Foundsf.org—An entry point into, and a place to create, San Francisco History

FoundSF is a free, public, participatory wiki that invites history buffs, San Francisco citizens, those with memories of the City, and visitors to share their unique stories, images, and videos from past and present. We specialize in social movements, labor history, ecology, public art, transportation, and the intersections of these and more. There are over 1,750 content pages in this digital archive presenting primary sources, hundreds of articles, thousands of photographs, and dozens of video and audio clips from history…

We average between 30,000 and 35,000 users each month, many of whom are using the archive to research a topic, their home or family, or searching for photos. We rarely hear from visitors to the site about its functionality. Outside of university students in classes we co-teach, very few people contribute new content.

As administrators* of this ever-evolving participatory archive we want to hear from THATCamp participants about what really works with our digital archive, and where we can go from here. We’ve got lots of pie-in-the-sky ideas that should be reachable goals here in tech-central San Francisco (including a mapping interface), and we’re sure that in a session where we look at the site together, you will have some feedback and directions for us to go in, too.

*Foundsf.org is a project of Shaping San Francisco, dedicated to uncovering and sharing the overlooked and forgotten histories of San Francisco. We believe that history is a creative act in the present, something we do together. Let’s make history!!