[CfA] #inspireHeraldicaNova: Help us to make good things better!

Heralds consulting about the best treatise on armory in the Beinecke MS 230, 145r. (Source: Yale University Library)

For almost two years now Heraldica Nova has been around. We set out to create an interactive platform for people interested in research on cultural history and heraldry, and the feedback from you, our readers, has been extraordinarily positive. Ever since then, our audience kept growing—in January, we welcomed 5,000 unique visitors on our blog.

A retrospect: research, resources, methods

We want to offer scholars the chance to present and discuss research that approaches heraldry from the perspective of cultural history to the public, both within and outside of academia. Most recently, research that was introduced on Heraldica Nova included an international collaboration exploring the use of heraldry in royal political communication in late medieval Portugal (Torsten Hiltmann/Miguel Metelo de Seixas), a project on (heraldic) representations of patricians in Transylvania (Marco Bogade), and a project investigating the Germanisches Nationalmuseum’s collection of memorial shields.

We also aim to introduce people interested in heraldry and cultural history to the most important sources, resources, tools and methods. In this effort, we compiled a comprehensive list of armorial manuscripts available online in digital format, allowing you to access an essential source of heraldic research that has hitherto not yet been approached by cultural history— though Elmar Hofman set out to change that. A series of blog posts by Steen Clemmensen, one of the foremost experts in medieval armorials, gave answers to the most fundamental questions of heraldry (e.g. ‘How to identify an unknown coat of arms?’), and offered an introduction to the comparative study of medieval armorials. On our list of useful databases and materials, we collected a variety of similar useful resources and tools, which we hope with your help will continuously grow. Particularly well received was a post by Antonia Kroll on the inscription database ‘Deutsche Inschriften Online’ and its use in heraldic research that has been ‘retweeted’, ‘liked’ and ‘plussed’ fifty times.

Our presence in social media greatly contributed to sharing and discussing these projects and resources: Apart from RSS or newsletter, more and more people keep in touch with Heraldica Nova via Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Improving Heraldica Nova: What do you think?

Of course, we are eager to make Heraldica Nova even more helpful, more interactive and, thus, more interesting! We are keen to learn what you think we can do to improve this blog. What do you think works well, what does not (yet)? What resources on the blog do you use most, which are you missing? What kind of posts do you enjoy reading most, what would you like to read more (or less) about? Should we include more recent literature reviews, or rather focus on more detailed introductions to research databases, guides and tools?

It has become clear that the possibility to interact, share and discuss is a key feature of the digital medium of the blog. The interaction with you adds a diversity and depth that contributes greatly to the aims and development of Heraldica Nova. How do you think can we encourage you (and others) to engage even more actively in discussion on the blog and in social media?

This is your chance to participate in this collaborate blog project by letting us know what you think!  Your ideas and opinions matter to us, thus, please do inspire us!

Hashtag #inspireHeraldicaNova: Get in touch!

To do so—and to frame our new call for participation—we would like to introduce the hashtag #inspireHeraldicaNova. If you have any kind of idea on how to improve the blog, if there is anything that you have been missing on Heraldica Nova so far (categories, contents, a research project, relevant literature or a fascinating source), if you have any suggestions to expand our list of useful tools and resources: Just use the hashtag #inspireHeraldicaNova on Twitter or Facebook, or comment on this post or send us an email!

We will collect all comments and messages, suggestions and criticisms we receive under the hashtag #inspireHeraldicaNova till 30 March 2015. And of course we will let you know about the outcome of our little survey in due time, too!

NB: Sie können Ihre Ideen, Hinweise und Kommentare natürlich sehr gern auch auf Deutsch anfügen! 

Bien sûr, vous pouvez bien commenter vos idées, remarques et souhaits aussi en français ! Nous serions d’ailleurs trés ravis de pouvoir accueillir encore plus des billets et commentaires en français sur le blogue!