Uncategorized – Page 5 – Anne Ladyem McDivitt

How Can I Collect History Online?

Published October 6, 2013

This week’s readings struck a chord with me. I have been trying to think of ways to incorporate more oral histories into my research, as most of my previous work for my thesis has been done through interviews, newspapers, and magazines. After reading through Collecting History Online, I am wondering if it wouldn’t be beneficial to myself and future researchers on video games (and, of course, those just interested in the topic!) if I were able to create a website to gather online oral histories from gamers from the past.

To create a digital archive of these oral histories would be really interesting for me, as it would allow for contributors to explain their stories, their thoughts, and their perception of the gaming world at the time. At the same time, I also wonder how easy or difficult it could potentially be to get both contributors and the information from those contributors that is pertinent for the topic. As Collecting History Online’s section on Qualitative Concerns asks, is it easier to ask specific, colloquial questions or would it be more interesting (and also get more participation) if the question is left open ended? Would it be beneficial to ask for advertisement or news stories on popular gaming blogs such as Kotaku or Polygon to attract contributors?

These are all interesting question to ask, and I might end up tackling these. After reading this week, I really feel that it might be a great way to get some information that I am looking for, while also creating a really cool and interesting website for other gamers. We will see! Any ideas?

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Thoughts on Public History Projects

Published September 29, 2013

This week, we were tasked with examining public history websites, and due to my previous experiences with them, I chose to examine the websites for the Regional Initiative for Collecting the History, Experiences, and Stories of Central Florida (RICHES) and the University of Central Florida’s Public History Center.

The RICHES website is a mix of traditional public history projects and digital ones. One of the newest projects that RICHES has added is the Mosaic Interface, which was created in conjunction with Omeka to house the collections. The goal of this project was to create a website that has searchable information about Central Florida using the photographs, primary documents, and oral histories that were gained from work done by RICHES. The Mosaic Interface could be a bit more user-friendly in the way that its interface and instructions, but it gets the job done.

On the other hand, the other website is for a museum that is a partnership between the University of Central Florida and the Seminole County School system. The Public History Center is a museum that specializes in local history and teaching fourth grade students how to think like historians—they are deemed “history detectives” on their entry to the museum. The website is very clean and easy to use, with information regarding exhibits, volunteering, and what constitutes public history for those that are new to the concept. This museum benefits in that it is partnered with the public history program at UCF, so it has to be self aware of its position in the field.

I chose these two websites because I have personal experience with them, as I have mentioned before. I worked with RICHES and worked for the Public History Center. These projects, I think, are intriguing ventures into presenting Public History (and Digital Public History). They do have their flaws (namely funding, story of our lives!), but overall, I think they are effective.

What are your thoughts on these?

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A Book-Based Discipline?

Published September 22, 2013

“History has been and remains a book-based discipline.” This was in the AHA statement regarding the publication of dissertations, and it’s a statement that many in the historical field find to be true. Books and articles seem to be the end goal for many historians, and many times, tenure and promotion depend on these works. Many times in my young career, I have encountered statements of, “oh, this project is great, but it’s not like an article. Can you publish one based off of this?” or “that particular project doesn’t count for much to traditional historians.” I, as someone who enjoys and probably prefers doing projects over articles and papers, feel that maybe this concept should be overhauled. Why DOESN’T it count as much? Why, if we are using the same values and methodology, should one output be devalued due to its presentation? Dr. Jason M. Kelly explains in his article “Open Access and the Historical Profession” that, “at research institutions, the book is the standard of scholarship. Many justify this perspective by arguing that the work it takes to prepare a book is very different from other research outputs. “

In particular, one quote stood out the most to me–“Prioritizing the book over other forms of scholarship reinforces a division between those who produce work for other scholars and those who produce work for and with the public when, in fact, both academic historians and public historians should be producing work for and with other scholars and the public.”

I wholeheartedly agree with this sentiment. History shouldn’t be available only to those who pay for a book or an expensive journal subscription (which JSTOR has kindly decided that individuals can purchase a membership for $200 a year.) History isn’t just for scholars–it’s for everyone.

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An Idea Regarding a Digital Resource for Historians!

Published September 19, 2013

This may be a wee bit early to consider this assignment, but today became an inspiration day for me. I’ll see what you all think about this.

There is a website called Quora. This website is essentially a tool where people can ask questions and get answers. Here is more information regarding how it works if you do not know.

Essentially, my thought is to create a historian version of this tool. Some historians have become fans of crowdsourcing, and I thought that this might be an interesting way to utilize that concept. If a historian is associated with some sort of institution-museums, university, etc- they could register (in my head, it would be free) for this tool. From there, they could ask fellow historians questions regarding sources, ideas, or even try to break through when they hit walls. (This happens. You and I know this!) It would sort of be like a fusion of H-Net and a traditional message board, but for historians by historians. I think it could not only help with research, but it could help with teaching, traveling, funding, and other concerns that historians have.

If there is already something out there like this, then I am late to the game. Otherwise, I believe that this might be a potentially interesting tool for historians to utilize, and I would certainly like to have it! Also, if that is the case, I will need to begin rethinking my idea.

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Designing History

Published September 15, 2013

“Enable and inspire me to think about and grasp the past.”

As historians, our first goal is to examine and present information about the historic past, much like this quote from Digital History states. The Internet has the ability to potentially change how this information is delivered to the public. However, with the ability to present historical information on the Internet, we have to not only write the information that we’re putting on the web, but we must also consider how we’re putting it out there for the public to consume. We discussed in class how we must now recognize that design is crucial for the success of a historic website, which our readings also establish. We must follow many of the same rules as designers, such as presenting text with high contrast and easily readable texts. Although these types of rules are easy to learn, the rules of design can and do get particularly difficult. To what extent do historians continue this education? Can we just follow the rules contrast, proximity, alignment, and repetition spelled out in Digital History, or do we seek out more complex rules for presenting history on the web?

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RSS Post

Published August 23, 2013

I have added links to RSS blogs on the right of this blog. Hopefully everything works right!