DIGITAL MEDIA RESOURCE ASSISTANT (DHA-RA) with National Park Service at Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation

The Digital Media Assistant will explore digital communication formats to improve how the Olmsted Center shares cultural landscape stories with the public. As a member of the Olmsted Center team, the Digital Media Assistant will create ArcGIS StoryMaps that convey a strong sense of place by linking engaging narratives and graphics to maps that reveal the spatial relationships within nationally significant cultural landscapes. The StoryMaps will relate stories that are inclusive, capturing the diverse ideas, experiences, and perspectives that have shaped our cultural landscape heritage. The Digital Media Assistant will also contribute to the production of Landscape Profiles, a National Park Service web series capturing the history and significance of individual cultural landscapes. Both digital media projects will improve the visitor experience and foster community engagement within the National Parks, through engendering a deeper public understanding of the significance of cultural landscapes.

The StoryMaps and Profiles will focus on landscapes that represent a broad sweep of historic contexts. For instance, the Digital Communications Assistant will create StoryMaps for the Eleanor Roosevelt National Historical Site, the only national historic site dedicated to a First Lady, and of the Slater Mill Complex in the Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park, the birthplace of the industrial revolution. Additional StoryMaps and Landscape Profiles may focus on the Gaines Mill Battlefield in Richmond, and/or the Roebling Delaware Aqueduct and Zane Grey home, among others.

The Digital Media Assistant will also provide bi-weekly summaries of work activities on the “Designing the Parks” program blog (https://designingtheparksoclp.wordpress.com) and present findings and a summary of the assistantship experience though a final digital presentation.