In the most basic of terms, Wikipedia generally does not have a "good" reputation as an academic resource. This is because the site used to allow users to edit their pages, which naturally invites people to enter in incorrect information for the sake of humor. Reading a page filled with untrue statements is extraordinarily frustrating. However, one of the upsides of Wikipedia is that each page contains internally linked tabs, two of which are labeled "History" and "Discussion". I chose to examine four separate pages dealing with quite broad topics, as I think that they have the greatest chance of spawning all sorts of discussions in many different areas of the topic.
French Revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution)
The French Revolution is a controversial topic full of differing ideologies and causes, ranging from very radical to quite reactionary. The discussion section this page shows the complicated nature of language within topics such as highly charged political/social revolutions. There are multiple comment threads dealing with the issue of language and the danger of placing labels on things that don't necessarily need labels. One danger with topics like this is that they can get very emotional.
Most of the "History" section is full of contributions, mostly changing analysis to straight history and clarifying the terms. Frankly, this section on most Wikipedia pages are very confusing, with lots of back and forth in terms of revising points and getting the sources properly cited. With a topic like the French Revolution, it is easy to go off in many different directions, and so everyone has to work together to make the page as cohesive as possible.
Digital History (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_history)
This page is not as controversial as the overview of the events of the French Revolution, which could possibly mean that it attracts more scholars than members of the general public. Pages that receive lots of feedback from the general public should not looked down upon, I am simply noting a difference that I have seen on Wikipedia. This page was last modified on January 25, 2011, which is a sign that this page does not get as much traffic as others. I think that this is worth noting since digital history is a growing field and it would make sense that this particular page would be undergoing many revisions. There is a note at the top of the "Discussions" page that states that Wikipedia is making a concentrated effort to improve its coverage of historical topics.
This page has been in existence since March 2008, making it relatively young. It only has eight entries in the "History" section, most of which have to do with minor edits and questions of terminology. What do you think is causing this "lag" in information? I find it interesting that this page has not received more contributors.
Impressionism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism)
I decided to include Impressionism is my survey because it was a cultural and social movement that did not have much impact on politics in terms of changing policies. One interesting discussion thread that I found had to do with the legacies of Impressionist artists such as Cezanne and Van Gogh. This is a crucial point because people need to have something with which to wrap up a discussion because otherwise the discussion has very little meaning or context to the present. There is very little in the way of debate on this page, possibly because art is seen as "soft" and not seen as an intellectual pursuit by some people. Art is a part of history, and this particular page on Wikipedia treats it as a source of knowledge. I just find it curious that there is so little in the way of actual discussion.
This page has been in operation since July 2002, making it a page that has seen many uses and revisions. Most of these revisions have been done with respect to individual participants in the Impressionist movement and the ideas that existed within and after the movement. I suppose that art is something that is hard to discuss in a somewhat restricted digital area, but these contributions nevertheless provide some social context that illuminates the Impressionist art world.
Marie Antoinette (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Antoinette)
I selected this page not only because of its interesting subject, but also because biographies are some of the most interesting to explore in terms of the changes that are made over time, especially if the person lived a very long time ago. There are very strict terms on this page to ensure quality information and answers to people's questions, in addition to this page being a part of Wikipedia's efforts to improve the quality of their biographies. This page is a candidate to become a featured article, making quality and clarity all the more important. One of the key discussion threads on this page concerns sources and whether or not the writers have relied too much on Antonia Fraser's biography of Marie Antoinette. Relying on one source limits the scope of the work, no matter how good the source is. Marie Antoinette is one of those figures in history that is almost always controversial in some form or another, so it is good that this article is as cohesive and neutral as it can be.
There is much mythology surrounding the life and rule of Marie Antoinette that it becomes difficult to separate fact from fiction. This is precisely what the discussion threads on this article deal with: separating the fanciful from the real. One such example is the classic "Let them eat cake" statement and whether or not she actually said that. It is exciting to see those types of debates still happening in the digital realm.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Signed to the Label: Our Charlotte Music Exhibit Group Contract
One of the assignments for the Digital History class is to create an online exhibit on a given topic within Charlotte history. My group is doing the history of Charlotte's music venues and the types of music that were showcased throughout the years, from approximately the 1930s up through the 1990s. Even though this sounds quite broad, it really is very narrow compared to what we started with. The Mission Statement was not too much of a challenge since the goals were quite clear, but we also had to consider what the specific goals were, not just teaching visitors about Charlotte music venues and their heritage.
Scope and depth were two of our main challenges, since there is so much interesting and compelling material to work with. The Carolina Room at the Uptown Library (http://www.cmlibrary.org/locations/maincarolina.asp) has a fantastic array of music resources, from books to original vinyl records. The only downside to all of these resources is narrowing them down. At first, we were going to organize the exhibit by era or decade. The trouble with that is that so many styles fit into each era and there would be too much cramped into each section. Eventually, we decided to organize it by venue so that visitors would be able to consider each venue its own time.
The milestones were also a challenge but it was not one that was an inconvenience. If anything, it helped us focus and really think about where we wanted our exhibit to go and the order in which to accomplish that. Certainly, more things take more time than others, but some things have to be done in order to move on to the next step. For example, each venue needs to be identified before the search for pictures can commence.
In conclusion, designing an online exhibit, both in terms of content and organization, is extraordinarily difficult. Trying to make sure that our group had covered everything necessary to ensure that the contract will indeed be useful. However, I do think that our hard work will be worth it since our topic is interesting to the whole group and there are tons of resources!
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Online Retrospective: The Role of Digital Archives
Before writing anything, I examined seven online archival collections: Hurricane Digital Memory Bank; The September 11 Digital Archive; fold3.com; JStor; Internet Archive; digitalhistory.uh.edu; and an article from The New Yorker discussing the shaping of digital collections. The links will be provided below!
Before visiting these websites, I had a very limited idea about what to expect in terms of format and content. However, each one shared a common purpose: keep the historical memory alive. This is, after all, the entire point of historical scholarship! These collections were designed for viewing by the general public, since it is the public memory that is being preserved. Enough talk, let's get into the analysis:
Hurricane Digital Memory Bank
http://www.hurricanearchive.org/
The Hurricane Digital Memory Bank is dedicated to preserving the stories of those who experienced and survived Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Hurricane Digital Memory Bank contributes to the ongoing efforts by historians and archivists to preserve the human and environmental records of these storms by collecting first-hand accounts, images, videos, blog posts, and podcasts. These are the sorts of items that are included in this collection that reflect the impact of these storms, both immediately after they happened (the effort began in 2005) and further into the future as people rebuild their lives. These collections are very powerful, especially the written first-hand accounts. While I cannot see why we would WANT to remember these storms and their effects, I can see why we NEED such a collection in order to leave an ultimately positive legacy.
The September 11 Digital Archive
http://911digitalarchive.org/
The September 11 Digital Archive uses an online archive to collect, preserve, and present to the public the events of September 11, 2001 and its aftermath across the country. The Archive contains digital items, a tally of emails and other electronic communications, first-hand stories, and digital images. This collection is quite large, with each section containing more than 10,000 items. This effort was started in September 2003, making it one of the first digital collections by the Library of Congress. Users can explore the collection and examine stories, images, emails, documents, and videos having to do with September 11. These collections were created to preserve the memory of a key event in America's history, one that extraordinarily monumental. The raw nature and sheer number of the the items in the collection make it especially striking and worth examining.
fold3.com
http://www.fold3.com/
Fold3 is the most comprehensive military record archive on the internet. The records here date all the way back to the American Revolution and go up to the Vietnam War. This collection contains both search-enabled records and memorial pages. Many of the pages contained here represent major moments in U. S. and World history, which is part of the reason for why this collection is significant. It also contains non-military records, many of which contain information about the spouses of soldiers killed during these conflicts. Records add a personal touch to the study of war and helps both scholars and the casual searcher learn about the kinds of people that served in the military and the stories that they had. Americans are fascinated by war and are keen on preserving its memory, and this collection brings the personal touch that war stories need to really hit them home.
JSTOR
http://www.jstor.org/
JSTOR is an academic archive containing articles, letters, and other primary and secondary sources for an enormous array of subjects. This digital collection contains more than a thousand academic journals and over 1 million images, letters, and other primary sources. They provide resources for publishers, individuals, and librarians, making it clear that these sources are aimed at an academic audience. That is, the collection is not aimed at the casual archival browser, although it could certainly lend itself to that purpose. This collection is unique in that users must register, either with an institution or individually. Due to the scope and size of this collection, it can reach a very broad audience in various disciplines in every country. This collection is nothing if not a an international collaboration of learners from all areas, making it invaluable to scholars all over the world.
Internet Archive
http://archive.org/index.php
The Internet Archive is a non-profit that was founded to build an online library available to the public. Its primary purposes include offering access for researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format. The basic idea is: without cultural artifacts preserved in some form, civilizations will have no memory and no mechanism to learn from their successes and failures. This archive contains both text documents, images, and videos, as well as the Wayback Machine (http://archive.org/web/web.php) that allows users to examine the evolution of thousands of websites from their earliest dates to the present. This effort comes from a need and want to preserve knowledge and materials for future generations, and the belief that all people have the right to know and the right to remember, creating a dialogue for a collective history.
digitalhistory.uh.edu
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/
This effort combines resources on eras and topics throughout American history, as well as special exhibitions on specific topics. The collection utilizes a variety of resources, including timelines, primary sources, videos, interviews, and a variety of references. There is also a section on "Active Learning", which shows that that the effort is not meant to encourage passive scholarship on the part of its broad audience. This collection is comprehensive, presenting a story of America that is examined from multiple sides, which is what makes it a valuable resource for scholars on all levels.
The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/online/2007/11/05/071105on_onlineonly_grafton?currentPage=1
This article, written by Anthony Grafton, discusses the roles that libraries and collections played in the past, and how those roles compare to the roles that online libraries and collections play in our society today. Historical documents are also crowding onto digital collections as the internet becomes more and more a part of our everyday lives. Now, anyone can create his or her own archive and many libraries and archives encourage users do so. This is not so much a collection, but a discussion of how the historical profession is changing and how crucial it is that people keep up with the ever-changing field.
Before visiting these websites, I had a very limited idea about what to expect in terms of format and content. However, each one shared a common purpose: keep the historical memory alive. This is, after all, the entire point of historical scholarship! These collections were designed for viewing by the general public, since it is the public memory that is being preserved. Enough talk, let's get into the analysis:
Hurricane Digital Memory Bank
http://www.hurricanearchive.org/
The Hurricane Digital Memory Bank is dedicated to preserving the stories of those who experienced and survived Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The Hurricane Digital Memory Bank contributes to the ongoing efforts by historians and archivists to preserve the human and environmental records of these storms by collecting first-hand accounts, images, videos, blog posts, and podcasts. These are the sorts of items that are included in this collection that reflect the impact of these storms, both immediately after they happened (the effort began in 2005) and further into the future as people rebuild their lives. These collections are very powerful, especially the written first-hand accounts. While I cannot see why we would WANT to remember these storms and their effects, I can see why we NEED such a collection in order to leave an ultimately positive legacy.
The September 11 Digital Archive
http://911digitalarchive.org/
The September 11 Digital Archive uses an online archive to collect, preserve, and present to the public the events of September 11, 2001 and its aftermath across the country. The Archive contains digital items, a tally of emails and other electronic communications, first-hand stories, and digital images. This collection is quite large, with each section containing more than 10,000 items. This effort was started in September 2003, making it one of the first digital collections by the Library of Congress. Users can explore the collection and examine stories, images, emails, documents, and videos having to do with September 11. These collections were created to preserve the memory of a key event in America's history, one that extraordinarily monumental. The raw nature and sheer number of the the items in the collection make it especially striking and worth examining.
fold3.com
http://www.fold3.com/
Fold3 is the most comprehensive military record archive on the internet. The records here date all the way back to the American Revolution and go up to the Vietnam War. This collection contains both search-enabled records and memorial pages. Many of the pages contained here represent major moments in U. S. and World history, which is part of the reason for why this collection is significant. It also contains non-military records, many of which contain information about the spouses of soldiers killed during these conflicts. Records add a personal touch to the study of war and helps both scholars and the casual searcher learn about the kinds of people that served in the military and the stories that they had. Americans are fascinated by war and are keen on preserving its memory, and this collection brings the personal touch that war stories need to really hit them home.
JSTOR
http://www.jstor.org/
JSTOR is an academic archive containing articles, letters, and other primary and secondary sources for an enormous array of subjects. This digital collection contains more than a thousand academic journals and over 1 million images, letters, and other primary sources. They provide resources for publishers, individuals, and librarians, making it clear that these sources are aimed at an academic audience. That is, the collection is not aimed at the casual archival browser, although it could certainly lend itself to that purpose. This collection is unique in that users must register, either with an institution or individually. Due to the scope and size of this collection, it can reach a very broad audience in various disciplines in every country. This collection is nothing if not a an international collaboration of learners from all areas, making it invaluable to scholars all over the world.
Internet Archive
http://archive.org/index.php
The Internet Archive is a non-profit that was founded to build an online library available to the public. Its primary purposes include offering access for researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format. The basic idea is: without cultural artifacts preserved in some form, civilizations will have no memory and no mechanism to learn from their successes and failures. This archive contains both text documents, images, and videos, as well as the Wayback Machine (http://archive.org/web/web.php) that allows users to examine the evolution of thousands of websites from their earliest dates to the present. This effort comes from a need and want to preserve knowledge and materials for future generations, and the belief that all people have the right to know and the right to remember, creating a dialogue for a collective history.
digitalhistory.uh.edu
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/
This effort combines resources on eras and topics throughout American history, as well as special exhibitions on specific topics. The collection utilizes a variety of resources, including timelines, primary sources, videos, interviews, and a variety of references. There is also a section on "Active Learning", which shows that that the effort is not meant to encourage passive scholarship on the part of its broad audience. This collection is comprehensive, presenting a story of America that is examined from multiple sides, which is what makes it a valuable resource for scholars on all levels.
The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/online/2007/11/05/071105on_onlineonly_grafton?currentPage=1
This article, written by Anthony Grafton, discusses the roles that libraries and collections played in the past, and how those roles compare to the roles that online libraries and collections play in our society today. Historical documents are also crowding onto digital collections as the internet becomes more and more a part of our everyday lives. Now, anyone can create his or her own archive and many libraries and archives encourage users do so. This is not so much a collection, but a discussion of how the historical profession is changing and how crucial it is that people keep up with the ever-changing field.
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Omeka and Music? Online Collections and Plug-Ins
Omeka is a website that allows users to create their own online exhibitions and collections for free. In addition to all of the basic resources that are offered, there are some additional ones known as "plug-ins". Of course, not every plug-in is going to suit every collection, so one has to choose carefully in terms of which tools will help visitors and which ones will only become cumbersome.
My group and I are creating a collection having to do with music in the North Carolina Piedmont, the Charlotte region in particular. It is not difficult to find excellent resources on this topic, but it is a challenge to know which tools are compatible with material having to do with music and musical culture in a relatively concentrated area. The one that I think would be the most useful is the Document Viewer plug-in (Allows users to view PDF documents, PowerPoint presentations, TIFF files, and some Microsoft Word documents). This tool would allow our group to create files of sheet music and photographs relevant to the collection and allow them to be viewed without taking up a large amount of room on a given page. Having the ability to do this will add an interactive element to the online exhibition, allowing viewers to look at the materials themselves and creating a more fulfilling experience.
My group and I are creating a collection having to do with music in the North Carolina Piedmont, the Charlotte region in particular. It is not difficult to find excellent resources on this topic, but it is a challenge to know which tools are compatible with material having to do with music and musical culture in a relatively concentrated area. The one that I think would be the most useful is the Document Viewer plug-in (Allows users to view PDF documents, PowerPoint presentations, TIFF files, and some Microsoft Word documents). This tool would allow our group to create files of sheet music and photographs relevant to the collection and allow them to be viewed without taking up a large amount of room on a given page. Having the ability to do this will add an interactive element to the online exhibition, allowing viewers to look at the materials themselves and creating a more fulfilling experience.
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