Cathy Moran Hajo, 212-998-8666 ude.uyn|ojah.yhtac#ude.uyn|ojah.yhtac Room 405 King Juan Carlos Building.
Class meets on Thursdays, 4:55-7:35 in Room 607 of King Juan Carlos Building.
Historians who work with the public have a particular need to be comfortable with digital tools. The course offers students a basic grounding in the technological skills needed to conduct online historical research and to present the results of their research online. It also introduces students to issues in digital history such as copyright, intellectual property, information abundance, and how the Web changes the relationship between historians and their audience.
Course Aims:
* Learn research skills appropriate and necessary for conducting research in the digital age
* Learn to write the results of historical research for a general audience
* Practice collaborative writing
* Learn to build digital maps and timelines
* Contribute materials to a digital archive on Greenwich Village history
* Create a digital exhibit
Syllabus (PDF)
For classes marked with a LAB, please bring your laptop computer if you have one.
Required Book (much less expensive when bought online than through the Bookstore).
- David E. Kyvig, Nearby History: Exploring the Past Around You Third edition (2010) (AASLH). (Amazon: $22.73)
New Recommended Book for background:
Anita Dickhuth, Greenwich Village (Images of America), Oct. 24, 2011 (amazon: $21.99)
Sept 8- Week 1: Course Introduction / Greenwich Village History
Special Guest: Sheryl Woodruff, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.
We will discuss the course goals, assignments, the use of the Wikidot site and other software that will be used in the course, and introduce Greenwich Village history.
TAKE SURVEY
LAB: Using WordPress; joining the blog.
Sept. 15-Week 2: What is Digital History?
How does the medium (the World Wide Web) change the practice of doing history? Is Digital History different from History?
Readings:
- Orville Vernon Burton, "American Digital History," Social Science Computer Review, Vol. 23 No. 2, Summer 2005, pp. 206-220.
- Daniel J. Cohen, Michael Frisch, Patrick Gallagher, Steven Mintz, Kirsten Sword, Amy Murrell Taylor, William G. Thomas, III, William J. Turkel, "The Promise of Digital History," Journal of American History 95:2 2008.
- Nicholas Carr, "Is Google Making Us Stupid? The Atlantic, July 2008.
- Kent Anderson, "The Battle for Control — What People Who Worry About the Internet Are Really Worried About", Scholarly Kitchen, March 20, 2011.
LAB: Using archival search databases, internet searches, and local repositories to locate items.
Assignments Due: Post your biographical blog entry. Post the general topic you have selected for your digital archive on your student wiki page.
Sept. 22-Week 3 - Digitization and Copyright
Meet at Bobst Image Lab, 2nd floor of Bobst Library. Then return to classroom.
We will discuss preservation v. access scanning, how to obtain good images and get the rights to use them.
Readings:
- Daniel Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig, “Becoming Digital” and "Owning the Past," in Digital History (2006) .
- Marilyn Deegan and Simon Tanner “Conversion of Primary Sources,” in Ray Siemens, John Unsworth, and Susan Schreibman. Companion to Digital Humanities (2004).
- Jennifer Howard, "What You Don't Know About Copyright, but Should," Chronicle of Higher Education, May 29, 2011.
- Jeffrey R. Young, "Pushing Back Against Legal Threats by Putting Fair Use Forward," Chronicle of Higher Education, May 29, 2011.
- Marc Parry, "Out of Fear, Colleges Lock Books and Images Away From Scholars," Chronicle of Higher Education, May 29, 2011.
- Roy Rosenzweig, "Should Historical Scholarship Be Free?," AHA Perspectives (2005) .
Further Reading on Copyright (not required)
- Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi, Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright (Chicago: 2011).
- Peter B. Hirtle, Emily Hudson and Andrew Kenyon, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for Digitization for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums (2009)
- Lawrence Lessig, "Keynote speech at EDUCAUSE" (2009), speech begins at about minute 27. It lasts about an hour and 15 minutes.
Sept. 29-Week 4: Researching History
How does the Web impact the way that we do historical research? How does it change the way that we think about sources?
Readings:
- David E. Kyvig, Nearby History: Exploring the Past Around You Third edition (2010) (AASLH).
- Eli Pariser, The Filter Bubble (2011), Intro, Chapter 2 and Chapter 6.
- Daniel Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig. Web of lies? Historical knowledge on the Internet, First Monday (Dec. 2005)
TAKE SURVEY BEFORE CLASS
Assignments Due: Post the general topic of your web exhibit to your student wiki page.
Recommended
This series, published by the American Association of State and Local History, delves more deeply into some topics. Bobst has most of these:
- Local Businesses: Exploring their History by K. Austin Kerr, Amos J. Loveday, and Mansel G. Blackford, AASLH (1990).
- Houses and Homes: Exploring their History by Barbara J. Howe, Dolores A. Fleming, Emory L. Kemp, and Ruth Ann Overbeck, AASLH (1987).
- Local Schools: Exploring their History by Ronald E. Butchart, AASLH (1986).
- Places of Worship: Exploring their History by James P. Wind, AASLH (1990).
- Invisible Networks: Exploring the History of Local Utilities and Public Works by Ann Durkin Keating (1994)
- American Farms: Exploring their History by R. Douglas Hurt (1996)
- Unlocking City Hall: Exploring the History of Local Government and Politics by Michael W. Homel (2001)
- Getting Around: Exploring Transportation History by H. Roger Grant (2003)
- Joining In: Exploring the History of Voluntary Organizations by Karen J. Blair (2006)
Oct. 6-Week 5:Metadata and Tagging
Readings:
- M. W. Elings and G. Waibel. "Metadata for all: Descriptive standards and metadata sharing across libraries, archives and museums," First Monday (2007) 12, no. 3.
- Susan Cairns, "Tag! You're It! What Value do Folksonomies Bring to the Online Museum Collection?," Museums and the Web Conference 2011.
- Diane Hillmann, Using Dublin Core.
- Tom Scheinfeldt, "Omeka and Its Peers," Found History blog, Sept. 1, 2010.
- David Weinberger, "The Laws of the Jungle," Chapter 5, of Everything is Miscellaneous (2007).
Lab: Mounting Items in Omeka, Using Dublin Core, and Tagging
Assignments Due: First of three extended blog entry due as well as two comments on other students postings. Post two items to the digital archive with metadata by Saturday, the 9th. Wait for feedback before adding more items.
Oct. 13-Week 6: Writing History for the Web
Writing history for a general audience without sacrificing academic rigor takes time and practice.
Readings:
- Roy Rosenzweig and Dan Cohen, Chapter 2: "Designing for the History Web," in Digital History (2006).
- Tom Schienfeldt, "Brand Name Scholar" Found History blog, 2009
- History Blogging Project [http://www.historybloggingproject.org/]
- Roger "The Ins and Outs of a Professional Academic Website,", Feb. 7, 2012.
- Larry Cebula, Advice for Academic Bloggers, //Northwest History//, Nov. 6, 2011.
Assignments Due: Post at least eight additional items with metadata to the digital archive for a total of at least ten.
Oct. 20-Week 7: No class.
I will be at the Association for Documentary Editing meeting in Salt Lake City.
Assignments Due: All digital archive items (20 minimum) must be mounted with full metadata. Each item should have an entry in the permissions log (permissions do not have to be cleared yet.)
Oct. 27-Week 8: Building Exhibits Using Omeka
Readings:
- Martin R Kalfatovic, Creating a winning online exhibition : a guide for libraries, archives, and museums (2002), Chapter 1-3, Chapter 8, and Appendix B: "Online Exhibitions Versus Digital Collections," "The Idea," "Executing the Idea," "Design," and "Sample Exhibition Script." PDF
- AASLH, Chapter 11: Putting Together a House History," in Houses and Homes: Exploring their History, pp. 147-58.
- Look at a few Omeka-driven exhibits at the Omeka Showcase of Exhibits
Lab: Omeka exhibits
Assignments Due: Post your collaborative writing first draft essay, linked to your student page. Review and correct metadata for your digital archive items.
Nov. 3-Week 9: Introduction to HTML and Websites
If you are already familiar with the basics, press on to the intermediate and advanced. Go as far as you can. When working on these tutorials, use an HTML editor. Special Presenter: Deena Engel — lecture session.
Readings:
- HTML Tutorial for Beginners [http://www.htmldog.com/guides/htmlbeginner/]
- CSS Tutorial for Beginners [http://www.htmldog.com/guides/cssbeginner/]
- HTML Intermediate Tutorial [http://www.htmldog.com/guides/htmlintermediate/]
- CSS Intermediate Tutorial [http://www.htmldog.com/guides/cssintermediate/]
- HTML Advanced Tutorial [http://www.htmldog.com/guides/htmladvanced/]
- CSS Advanced Tutorial [http://www.htmldog.com/guides/cssadvanced/]
Lab: Basic webpage creation, file management.
Assignments Due: Second extended blog entry and two comments. Post your first edit on the collaborative writing essay you were assigned.
Nov. 10-Week 10: Hands on Lab: Customizing Omeka Exhibit themes
Special Presenter: Deena Engel (Location TBA)
Before Class: Install FTP software on your computer, set up GVH server access, and test connection so that you will be ready to start work on customization at the start of class and will already be familiar with the file transfer process.
Assignments Due: Post your links and image edit on the collaborative writing essay you were assigned. Complete the HTML/CSS assignment. Have a sense of which theme you want to work with and a general idea of the sections and pages you will make for your web exhibit.
Nov. 17-Week 11: A Sense of Time and Place
Time and place are popular organizing principles for historical presentations. Creating maps, timelines and periodization offer powerful ways to organize and relate historical facts and artifacts.
Readings:
- Jason Scott Smith, "The Strange History of the Decade: Modernity, Nostalgia, and the Perils of Periodization," Journal of Social History, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Winter, 1998), pp. 263-285.
- Gerard R. Wolfe, "Greenwich Village," and "The Lafayette Historic Group and East Village," in New York: 15 Walking Tours: an architectural guide to the metropolis, 2003, pp. 107-141. PDF
- Christine Boyer, ed. "Straight Down Christopher Street," in Rick Beard and Leslie Berlowitz, eds. Greenwich Village: Culture and Counterculture (1993), 36-53.
- David J. Bodenheimer, "History and GIS: Implications for the Discipline," in Ann Knowles, Placing History (2008), 1-25.
Assignments Due: Post your style edit on the collaborative writing essay you were assigned. Have a draft of the sections and pages (titles only) for your exhibit mounted to the GVHDA.
Nov. 24-Week 12: No Class - Enjoy Thanksgiving!
Try to squeeze in some work on your web exhibit over the break, in between football and leftovers!
Assignments Due: Post your fact-check of your original essay and comment on the process. Post a paragraph outlining your plans for customizing your exhibit on your student wiki page. Create either your map project or your timeline and add a link to it on your student wiki page.
Dec. 1-Week 13: Exhibit Workshop
Bring any problems you are having with your exhibits, whether with the research, copyright, Omeka modification, or on another topic. Present issues and questions in informal way.
Readings:
- Explore the Omeka Forums [http://omeka.org/forums/]
Lab: Troubleshooting
Assignments Due: Permissions for all items used in digital archive must be cleared (and entered in permissions spreadsheet) and items set to public access.
Dec. 8-Week 14: Social Media
How does the role of the professional historian or archivist change in a Web 2.0 world?
Readings:
- Kate Theimer, Chapter 1, "Web 2.0 Basics" in Web 2.0 Tools and Strategies for Archives and Local History Collections (2010).
- Clay Shirky, Chapter 3, "Everyone is a Media Outlet," and Chapter 5, "Personal Motivation Meets Collaborative Production," from Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations (2007). (New-complete scans)
- Stephanie S. Yee, "Social Media: Connecting Curators to Museum Patrons" Historian's Approach blog, Sept. 21, 2010.
- Jeremy Hunsinger, Where did the Users Go? A Case Study of the Problems of an Event-Driven Memory Bank," Proceedings of Cultural Heritage Online: Empowering Users, an Active Role for User Communities (2009).
Lab: Omeka and HTML Troubleshooting
Dec. 15-Week 15: No class —work on your exhbits!
Assignments Due: Third extended blog entry and two comments are due.
