The Digital Past Course Blog – Page 35

History 390: The Digital Past – Assignment No. 1

Part 1

Before classes began this August, I got together with a number of my friends, and we discussed the courses that we would were taking this semester. When I spoke about this class, a good friend of mine laughed and jeeringly remarked that come the end of the semester I would walk away with only useless information on the history of the punch card and a few vague facts about the life of Alan Turing. However, after attending last week’s sessions, I learned that my cynical friend could not have been farther from the truth. While I cannot argue that its start may have been quite dry, digital history tells the stories of countless imaginative and innovative people, who challenged the very nature of information as it had come to be understood by everyone prior to them. Author Jorge Luis Borges envisioned stories that extended beyond the pages of books and empowered readers to become an actors in their own stories; and Ted Nelson, possibly inspired by Borges’ vision of a new, freer style of information, went on to develop Project Xanadu, a program that would allow readers the ability to navigate electronic documents along paths they themselves had chosen. Although they do not appear shocking to someone living in the 21st century, when placed in the context of our informational past, these ideas were revolutionary and continue to influence the ways in which we approach the digital world. While I’m unsure as to whether or not these topics will be covered in the course, I’m hoping to take a closer look at Borges and Nelson’s philosophies as well as the long-term transition from using information technology as a tool to organize people (i.e. punch cards) towards its use today as a cross-cultural media and information sharing platform.

Part 2

The digital project assigned to me is entitled, “The Lost Museum”. It digitally reconstructs Barnum’s American Museum through a virtual exhibit that incorporates 3D imaging and multimedia narratives in the form of hyperlinks scattered throughout the museum’s interior and digital imaging. The sources used in this project include posters, documents, and digital reconstructions of artifacts found within the museum prior to its eventual collapse. As mentioned earlier, the sources used in this project were processed as historical sites or digital images. These processed sources are scattered throughout a digital reconstruction of the museum’s interior, and online visitors may explore them as they see fit. Although it does an excellent job of reconstructing the museum, the project makes it difficult for a visitor to explore its contents. Perhaps the use of virtual reality equipment and software would solve this problem. However, placing this criticism aside, the project captivates its audience and provides them with a true 19^th century museum experience, one unimaginable without the use of digital technology.

Blog Post #1

Part 1:

I’ll be honest, I didn’t sign up for this class because it was a requirement for my major, but because I’ve always been a big history buff who’s interested in the little things in history. Learning about how the digital world we now know was created is something that isn’t taught in regular history classes. In the first week I learned a lot about the many inventions that would lead up to the internet, computers, and basic electronics. Things like the radiophones turning into silent raves, or a codex into a printed book into electronic books are very interesting to me, because the average person doesn’t think about all the steps we need to take to invent something amazing. There was rapid development across the board for technology, going from books to computers in the span of only one century. In the future, I hope to learn more about how tied our modern technology is to obscure or even well known old technology. I also hope to see how culture changed due to the evolution of the technology of old to our modern digital tech. The great depression was a horrible time to be alive, but the need to innovate and create is never greater than in times of severe need, so I think this semester will be quite interesting.

Part 2:

I was assigned to review project #7, titled “History of the National Mall” by the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media. To figure out what this project is about, I looked at the “Using the Site” tab. This project is meant to give a virtual tour of the National mall by using maps, people, explorations, and past events. It’s actually meant to be used while on the mall to give full explanations of where one is at and if anything significant happened there. Searching for the actual information, for instance the “events” tab shows us various past events that happened hundreds of years ago. It appears the site gets a ton of it’s information from places like the library of congress, so one can trust it’s good information. Moving on to the “maps” tab, one can see that they’ve used a map for the mall for the project sort of like google maps, where brightly colored circles locate important or interesting parts of the mall a tourist might enjoy. Finally, in the “explorations” tab, they use brightly colored boxes with questions on them to answer possibly common questions one might have about the mall, or small facts that people might find interesting. I believe these transformations add to the scholarship by giving it a bright and easy to manage way to gain information about the National mall.

Sources:

Posner, Miriam. “ How did they make that?” Miriam Posner’s Blog.Wordpress. Published 4/17/2014. http://miriamposner.com/blog/how-did-they-make-that-the-video/

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, “Histories of the National Mall.” Histories of the National Mall, http://mallhistory.org/.

Blog Post 1

Part One:

In the first week of this course, I learned a great deal of context. The context for this course included a basic understanding of the setting for the New Deal, the cultural associations that were established as a part of the New Deal, and developed a broader definition of “technology”. Furthermore, I received a crash course in the relevant technologies and concepts that led to the development of our modern digital age.

While I had a basic understanding of what the New Deal was and had a basic understanding of its broader effects on American society, I was completely unaware that the New Deal had any pronounced cultural effects. The discussion in the course so far has enlightened me regarding the different public arts programs that were established as a part of the New Deal. The intention of these public arts programs was twofold. After the economic atrocity of the Great Depression, many artists needed work. So, public programs put artists back to work, and allowed them the opportunity to create again. Additionally, the production of art, such as theater, and music, provided a distraction for all Americans. When consuming the arts, people were less likely to dwell on what they had lost in the preceding years.

Part Two:

For the next part of the assignment, I was assigned to review “Media and The Movement”, which examines how the media covered the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. In Miriam Posner’s framework, Media and the Movement would be classified as a multimedia narrative. The project combines longform academic writing with oral histories, feature-length films, and radio broadcasts. The sources in this project are numerous and diverse. They include films/videos, recordings, photographs, and text documents or artifacts. Most of the sources are processed by being photographed or scanned, or in some otherway digitized in order to be uploaded to the webpage. Finally, the sources are presented in a way to be easily accessible on the web and able to be observed by visitors. The digital nature of this project enhances the efficacy of the project’s sources. By presenting primary sources in line with appropriate context, individuals are able to learn in more ways than one, and see first hand what the historian is trying to convey.

References

Dauterive, Jessica. (2019, August 27). What is Digital Humanities?Retrieved from https://slides.com/jdauteri/what-is-digital-humanities#/1.

Davis, Joshua Clark & Kotch, Seth. Media and the Movement. Retrieved from http://mediaandthemovement.unc.edu/

Posner, Miriam. (2019, August 28). How Did They Make That? Retrieved from http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/exhibits/show/fall-2019/dh.

Blog Post #1

During the first few days of class, we have started our entry into the early 1900s, which included events such as the Great Depression, progressive reform, and the evolution of information processing and digital computing. It was interesting to not only look at historical events, but to also tie in the rise of new technologies happening simultaneously during that era, and how that affected the preservation of historical events. I’ve also always found the study of older technologies interesting, as I find that new technologies tend to have similarities and reflect older technology. This can be seen in a comparison between radiophone dances in the 1920s, and the newer trend of silent disco parties in modern times. While there is a difference in why the technology was used in this way – necessity versus a trend – the end result is similar.

The digital project I analyzed was titled “Colored Conventions: Bringing Nineteenth-Century Black Organizing to Digital Life.” This multimedia digital archive was created to compile historical transcriptions, photos, timelines, exhibitions, and literature in one accessible domain, focusing on the Colored Conventions. The Colored Conventions were a series of national political meetings that strategized and pushed for fair education, labor laws, and legal justice for black individuals, and included notable delegates such as writers, organizers, church leaders, entrepreneurs and other African American leadership of the time. The multimedia project serves as a compilation of works from this time, including personal stories and background of the delegates, along with examination of their social networks, newspaper coverage, and petitions.

This digital project contains many items from Mariam Posner’s framework, including multimedia articles, timelines, transcriptions, maps, 3D imaging, and more. These tools were designed to help immerse the scholar in the information and provide a clear understanding and immersion into day to day life during this time period. This multimedia approach helps to highlight all aspects of the conventions and the notable people involved, showing where they ate, slept, and worked, along with giving accounts in their own voices. The digital project was designed to be interactive and logically organized, with information grouped into exhibits, and exhibits further broken into interactive material – such as video, timelines, and text – that make the information more readily accessed. This allows for both the historian and the casual scholar to have easy access to material, regardless of breadth of knowledge.

References

Dauterive, Jessica. (2019, August 27). What is Digital Humanities? Retrieved from https://slides.com/jdauteri/what-is-digital-humanities#/1.

Posner, Miriam. (2019, August 28). How Did They Make That? Retrieved from http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/exhibits/show/fall-2019/dh.

P. Gabrielle Foreman. ‘Colored Conventions: Bringing Nineteenth-Century Black Organizing to Digital Life’ Database, http://coloredconventions.org/

Blog Post #1

During the first week of class, we learned about historical events such as the Great Depression, the effects of information technology, as well as digital humanities that took place throughout the early 1900s. I was intrigued to not only see how far we have come as the use of technology has advanced in many different ways, but how it has also remained the same. For example, Radiophone Dances that took place in the 1920s are essentially Silent Disco parties today. Though, if we were to compare the difference between now and then, we would be grateful that coding is no longer needed to understand and interpret text. The process in which such was made possible was through the creation of Codex, then Printed Books, and later, Ebooks. A source of text- reading often used today.

The latter part of the 1900s into the 21st Century was a time where many of us witnessed and experienced technological advancement. From playing on block- sized computers monitors that had CD Roms and Floppy Disks to using laptops and handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets. Like many today, I often wonder how much more can technology advance and to what extent. It is my hope to learn how such can continue to impact our lives today as many of us cannot live without it through the use of social media. I would like to understand how ideas for apps like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram come about and why they are constantly changing and or updating to serve our needs as a society.

The digital project I analyzed was titled “Slave Voyages”. The digital memorial was created as a database to explore the dispersal of enslaved Africans across the Atlantic. It provides information on the largest slave trades in history and offers resources that answer many of our lingering questions and concerns.

This source provides many examples from Mariam Posner’s framework that include timelines, 3D imaging, maps, multimedia narratives,etc. The inclusion of these tools provide those visiting the website a clear and very vivid outlook on what took place during the time. This database was equipped with sources like images, videos, and texts that were processed through digitization and organization and lastly, presented to the public in a way that was searchable and made interactive. The advancement of technology has allowed historians, librarians, scholars, computer programmers, and even ourselves the opportunity to access such information and contribute as needed.

References:

Dauterive, Jessica. (2019, August 27). What is Digital Humanities? Retrieved from https://slides.com/jdauteri/what-is-digital-humanities#/1.

David Eltis. ‘A Brief Overview of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade,’ Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Database, https://www.slavevoyages.org/voyage/about.

Posner, Miriam. (2019, August 28). How Did They Make That? Retrieved from http://jessicadoeshistory.com/cnd/exhibits/show/fall-2019/dh.

Blog Post #1

I have slight knowledge of the 1930s through the many history classes I have sat through in High School. Class discussions about the Great Depression, and the New Deal only strengthened my understanding about these topics. Class also helped me learn more effects these topics had on the American population, rather than the World as a whole. Though the information technology/ digital humanities part of the lectures were new topics to me. I learned about the production of the first computer, and the introduction of the first computer web browser. I am very interested in using many of these online tools to research more about the digital past, and learn more about technology.I hope I can help expand my understanding about America’s past and learn about how “history might be repeating itself.”

I have been assigned to the “Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project,” written by faculty, community groups, undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Washington. The idea of this project is to bring attention to Civil Rights in Seattle, also to the labor movement. Throughout the 1900’s civil and labor Unions and Radical organizations have shown proof of giving critical support to racial justice. This project uses a variety of different tools to relay information, such as oral histories, film & slideshows, and research reports. The data that was collected was well presented, it included extensive well written research. Each Historical Essay cited within this project is about interesting issues and incidents. Some topics include immigration rights, Native American land rights, segregation, women’s rights, etc. Each Historical Essay is fully equipped with photos, and clippings of Newspapers. The Film & Slideshow tab of this site has proven to be incredibly useful. Being able to watch and listen to individuals who have personally experienced these conflicts helped solidify my understanding of the issues. Also cited on this site are different Civil Rights Organizations that were present in Seattle at the time, and the efforts they extorted to help support this movement. Unfortunately, some of the links listed on the site were expired, or not found. So I was not able to fully explore this exhibit.

Sites

“Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project.” Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project, 2004, http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/.

Blog Post #1 – Project 33

I really enjoyed our brief dive into how we define technology. I thought it was really interesting to look at how our modern digital tools, such as hard drive folders or ebooks, can be traced back to concrete versions, and their entire history. I think that it is easy to forget the histories of the technology and objects that we use every day. I’m hope to learn more about the history objects in this class, and to redefine my understanding of technology.

I felt like Project #33, which discusses while streamlined and visually appealing, was not terribly engaging. The writing in the front summary/abstract paragraph was written in opaque in a manner that lacked appeal to viewers outside of the historical field who might not be accustomed to reading denser texts, and yet the text in the topics page was almost oversimplified. I think that a stronger introduction and images beyond graphs and charts be utilized to build interest and humanize the hard statistical data. Furthermore, the front webpage appears at first to be the introduction page, but only after reading through the entire study did I realize that a lengthy and detailed introduction existed separately. The webpage would benefit from better organization. I do, however, think that this study was very interesting—one point in particular that stood out to me was the fact that even though fugitive slave advertisements in Richmond rose during the Civil War, hiring and wanted advertisements remained at a fairly separate level. This indicates that even as the war continued and more and more slaves managed to escape to the north, people were still unwilling to hire replacements, rather choosing to continue endorsing the institution of slavery.

Nelson, Robert K. “Mining the Dispatch.” Mining the Dispatch. The University of Richmond. Accessed September 2, 2019.

Blog Post #1

Before the first week of class, I was a little anxious as to what this History/IT class would entail, but upon taking it i’ve become excited for the course and the things we will be learning in the future. One of the main things that I found interesting during the first week was the fact that all technology now isn’t necessarily new, but rather an evolved version of previous technology. The concept of technology being ever evolving is interesting on it’s own, but realizing the level at which history has a part in the evolution of it just makes me want to delve deeper into the subject. For example, the fact that the little folder icon on your laptop exists because of the creation of the filing cabinet and manila envelopes during a time that record keeping became important just demonstrates all the working parts that go into the creation and evolution of things; time period, need, etc. So I’m excited to explore different data sets and resources that rely on historical records and see how people have decided to use and share these things to make them more easily accessible to people of today’s age.

The project I was assigned to review was the Mapping Occupation Project, published by the University of Georgia. The project is considered an exploratory map (following the DH Field Guide), that details U.S. Army posts during the time of Reconstruction. It also provides descriptions for the data that’s being shown, such as historical background, the purpose of the army posts, and their movement throughout the period of reconstruction. The publishers of this project say that the date shared on this map can be used “ as a guideline through a complex period, a massive data source, and a first step in capturing the federal government’s new reach into the countryside.” The Mapping Occupation Project was created through the gathering of information from manuscript sources in the national archives as well as repositories. It’s also downloadable which makes it’s accessibility all that much greater. The digital tools and transformations included within this project do add to the scholarship considering the creators could have just created the map to give a visual idea of where Army posts were and left it at that, but instead they dove in further by providing information, context, and “spatial narrative” to the data. It’s interactive in that you can zoom in and out of the data and the way in which it’s displayed is visually appealing and simple. It transforms the data from the archives into something that people of today’s age can use and explore for their own research purposes.

Sources:

Gregory P. Downs and Scott Nesbit, Mapping Occupation: Force, Freedom, and the Army in Reconstruction, http://mappingoccupation.org, published March 2015, accessed (9/3/19).

Blog Post #1

Although I have learned about the Great Depression and New Deal in previous classes, I can’t say I’ve ever thought about these events through the lens of technology and digital humanities. Our first week of class definitely left me more confused than when I went in, but after studying one of the projects and completing the readings, I do feel slightly more confident and I hope to see my confidence only grow throughout the semester. I do not have much prior knowledge of digital humanities, but I am eager to learn more about it and how it impacted the 1930s and beyond. In last Wednesday’s class, I found the slideshow of different technology developing through time very interesting. I was especially surprised that the silent disco/dance idea came far earlier than my time. I never would have thought or believed that in the early 1900s anyone could even fathom that idea. I’m curious to know what other ideas we had originally thought were new, were actually thought of before. It was interesting to see how ideas that seem specifically relevant to our time were just as relevant nearly 100 years ago.

The project I analyzed was Papers of the War Department 1784-1800. This is an ongoing digital editorial project that is seeking to reconstruct and transcribe documents of the War Department that were destroyed due to a fire in November 1800. Since this a collection of primary sources and historical artifacts this project would be classified as an exhibit according to Miriam Posner’s framework. The Papers of the War Department 1784-1800 project is pretty straightforward in that its goal to restore historical documents that were once thought to be lost and allow these sources to be easily accessible to the public and allow the public to participate in transcription. They provide digitized images of all documents and many have transcriptions that makes understanding and reading these documents easier. This project uses sources, such as such as letters and maps, from the 1784-1800 time frame which are then processed through reconstruction and digitized to allow users to transcribe documents that can be easily presented for public use.

Sources

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, and George Mason University. “Papers of the War Department 1784-1800.” Papers of the War Department, wardepartmentpapers.org/s/home/page/home.

Posner, Miriam. “How did they make that?” UCLA Digital Humanities.

Blog Post #1

Part 1:

The first thing I learned in this class was that it is going to be a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. I never gave much thought to how we got to modern day computers, and how information processing and presentation have played such an impactful role in that journey. In addition, the first week of this class also shed light on the historical relationship that governmental institutions have on impacting the democratization of technology. More specifically, I’m wondering how much of a role technology had in nurturing the modern-day American surveillance state. Hopefully throughout the semester I can learn more about this topic, but also, I hope I can become more technologically adept at creating historical scholarship.

Part 2:

I got assigned project #21, the Cleveland Historical. The Cleveland Historical is a project that has digitized Cleveland’s history, people and places. At first glance it looks like an online news edition, but it actually has map-based, multimedia presentations and a “tour” of Cleveland. This scholarship not only fits into the digital edition type in Miriam Posner’s framework, but it also involves the mapping type in Posner’s framework. The digital project makes use of various sources, but most often it uses photographs. Photographs can be seen in almost all of the stories and in the tour section. For example, in the story about “The Cleveland Buckeyes” there are photographs of the players and their jerseys.[1] And in the article about the Riverside Cemetery there are multiple photographs of the cemetery, the land, headstones, and photographs of maps.[2] The project processes the sources by digitizing the information and photographs and making it accessible to the public. Lastly, the presentation of the website is fairly interesting. The creators used a platform called “Omeka” and divided the website into one section on stories and one section on a “tour” of Cleveland. By using Omeka, the website is accessible to the public and made interactive. This digital project adds to the scholarship because it organizes the primary sources in ways that have not been done before. Specifically, the project makes use of oral history in a digital manner, and at least in my eyes, that is very unique and uncommon. Oral history has been neglected for centuries, so it’s interesting to see this website make use of it.

[1] Cory Ross and James Blockett, “The Cleveland Buckeyes,” Cleveland Historical, accessed September 4, 2019, https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/867.

[2] Toni Berry, “Riverside Cemetery,” Cleveland Historical, accessed September 4, 2019, https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/866.