Week 3 Readings/Project

This article was the most interesting to me and I decided to post my thoughts about it since I had many.

"The Pasts and Futures of Digital History" by Edward L. Ayers brought up some very valid points about digital history, especially when he discussed the actual writing of history in the third paragraph. It was very interesting when he stated that it has not changed despite the advancements in technology and how it has not affected the way we teach history. History itself has not changed despite the changes in technology; only the way it is presented has changed and I think that is very important to understand, especially today.

Ayers then stated how ironic it is "...that history may be better suited to digital technology than any other humanistic discipline" in the fourth paragraph. Here is where he explained the important need and advantages for technology to be used in history today. Therefore, studying the past can be approached in new ways and this can especially be related to my project. The same information can be used in different ways to connect to audiences all over the world to examine various parts of history which proved true about my project on the Holocaust. Debates about what could have been done to save thousands of Jews have occurred for 25 years and many historians throughout the world continue to discuss this topic thoroughly. This can be seen with the help of technology through the many resources available that do not include traditional methods of viewing this research such as books but also through web reviews of David S. Wyman's The Abandonment of the Jews: America and the Holocaust, 1941-1945, online discussions and other alternate ways of viewing this debate. This has especially helped me with my research to examine the Holocaust without having to leave my laptop and view information that may not be physically available for me to read, especially when such websites as the Holocaust Memorial Museum website exist that brings much of the information available for anyone to view. Technology has also helped interest the public in reading about more obscure history by making information so readily available.

Technology can assist historians in their quest to answer questions and receive input about any topic in history to discuss in an easier way, especially now that the Internet is such a prevalent part of out lives. I think Ayers is right; technology has made digital history that much simpler to use without as much work involved to find information and connect with so many people that are experts in a particular field of history with the click of a mouse instead of participating in a professional conference on a particular topic of discussion.

Not only has technology been easier to research through various scholarly sites but articles published in journals are easily viewable. The idea to digitize print media onto the web is remarkable and aids in making older information available in newer forms, bringing digital history from the past into the present. Even the way digital history is presented has changed and some historians have tried to write history, especially history from digital archives, as more of a complex narrative, bridging the gap between digital history and literature which is a fascinating concept Ayers delved into.

Even the language of history has changed with the use of technology, from HTML format to XML. This is something I was interested to read because I have not heard about XML before and I know very little about HTML as well. I get the impression that the language used to write digital history has made some material too simple but connecting it with images and other content has made the material more organized and efficient to examine. Does this language shorten the history being read? Does it dumb down the ability for people to read complex history? I would answer yes to both of those questions and it makes me skeptical to believe every aspect about digital history is perfect and wonderful. But with historians trying to prefect the ways digital history is presented, I think these obstacles will be overcome with much thought and carefulness to present/write history in a way that its integrity will be kept in tact.

Technology and history will continue to develop and an attempt to merge the two in a near perfect union by historians will be made eventually, hopefully benefiting everyone.