Capitol updates target youths

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The renovation of the
Statehouse was finished in 1996 and cost $121
million.

COLUMBUS (AP) — States are using the Internet, offering full wireless coverage and hawking lawmaker playing cards to attract new, more youthful visitors to aging capitol buildings.

At Ohio's Civil War-era Statehouse, new gadgets include interactive statues and a Web site that offers contests with prizes from a gift shop. The site, which held its official debut Wednesday, offers virtual visitors audio files, videos, high-resolution photos and other ways to find information about the Statehouse, which opened in 1861, and Ohio history. You can even plan a Statehouse wedding through the Web site.

"We hope to inspire the next generation of Ohioans to become tomorrow's leaders," said former state Sen. Richard Finan, who chairs the Capital Square Review and Advisory Board and oversaw the Statehouse's $121 million renovation completed in 1996.

Many statehouses, including New York and Ohio, offer wireless services, and most states offer virtual tours, which carry visitors through every room. Others are following the lure of the shopping mall to introduce themselves to new customers.

Nevada has a variety of goods available through its Internet gift store, including T-shirts and playing cards emblazoned with the words "Nevada Legislature" and the building in the background. North Carolina peddles art prints and books, and Montana just put its 2007 Christmas ornament on sale.

In Virginia

The Virginia Capitol Foundation used the Internet to ask teachers and their students for suggestions for a time capsule to be buried in its recently renovated Capitol, which dates to 1788. Among the suggestions: a digital camera, an iPod, money and a newspaper story about the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The state is completing work on a new educational center in the Capitol's basement and it should open by January 2009, said Alice Lynch, executive director of the foundation. It will rely heavily on digital technology to teach youngsters about the history of the state and its Capitol, she said.

A high-tech consultant has worked with the foundation to "tell the story to grab the attention of young people" who otherwise wouldn't show too much interest in Virginia history, Lynch said. Plans include using iPod technology and heavy use of the Internet, she said.

Ohio already is doing that, said Gregg Dodd, the capitol board's deputy director for communications who supervised the seven-month construction of the Web site.

"Until we can get every school-age kid to come to the Statehouse, we're going to bring the Statehouse to them," Dodd said.

Portrait gallery

The site includes a portrait gallery of each Ohio governor, interactive activities for children and histories of Ohio and the people who left a mark on the state.

"We think [children] are interested in history, but we want them to be more interested in history by utilizing technology that kids like and use in their everyday life — videos, audio files, interactive components. We think we can get them more excited about it," Dodd said.

The state also has put cards at the base of the grounds' five outdoor statues that provide a number that visitors with cell phones can call to hear about what they're looking at or answer trivia.

For example, why does the statue of President William McKinley face west? When he walked to work in his years as Ohio governor (1892-96) he would always turn and wave to his wife standing in the window of the Neil House hotel, just across High Street from the west face of the Statehouse. They lived in the hotel during his years in Columbus.

Thursday, October 4, 2007