The Giant Pumpkin - Oct 30

Today’s readings were primarily geared at using social networking and specifically twitter to help us in our field of history.  Dr. Gulliver focused her article on how twitter helps her in her field, and how building up relationships with other historians assists her in research.  I found that particular article interesting because while I have an account for twitter, I do not use it in any of the ways she was trying to stress.

The other half of the readings dealt with the crossroads we are in right now as historians who are trying to document more recent events are trying to figure out how to incorporate twitter and other forms of media into our research.  We’ve been talking throughout the semester about how important social media is becoming in our society, and I thought it was cool to see some of the ways that people are beginning to display the information from these sites. 

I enjoyed looking at some of the maps that the Wall Street Journal put together for twitter responses to major events like the 2010 elections and the earthquake in Virginia.  The ability to display the time it took people to react to the earthquake can be very useful to a historian that is trying to do research on the speed at which information is being shared among people. 

While there are still some people that are skeptical of social media, it is proving to be very useful for entertainment and professional purposes.  It is one of the areas that will continue to evolve over the next five years, and will be our responsibility to keep up with the changes. 

Reading Response - Oct 23

The digital history collection project in the WEB 1.5 article really got me thinking about how much this field has evolved over the last 20 years.  I realize that this is the point of the class, but prior to that historians never were met with as many new developments as have occurred over my life time.  The project that I am planning for this class was not even possible back then, and now an undergrad student has the resources necessary to attempt it.  Reading how historians are beginning to compile these digital histories and allowing more people than ever to have voices is very exciting, but as the writers point out brings about challenges as well. 

I feel like the issues drawn upon in this article reflect on the discussions that we have had all year in class, but Brennan and Kelly do a good job of articulating the dilemma that new digital histories give us.  When we open these collections up to anyone, then eventually the day will come that we cannot read all of them.  If we cannot be sure that our collections are completely accurate, how are we supposed to display them?  I do not think that there really is an answer to this question, but also believe strongly that the creators of the databases need to be able to make these decisions on their own with out interference.  It is possible that out of twenty years from now this will no longer be an issue and the field will reach a consensus, but the only way for that to occur is for us to work through our differences now.

Blog for October 16

So far the biggest issue that I have run into in my project is getting familiar with arch GIS.  I know that the only way to lean it is to continue to work through it, but it gets frustrating at points.  For now, I am still trying to gather research from Clemson’s archives.  I can now begin to see the project coming together the way I was hoping and that is very exciting.  

Reading Response - October 9

I think that oral histories are one of the most fascinating breakthroughs in the field over the last century.  You can now hear eye witnesses testify to what they saw in their own voice.  Where a written history might struggle with portraying emotions to the audience, you can hear the pain or excitement in the voices of the witnesses.  Perhaps most important, it gives future historians access to the same sources that more contemporary historians see.

Whether what someone remembers is accurate or not, the story that they tell others is useful to the historian.  Personally I do not see how this is much different than documents written by people from a certain time period.  If someone tells a story that is completely opposite from the truth, it is our job to trace where the story originated.  Oral and now visual (tv, ect.) histories might actually help us as historians to judge body language or changes in a person’s voice to decide whether we believe them or not.

Thomson’s article seems to show oral history as one of the most easily and universally accepted portions or digital history.  Every historian can see value in recording what their case studies were saying and preserving them for future research.  Personally, this is simply a natural way to conduct research today.

Reading Response OCT 2

Personally, this is one of the most interesting sets of readings that we have had in the class.  Maybe it is just my generation, but growing up with social media has made it very easy for me to see the benefits in using it to help share ideas.  We have always been trained to be careful what we share on social media, because that will come back later in life.  If I were to hire someone I would instantly search their name and see what I could find, because it does offer the employer information about the potential hire that a résumé does not.  I do not personally think that the part about creating a google Profile is as important as the writer makes it seem.

Especially in an academic setting, I had to learn the importance of simplicity in relation to web design the hard way.  Bright colors and “loud” fonts while they can be extremely fun to ply with and look at, are very hard on the eyes after a period of time.  In high school, I had to tone down my first webpage because even though it looked great it was very hard to read.

It is essential for historians to have some understanding of HTML formatting to have a logical conversation with coworkers.  A computer programmer probably has little idea of how to conduct a historian’s research, but having a grasp on what the programmer is trying to accomplish can go a long way in creating a successful project.