A Carleton student is preserving the heritage of her hometown by creating a historical, interactive app called Grimsby Timescapes.
The app allows residents of Grimsby, Ont.—a small town east of Hamilton—to delve into the history of their town. The app lays out historical pictures of the town on an interactive map, which users can then look at while they walk through the town.
Sara Nixon, a second-year master’s of public history student, created the app to help her research how people can engage with history on digital platforms.
Nixon said using new technologies such as apps are a great way to teach history.
“It’s a very different experience compared to reading a textbook or going to a museum,” she said. “It’s more of an experiential learning process.”
The app starts off by showing an aerial view of Grimsby’s downtown on the user’s phone or tablet screen. Then, little green dots cover the map and direct users to pictures displaying each area of the town in different time periods. Users can then wander throughout the streets of Grimsby getting a blast from the past as they search out the old areas.
In order to acquire all the photos and historical information, Nixon spent her summer digging through the records and archives at the Grimsby Museum and Grimsby Historical Society.
She found all the photographs she could of the downtown area and then spent the rest of her summer trying to match those photos to the buildings that currently stand there today.
“I may have done it a bit backwards,” laughed Nixon about her researching strategy. “But I definitely felt like a detective while doing it.”
After finishing the app, Nixon headed to the streets of Grimsby to let some locals test out the app. Aside from a few suggestions, Nixon says the reviews have been extremely positive.
Looking forward, Nixon said she hopes her app can be an inspiration to other areas that want to share their history.
“I’m hoping this will encourage other small towns to do something similar since it’s super flexible and it can really go to any space,” she said. “As long as there is a history or a story to tell it will work. One for Carleton would even be fun.”
Nixon is hoping to launch the app this summer. Until then, she said she’s just happy to be doing something tangible with her knowledge of history.
“It’s been really neat to make something knowing the public can appreciate it too and that they can benefit from it,” she said. “It’s much better than just writing a paper that kind of just goes away.”
