Digital Histories

I asked a good friend of mine, who has little to no historical training, what she thought digital history was. Her response: "Something like Wikipedia, right?" While I went on a spiel about how Wikipedia is not a digital history, I thought about how perceptions about that one site have changed over the years. Eight years ago, to look at the open encyclopedia was like a kiss of death to any scholar. Now, while not to be taken without a grain of salt, it is doing its job: it is exposing "people" (professional and less so) to ideas. In the Western world, everyone has heard about Wikipedia... but not everyone has heard about digital history and knows where to find it.

The good news is: libraries, museums, private and public companies have jumped on the bandwagon of Internet outreach and education. Below are a few sites that I've visited and think are prime (and diverse!) examples of digital history.

The National Library of Australia Digital Collection
http://www.nla.gov.au/digicoll/audio.html
-The National Library of Australia has extensive audio archives which are available to everyone with Internet access. Like many libraries across the globe with online collections (UH libraries included!), the NLA has spent precious time and resources promoting public access to vital knowledge.

BBC History
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/
-This is one of my personal favorites! While promoting their own radio and television programs, the BBC has created an interactive narrative of history. With such a wide audience already, the BBC's History site popularizes historical access. The "History for Kids" section is particularly entertaining, combining video games and cartoons with facts and learning, I think the BBC History site is the epitome of what digital history should be.

The Morgan Library & Museum "Illuminating Fashion: Dress in the Art of Medieval France and the Netherlands" Online exhibition
http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/exhibition.asp?id=45
-Many museums are trying to increase their Online exposure, and the Morgan Library & Museum is one of many that is offering online exhibitions in addition to the full experience of visiting. This exhibition ("Dress in the Art of Medieval France and the Netherlands") is one I would have loved to see in person, but even though I missed seeing it in person, I am able to see digitized images and examine them in depth. It doesn't replace the wonder of seeing an exhibit in person, but digitizing the exhibit has widened the exposed audience and perhaps increased the support of the institution and digital exhibits.

Both articles that I focused on are from the Oral History journal and both deal with controversies that have recently arisen about "new media" and history's use of it.

In "When History Goes Public: Recent Experiences in the United States" [Oral History, Vol. 29, No. 1, Pleasure and Danger in the City (Spring, 2001), pp. 92-97] Donald A. Ritchie promotes digital history (and in particular, oral history) as informative for historians; historians have had to create new methodology for approaching sources, and historians have had resolve conflicts, such as multiple view points, in new ways as well.

Steve Humphries' "Unseen Stories: Video History in Museums" [Oral History, Vol. 31, No. 2 (Autumn, 2003), pp. 75-84] deals with, as its title implies, video history but video history is digital history... as soon as it goes Online. The question here is, how do museums (and other institutions involved with presenting history) create interesting, appealing, and informative experiences? Video has become vital in this day and age. As the abstract states so perfectly, "The visual dimension of oral history adds emotional power to life story recordings and displays which can heighten their impact - and is well worth the extra effort." Strengthening the emotional pull of a (hi)story is vital to making an impression and increasing historical exposure.

While Wikipedia has a huge audience, and the National Library of Australia perhaps less of one, reputable institutions such as libraries, museums, universities, and even corporations have increased and engaged their audience through video, audio, and text, Online. Digital history: it works.