The Inland Northwest Community Access Network

Location:
Spokane, WA

TINCAN provides education and support for social, economic and community development for the Inland Northwest region through the use of information technology and interactive media. We create online content of value to the local community;
develop collaborative training and education utilizing online resources; and
collaborate with local partners to provide access to digital technologies for those who might otherwise not be able to benefit from online information

Supported Projects



Museum Outreach and Archiving

Elisha Durrant
1/20071/2009

ONLINE HISTORY PROJECT COORDINATOR: Continue the development and expansion of TINCAN’s online history site – the Inland Northwest Memories Project; Work with neighborhoods and community organizations to utilize historical information for community identity; Train neighborhood and community organizations on gathering oral histories and preserving historical information in digital format; In collaboration with other TINCAN staff, link community and neighborhood history to other TINCAN community development efforts; Work with K-12 schools to promote utilization of the history site in the curriculum; Continue to develop and expand the Inland Northwest Memories volunteer base; Assist the Inland Northwest Memories project in developing and implementing a long-term sustainability plan.

Elisha manages the Inland Northwest Memories project, an online history archive funded by Humanities Washington. This includes outreach, training, and writing, as well as fundraising and project development. In addition, she works with staff on other projects as needed.

Elisha trained 20 small community museums in the digitization of their collections. She developed a video on the importance of small museums in preserving community history, which has been shown at a number of sites. Elisha is also conducting a seminar series, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, to familiarize secondary school teachers with the events leading to the passing of women’s suffrage in Washington State. She has drawn in a number of new community partners for this project.

In light of Elisha’s success, we have decided to make her a member of our staff after her second year of service.

Elisha has been invaluable to the growth and vitality of the Inland Northwest Memories project. She has found underwriters that will let us continue collecting veteran’s histories, and constantly discovers new sources of history that would otherwise be lost to the community. These primary source materials, when out online, will help our local schools fulfill the state’s ‘Dig Deep’ initiative that requires that students use primary sources in studying history.”
- Karen Michaelson, supervisor






Archiving Local History Online

Nora Lollar
9/20049/2006

The broad goal of Nora’s VISTA assignment was to develop local historical content for our online community history archive “Inland Northwest Memories” (history.tincan.org), to link the Memories project to other TINCAN community efforts, and to create a base of volunteers to collect information and maintain the site. Nora has taken a somewhat moribund project, where the site/database had been created but content was not being entered, and created a vibrant resource that captures local history.

The first focus for the site was to capture the history of World War II veterans because they are subject of a great deal of local interest and are quickly passing away. TINCAN is a contributing member of the Library of Congress Veterans’ History project. Nora’s accomplishments on the veteran’s aspect of the project include:

• Collecting, transcribing, and uploading (with volunteer assistance) 25 WWII veterans’ and civilians’ oral histories. Several WWI veterans have been identified as well.
• Scanning hundreds of photos from WWII, often from veterans’ scrapbooks, and photographing memorabilia, including medals and souvenirs brought back from the various locations in which the veterans were stationed.
• Reorganizing the handful of veteran’s histories and photos that were online, which included creating consistent archiving processes for the materials, correcting annotations, and in some cases, re-contacting the veteran or civilian to check data.
• Developing a cadre of 30 volunteers, primarily from Gonzaga University, to carry out interviews and scan photos.
• Putting on events to bring attention to veterans’ history. Perhaps the most memorable was a gathering on Veteran’s Day at a neighborhood coffee house, where veterans of all wars were invited to come, bring materials to be scanned, and make appointments for oral histories. The café owner loaned the back room to set up computers and scanners, and a local grocery store provided a large cake decorated like an American flag.

The next focus of the project was to engage local historical organizations in uploading historical materials to the Memories site. Nora’s accomplishments to date are:

• Identifying local museums and historical associations in the Inland Northwest. Four organizations are now actively working with the project.
• Working with the Valley Museum, a small community museum, that is planning to upload documents and photographs to the site. Working with a local school, they will develop an exhibit on the founders of the Valley community, and upload the materials to the site as well as having an exhibit.
• Working with the Hillyard Museum, which does not yet have a physical location, to explore putting materials online as a means of raising interest in the development of their neighborhood museum.
• Working with the local Railroad Society to consider putting their extensive collection of materials online. We will also look for a means of collecting railroad-related oral histories, since the railroads were pivotal in Spokane’s settlement and development.
• Scanning and documenting materials for the Masonic Temple, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
• Helping to develop a rationale for organizations to put their materials online. For example, since every item in the Memories archive contains the URL of the contributing organization (if available), viewers of online materials may select the contributor’s web site for further information, and perhaps donations.
• Beginning to develop formal training materials for volunteers to put materials online. Formal training procedures for uploading and using the archiving tool will greatly streamline the process, and take the burden off staff trying to develop a full and interesting site. The project also has goals that include working with K-12 schools and TINCAN’s other projects to make use of the Memories site. Accomplishments to date include:
• Assisting teachers who took prior oral history workshops in uploading student interviews and other veteran’s memorabilia.
• Developing a project with a local K-8 school to work with the Valley museum on an exhibit.
• Planning a summer teacher workshop for summer 2005.
• Developing a proposal with the Garland neighborhood to engage at risk teens in TINCAN’s Virtual Online Teen Center in a project that will use oral histories to create the basis for business district murals and a video project.






Youth Program Development

John Van Houdt
6/2007

John will be helping with outreach for our teen programs. He will be building a base of volunteers and mentors within the community who can work with our teen programs. He will also help to develop new teen activities utilizing information technology and interactive media.

- Develop an active volunteer program for TINCAN’s teen programs
- Recruit business and community members as mentors in TINCAN’s technology and media programs
- Develop internships and activities in web development, e-commerce, video and game development for at risk 13-18 year olds
- Develop and help to implement a program that allows teens who master media skills to work as paid interns at TINCAN
- Help to publicize TINCAN’s teen programs in the community




Transmission Project