Telling the story of one of the earliest Arabic speaking communities in the United States of America
Washington Street Historical Society
The Washington Street Historical Society is a non-profit based in New York with the mission of telling the story of one of the earliest Arabic speaking communities in the United States of America.
Linda K. Jacobs
With her project, the Washington Street Historical Society, Linda K. Jacobs aims to raise awareness of this unique community. Thanks to a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, these plans were able to be realized.
Rich history
Webmine came into the picture when a reliable partner was being sought for the technical implementation. “I wanted to truly bring the cultural heritage of this community to life, so that we can raise awareness among a wider audience of the rich history behind it. However, I had no experience in web development—so where do you even begin? I know the founder of the Hart Island Project. This project brings people who are buried on Hart Island out of anonymity.”
Webmine developed the website where relatives can find information and share stories, and had previously collaborated successfully with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the fund that sponsors both projects. “Webmine had been approved by them as an international development partner, came highly recommended by the founder of the Hart Island Project, and my project operates in the same space. I knew they were the right fit.”
It turned out to be an excellent match. The first launch of the website and the app for the virtual tour has now taken place. “We’re currently gathering feedback to continue developing further. I get a lot of energy from truly guiding a client through the world of web and app development. Together with Jager & Prooi, we first mapped out the wishes and needs for this project. Then we started developing in small steps. We mainly focused on the technical side. But that doesn’t mean we don’t challenge our clients on the content as well,” says Arco Overbeek, founder of Webmine, with a laugh.
There were certainly technical challenges in this project. For example, the website and the app had to support Arabic. “We read from left to right, but in Arabic it’s exactly the other way around,” adds Jim, a developer at Webmine. “Based on the designs from Jager & Prooi, we were able to use Bootstrap to present the different languages in a visually appealing way.”
Because of these different languages, a custom CMS was also required. “We built this in Ruby on Rails with our own translation system. The client can now easily add text, images, and videos themselves, which are then immediately displayed correctly in both Arabic and English,” says Jim.
The result of the collaboration is a user-friendly website and an engaging virtual tour of the first Arabic-speaking community in the United States, featuring interactive maps. “For the maps, we used an entirely new technology, namely Mapbox. This allows the maps to be displayed beautifully and enables users to interact with them,” says Jim.
Bringing the community to life
The virtual tour takes you through the history of the community with photos, audio fragments, and videos. “I’m impressed with the result, as well as the patience and professionalism of the people at Webmine. We will continue developing further, but for now I’m especially looking forward to the launch of the virtual tour. I’m very curious about the first reactions and am confident that the project will reach a wide audience, both locally and internationally.”