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on December 5
dill pickle club
Posted project update #3thanks for your support! we will need it.
Post CommentDear Kickstarter backers,
Thank you so much for your support of Know Your City. With just a few hours left, it looks like our fundraising campaign will come to a close without reaching our goal.
We want you to know that we remain committed to this project. Contrary to seeing this as a disappointment, we view this as a start to creating an exciting tool for better understanding our communities. Part of being a nimble nonprofit organization is trying ideas out — and not being afraid to fail — or rethink the best way in which to make a project possible.
In the coming days we will strategize how to best move forward. We plan on applying for grants to supplement personal donations, as well as sponsorships. We want to state again that we believe strongly in the importance of this program, and we look forward to developing other ways in which to make the project possible.
If you support this project, and are willing to extend your pledge beyond the Kickstarter campaign, please e-mail us at ask@dillpickleclub.org to let us know. By sending this quick note and expressing your continued support, you will lend credibility to our grant applications — providing funds we can leverage that will speak to the community need of and desire for the project.Once again, thank you so much for your support of our work to broaden knowledge of Portland's past, present and future!
- The Dill Pickle Club
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on November 25
dill pickle club
commented on a project updatethx richard. we're on twitter at @dillpickleclub. pls help spread the word and encourage your friends to pledge their support!
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on November 21
dill pickle club
Posted project update #2Getting to Know Your City
Post CommentAs a way to give insight into our process in making Know Your City, we are asking our creative team members to write a bit about their involvement and interest in the project. We hope these posts answer some questions and provide context as to our overall aims in developing the program. This week's post comes from App Developer Matt Blair.
I’ve lived in or near downtown Portland for nearly ten years now. I spend most of my time in the city on foot, and yet I can still walk down just about any street and find some detail I haven’t noticed before: a curve in a street for no obvious reason, an ornamental feature on a storefront that doesn’t match anything else in sight, a streetcar track peeking up between brick streets, or the remnants of a sign painted directly on a brick wall decades ago.I see these traces of the past, but I don’t understand them. Our city has a rich history, but we need some way to unlock it.
About a year and a half ago, I was in the process of brainstorming projects related to the City of Portland’s Civic Apps Challenge. At that time, a history app was at the top of my short list of projects. I could imagine what the project would look like and how I could build it, but it was missing the most essential element: history.
There were a few lists of historic places available, but they were thin on details: address, year built, and maybe the name of an architect’s name or firm.
It wouldn’t have been hard to package these lists as an app, but 600+ dots on a map without any cultural, social or historical context just didn’t seem that compelling to me. One source included architectural styles, and I thought about trying to tie that into Wikipedia, but it still didn’t seem all that appealing, especially since the related Wikipedia entries were so varied in quality and availability.
If I was going to spend the time required to build a great app, I wanted to make these locations come alive with story, context, voice and narrative. I wanted to go deeper: Who lived here? What were their lives like? Why did people leave, and who moved in after them – or displaced them? How has the neighborhood changed? What made this city what it is today? You can’t really get much of that from addresses and names alone.
As I imagined ways to build on these lists, I quickly realized that it was becoming a book-sized project. I even wrote a blog post seeking collaborators. I’m not experienced in doing historical research, and I would have been starting from almost nothing. It could take years for me to figure out how to do it well on my own.
With no obvious sources for these stories and narratives, no funding, and lots of other projects in progress, I shelved the idea. I still wanted to create apps that encouraged people to get outside, to walk and explore the streets of this city, and to notice the unnoticed (my ‘urban rambling’ series) but I chose to focus on PDX Trees and Public Art PDX.
A few months later, Max Ogden introduced me to Marc Moscato, director of the Dill Pickle Club, a non-profit which has been leading tours, hosting lectures and reprinting books about many facets of Portland’s past, present and future for the last couple of years. They have relationships with a range of experts who have a detailed knowledge of this region’s history.
Marc outlined a challenge that the DPC staff and board had been discussing: How could they preserve the experiences of their tours and lectures – most of which were only given one time – and make them available to a broader audience?
It’s been nearly a year since that dialogue began, and we’ve spent many many hours imagining and refining the project, with insightful feedback from a lot of different members of the community.
The app and mobile website we’ve planned will be far more than just another downtown guidebook. It’s not just one history of Portland – it’s about many interwoven histories – and it will highlight the diversity of the communities that have lived and worked in downtown Portland, and the neighborhoods they built over the last 150+ years.
Since working on this project, I’ve learned about the Greek community in Old Town/Chinatown, one of many communities featured on Suenn Ho’s bronze plaques:
I’ve learned that Portland’s Japantown once covered a few dozen blocks north and south of Burnside, as shown by this fantastic model in the window of the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center:
I’ve learned that the New Market Block building, in addition to being one of the best remaining examples of cast-iron architecture on the West Coast, was also inspired by a building in St. Mark’s Square in Venice:
And I’ve learned that the Golden West Hotel on the corner of NW Everett and Broadway was built more than 100 years ago to serve African-Americans who worked on the transcontinental railroad:
I didn’t know any of this until we started talking to the experts who will contribute to this project. And that’s why we’re doing it.
We’re asking Elias Foley to record and edit high-quality, well-indexed interviews of these experts and historians telling the stories of their neighborhoods and cultures. We’re asking Kate Bingaman-Burt to create illustrations that will give the app a distinct visual character. And our budget includes an honorarium for each of the experts who will contribute, and everyone else who participates in the project. (For the full budget, see our Kickstarter page.)The project is so much more than an app. In fact, the app budget is only 30% of our fund-raising goal. How can we build an app for that price? It’s simple: we can’t.
Everyone on our team is working on this at a fraction of standard industry rates because we all believe in the importance of this project. We believe that understanding more about our past is essential to the process of deciding who we want to be in the future.
And that’s where you come in: You can help us make this happen by supporting our Kickstarter campaign. All the members of our team are located in Portland, so your pledge supports local artists, working in the local economy.
Please don’t wait: the campaign ends December 5th.
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on November 4
dill pickle club
Posted project update #1know your city: selected sites
Thanks all for your support! A week in and we're at 10% of our goal. Still a long way to go, but a good start nevertheless. Please continue to spread the word by sharing this project with your friends and encouraging them to pledge.
We've had a lot of inquiries about the scope of the app, selected sites and guest experts. We wanted to provide some of our preliminary work and ideas on designing the project...below is our current progress!Confirmed speakers and sites:
Henry Sakamoto / Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center
Henry will talk about the history of Portland's old Japantown, how he and his family were forced into interment during WWII, the founding of the Oregon Nikkei Endowment and how the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Center came to be.Bill Hawkins / Cast Iron District
Hawkins, retired architect and author of The Grand Era of Cast-Iron Architecture in Portland, will discuss Portland's historic cast iron buildings and his efforts to preserve the city's historic architecture in Downtown Portland, particularly the area around South Waterfront.Suenn Ho / Bronze Plaques
Urban Designer Suenn Ho, will speak to her work designing 16 plaques in Old Town commemorating the cultural diversity of the area.Bill Hart / Goldenwest Hotel
Bill Hart, Architect at Carleton Hart Architecture, will speak to his efforts to preserve the history of the Goldenwest Hotel. The hotel was a important hub for the African American community in the late 1800s.Israel Bayer / Street Roots
Executive Director of Street Roots, Portland's street newspaper, Bayer will discuss Portland's skid row, its homeless population and the city's many former single room occupancy hotels.Peter Boag/ AW Ankeny gay history
Boag, professor and author of several books and articles on gay history in the Northwest, will discuss Portland's queer history, its people and locations.
Speakers and sites we would like to include (not confirmed!):
Michael Munk / radical history
Munk, author of Portland's Red Guide, discussing labor organizing on Portland's waterfront.
Mary Leong/ Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association
Leong, long-time Portland resident, discussing the history of CCBA and its importance to the Chinese community.Judith Margles / Oregon Jewish Museum
Margles, Executive Director of Oregon Jewish Museum, on the history of Jewish Portland, particularly the destruction of many SW Portland homes and business during urban renewal planning in the 1970s.
Dan Louie / Huber's Restaurant
Louie talking to the history of Portland's oldest restaurant, and its many historic photos and artifacts.
Nicholas Starin / Union Station
Starin, City Planner on the Central City Team and Historic Resources Program, Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, on the history of the train station.
David Millholand / Skidmore Fountain
Millholand, President of the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission, on the history and origins of Skidmore Fountain and C.E.S. Wood.
Randy Gragg / Halprin Fountains
Gragg, author of Where the Revolution Began, on the Lawrence and Anna Halprin, their fountains and their significance to the city of Portland.
Other sites we would like to include (unsure of speakers):
Lovejoy Columns
Focusing on the history of Portland as a center for railroads and the city's Greek heritage.Erickson’s Saloon
Focusing on the history of Portland's working class origins.
Other guests we'd like to feature (unsure of sites):
Brain Libby
Blogger, www.portlandarchitecture.com.
Dan Haneckhow
Blogger, www.cafeunkown.com.Many of these experts have participated in past Dill Pickle Club lectures and tours. This app project is conceived as a way to preserve these experiences and make them available to more people.
We are still in the process of finalizing the list, and are in fact, open to your feedback. Drop us a line if you have a great idea for a historic place or guest expert. Keep in mind this is the initial version, which we will expand upon hitting our goal. Thank you for your continued support!
Post Comment -
on October 24
dill pickle club launched a project
Know Your City: Portland's Social History App by dill pickle club
Know Your City will be a free phone app and Website providing a tour of downtown Portland's cultural heritage.
Funding Unsuccessful (12/06/2011) -
on March 7, 2011
dill pickle club
Posted project update #4walls of pride release party this sunday @ in other words
Post CommentHello Kickstarter backers! Just sending you an invite to our release party this Sunday at In Other Words Bookstore. Save us some postage and pick up your copy at the party! More info follows...
Walls of Pride Book Release Sunday, March 13, 4PM-6PM In Other Words Bookstore 14 Northeast Killingsworth Street
Celebrate the release of Walls of Pride: A Tour of African American Public Art, with brief talks and two short movies: a 16mm documentary on the Albina Mural Project and a piece on the history of In Other Words Bookstore. Refreshments will be provided by E’Njoni Ethiopian Cafe.
Walls of Pride provides a self-guided tour to 20 of the city’s African American public artworks through color photos, a detailed map, mural descriptions nd artist bios. The book gives context to these vital works through interviews with artists Isaka Shamsud-Din, Henry Frison and Adriene Cruz, and a transcribed conversation between curator Robin Dunitz and history professor Reiko Hillyer. Walls of Pride at once celebrates Portland’s African American art, while underscoring the need to preserve these oft-overlooked cultural contributions.
Stop on by to pick up your copy at the release party. We’d love to see you and it will save us a bundle at the post office.
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on January 3, 2011
dill pickle club
Posted project update #3thanks for helping make walls of pride a reality
Post CommentThank you for helping making Walls of Pride possible. We're thrilled the campaign was a success and couldn't have done it without your help.
If you haven't already seen, there was a nice feature on the book project in today's Oregonian (http://www.oregonlive.com/art/index.ssf/2011/01/walls_years_vandals_take_toll.html).
We’re in the final editing stages and will be going to print in just a couple weeks. All orders will ship on or before January 31st. Please make sure we have your mailing address so we can mail it you as soon as it's off the press!
Thanks again,
The Dill Pickle Club -
on December 21, 2010Funded!
Walls of Pride: A Guidebook to African American Public Art by dill pickle club
Walls of Pride is a guidebook celebrating African American public art in Portland.
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116% funded $1,166 pledged
- 38 backers
- Funded Dec 21, 2010
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on December 15, 2010
dill pickle club
Posted project update #2update #2
Post Commenthello all! we've reached our goal in less than half the time allotted to the project; amazing!
we wanted to post a quick video update. enjoy!
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on December 8, 2010
dill pickle club
Posted project update #1off and running + new incentives!
Post CommentYesterday we officially launched our Kickstarter campaign to fund Walls of Pride. And we've already added a couple new incentives!
Check out the new levels, including a signed copy of Robin Dunitz's postcard book of Portland murals, Portland Walls, as well as lunch with contributing artist Adriene Cruz.
Thanks for your support. Please spread the word to your friends. We have our work cut out for us in the next two weeks and we can't reach our goal without your help!
- The Dill Pickle Club
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dill pickle club
Portland, OR
Know Your City is a project of the Dill Pickle Club (http://dillpickleclub.org/), a nonprofit organization whose mission is to broaden knowledge of Portland's past, present and future. Since 2009, DPC has organized tours, lectures, publications and educational programs that foster a deeper connection to community.
Looks like a great project. I hope it works out well, especially the cross platform capability.
Looks like you might want to spend more time on twitter to spread the word a lot faster.
Good Luck.
thx richard. we're on twitter at @dillpickleclub. pls help spread the word and encourage your friends to pledge their support!