EVENT: Public announcement and launch of Austin’s Historical Survey Wiki
WHEN: Noon, Monday, June 4
WHERE: Austin City Hall Council Chambers, 301 W. Second St., 2nd floor
BACKGROUND: The Austin Historical Survey Wiki will offer site visitors an overview of historic buildings, properties and landscapes that tell the history of Austin.
The project is a partnership of The University of Texas at Austin schools of Architecture and Information and the City of Austin, which hope the interactive site will be able to provide a more comprehensive look at the cultures and people of the city.
By definition, a wiki invites public input. The Historical Survey Wiki provides Austin residents the opportunity to share their knowledge of historic properties with preservation professionals, which, in turn, improves transparency, accuracy and timeliness of historic site information. Online visitors are able to look up information using interactive maps and query tools, share information about historic sites, and access and upload photographs.
To create the wiki, faculty members and students at the university conducted extensive outreach to individuals in East Austin and the North University Area Neighborhood to survey and record historical resources in those areas.
The site is built on an open-source platform, meaning the code used to develop the Web tool can be adapted by other communities interested in using a similar approach.
The creation of the wiki was made possible through City of Austin funding, a Preserve America grant from the National Park Service and a certified local government grant from the Texas Historical Commission.
Council Member Laura Morrison will speak at the launch.
