YNP Digital Wonderland

February 16 (Tuesday), 6 p.m., Teton Co. Library Auditorium – Open to the Public. Presentation: “Creating a Digital Wonderland: Unlocking Yellowstone’s History and Culture for a Mobile Device World.” Presented by Yolonda Youngs, Asst. Professor, Idaho State Univ.

 Yellowstone National Park hosts over 4 million people each year, yet how many of these visitors know the complex history and culture that shaped this place, the world’s first national park? Inspired by her research interests in public lands and environmental history and her time as a river and kayak guide in Yellowstone, Grand Teton and around the American West, Dr. Yolonda Youngs will discuss her recent work “Creating a Digital Wonderland.”  As a leader of this team project, her work explores ways to provide visitors with fingertip access through mobile devices to the often overlooked but rich cultural and environmental history of Yellowstone National Park. This innovative project combines the research expertise of scholars and students working with digital media developers, museum and archivist specialists, national park stuff, and non-profit education associations to develop an easy access and versatile array of information about the park’s historic places and events all within reach of a mobile device.

         During her talk, Dr. Youngs will discuss the development of the “Digital Wonderland” app prototype, what it can offer for Yellowstone visitors, and will help the audience to explore some of the often overlooked but fascinating information about Yellowstone’s history that the mobile app provides.