Twhistory

May 12, 2011 8:56 AM

"Genevieve has told us what happened. A group of White supremacists attacked John, then Al stepped into to protect John." Live history on Twitter, via Twhistory.org. Currently broadcasting, The Freedom Riders.

"We’ve witnessed a group of pioneers make their way across American in the year of 1847. The Titanic has once again set sail, only to strike an iceberg and return to its watery grave. The Soviets and United States have clashed over missiles being sent to Cuba, and the British War Cabinet provides updates of ‘current’ events in World War Two. Our team has additional reenactments planned, but more importantly, the tools are now available, open and free, for anybody to use. Our hope is that one day visitors can come to the site, choose from a library of hundreds of reenactments, sit back, and watch history come alive." [Text from the latest issue of Panlibus]

Previously, previously.

Twhistory came about after Marion Jenson recreated the life of Union Soldier John Pardington in 2009. When Pardington was killed on the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, many followers were shocked and dismayed, and Jensen realized it could be a powerful medium for sharing history.

posted by cashman (8 comments total)

I don't really understand much about Twitter. Is there an easy way to read a Twitter feed in chronological order, starting at its beginning? Right now, I'm reading The Freedom Riders in reverse order, and it's this horrible sad story of places becoming more and more segregated.

The project looks really cool. Twitter has a unique ability to provide a story as if it were occurring in real-time. I don't think anyone thought of this, at all, when designing or implementing Twitter, but I think it's one of Twitter's most revolutionary aspects. I think it's changing how we understand what fiction is and can do, really.
posted by meese at 9:10 AM on May 12, 2011

I like this. The name they chose is unfortunate, though. The phonetic word "twist" makes it sound like phony history.
posted by jabberjaw at 9:10 AM on May 12, 2011

jabberjaw: "I like this. The name they chose is unfortunate, though. The phonetic word "twist" makes it sound like phony history"

on the other hand, a 'man in the high castle' twitter account would be pretty interesting.

/not Godwin
posted by mwhybark at 9:18 AM on May 12, 2011

a 'man in the high castle' twitter account would be pretty interesting.

I want to go to there.
posted by meese at 9:23 AM on May 12, 2011 [2 favorites]

I've been following an account that posts UK govt updates from the second world war as if in real-time. It's surprisingly enlightening. History has a habit of compressing months, years, decades and in some cases eras into sentences.

Twitter is the perfect format for stretching that back out again in a way that makes it low-impact enough to follow along.
posted by bonaldi at 9:47 AM on May 12, 2011

That said, I think they could embrace the Twitter nature in their updates a bit more. Tweets are generally written as if other tweeters are there with you. You wouldn't expect Charles Lightholler to only tweet for posterity, he'd tweet things like "Still plenty of spaces in boats 6,7,8, port side stop Past ballroom, up stairs stop Women and children only jst now stop #titanic #wsl".
posted by bonaldi at 9:52 AM on May 12, 2011

Is there an easy way to read a Twitter feed in chronological order, starting at its beginning?
Storify (previously on the blue) should help with that.
posted by Prince_of_Cups at 10:13 AM on May 12, 2011 [1 favorite]

meese writes "Twitter has a unique ability to provide a story as if it were occurring in real-time."

Newspaper serialization and of course blogging can also provide real time fakery.
posted by Mitheral at 3:32 PM on May 15, 2011