ARMORY & VETERANS MEMORIAL KIOSK

About the Program

Category: Information Technology (Best in Category)

Year: 2017

The new kiosk maps the location of memorial paver bricks engraved with the names of Veterans and supporters and a link to the honoree’s biography, if available, for the general public (memorial visitors, family members, fellow brothers and sisters of the military) to learn about Johnson County Veterans. Prior to the installation of the Kiosk, one would stand on the site and look for the brick until they found it. The kiosk allows people to not only quickly locate the brick they are searching for; it also allows the reader to learn about the Veterans experiences while viewing some remarkable pictures of the Veteran in uniform as far back as WWII. A typical bio includes two pictures, one of the Veteran in their younger day while in uniform and a more recent photo including a paragraph or two about the Veteran’s history. This one of a kind innovative piece of technology has created a new service to Johnson County. It provides individual biographies of those who served our country while capturing the broader military history of Johnson County. I’ve been asked by several other counties how we pulled this off. I typically respond by telling them about the outstanding support that I’ve received from my Commission, the Board of Supervisors, Information Technology, & Physical Plant. As with any success story effective communication was important along with teamwork, dedication, and even some trial and error. I believe that other counties could benefit from our work and perhaps eventually connect our electronic military history to a centralized database in Iowa. The memorial is a dedication to all those who served, however the biography links are such a great opportunity for Veterans and their families to share their stories, stories that might easily get lost or forgotten. Johnson County had a vision for an interactive memorial and brought several departments together to work toward the kiosk goal. Now that the kiosk is a reality, visitor participation with the memorial has increased thus resulting in important Johnson County Veteran memories and military history information being shared with anyone who visits the memorial.