History on the Web
Throughout this course there has been many discussions and readings and learnings of the many different aspects, negatives and positives, and uses for digital archives and the internet in terms of studying history, both as archives and the use of using it to write history and keep events recorded. The Thomas and Johnson chapter and Weller's conclusion in the book History in the Digital Age give a great overarching, almost complete summary, of all topics discussed. Overall, these two essays illustrate and build on all that has been discussed this year. They specifically discuss the challenges of keeping up with the changing technologies and the various ways historians may use this new medium, while at the same time reassuring that not all historians have to change and that the addition of the digital age does not mean an end to traditional style to historical study.
These essays have completely validated and summarized my thoughts on the future of History on the Web. They speak of the various ways that archives are helpful but also speak of the downfall of bias by omission. Both of which I agree with. The discussion of the ever changing technology also addressed the different fears that many historians hold. The fact that they almost are ensuring that those who read their essay understand that this issue is a major focus alleviates fears in many. The reassurance that the old way is not lost also allows for me to be glad that archives in print will stay intact for much longer than some believed would occur with the coming of this new 'digital age.' These essays also brought other things that have been discussed in class together in two small essays. The various digital archives, the open access resources and information that some areas and organizations have and the act of digitizing and biases that occur when choosing what to upload are all things that have been discussed. In Conclusion, these essays did not contradict anything that I though, they only helped to summarize my feelings and to bring an almost complete summary to the course as we have studied this year.
The Tumblr project was a very interesting project of focus to study the topic of History on the Web. Having Tumblr and looking through other historical posts was a very different way to look for historical facts. The many different aspects of posts such as videos, gifs, quotes, links and pictures offer a multitude of ways to gain historical facts when searching properly and when following the correct users. The different aspects allowed for me to see many different mediums and allows for people to express their historical knowledge and interesting, funny, thought provoking information in a variety of ways that do not require typical paper / essay format, thus allowing for more interest as a person may chose their own way to promote the information to be found and is more interactive than a simple paper. It was enjoyable and showed me a different way in which to use the internet and social media to look for historical information and relevance.