Reviewing the Arlington Historical Society’s Website of Arlington County, VA

Arlington County, Virginia’s non profit historical society, founded in 1956 to maintain the county’s long history from pre-colonial times through the present, maintains this website. By educating the public of their community's diverse past the society supports research, collection, preservation, discovery, restoration and dissemination of the local history of Arlington County, Virginia. The website’s main purpose is to introduce the public to these resources.

Usability
The site is user friendly with links clearly labeled to both internal and external sites, but is plagued with dead links that limit effectiveness. Once the links are clicked, you are taken to more detailed pages where information on whatever topic or subject is sought. Many of the links are to outside resources such as the Barcroft School and Civic League , one of the civic associations that are located throughout Arlington County. Other links include to the county library, which is a dead link; the main county website, also a dead link; and to the Fort Myer history site, which is a dead link also. Some of the links that are good include the Smithsonian Institute, White House, and Library of Congress to name a few.

Apart from the few dead links the usability of the Arlington Historical Society is generally good. The site is very informative about upcoming events of historical interest to all county residents. The site does a good job of mixing the local and national historical topics tying them in together.

Content
The content of the site is primarily text based. The site does however have photos of various buildings both which are currently standing and those not longer around. An examples of these include from the no longer around side the Barcroft community history to Ball-Sellers House which is still standing and open to the public. The site provides many links to other resources and points of historic interest located around the county such as Arlington National Cemetery Newseum, and the Drug Enforcement Agency Museum to name a few.

Scholarship
The educational value of the Arlington Historical Society is focused towards the general public, which fulfills one of the major purposes of the site. The articles online are generally of those individuals sharing basic knowledge and not in-depth analysis. Those the site does link to other more scholarly sites such as the Arlington County Library’s local history department. On the museum section a call for artifacts to add the collect is stated:

The Arlington Historical Society is looking for artifacts to expand their collection and current displays for their museum at the Hume School. If you have any of the items listed below and would care to donate them the museum will gladly acknowledge donors in their exhibits (and you may get a tax deduction as well!) This list does not include everything we need, just some of the items our curator especially desires! Some items may be listed in multiple categories. At the bottom of the list you’ll find a list of things we do not currently need. If you have something interesting that’s not listed, please contact us!

Presentation
The presentation of the historical society’s website is very basic feel is very no frills. The layout takes you where you want to go and allows the user to get back to the main page for more exploration.

Use of new media
The lack of any videos or interactive links leaves the user few options other than to look of the basic information then moving on.