Reflections on Digital History

I find technology intimidating sometimes so I decided to take this Digital History course to fill in some gaps in my tech knowledge and learn about methods that public historians can use in practice. The other day I realized how much I actually have learned in this class through the various assignments. What was so […]

Crowdsourcing Historians

The public is one of the most important elements of public history. After all, what is the point of a public history project if there is no one to view it? That is why getting the public interested and involved is extremely important and archival projects are one way to do it. In “Transcription Maximized; […]

The Value of Podcasts

Podcasts have become pretty popular in recent years. It’s no wonder since we seem to live in a society that is always listening to something through their headphones or earbuds. Podcasts are mobile, they don’t require a large investment of time or looking at a screen, and they can be both entertaining and educational. It’s easy […]

Social Media and Me

My personal online presence is low profile. I’m not the type of person that feels the need to broadcast my every opinion to the world. I have been on Facebook since the early years but rarely post anything and the only reason I joined Twitter was because it was a class requirement. (I’d like to […]

Space, Time, Place

GIS mapping can be an important tool in the process of place-making, which is one of the many responsibilities of a public historian. A map can be an excellent starting point for compiling information on a particular place and a GIS map allows for layers of data, creating a rich archive. One great example of […]

Digital Resources

     Going digital: in this day and age, it’s not merely an option, it’s mandatory. Although technology is not my forte, I have to face the fact that digital history is an important element in the dissemination of historical information. This applies to both creating digital exhibits and historical websites as well as digitizing […]

The wonders of Wikipedia

Wikipedia: a godsend for some and a swear word for others, especially in the academic world. Although the nature of Wikipedia makes me wary of using it as a source when I’m doing research for a paper, it’s a good starting point to get an idea of a certain subject. When I’m looking something up […]

Digital Collections and Exhibits

When it comes to online exhibits, it seems that Omeka offers the best way to display information and is highly recommended for museum professionals. Omeka provides various showcase websites as examples of some of the possibilities when using their services. Two of these sites are for Humboldt Redwoods Project and The Latina History Project. The […]

Obstacles to Historical Scholarship

The question of whether academic scholarship should be accessible to all is a complicated one. In his article, “Should Scholarship be Free?,” Roy Rosenzweig posits that it should and I agree. It doesn’t make sense that only those who can afford to pay for access to databases or are affiliated with academic institutions are able […]