Digital History – Promises and Perils
I found the essay written by Dan Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig to be a bit long winded in regards to the points they were discussing. However, I did pick out one very significant segment they wrote:
Flexibility transforms the experience of consuming history, but digital media—because of their openness and diversity—also alters the conditions and circumstances of producing history.
I find this idea that new changes in how history is documented also changes how history is produced a new and refreshing take on the importance of the Internet. It makes me think of the chaos theory where one slight change can completely overhaul an event.
But Cohen and Rosenzweig make the point that with the new capabilities of online storage, access, interaction, and editing, the concept that history is documented by historians is proving inaccurate. People all around the world are able to create their own blogs, websites, and profiles, telling their own version, whether researched or not, of history.
This history is not like what is thought of in the classroom like studying WWII or the political climate of Cambodia, but is more of a glimpse into life at the time and place of the author. When archeologists began excavation of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the 18th century, homes that had been buried by ash and pumice still had their morning meals on the table and wine in their casks.
This was an absolutely fascinating find as it was indisputable what the items on the table were. Now there are phone apps like instagram where the thing to do is take a snazzy photo of your dinner and post it online for all to see. This gives record of the types of things that this person of this country of this gender and of this time ate.
That’s what is changing in how history is produced. It’s real time documentation of everything. Information overload? Probably. Good for posterity? Only to be found out.
Ideas for Research:
Colonialism in East Africa
The Rise of Labor Unions in the US
US Foreign aid in the 20th Century
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