Category Archives: Uncategorized

My project

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I would like to focus on Elizabeth I’s propaganda or at least her rhetorical style.  I would like to do this through text mining to see where there are similarities in topic and rhetoric and whether/how they change over the course of her reign.  I will be using her speeches from “Collected Works” to do this.

I am not sure how long this will take, but if that is not enough work I would like to then relate these patterns to established historiography.  Do the patterns make sense for the periods outlined by historians?  If there are deviations is that a consequence of the way in which the computer/I mined the text or is that a consequence of something historians have missed.

If I can accomplish both of these things perhaps I would be able to leave off with some interesting research questions as well as a greater grasp on digital methodology.

Week 7

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The readings were pretty technical this week and were, I admit, over my head.  The idea behind XML and library use seems interesting; if all metadata must meet certain codes for compatibility then that takes away institutional quirks and/or bias that has marked archival work.  On the other hand, this makes the ability to interpret sources difficult as well; the archivist, like the historian, should have some sort of right to organize information according to standards, but with a sense of individualism.

Walsh states that, “The act of encoding a document is a form of discovery, or prospecting, in which the encoder maps a document’s structure, identifies semantic elements of interest, and documents relationships internal and external to the document.”  This is an interesting way to see encoding, and I think I have to remind myself of this.  While working with webdesign (did I mention I love this) or databases I have felt disconnected from the “doing history” part of the process, however, it is important to note that these digital tools are a part of the process. The use of digital tools force the historian to explore the document in new ways.  Comic books are an interesting way to discuss the implications of this because they use small amounts of text coupled with images.

 

Endless Possibilities

Misc., Projects, Readings, Tools, Uncategorized

Just wanted to check in and see if anyone else Loves CSS and HTML. There is so much we can do with it and this is only the beginning. I think that learning webdesign has so much potential for the field of Public History. The “public” sees the world in these formats (i.e. web pages), so we should know how to show them history through the lens with which they are most comfortable. Accessibility is key here.

I do want to reiterate my earlier statements: I believe that this is the job of the Public Historian, not the Academic. We need trained professionals (digital historians) in academia to teach these skills for use by the public historian. It is easy to get lost in learning web design elements and lose what is important about what we are doing (or trying to do) as academics/professionals.

There is a great work that predates the digital revolution that is poignant to me as we work through these problems and you can access it here.

 

Now you may like this Christina!

Data and History-Week 4

Readings, Uncategorized

The article by Gibbs and Owens is an interesting exploration of the ways in which data can be used for historical research.  I was most intrigued by the point that data informs historical questions and, if allowed flexibility,  can become the framework in which history is built.  This framework goes back to our earlier ideas of traditional vs. digital infrastructure and highlights similar issues (both positive and negative)

I agree that the use of data can be a valuable tool to the academic and can help to guide research in ways that have not or even cannot be applied to traditional research methods.  Gibbs and Owens state, “In particular, work with data can be exploratory and deliberately without the mathematical rigor that social scientists must use to support their epistemological claims. Using data in this way is fundamentally different from using data for quantifying, computing, and creating knowledge as per quantitative history.”  I appreciate the idea of data as exploratory and believe that it is fundamental to the evolution of our profession.

Exploration is, I think, central to our own use of databases;  the database has informed me of connections I might not have otherwise seen.  This is helpful when looking at archival materials and forming research questions.  Traditional academics have always, I would argue, used primary source materials to frame their argument.  The database allows this sort of exploration on a Macro level and helps the historian to escape personal bias, while augmenting his/her own research interests.

It is important to note that these measures (i.e. the incorporation of data methods) are necessary within our field.  I believe that the historian must use data tools in order to function proficiently in a world in which there are “digitally born” primary sources.  This incorporation, however, should not lead to the “undressing” of scholarship.  There is a fine line in each of the articles that we have studied and it is the academic’s job to learn to handle these new digital tools in a way that continues to help, not hinder, the professional practice of history.