As part of the "Public History" degree program, lecturers and students at the University of Cologne have developed an app that uses specific locations to illustrate the history of democracy in urban areas. The app, "Places of Democracy in Cologne," will be available for iOS and Android from January 19, 2022, at rebrand.ly/OrteDerDemokratie .
Democracy is not something to be taken for granted. The fact that our current social coexistence is the result of a long journey is demonstrated by various locations in Cologne that tell the story of the origins of freedom and democracy. Participants in the seminar "Places of Democracy – Developing App-Based Storytelling in Cologne," in collaboration with the EL-DE Haus eV (Cologne's NS Documentation Center) and other project partners such as the Cologne Women's History Association, the Cologne Peace Education Center, and the Center for Gay History, have now developed 33 of these sites into a multimedia app and published it.
The seminar took place in the summer semester of 2020 under the direction of Jens Alvermann, who, in addition to his work as a lecturer in Public History at the University of Cologne, heads the Digital Communication & Marketing department at the LVR Museums Association, and Junior Professor Dr. Christine Gundermann at the Institute of History at the University of Cologne. As part of the seminar, approximately twenty aspiring historians researched and contextualized the history of the development of democracy and freedom in Cologne over the past 200 years. From the Napoleonic era to the present day, this resulted in more than thirty contributions, which form the basis for the multimedia presentation of information about each location.
Alongside the development of their essays, students were involved in the app development process to gain a holistic understanding of the complexity and workflow of such a project, while simultaneously providing them with practical experience in contemporary forms of presenting historical scholarship. "These project-oriented approaches are a central component of public history studies, in which public history is not only researched but also, to some extent, produced," says Junior Professor Dr. Christine Gundermann. Jens Alvermann adds: "We were able to draw on experience gained in 2019 with the app we created for the 100th anniversary of the New University of Cologne." Alvermann developed the app following the seminar.
In addition to written contributions, the students also compiled photo series of historical photographs, produced audio content, and conducted interviews with contemporary witnesses who tell the stories of the historical sites in a multimedia format within the app. "The app is intended to offer everyone in Cologne—young and old, students and adults, long-time residents and newcomers, as well as visitors—an informative walk through the history of freedom and democracy," says Willi Reiter from the Friends of the NS Documentation Center of the City of Cologne, who conceived the idea for the app.
The project was funded by, among others, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, the Hans Böckler Foundation, the City of Cologne and the Workers' Welfare Association (AWO).
Source: University of Cologne
