§ masterplan.md
Local History Gazette
An editorial archive of a town's history with scanned documents, oral histories and interactive street maps.
01
App overview and objectives
A gazette for one town: a timeline of events, street-by-street history, oral-history recordings and scanned documents, with a contribution path for residents. It preserves what no national archive will bother to keep.
02
The problem worth solving
Local memory disappears with the generation that holds it. A structured, public place to deposit photographs, recollections and documents converts private nostalgia into a durable civic archive.
03
Target audience
- Primary — Residents, especially older ones, and local schools.
- Secondary — Genealogists, researchers and diaspora families.
04
Roles and permissions
- Visitor — read-only public pages, can sign up.
- Member — owns their own records, cannot see other users' data.
05
Core features
- Interactive timeline with era filters
- Street pages combining old and current photographs at the same viewpoint
- Oral history recordings with transcripts and searchable text
- Document scans with source and permission metadata
- Contribution form with moderation queue
- Search across every artefact type
Deliberately later
- Map-based exploration
- School curriculum packs
- Printed anthology
06
Technical stack
Static-rendered site over a small database, object storage for media, a moderated intake form.
Why: Archives are written rarely and read forever; static pages keep hosting cheap enough for a volunteer group to sustain for decades.
Alternatives: A wiki (easy contribution, messy structure) or an institutional archive system (rigorous, far too heavy for volunteers).
07
Conceptual data model
Event — date range, title, description, sources, era
Place — street or building, coordinates, history, photographs
Artefact — type, media file, caption, date, contributor, rights
Recording — speaker, transcript, topics, duration, consent record
Contribution — submitter, payload, status, reviewer notes
08
Integrations
- Object storage
- Transcription service for recordings
- Map tiles
- Search index
09
UI design principles
- Reading experience first: 65-75 character measure, strong serif headings, real typographic hierarchy.
- Images are captioned and credited; pull-quotes break long passages.
- Navigation stays out of the way while reading and reappears on scroll-up.
10
Security considerations
- Signed consent recorded for every oral history and photograph of a living person.
- Rights and permission fields are mandatory before publication.
- Moderation queue for all public contributions.
11
Development phases
Phase 1 — Prove the core
- — Interactive timeline with era filters
- — Street pages combining old and current photographs at the same viewpoint
- — Oral history recordings with transcripts and searchable text
- — Static content and design system in place
- — Basic analytics
Phase 2 — Make it real
- — Document scans with source and permission metadata
- — Contribution form with moderation queue
- — Search across every artefact type
- — Accounts, sign-in and password reset
- — Empty, loading and error states everywhere
Phase 3 — Polish and launch
- — Performance, accessibility and SEO pass
- — Legal pages, contact route and 404 handling
- — Wire up: Object storage
- — Wire up: Transcription service for recordings
Phase 4 — Grow
- — Map-based exploration
- — School curriculum packs
- — Printed anthology
12
Challenges and solutions
Risk — Copyright of old photographs
Solution — Record provenance and permission for every item; publish an easy takedown route.
Risk — Volunteer capacity
Solution — Batch moderation tools and a small trusted-contributor tier.
Risk — Long-term hosting after the founders move on
Solution — Static output plus a yearly export deposited with the local library.
13
Future expansion
- Neighbouring towns joining as a network
- Augmented reality on-site markers
- Museum partnership
14
Page list (13 pages)
- 01 PUBLIC Timeline — Chronological spine of the town's history.
- 02 PUBLIC Streets — Place-by-place history with then-and-now photos.
- 03 PUBLIC Voices — Oral history recordings and transcripts.
- 04 PUBLIC Documents — Scanned records with provenance.
- 05 PUBLIC Contribute — How residents add material.
- 06 AUTH Sign up — Create an account with email or a social provider.
- 07 AUTH Log in — Return to the account, with error and lockout states.
- 08 AUTH Reset password — Request a reset link and set a new password.
- 09 APP (signed in) Account settings — Profile, email, password, language and delete account.
- 10 PUBLIC Contact — Contact form plus real address, phone and email.
- 11 LEGAL & SYSTEM Privacy policy — What data is collected, why, and how to remove it.
- 12 LEGAL & SYSTEM Terms of service — Rules of use, liability and account termination.
- 13 LEGAL & SYSTEM 404 not found — Friendly dead end with search and links back.
15
Page map
PUBLIC AUTH APP (signed in) LEGAL & SYSTEM ───────────── ───────────────── ─────────────────── ─────────────────── ├─ Timeline ├─ Sign up └─ Account settings ├─ Privacy policy ├─ Streets ├─ Log in ├─ Terms of service ├─ Voices └─ Reset password └─ 404 not found ├─ Documents ├─ Contribute └─ Contact key flows: Timeline ──▶ Streets Streets ──▶ Voices Voices ──▶ Documents Contribute ──▶ Timeline