Online History Projects: Change and Sustainability

Sara Wilmshurst

After the Future of Knowledge Mobilization and Public History Online workshop in August 2024, I wanted to hear more about each project’s history, structure, and plans for the future. Workshop participants Corey Slumkoski (Acadiensis Blog), Tom Peace (Active History), Samia Dumais (Histoire Engagée), and Jessica DeWitt (NiCHE’s The Otter – La Loutre) kindly answered my questions. For more, see our series page of Essays on the Future of Knowledge Mobilization and Public History Online.

SW: How has your project changed since its inception/since you joined? 

JD (NiCHE): The Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE) was founded in 2004 by our first director, Alan MacEachern. It was originally funded through a SSHRC cluster grant and, as MacEachern noted in 2023, “thrived from the beginning.” In its first decade or so, NiCHE supported a wide array of activities, including regional networks, grad student travel and research funding, and our ever-popular annual Canadian History of the Environment Summer School (CHESS). Our blog, The Otter – La Loutre, was a smaller part of this larger undertaking and in its early years was a rather informal, internal space for blogging by core members. 

I joined the NICHE Team in 2014 as social media editor (a role I continue to hold in addition to co-editor-in-chief), which was the tailend of the SSHRC funding era. We applied for a new SSHRC grant that year, but were not successful, so we continued to run for 5+ years with no budget. Because we could no longer fund in-person efforts, we started putting a lot of energy into our website, which was very low cost. This financial reality paired with the onslaught of the pandemic in 2020 served as the perfect combo to launch our website into a new era of abundance. Our once-humble blog has grown into an internationally recognized environmental web publication. Our readership has grown by 2.5x, and our contributor ship has nearly tripled in the past decade. 

TP (AH): The project has waxed and waned over the years. Since 2009, the website has been the backbone of the initiative. We have, though, sponsored workshops, conferences, and other types of non-digital projects. Additionally, the growth of Sean Graham’s podcast, the exhibit section, as well as several series have made the project a dynamic one to continue working on.

CS (AB): The Acadiensis Blog was founded in 2015, and over the past decade it has largely remained the same in its operation and orientation. It was founded to serve as a means of bringing the journal Acadiensis into the digital realm. It is a separate entity from the journal, but it is closely affiliated with the journal. For example, I edit the blog which is part of my duties as the Digital Communications Editor for the journal. We try to have the blog support the journal by publicizing longer works that appear in the journal, often by posting extracts from essays as a means of driving traffic to the journal site.

SD (HE): Créé en 2010, Histoire Engagée est passé de plateforme de publication d’articles en ligne à organisme à but non-lucratif. Cette initiative s’inscrit dans un désir de professionnalisation de nos activités. En effet, il est important pour nous de nous détacher de l’Université en proposant une offre de services en histoire publique. Nous proposerons des conférences et autres activités qui s’inscrivent dans notre volet pédagogique. Il restera toujours possible de publier des articles de fond, des rubriques et des recensions.

Il est important de souligner que depuis 2017, Histoire Engagée se positionne comme étant de gauche et progressiste. Ainsi, notre comité éditorial, auparavant constitué d’historien.ne.s qui évoluent majoritairement dans le milieu académique, se diversifie avec l’arrivée de membres provenant de disciplines variées.

SW: How is your project sustained (i.e. volunteer labour, grant funding, fundraising, institutional support)?

TP (AH): Mostly volunteer labour. At times, we have benefited from SSHRC funding, either directly or through partnerships. We receive a small amount (about $200, I think) annually through fundraising. Huron provides backend support with finances and from time to time commits some financial resources.

SD (HE): Notre projet est majoritairement soutenu grâce au travail acharné des membres de notre comité éditorial, qui sont tous et toutes bénévoles. Nous avons eu quelques contractuel.le.s dans le passé, dont la rémunération fut assurée par des dons et des fonds ponctuels. Nous avons également travaillé avec des étudiant.e.s stagiaires.

CS (AB): All labour related to the blog is performed by the journal’s Digital Communication Editor, although the journal’s Managing Editor (which is a paid position) does assist by sending on articles that they would like to have highlighted on the blog. The DCE position is unpaid (although I do have a job in academia, and this counts as part of my “service” to the discipline. Unfortunately, my colleagues are reluctant to recognize my editorial role here as a scholarly contribution to the discipline). Cost associated with the blog – $70 a year for webhosting – are covered by the journal.

JD (NiCHE): At the core of NiCHE is our Executive committee, which is made up of around thirteen individuals, led by our Executive Director, who take care of organizational administration, events, official communications, etc.. Originally, our executive also served as our editorial team, but in 2021, when the website’s popularity was really taking off, we realized that the exec needed some help, so we expanded and added an additional ten-member editorial team. So now we have around 23 editors between the two groups, led by two co-editor-in-chiefs from the executive committee, which is Blair Stein and myself right now. We rely almost entirely on volunteer labour, whether it is editorial or contributor-based. I am our only paid employee and we do not have enough funds to adequately compensate my labour, so most of the work I do is volunteer as well. NiCHE is a labour of love. As I noted above, after SSHRC funding ran out in the mid-2010s, we went through a period of operating without a budget. In 2021 we became a registered non-profit and also held our first November fundraising campaign. For the past four years we have relied largely on this campaign to pay for my position, fund our contributor honoraria, pay for operating fees, etc. Last year we raised $13,500, which was the most we have raised so far. We also accept donations throughout the year and have a merchandise store, but these initiatives have not raised a significant amount for us as of yet.

SW: Tell me about a project initiative you are particularly proud of.

SD (HE): Nous avons plusieurs dossiers dont nous sommes fiers : Historiens et historiennes en quarantaine , regroupant des contributions d’historien.ne.s qui réfléchissent au temps de crise dans le contexte de la COVID-19. Notre collaboration avec le Graphic History Collective pour traduire des descriptions d’affiches historiques de l’anglais au français est également l’une des contributions clé d’Histoire Engagée. Plus généralement, nos forces résident dans l’accompagnement d’étudiant.e.s vers leur première publication ainsi que notre capacité à réagir rapidement à l’actualité.

JD (NiCHE): It is difficult to pick just one aspect of our work. I am exceptionally proud of NiCHE as a whole and think that we are a remarkable example of what an academic organization can be when folks come together to prioritize community and inclusivity. 

TP (AH): In 2013, I coordinated did two series: one on the 250^th anniversary of the 1763 Royal Proclamation and the other on Macdonald’s bicentenary. The essays in that series – especially the Proclamation series – remain extremely useful and relevant teaching tools. They were a bit of work to put together but really point to the promise of the website as a whole.

CS (AB): There are a number of initiatives that I am proud of. We have partnered with a few SSHRC grants to help with knowledge mobilization. However, if I were asked to pick which initiative I am most proud of it would be the blog’s collaborations with students in classes at various universities who have had their work published with us. For example, a few years ago one of the course assignments for a class on public history taught by Jerry Bannister at Dal was to write a post for the blog. I believe we received roughly 10 submissions from this class and ended up publishing all but one. Being able to work with undergraduate students as they publish their first scholarly piece was something that we at Acadiensis felt fortunate to do.  

Stay tuned for more from Corey, Jessica, Samia, and Tom next week.