I’m a pretty regular reader of Signal vs. Noise, the blog from the 37Signals developers, and today they featured a posting about bite sized dessert. The idea is that people don’t really want the 1/3 pound of cheesecake after a big meal; they just want a taste.
Clearly, the folks at 37Signals are into the “less is more” philosophy of software and the web, but I’m wondering if this is really the ethic that digital historians should try to follow in our work. At CHNM, we’ve been discussing the possibilities of delivering small bites of historical content to the public through SMS and RSS. We’ve also considered a similar output of bites of content for high school history students. The idea is that delivering one source or one note at a time is just enough to keep users interested without making them feel overwhelmed. The more I consider this tactic, the more I like it.
If you’re looking for examples along these lines, check out Dave Noon’s postings at Axis of Evel Knievel, which appear with great regularity and always have a good dose of history and wit. On the museum front, Eye Level at the Smithsonian American Art Museum does a nice job of periodically featuring a single work. Similar ventures from history museums would go a long way toward bringing these small bites of the collections to the world.
