Social Media Re-Enactment of First Ascent of Everest

Social Media Re-Enactment of First Ascent of Everest Celebrates 60th Anniversary of Hillary’s Historic Achievement

A new way of teaching history is being explored through the use of social media with the historical re-enactment of the first successful ascent of Everest by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay on Twitter at @everest1953 . The expedition reached the summit of Everest on 29 May 1953.

The Twitter timeline, which has been created by HSTRY.ORG, aims to recreate the highs and lows of the expedition on its 60th anniversary, in the voice of Sir Hillary. The account offers historically accurate 140 character updates in “real time” and also shares photographs and videos of the expedition. Other Twitter users and content partners are encouraged to get involved by sharing comments, questions, pictures and more through the #Everest53 hashtag.

HSTRY.ORG has been launched by two social entrepreneurs with a vision of improving the way history is taught and encouraging young people to engage with the topic in a different way. They see the use of social media, and historic twitter re-enactments such as the Everest ascent, as a way to inspire a passion for history in young people used to consuming media through mobile phones, tablets and the internet.

Thomas Ketchell, co-founder of HSTRY.ORG, says, “We know that in many instances the classroom has become a place which fails to inspire young people who have grown up with Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

“With the help of these social media services we can create the next generation of educational platforms which inspire, engage and most importantly educate. Ultimately we want to bring history to life and speak to the next generation in a language that they can understand and will want to engage with.”

HSTRY.ORG recently gained a place on the NEST’up programme, the first “techstars-style” start-up accelerator programme in Belgium. The Everest timeline follows HSTRY.ORG’s previous re-enactment of London’s Great Smog of 1952 in December 2012 which reached over nine million people and brought attention to continuing deadly air pollution events in places such as China.

Tweets are freely available from the @everest1953 Twitter account and the hashtag #Everest53 will also be used on most of the tweets. Pictures of the ascent can also be found on a dedicated Pinterest page. More information on the timeline and sources can be read in our blog post: www.hstry.org/blog/everest53

HSTRY.ORG is a new organisation dedicated to publishing accurate historical re-enactments using social media platforms, websites, apps and e-books. Its aim is to inject new life into historical events through modern media and inspire the next generation of historians. Please visit http://www.hstry.org for more information.

NEST'up by Creative Wallonia is the first “TechStars-style” start-up accelerator programme in Belgium. It is a mentorship program that gathers six teams of entrepreneurs for 12 weeks, supported by more than 30 coaches, experts and mentors.

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