Have Professors missed the SS Web 2.0?

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Digital Humanities

There is no denying that we live in a digital age. So the question that begs asking is, why are our professors not in the same boat as us?  They came into this digital age the same time we did so how come we, students, are leaps and bounds ahead of them?

T. Mills Kelly in Chapter 5 of his book: “Teaching History in the Digital Age” discusses this exact problem.  He notes how less then 10% of faculty use Web 2.0 medias such as blogs, twitter etc.  As such, these professors are very much out of tune with their students and are likely teaching “their students about the past in ways that are very far removed from the reality of students lives”.  Kelly also notes that with Web 2.0 comes new ways to discover, teach, and learn history. Something that students have already discovered but professors of history are lacking in.

I agree and disagree with this part of the chapter.  First let us discuss what I agree on.

There definitely is a general disconnect between student and teacher when it comes to the digital realm.  This has nothing to do with students tweeting during class and making old jokes about the professor who thinks they are chirping like birds.  This has to do with the educational disconnect.  From emails to BlackBoard to really any digital tools.  Professors do not know what to make of them and therefore some ban the use from in their classes.  This puts a serious block to the students who can use these tools to their advantage and put out better work because of it.  This isnt even just regarding the students side.  The professor can use these tools also! The same tools that allow students to create wonderful work can help professors enhance their lectures and teachings.  If the professors can adapt to Web 2.0 then not only will they teach better but students will also learn better.

Now the negative about this section in the chapter.  T. Mills Kelly seems to label history professors as being completely stuck in the past (pun intended).  He notes how the professors are “watching from the dock as the ship called Web 2.0 sails away, carrying our students off to a distant shore that we almost never visit”.  But there are plenty of professors who are in the digital realm.  They know how to use BlackBoard and other digital tools.  There are professors who accentuate their teachings with uses of blogs, digital archives etc.  History professors aren’t all stodgy old bookends; many of them are happily embracing the digital age and taking full advantage of it much like their students are.

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The Heroes of History

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Archiving, Digital Humanities

Cohen & Rosenzweig (C&R), and Prom, both focus on the peculiar definition the world has regarding the word “archive”.  Most people think of archives as being dusty collections of vast information.  Most of it useless and unessential.  C&R and Prom see archives as something totally different.  Both see it as a means of gathering information and broadly delivering it.  Prom sees it as a “usable record of that messy human experience”.  C&R see the internet as more than just a shuttling of “information between and among people”.

Archives aren’t a stodgy, old way of showing information from the past! It is the ability to exchange and disseminate information the world over! Archivists are the private eyes and detectives of the world.  They piece together bits of information and weave from it a tapestry of history and knowledge.  With privacy getting more important and digital information somewhat able to easily disappear, archivists are having to work harder than ever.

Unfortunately, as Prom notes, “most archives have made little systematic progress in identifying, preserving, and providing access to electronic records”.  This means that as history is being created (every little bit of life is history) in the digital era, it is not being archived. Although it is tough right now because “digital preservation is hard”, there are still archivists out there trying to preserve the knowledge and history of humanity and in essence, humanity itself.

So if you ever meet someone who is an archivist, do not think of them as a stodgy old librarian who collects material.  They are men and women who scour the world over (both real and digital) for information and knowledge. It is these very men and women who might immortalize you someday by archiving your history. Every nugget that gets archived is due to the hard work of these private eyes and detectives, these saviors and heroes of history.

Digital Humanities for Dummies

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Digital Humanities, Dummies

Digital Humanities is area of research devoted to digitized and “born digital” areas of humanities.  It is very important for our digital age due to it allowing a much larger access to material than we have ever had before.  One of the parts of Digital Humanities is blogging.  Now, being on this site and reading this article, you already know somewhat what a blog is and therefore one part of Digital Humanities. In her blog, Lisa Spiro gives a very nice list on how to get started in the Digital Humanities https://digitalscholarship.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/getting-started-in-the-digital-humanities/.

The first thing Spiro recommends you do is to “Determine what goals or questions motivate you”.  This will show you the direction you want to work in and give you a better idea on what you need to answer or complete your goals.  Another idea she lists is “Participate in the Digital Humanities (DH) community”.  The DH community is a great place to find help and learn more about the subject.  They have plenty to offer you and vice versa.  In my opinion, the most important idea she listed is “Where possible, adopt/adapt existing tools”.  Why create a new tool when someone has already created one before you.  As Lisa Spiro says so perfectly “too often projects re-invent the wheel rather than adopting or adapting existing tools”.

Personally, I would start at a digital archive.  This is where you get the best view of what Digital Humanities has contributed to society.  Here you will see articles/journals/pictures etc. that you could never have accessed before.  Not only do I enjoy looking around in these archives just for fun, it has also proven useful many times for research papers and just general knowledge questions.  I urge anybody and everybody to learn about Digital Humanities, not just for fun but because this is where we are heading and only Dummies stay behind the curve rather than ahead of it.