” as well. “People get really passionate about shows and the online discussion,” Ryan said. “Blogs add a level of experience to TV.”

Barnhart agrees with Ryan, although he thinks that the possibility of discussion on the internet about popular TV shows is a great addition to the connection between the audience and the critics. “People’s comments challenge us and how we are going to move forward in our jobs,” Barnhart said. “From the last two or three years, I am finally beginning to get this, as opposed to the 10 years before this.”

Another aspect to the internet is the idea that one can watch television shows online at their convenience. Hulu has become a major site where people are looking to view their favorite shows for free.

Because of the possibility for these discussions and the ability to watch popular TV shows online, some think that eventually the television will become outdated. However, according to Amanda Lotz, a panelist from the University of Michigan, people are using computers and televisions differently. “The idea that TVs are going to be obsolete in a few years is stupid,” she said. “It really depends on what works best at the time.”

Twitter and other social networking sites have actually caused more viewers to watch popular shows in real time on TVs. According to Perren, “Twitter and Facebook stimulate your mind and make you think about what you are watching and because other people’s responses are immediate, they are causing more people to watch the show while it is being aired.”

Despite all of the research done on this technology of the 21st century, the experts of the panel along with Newcomb can only come to one conclusion. This conclusion is that they know nothing. "We don't have answers about anything."

Metrics Lie Behind PR and Marketing

Speaking to the PRSSA on Wednesday, Edward O'Meara promised that he wasn't going to do math.

What he did do was talk about his work experience and knowledge. A graduate from both UGA, where he got an undergraduate degree in political science, and the graduate school of journalism at Northwestern University, O'Meara is a co-founder of the MediaHound agency. His main purpose in speaking was to give advice to students facing prospects in PR and related fields.

O'Meara told the group: "The reason I came here is to help you avoid being a 'schlockmeister' who's out there peddling [your product]."

The metric side of the marketing business, where O'Meara works, involves measuring the return made on marketing projects and investments. At MediaHound he is involved in processing marketing data to help businesses better utilize their resources and promote themselves through the news media.

He spoke to the students about the tasks and challenges they would face at their future jobs, urging them to consider above all else the impact of marketing work on their clients. Projected onto the large screen behind him, in one of the MLC's biggest rooms, were three images of himself. In one, he used his hands to cover his eyes, in another, his ears, and in the last, his mouth. O'Meara stressed the importance of examining one's own work from many perspectives.

"What is the best metric in PR?" he asked the group. After a few hesitant answering calls from the students, he admitted, to laughter: "There really isn't an answer."

Impact was mentioned again and again. CEOs and managers would expect to see results, O'Meara cautioned, and the impact the students' future work would have for their companies. The problem lies in the metrics, the measuring of that impact.

CEOs do not understand marketing, O'Meara said. Those people working in marketing must continually justify their budgets and get "ink" in publications like newspapers and trade magazines, visual results that show word of their company or product spreading.

He said: "It gets sweaty really fast when you get asked 'Where's the story?'"

O'Meara advised students on the best way to garner coveted ink and publicity: using information wisely and contacting specific reporters rather than blanketing editors at every major publication with form e-mails. Just measuring coverage is not an adequate metric, he added, but in the electronic age the marketing industry is still working out the standards to measure returns and response to marketing efforts.

With so much uncertainty in both the market and the current economy, O'Meara advised students: "Don't just chase fashion." Start, he said, with methods that have been proven to work. "Everybody has to be a contributor to revenue."

Though he did not inundate the students with math, like he promised, his speech clearly carried the message that their future employers would be doing just that.

Soundslide about Social Media and Journalism

Lizzy Nephew's Soundslide about Social Media Changing Journalism

Second Life Virtually Changes Education

Virtual worlds might seem like a game for tech savvy teens, but at The University of Georgia, a virtual world aficionado is educating professors about the benefits of utilizing Second Life in the classroom.

Today, David Miller, from the Center for Teaching and Learning, introduced two of the university's Second Life projects and explained avatars, islands and Linden Dollars. Second Life is a free virtual world built by its members who can create anything from schizophrenia simulators to replicas of the Sistine Chapel.

The Center of Teaching and Learning leads lectures that cover different education topics to help insure that university continues to maintain dynamic academics. Out of an audience of 15 adults, two took notes on their computer and only a few had explored Second Life.

According to Miller, "A lot of Universities are beginning to make use of virtual worlds, and they are building campuses in Second Life and other virtual worlds that are replicas of their own campuses. They are doing education environments where people can go and participate in scientific experiments and other types of experiments."

Two of the main projects that Miller introduced are The Georgia Museum of Art's virtual museum and a learning facility replicating Anse Bundren's house in William Faulkner's novel "As I Lay Dying."

According to Jenny Williams, the Public Relations Coordinator for the museum, she assisted in beginning the virtual museum because the actual museum closed for an expansion. The virtual museum allows the permanent collection to be accessible to the world.

Williams explained: "We're really excited about this being more than an educational tool for museum studies and art history students. It's also for those who may never get to visit The Georgia Museum of Art."

The virtual house dedicated to "As I Lay Dying" includes resources for visitors to learn more about the novel. Resources include Web pages, student monologue projects, a map of Faulkner's mythical Yoknapatawpha County, and monologues by other professors.

Paul Quick, the professor sponsoring Bundren's house, highlighted two of his top problems in Second Life: grading and copyright. Quick believes that students need more instruction when it comes to experimenting with Second Life. Quick said "I like the monologues, but this was certainly an experiment. I learned that I need a better rubric."

Quick also commented about copyright concerns associated with having a Great Depression room. In a similar situation, Williams discussed copyright issues for The Georgia Museum of Art: "Copyright is something we're dealing with a lot with this project particularly because we are putting real images in the gallery."

According to Williams, a large concern is the ability for people to capture virtual work through screen shots, but she said the resolution is usually too low to copy. Williams advised the audience to protect themselves against copyright issues by researching and following fair use guidelines.

Kelly Foster, a Research Professional at Carl Vinson Institute of Government, felt that the lecture focused too much on the basic elements of Second Life, but was excited about an opportunity to see the virtual projects. Foster attended the event because she plans to use Second Life to research the polling of young adults. She feels Second Life is more interactive than other media.

Miller believes that virtual worlds are changing communication, and educators must explore how to use these outlets for both research and communication. Miller began his closing statement by saying, "In the big picture of human culture, we're full of virtual worlds, but this one allows you to do some things that other virtual worlds do not. The interactivity and engagement with your avatar are very powerful."

Bloggers Attract Audiences, Spread Information

Today two different bloggers gave their opinions on how to create a successful blog and how to carry journalism to the blogosphere.

Bethany Keeley is a graduate PhD student at the University of Georgia, and writes for ThinkChristian as well as authoring the popular Unnecessary Quotes blog. Unnecessary Quotes gets between three thousand to four thousand hits on an average weekday, and around two thousand hits on weekend days.

Keeley said: “I guess I’m sort of a professional blogger, but it’s a side job for me. I’m really a professional scholar.”

She added that Unnecessary Quotes has an audience because the topic matter of the blog is “absurdly specific.”

The Internet is a large place and users do not want to wander around in cyberspace frantically searching through a blogger’s archives for a post on a specific idea. A focused blog draws a bigger audience than a blog that spreads itself over many subject areas. The audience knows what to expect and can look in certain places to find concentrated information on a particular topic.

Also speaking was Morgan Josey Glover, who has journalistic experience, is now the content manager for the Web site GoGreenTriad. Part of her duties include maintaining a blog. She said that the purpose of a blog was to direct readers to information available on other Web sites.

Glover said, “I would just say that journalism today is a lot more entrepreneurial.” She urged students to know how to work many different kinds of technology and feel comfortable interviewing with several different methods.

Her advice points out the nature of journalism today and how multimedia is affecting reporting. Reporters and news outlets must pay attention to more than just their print editions, because audiences want news in different platforms. Web sites, Twitter accounts, and blogs can be used to disseminate information and point readers back to the newspaper or magazine’s own site.

As new technology continues to attract audiences, reporters in the future will need to develop skills and practices for utilizing the technology. Reporters must follow the readers and speak to them in the ways they are using to speak to others.

Replay of Live Blog with "Unnecessary" Quotations Blogger