Digital History: Using Internet as Historians

The course will be held Wednesday the 26th of October 2011, 3-5 p.m.,

Sala Triaria, Villa Schifanoia

Mapping Digital History

Services offered using web technologies and digital software's in the field of humanities computing including the filed of E-Teaching/Learning/Sharing activities
Primary Sources accessible on the web
Historiography (different types of history scholarship online)
Methodological issues

Digital historian's queries ?

Digital History has helped to open up "high culture" but with the advent of the web 2.0 technologies, history and memory are now the prerogative of anyone. The danger today is that specialists do not control these digital mutations. Without a knowledge of the new instruments and reflecting on the new historian’s craft, the digital revolution will eliminate the professional capacity to reconstruct the past. This is why historians have to understand what are today the most significant mutations of digital history 2.0 for our profession and what exactly are the epistemological issues posed by the new digital realm. Some of them are certainly the following ones:

Are online "resources" for historians changing the craft of historians ?
What's on the web now, what's no yet there and what was there ?
How to search the history web and capture web contents ? (EUI Zotero presentation )
How could I re-use what I found on the web (Digital history ) ?
Are they new ways for writing history and new digital history scholarship ? (writing history today: end of authoriality = end of history ? (Chartier )

Services offered through web technologies and web 2.0 technologies

Discussion's lists
- What are they ?
- How are they functioning ?
- What are they offering ?
- Example: H-Net
Web(Log s or Blogs)
- What are they ?
- How are they functioning ?
- What are they offering ? A new Scholarship ? Hypothese.org : Scholarly blogging in France
- Which Web Content Management System to use ? Blogger - At EUI, WordPress for blogs.eui.eu
- Searching in blogs: Google Blog Search
- Searching for blogs: Technocrati
RSS Feeds (Really Simple Syndication in wikipedia )
- What are they ?
- How are they functioning ?
- What are they offering ?
- How to read them in aggregators ? Example: EUI events for Google Reader
Library catalogues (OPACs) and meta-catalogues
Open Access (OA) and Commercial bibliographical databases (see Managing the digital EUI library )
Mobilizing Web Resources: organizing "missions" thanks to web services. Ex.: Using the Finding Aid at the EUI AHUE , to select Fonds of the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence.
Social Networks: Twitter , Tumblr , Facebook , Linkedin , Academia.edu for the all EUI departments, Flickr, Picasa, YouTube, etc..(see another Atelier Multimédia course )
Sharing tools: Google Docs , Dropbox , Zotero , Open Repositories, etc..
E-Teaching/Learning Platforms, Moodle at EUI MWP (restricted link )
Crowdsourcing activities: like early in Wikipedia, it is about creating together web contents (Ex. Transcribe Bentham at UCL web site)

Primary sources

Modern and Contemporary History:
- European History Primary Sources accessible through the EUI - EHPS portal for Open Access primary sources
- Freely available primary and secondary textual sources
- Multimedia sources: Images and Historical Photographs, Films
- Sound documents (special format collections at the Library of Congress )
- Oral history (Ex. of the EUI HAEU European Oral History Project )
- Subscribed primary source databases at EUI like DDRS
Medieval, Early modern and Modern history
- Freely available primary sources on the internet
- E-texts. (Women writers online )
- EEBO , ECCO , MOMW .

Is there any historiography and new scholarship online ?

Scholarly journals and e-books
- The so-called PDF scholarly literature, examble of the EUI e-journals and e-books
- Ex.: Memoria e Ricerca and original version of essays online
- Open Access Repositories like Cadmus at EUI
History and memory: a public use of history
An "expressive history" with hypertexts and hypermedia. From Robert Darnton to the Gutenberg-e Prize (Patrick Manning: Gutenberg-e: Electronic Entry to the Historical Professoriate (American Historical Review, Vol.109, n.5, dec.2004.)

Critical and methodological issues for the digital historian

Citing internet resources: the Library of Congress guide for citing internet documents . (and dealing with copyrights problems: the Library of Congress Copyright and Fair use page .)
Analyzing Web Sites, 3 important issues:
- How to identify a Web Site ? Using Alexa
- How to understand the structures and the communicative languages of a web site ? How to evaluate contents ? (See also, Evaluating Web pages at the Cornell University Library (USA), [http://www.library.cornell.edu/okuref/webcrit.html ]), used below: Accuracy. - Authority - Objectivity - Currency - Coverage.
- The importance of the "context" (Ex. Circulation of violent pictures and Images in the Web )

Evaluation of Web documents	How to interpret the basics
1. Accuracy of Web Documents Who wrote the page and can you contact him or her? What is the purpose of the document and why was it produced? Is this person qualified to write this document?	Accuracy Make sure author provides e-mail or a contact address/phone number. Know the distinction between author and Webmaster.
2. Authority of Web Documents Who published the document and is it separate from the "Webmaster?" Check the domain of the document, what institution publishes this document? Does the publisher list his or her qualifications?	Authority What credentials are listed for the authors)? Where is the document published? Check URL domain.
3. Objectivity of Web Documents What goals/objectives does this page meet? How detailed is the information? What opinions (if any) are expressed by the author?	Objectivity Determine if page is a mask for advertising; if so information might be biased. View any Web page as you would an infommercial on television. Ask yourself why was this written and for whom?
4. Currency of Web Documents When was it produced? When was it updated' How up-to-date are the links (if any)?	Currency How many dead links are on the page? Are the links current or updated regularly? Is the information on the page outdated?
5. Coverage of the Web Documents Are the links (if any) evaluated and do they complement the documents' theme? Is it all images or a balance of text and images? Is the information presented cited correctly?	Coverage If page requires special software to view the information, how much are you missing if you don't have the software? Is it free or is there a fee, to obtain the information? Is there an option for text only, or frames, or a suggested browser for better viewing?
Putting it all together Accuracy. If your page lists the author and institution that published the page and provides a way of contacting him/her and . . . Authority. If your page lists the author credentials and its domain is preferred (.edu, .gov, .org, or .net), and, . . Objectivity. If your page provides accurate information with limited advertising and it is objective in presenting the information, and . . . Currency. If your page is current and updated regularly (as stated on the page) and the links (if any) are also up-to-date, and . . . Coverage. If you can view the information properly--not limited to fees, browser technology, or software requirement, then . . .

Evaluation of Web documents

How to interpret the basics

1. Accuracy of Web Documents

Who wrote the page and can you contact him or her?
What is the purpose of the document and why was it produced?
Is this person qualified to write this document?

Accuracy

Make sure author provides e-mail or a contact address/phone number.
Know the distinction between author and Webmaster.

2. Authority of Web Documents

Who published the document and is it separate from the "Webmaster?"
Check the domain of the document, what institution publishes this document?
Does the publisher list his or her qualifications?

Authority

What credentials are listed for the authors)?
Where is the document published? Check URL domain.

3. Objectivity of Web Documents

What goals/objectives does this page meet?
How detailed is the information?
What opinions (if any) are expressed by the author?

Objectivity

Determine if page is a mask for advertising; if so information might be biased.
View any Web page as you would an infommercial on television. Ask yourself why was this written and for whom?

4. Currency of Web Documents

When was it produced?
When was it updated'
How up-to-date are the links (if any)?

Currency

How many dead links are on the page?
Are the links current or updated regularly?
Is the information on the page outdated?

5. Coverage of the Web Documents

Are the links (if any) evaluated and do they complement the documents' theme?
Is it all images or a balance of text and images?
Is the information presented cited correctly?

Coverage

If page requires special software to view the information, how much are you missing if you don't have the software?
Is it free or is there a fee, to obtain the information?
Is there an option for text only, or frames, or a suggested browser for better viewing?

Putting it all together

Accuracy. If your page lists the author and institution that published the page and provides a way of contacting him/her and . . .
Authority. If your page lists the author credentials and its domain is preferred (.edu, .gov, .org, or .net), and, . .
Objectivity. If your page provides accurate information with limited advertising and it is objective in presenting the information, and . . .
Currency. If your page is current and updated regularly (as stated on the page) and the links (if any) are also up-to-date, and . . .
Coverage. If you can view the information properly--not limited to fees, browser technology, or software requirement, then . . .

Selected Webibliography and Bibliography

Roy Rosenzweig: Scarcity or Abundance? Preserving the Past in a Digital Era , American Historical Review, vol.108, n.3, June 2003.
Jack Censer and Lynn Hunt: Imaging the French Revolution: Depictions of the French Revolutionary Crowd (and about this experiment in the American Historical review ).
WWW-VL History Network at the EUI, url [http://vlib.iue.it/ ], Best of the WWW VL Italian History Index; url [http://vlib.iue.it/hist-italy/best.html ] and European History Primary Sources - EHPS
Daniel J. Cohen, Michael Frisch, Patrick Gallagher, Steven Mintz, Kirsten Sword, Amy Murrell Taylor, William G. Thomas III, and William J. Turkel: Interchange: The Promise of Digital History , in The Journal of American History, 2, 2008, pp.452-491.
Daniel J. Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig: Digital history : a guide to gathering, preserving, and presenting the past on the Web., Philadelphia, Pa. : University of Pennsylvania Press; Bristol : University Presses Marketing [distributor], 2005, fully accessible at http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/
EUI Library 2 copies: DEW: 900.2854
F.Metitieri e R.Ridi: Biblioteche in rete: istruzioni per l'uso ., Bari Laterza, 2003
Marco Calvo, Fabio Ciotti, Gino Roncaglia e Marco Zela: Internet 2004 ., Bari, Laterza, 2003
Edward Ayers e Anne S. Rubin: The Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War., New York, W.W. Norton & Co., 2000, url: [http://www.iath.virginia.edu/vshadow2/choosepart.html ]
See also the more recent update to the project: W.G.Thomas e E.A.Ayers: "An Overview: The Differences Slavery Made: A Close Analysis of Two American Communities ." in American Historical Review, a.108, n.5, dicembre 2003, pp.1299-1308, <http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/108.5/thomas.html >
Robert Darnton: "An Early Information Society: News and the Media in Eighteenth-Century Paris", in American Historical Review, n.1, Febbraio 2000, url: [http://www.indiana.edu/~ahr/darnton/index.html ].
"A Historian of Books, Lost and Found in Cyberspace" in the American Historical Association Web site, [http://www.theaha.org/prizes/gutenberg/rdarnton.cfm ],
"The New Age of the Book", in New York Review of Books, March 18, 1999, url: [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/546 ]. (Traduzione Italiana nella La Rivista dei Libri, n.6, giugno 1999.);
"Can an 18th-century book peddler bring academic publishing to the Web?", in LinguaFranca, the Review of Academic life Online, 10/5 - July/August 2000, url: [http://www.linguafranca.com/0007/inside-webcast.html ]
An Early Information Society.A Cabaret-Concert by Hélène Delavault. Twelve Songs from Paris, circa 1750.; url: [http://www.indiana.edu/~ahr/darnton/songs/ ].
Peppino Ortoleva: "La rete e la catena. Mestiere di storico al tempo di internet ", in S.Noiret, a cura di, Linguaggi e siti: la storia on-line, in Memoria e ricerca, n.s., 3, gennaio-giugno 1999, pp.31-39.
Stefania Gallini & Serge Noiret: La historia digital en la era del Web 2.0: introducción al Dossier Historia Digital , Historia Crítica, 2011, 43, 16-3.
Serge Noiret: "Storia e Internet: la ricerca storica all’alba del terzo millennio ", in a cura dello stesso Linguaggi e siti: la storia on-line, in Memoria e Ricerca, n.s., 3/1999, pp.7-20
Serge Noiret: "Y a t-il une Histoire Numérique 2.0 ? in Jean-Philippe GENET and Andrea ZORZI (eds), Les historiens et l'informatique : Un métier à réinventer. Etudes réunies par Jean-Philippe Genet et Andrea Zorzi, Rome, Ecole Française de Rome, 2011, 235-288, Collection de l'Ecole Française de Rome, 44, available as pre-print in Cadmus
Serge Noiret: La Digital History : histoire et mémoire à la portée de tous, in Ricerche storiche, 2011, 41, 1, 111-14, available as pre-print in Cadmus
Serge Noiret: "Visioni della brutalità nelle fotografie di rete ", in Sauro Lusini (a cura di) La cultura fotografica in Italia oggi. A 20 anni dalla fondazione di AFT. Rivista di Storia e Fotografia., Prato, Archivio Fotografico Toscano-Comune di Prato, 2007, pp.88-106, [http://cadmus.eui.eu/dspace/handle/1814/6724 ]
Enrica Salvatori: Hardcore history: ovvero la storia in podcast, in Memoria e Ricerca, n.s. 30 (2009), 171-
Philippe Rygiel: "L’inchiesta storica in epoca digitale" in Memoria e Ricerca, n.s. 35 (2010), 163 [ Abstract ].