Direct Links – With or Without Text

We’ve made an incremental improvement to the open source interactive transcript system behind Duke University’s Rutherfurd Living History site. You’ve always been able to share the text of a quote plus direct link to that quote. Now it’s a bit easier if all you want to do is grab the direct link.

The share dialog that pops up when you select text in an interactive interview now gives you four sharing choices. Here’s what you see when you select text in an interactive interview transcript:

This shows a snippet of interactive transcript text from the Rutherfurd living history site. One sentence is highlighted and has a small blue rectangular dialog above it with clickable Facebook, Twitter, copy plus link and link symbols.

You can share the selected text plus the link that goes directly to that sentence to Facebook or Twitter. You can copy the selection plus direct link. Or you can copy just the direct link.

You’d use the quote+link copy anytime you want more than one excerpt. Collecting a playlist of quotes is an efficient way of taking notes or of putting together a list of candidate quotes with links to include in a story or blog.

For instance, Cory Booker just announced he’s running for president in 2020. Here’s a quote playlist of highlights from the Duke Rutherfurd Living History interview with Cory Booker from 2009:

I am who I am because of the daring dreams and heroic hopes and awesome actions of my ancestors.
http://livinghistory.sanford.duke.edu/interviews/cory-booker/#888

I still am mentored by older politicians—older black pols, as well as pols of different ethnic backgrounds.
http://livinghistory.sanford.duke.edu/interviews/cory-booker/#1028

You know, America is a great place because it has a rich Irish culture that’s still vibrant. That has a Korean culture that is still, that is vibrant. And the beauty of it is that we celebrate our cultures, understand each other.
http://livinghistory.sanford.duke.edu/interviews/cory-booker/#1092

I had a great conversation once with Colin Powell and I said, “What’s the greatest threat you see to our democracy in the next 15 years?” And he didn’t miss a beat. He said our inability to educate all of our children at equally high levels, concentrated poverty, and divisions that still exist between Americans—but I think on a spiritual sense, that’s a very big challenge.
http://livinghistory.sanford.duke.edu/interviews/cory-booker/#3527

Meanwhile, the new link-only choice makes things a bit quicker if you want to send a link without any text or just with your own commentary. For instance, check this out!