3rd Year History Major

#History397

[robertfletcher-blog1]

Sutori is the best way to share your story.

Final Project

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How do academics use the internet for historical research? Historians have primarily been in the domain of the library or archives and largely this is still the case. Recently however there became the value in the internet especially with the way it can store information. A historian may be able to view documents both primary and secondary without having to leave the home. This is a recent evolution with how historians approach information. A majority of academics found that the versatility and availability of the internet allows for vast amounts of information to be easy acquired. Academics are able to not only have far greater stores of information available but it changes how an academic looks at said information. An academic has to recognize the various challenges and advantages that the internet provides such as credibility because of this lens it changes how historical research is approached. An example of this credibility lens is through the use of Wikipedia and the concept that any single person or group pf people can edit it to whatever they so choose with even the sources being skewed. An even more specific example is the fact that my best friend made me the Principal of my high school for the entirety of my grade 12 year. Needless to say I was not the principal.  How do historians teach history using the internet? Historians will teach history using the internet based on the information and technology available to them. An example is that technology can be rather limited based on exclusivity, what is meant by that is that a majority of credible databases want payment to have access to them. This limits the resources and how much can be taught about history if the information is not accessible. This begins the great deep web debate and who should have access to it, but that is a whole different can of worms. What is the connection between the library and the internet?  As stated above historians love the library and so we are often intertwined with it. However upon the emergence of the internet that has changed and the way historians research with it. Libraries are still critical to the internet and majority of the information that is used that is credible on the internet comes from libraries. Furthermore, in the irony of digital preservation article it discusses the connections of how the internet reader gets their information and how majority of the time that information is from the library all along. The internet is just a culmination of hundreds of libraries. What could be a possible future evolution for historians and history as libraries become harder to find and internet becomes more prevalent, but as overwhelming? What does the future hold for history? 

[robertfletcher-blog1]

Reflection on Twitter- October 31, 2016

The event that I chose was the announcement on the death of Osama Bin Laden by Barack Obama. This event took place in 2011 which was when Twitter just started to pick up steam so it was interesting to see how the popularity of twitter played a role. Overall though my opinion was negative. The advanced search option was difficult to maneuver and i got lucky by finding a hashtag. If i had not found that i would have been watching celebrity react videos and news reaction videos the entire paper. The idea of twitter as a primary source is great in concept, but much more difficult in the practical approach than I thought. This assignment was critical because it allowed for myself as a possible future historian to understand how social media has played a role in history. Furthermore, I found some quite racist remarks against both Osama Bin Laden and Obama. On the positive side however, Twitter allowed for me to show see how one historical event transitions into another one, this was how Hillary was stating that she was critical in the operation that took Bin Laden’s life. This is one of her primary points in the presidential race of 2016 and through Twitter I was able to see how this event transitioned into an announcement to a political tool.

[robertfletcher-blog1]

Twitter Event Assignment

The event i have chosen as my area of research is the death of Osama Bin Laden specifically the announcement of it and the echo effect that would follow. I just recently reactivated my twitter and found through the search area the vast amount of tweets on the subject. There was three major points to be noted in the tweets. The first pattern was a series Islamophobic statements, especially an emphasis on terrorism (go figure). Secondly, there was the condemning of Hillary Clinton, who was attempting to capitalize on her role in the event for her campaign. This condemning would show how an event can be used for political purposes and how it is received by a desired audience (in this case rather poorly). Finally, there was the praise for Barack Obama's efforts in the attempt and success in completing this goal. However through some tweets there was some hostility toward the president because the announcement interrupted the season finale of the Apprentice. These three areas of note are important because it shows the diversity of how people view an event in the moment and how these views evolve overtime. The sources did not provide a lot of information on the event itself but focused more on elements surrounding it. This leaves a vacuum space that is filled with conspiracy theory tweets such as Osama Bin Laden still being alive or that he was a government spy. These tweets as sources are very useful because it allows for a vast array of interpretations of one event and the how it evolves with the society. The tweets are a historical asset when assessing the various aspects of the event, the sources may be bias but they are highly useful for historic study. 

[robertfletcher-blog1]

My group has chosen to do Amherstburg. The town was started based on the emergence of a specific fort and is still central to the community today, that fort is the Historic Site of Fort Malden. The reason for my choice is that this site has a rich history and goes through many changes over the course of its existence. This site would go from a critically strategic fort during the War of 1812 to an insane asylum that would have patients from all over to a historic site. These transitions help to show what life was like for those living in Canada especially the Windsor Essex County region. I am looking forward to uncovering more information that may not be well known through my research.

[robertfletcher-blog1]

Andrew Jackson

I did my Wikipedia article analysis on Andrew Jackson because of the very controversial presidency that would establish the Democratic Party and he has been recently voted to be taken off the Twenty dollar bill. Andrew Jackson was the 9th president of the United States of America.

1) This description of the average editor seems to be accurate but there should be noted that there is a bias in the geographic identity. With the source being of Andrew Jackson the 7th president of the United States there is a predisposition to those who are of an American background. From there that also would hit on the linguistic element as the United States is a primarily English speaking nation. It should be noted that it is very difficult for one to place age, ethnicity, or gender of an individual from their limited profile settings. More often than not the individual will state only one of these criteria Being a Young White Male living in North America (not in a basement) as well as being the audience it makes the editor template to be prevalent. It should be known that the main editor in the recent months however is a non-credible source due to background as a 17 year old. This user does have a history of having several edits failing or being denied out right. This makes not only the edits seem unprofessional, but leaves a lack of confidence in the article for credibility and support.

2) There is an unusual discrepancy in regards to the source usage in comparison to the editors. The sources were easily accessible while a majority was credible books; the majority of the external links were credible through the use of primary documents. These links were accessible and simple to use yet highly credible. The internet digit sources came primarily from the United States government organizations or educational databases. Some credible academic sites are through the Library of Congress, the U.S. Congress, the Hermitage (Jackson’s home), and the Florida State library. However, with a majority of the sources being published by the United States government there is little negative information about the president with the sources except in one area which was the “Indian Removal Act” this is well known and has been addressed by previous presidents. This area is one of the largest sections of the article to it is hard to discern the bias which is favorable for an academic perspective. The overall source usage and entries were academically sound and were well documented with thorough footnotes within the article to designate to what source was used and where.

3) There were no flames or edit wars which is highly unusual with the recent controversy of having him removed from the $20 dollar bill and replaced with Harriet Tubman. Unfortunately there were no conflicting ideas in the talk section; there was actually very few comments in general which made it difficult to better understand the editors. Furthermore, with the current issues amongst the two Presidential candidates there was little activity even though Andrew Jackson and his supporters would establish the Democratic Party to compete with that of the Republican Party. The comments made are fairly unprofessional and exhibit a conversational tone. Majority of the disagreements do not deal with even the content but format and grammatical errors. The overall talk section was rather unprofessional and lacking in any disagreements or comments in general.

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Introduction and Explanation: I chose this as my image because I found it fascinating and entertaining. I feel this image accurately can represent history and the Internet. Both of these are casual at first glance, but carry a lot of weight to them. This image is a prime example of history on the web as it is something very historical yet it has been digitized and becoming available to all. This image properly shows my interest in history and in the growing mainstream nature of historical photos and information in society today as a trend.