I feel as though the house divided launch succeeded in gaining public interest and opening the door to a creative and unique way to marry technology and history. The film festival, the digital tour, and the David Blight lecture on why the Civil War remains in our memory were all fitting testaments to why the Civil War will not only remain relevant but will be reinvented in an exciting manner for people to study and research.
The most compelling and interesting part of the weekend was definitely the digital tour demonstration at the old courthouse. Despite the weather, the glimpse into what the future holds for experiencing the Civil War in a digital way and its unique presentation of information to the public was exciting. The application was not over cumbersome and had an interface that was easy to use and efficiently displayed all relevant information associated with the topic. Coupled with the ability to directly overlay pictures of Civil War Carisle, it was a great tool at capturing public interest.
With the current technology rapidly progressing and our knowledge of Carlisle in the Civil War growing, the pairing of these two holds exciting prospects for future students, teachers and historians. The guided tour demonstration proved technologies ability to completely reinvent how information is perceived, and how it can completely reinvigorate the mundane stigma associated with historical tours. The amount of information that provided and the ease of its accessibility, now literally in your hands, gives new life to a heavily observed subject. I personally am greatly interested to see the extent of how interactive and submersing this technology will bring us into the history of the Civil War.