This page is no longer being updated and remains online for informational and historical purposes only. The information is accurate as of the last page update.
For questions about page contents, contact the Communications Division.
Two groups of students will present reports on development of a self-guided tour and other enhancements at the Bachmann Publick House in downtown Easton and creation of an automobile tour on CD to boost tourism and local awareness of historical assets in Nazareth and its surrounding rural municipalities.
The students are engaged in the yearlong Technology Clinic, a hands-on Lafayette course founded in 1986 that brings together students from different majors to solve the real-world problems of a business, non-profit organization, or government body. Their research addresses the social, technological, and economic issues involved with the client’s problem.
The Nazareth team will present its midyear report to Nazareth Chamber of Commerce President Bill Brackbill Jr. 5 p.m. Wednesday, May 14, while the other group will give its final report to Bachmann Publick House officials 2 p.m. Sunday, May 18. Free and open to the public, the presentations will take place in the Kirby Hall of Civil Rights auditorium.
The Technology Clinic working on the auto tour is comprised of Katherine Blair ’04, a religion and politics major from Marco Island, Fla.; Matt Hontz ’05, a mechanical engineering major from Bethlehem, Pa.; Josh Keely ’05, a mechanical engineering major from Curwensville, Pa.; Christina Morgan ’05, a history and government & law major from Flemington, N.J.; Alexis Siemons ’05, an English major from Moorestown, N.J.; and Mike Sparrow ’04, a double major in history and government & law from Pen Argyl, Pa. Their advisers are Technology Clinic director Dan Bauer, professor of anthropology, and Larry Malinconico, associate professor and acting head of geology and environmental geosciences.
Working on behalf of the Greater Nazareth Council of Governments, the students are developing an audio program that drivers would use to find and learn about historical sites in the region. Corresponding signs will help point out locations.
“The issue is how to gain greater recognition of the area to itself and the world, with a focus on tourism,” Bauer explains. “Better recognition of these places by members of the community also will encourage them to preserve what’s important. The students will try to get as much as possible narrated by local historians.”
Audio editing software will be used to prepare the tour, which will be made available on a web site for downloading and “burning” onto a CD.
Wednesday’s presentation will include a short audio sample and corresponding video to show what drivers would see as they listen to the tour. The focus is a 11.5-mile stretch in Nazareth with several historical sites. The students gathered information through research and interviews of amateur and professional local historians.
Municipalities that will be covered by the auto tour are Bangor, Bath and Chapman, Jacobsburg State Park, Mt. Bethel, Nazareth, Northampton, Pen Argyl, Portland, Roseto, Stockertown and Tatamy, Walnutport, and Wind Gap.
The Bachmann team is comprised of Kenya Flash ’03, a double major in government & law and mathematics from Coopersburg, Pa.; Lee Goldfarb ’05, a history major from Sewickley, Pa.; George Lyons ’04, a mechanical engineering major from Bayside, N.Y.; Maura Oliphant ’03, a double major in English and anthropology & sociology from Chatham, N.J.; and Monika Serrano ’04, a mechanical engineering major from Caracas, Venezuela. Their advisers are Bauer and Beth Seetch, lecturer in English and coordinator of the College Writing Program.
The students have developed a building-wide audio tour using handheld technology, a table-sized model to be exhibited in the second-floor trade and currency room, and recommendations for maintaining and increasing the level of interactivity throughout the building.
“Nine months from our team’s first meeting, the [Bachmann Publick House] is now equipped to offer the typical visitor an experience rich in atmosphere and insight,” states a draft version of the group’s report. “Upon admission, visitors will be issued a hand-held device offering a menu of stories, voices, and information to enhance their appreciation and understanding of the history that permeates every element of the building. Rather than detracting from the layers of history embodied by the Bachmann’s every room, this tour instead turns the listener’s attention toward those layers.”
The tour addresses the facility’s role in early Pennsylvania life and calls attention to specific details of its construction and reconstruction over the centuries. The second-floor exhibit gives insight into the importance of Easton and its tavern life to the commercial development of the region.
“The model depicts the great economic and industrial changes that occurred in Easton’s first century, as it journeyed from pioneer village to thriving commercial center of the mid-Atlantic,” states the report. “Our construction is based upon old maps and histories. It features four key time zones in order to convey an initial impression of dramatic change and is outfitted to deploy more focused information using pocket PC technology with the potential to employ barcode technology in the immediate future. This system connects relevant displays in that particular room to items throughout the building.”