With this being my first posting for the blog, I would first like to point out that while I may seem critical of some of the writings that we are required to read for this class, it does not mean that the information isn't valuable. As with many things in history, many aspects of life (and history for that matter) are continually evolving and changing. The challenge with history is evolving with the technology and effectively utilizing the information to pass it down to the next generation. With the invention of the internet came a whole new level of information accessibility, this is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing in the sense that all of this information is available at the click of a button or the press of a screen, however, the curse lies in the ease and ability to post false information. Perhaps its the fact that I belong to a younger generation, but I find it amusing when older historians "discover" this new found technology in the internet. As historians we must be ready and willing to continually evolve with technology. While some may hold onto the traditional practices of research by digging through book after book in search of information, this is hardly practical. Still, there are some historians that find nostalgia in this archaic way of research. This is not to say that learning this type of research isn't necessary, as there are many history based books that are hidden in the dark corners of the library that may be useful to a subject, however historians should be proficient in the ways of modern research.
While reading Digital History: A Guide to Gather, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web by Daniel Cohen and Roy Rozenzweig I found an interesting statement in the first chapter in reference to accessibility to historic information. They bring up the good point that many universities keep their syllabi and its information locked up through websites such as Blackboard and JSTOR. While historians scramble to fight the fires of a profession that seems to be slowly dying, they are hoarding their information and trying to squeeze the last drop of money from it. History is not dying, history is going through a changing of the guard with a new generation and new technology at its helm. Cohen and Rozenzweig go on to criticize search engines for their lack of detail in regards to properly categorizing information as the AHA thinks it should be categorized. I must disagree, the internet isn't a book that you can just open and find a chapter, an individual must learn how to work it. As with most things in life, the internet is what you put into it. Don't expect to type in a broad subject such as Ancient Greece and expect to have the information you want pop up in the first search suggestion. You must learn to utilize key words in order to acquire the desired information.
Cohen and Rozenzweig do go a great deal into the uses of technology within the historian profession. I was particularly happy with their example of the Smithsonian Institute and the successes that they have had utilizing technology to further advance the love of history amongst the masses. Today's technology not only advances the interaction of people with history in a museum study, it is also a great tool when it comes to advertising. Facebook and Youtube are great examples of websites that can be used to spread information about an event, not only are these services free but the amount of people that they can potentially reach is amazing in comparison to newspaper adds. The internet has afforded people of all professions to communicate at such an easy and fast level that there is no reason for new ideas to escape underutilized.
Interchange: The Promise of Digital History is a conversation based article on the Journal of American History website. While the conversation is intriguing to me as a historian, as a regular person I felt the conversation to be a bit over exaggerated in the sense of the effort that went into developing a definition for digital history. Perhaps in the early 1990s, this conversation would be defining a revolution in the realm of historians, however today, digital history is history. So many digital applications are used in the every day life of a historian that the conversation seems a bit deep for the subject. After I read it the second time, I did realize the value that this article held. This conversation is important to us as historians because it describes, quite possibly, the greatest advancement in the field of history since the first story of life was painted on a wall. A crucial part of the historian's practice was researching through books, pictures, and paintings; now this information exists but not on a physical level. In present day, historians can share information and pictures at such a level of detail that it actually challenges the benefit of physically touching the object or reading the book in person. The question is, what does this mean to us as historians?
Historians in present day are almost forced into a world of cohesion and teamwork. At the heart of history is the desire to tell a story of how we as a people arrived to this very hour in our lives. The pioneers of digital history afforded this new generation of historians the ability to take history and its importance to the next level, but it is up to this new generation of historians to hold up their end of the bargain. A network of accessibility and sharing of information must be perfected in order to stay relevant in today's society. We as historians understand the value of this information, but in the age of new apps and advancing technology, we must find a way to make it relevant to our children. They must understand that a giant tea party in Boston changed the course of the world, and that a piece of paper nailed to a church door in England changed the course of religion. It is our responsibility as historians to get kids interested in the past, so that they can understand how to make the future brighter.
Reading the articles regarding the start of the digital history revolution showed how a core group of historians operating outside the comfort zone of their profession could create a revolution. It was great reading the evolution of paper to digital, and the misfires that happened along the way. This affords us the opportunity to take those mistakes and develop something better. While the relevance of books may be around for years to come, it is important to realize that people today want more information faster, and these articles give insight to possibilities of making this goal feasible.
-Jason Barrett
