Week 5: Evaluating DH | Making Sense of Evidence | Sources

Homework (from Week 4 – due by Noon on February 13): 

• Sign up for MIRO
• To prep for using MIRO on Tuesday, review the websites we started in class today (including the ones we did not get to) and take brief notes on them (DO NOT POST IN MIRO – nothing fancy, just to jog your memory on Tuesday) – What topic, period, and place of history do they cover? What arguments or interpretations do they make? What is the audience for the site? What sources are they based on? Who created them, and who did what work? Who funded them? What technologies do they use?

  • World Trade Center Memorial Elevator
  • Histories of the National Mall
  • Wearing Gay History
  • Valley of the Shadow
  • Enchanting the Desert (Chrome or Safari browser required)

• Go to #history-bizarre and see what other people have proposed and comment on their ideas, remembering to thread your comments using the “start a thread” icon, which you will find by the original idea post.
• You should consult the Organization of American Historian’s guidelines for reviewing digital history projects. In your review be sure to identify the kind of digital history project (it could be more than one type) and address the five areas outlined in the OAH review guidelines. Include screenshots and examples where appropriate to support your review.
• Be sure to cite the project according to the Chicago Manual of Style (if you are a History or Art History major/minor) or MLA conventions for all others.

Class Prep (by Noon on February 15):

• Read: Jim Cullen, “Good Answers Begin with Good Questions,” and “Search Engines, Research Ingenuity,” Essaying the Past, 14-43. (Full book is available online at library.gmu.edu)
• Read: Sam Wineburg, “Thinking Like a Historian,” Teaching with Primary Sources Quarterly 3, 1 (Winter 2010).
• Review:  Mason Librarians have put together very useful Info Guides. Pay particular attention to “History & Primary Source Research” and “Art History”
• OPTIONAL: Heavy Metal Umlaut by Jon Udell on YouTube (approx. 8.5 min)
• OPTIONAL: Cohen, Dan. “Is Google Good for History” Last modified January 7, 2010

In Class (for February 13):

Finish Exercise 1: We will work together to explore the following DH projects:

• What topic, period, and place of history do they cover? What arguments or interpretations do they make? What is the audience for the site? What sources are they based on? Who created them, and who did what work? Who funded them? What technologies do they use?

  • World Trade Center Memorial Elevator *
  • Histories of the National Mall *
  • Wearing Gay History
  • Valley of the Shadow
  • Enchanting the Desert (Chrome or Safari browser required) * 

• Think about design, navigation/ease of use, content, technology/tools used

Exercise 2:

• Part 1: In a group investigate three of the projects below
• Part 2: Create your own group channel on Slack

  • Make sure to add me to your group

• Part 3: Using the Google Doc Template evaluate the websites (you can use: Random Picker 🎲 – Randomly pick an item from a list (gigacalculator.com) if you want the 3 picked for you)

  • The 1619 Project – The New York Times
  • Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States
  • Community Curation
  • Digital Harlem
  • Geography of the Post
  • Gulag: Many Days, Many Lives
  • Hearing the Americas
  • Her Hat Was in the Ring
  • HistoryPin
  • Hurricane Digital Memory Bank
  • Language of the State of the Union, Mapping the State of the Union, and The State of the Union in Context
  • Locating London’s Past
  • The Lost Museum
  • Mining the Dispatch
  • Mozilla Digital Memory Bank
  • Old Bailey Online
  • Orbis& Orbis version 2
  • Papers of the War Department
  • PhilaPlace
  • Railroads and the Making of Modern America
  • Redlining Richmond
  • Sapping Attention
  • Searchable Museum
  • September 11 Digital Archive
  • Spread of U.S. Slavery, 1790–1860
  • Talking About Race
  • Virginia Secession Convention
  • Visualizing Emancipation
  • Voting America
  • Women Writer’s Project

• Part 4: Post your Google Doc on your Group Slack Channel and then tell me, which was your favorite site out of the three you reviewed? Why?
• Part 5: MIRO

  • Using the questions from the evaluation, which site did you like the best and/or think is the most successful? Why? Which one was your least favorite or least successful? Why? 

    • Think about design, navigation/ease of use, content, technology/tools used

In Class (February 15):

• Finish Evaluating DH from Tuesday
• Class Discussion- research-process:

  • Describe your past or current research process. What does your typical working process look like? What platforms or systems do you use to organize your research and writing? Are there aspects of your personal process you want to change or improve?

• Icebreaker – Mind Map
• Exercise: Dear Reader

  • Slack: #dear-reader

• Exercise – From Idea to Research Question

  • Post exercise on Slack – #research-question

• Watch (7:34): Historical source evaluation explained
• Watch (4:59): Evaluating Sources – George Mason University

After Class (due by Noon on February 20):

• Finish Exercise: Dear Reader

  • Slack: #dear-reader

• Finish Exercise – From Idea to Research Question

  • Post exercise on Slack – #research-question

• Write a blog post that reviews one of the projects that you are investigating in class, comparing it to other projects.

  • How might it serve as a model for your work in this class? OR how might it not?
  • You should consult the Organization of American Historian’s guidelines for reviewing digital history projects. In your review be sure to identify the kind of digital history project (it could be more than one type) and address the five areas outlined in the OAH review guidelines. Include screenshots and examples where appropriate to support your review.
  • Be sure to cite the project according to the Chicago Manual of Style (if you are a History or Art History major/minor) or MLA conventions for all others.

• Find five (5) primary sources from at least 3 different collections. Find two (2) secondary sources from different collections. Find (1) image (photograph, map, artwork)

  • Just put these into a doc of some type to bring to class

    • Deep dive into the library’s collections:  https://library.gmu.edu/ and https://infoguides.gmu.edu/dbs
    • You may also wish to look at:

      • Google: Advanced Search | Refining Results | General Support
      • Chronicling America
      • The Digital Public Library of America– Use both the map and search.
      • Library of Congress Digital Collections
      • Media History Digital Library
      • I have also collected a variety of sources here: Resources
      • If you need a review on sources, use these videos:

        • Watch (7:34): Historical source evaluation explained
        • Watch (4:59): Evaluating Sources – George Mason University

• Part 3: Begin to review requirements for your Project Proposal (Due March 12)

REMINDER:

• Proposals are due in during Week 9. Here is the link to the requirements
• Museum Exhibition Review is due during Week 11. Here is the link to the requirements