Forgotten women achieve a place in history textbooks with this AR app
Margaret Johnson's 'Daughters of the Evolution' project unveiled Herstory at SXSW
Editor's Pick
Margaret Johnson, the Goodby Silverstein & Partners partner and chief creative officer, is behind a new app that debuted at SXSW promising to celebrate stories of women typically omitted from history textbooks.
The "Herstory" app comes under the banner of Daughters of the Evolution, a new organization formed by Johnson to focus on equality (named after the panel she presented last year at Cannes). Created in collaboration with Goodby for Women's History Month, it aims to address the fact that, according to research, 89 per cent of history textbook references are devoted to men.
The app uses augmented reality to show women's stories from history. When users scan an image of a male historical figure in "A History of US, Book 5: Liberty for All? 1820–1860," it unlocks a story of an important female historical figure from that same period and superimposes it: for example, when a user scans President Zachary Taylor, they will see an illustration and story of Cathay Williams, the first African-American woman to enlist in the army (using a disguise and a pseudonym) during the Civil War, when women were prohibited from entering the military. The app currently features stories of 75 women from the 19thcentury.
“When I reflected on the fact that women are so underrepresented in the textbooks our children are studying, I started looking for a creative solution to address it,” said Johnson. “Technology and education are becoming more and more symbiotic, and augmented reality is the perfect tool to bring to life the missing stories of women’s role in history.”
Goodby enlisted the help of author and feminist historian Kate Schatz to identify a diverse selection of women and ensure the accuracy of the stories represented. “History absolutely has been his story, written by men for men,” said Schatz. “This app has the power to change that: It expands history and empowers the person using it. When you see someone like you in a position of power doing something that you’ve never known someone like that could do, it’s indescribable.”
Credits
- Date
- Mar 13, 2019
- Client :
- Daughters of the Evolution
- Agency :
- Goodby Silverstein & Partners
- Co-Chairmen :
- Jeff Goodby
- Co-Chairmen :
- Rich Silverstein
- Chief Creative Officer :
- Margaret Johnson
- Associate Creative Director :
- Paul Nowikowski
- Associate Creative Director :
- Ricardo Uribe
- Art Director :
- Eleanor Rask
- Copywriter :
- Trevor Joplin
- Designer :
- Maria Vaquero
- Account Director :
- Melissa Buck
- Account Manager :
- Lexie Hartnett
- Group Communication Strategy Director :
- Dong Kim
- Strategy Director :
- Hayley Pardoe
- Junior Brand Strategist :
- Shaza Elsheshtawy
- Director of Business Affairs :
- Judy Ybarra
- Business Affairs Manager :
- Anna Diokno
- Co-Director of Production :
- Margaret Brett-Kearns
- Director :
- Reaa Puri
- Director :
- Breaktide Productions
- Content Creative :
- Mark Sandhoff
- Content Creative :
- Hanna Hegnell
- Senior Producer :
- Cassie Edwards
- Associate Producer :
- Jackie Kelly
- Line Producer :
- Sarah Kallas
- Production Coordinator :
- Phoebe Buckley
- Editorial :
- E-Level Films
- Editor :
- Graham Willcox
- Assistant Editor :
- Liz Norris
- Audio Engineer/Composer :
- David Michel-Ruddy
- Audio Engineer :
- Jody Scott
- Senior Animator :
- Stephanie Sanchez-Corda
- Senior Animator :
- Jason Jobe
- Senior Post Producer :
- Jack Whalen
- Creative Technology :
- GS&P Labs
- Director of Creative Technology :
- Troy Lumpkin
- Creative Technologist :
- August Bjornberg
- Executive Producer :
- Tena Goy
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