Clio Wired (History 696)

Generally speaking, my project would be a history of digital history. I would be looking at well-funded sites as well as some trends for funding new projects. The main question I would like to explore is if these highly-funded projects are balanced in terms of scholarship, design, and technology. This would hopefully give an overall evolution of digital history and allow me some room to think through some ideas for the future.

I would analyze these sites in terms of their content, design, etc. to answer questions like: what is the quality of scholarship and research? Does it make good use of digital capabilities? Is the design thoughtful/useful/attractive? to get a sense of what is being and has been funded as these are often the sites that have the most activity for good or for ill (and that’s what I’d like to find out!)

To keep things organized and to aid a web format, I’ve decided on some categories. These will include: university sites (Examples: Michigan, Penn, and…), institutional sites (Examples: NYPL, Chicago Historical Society and…), and ‘commercial’ sites (Examples: PBS, History Channel, and…). In terms of funding, I will look at some of the funders that I see repeated (Examples: Government, Sloan, Mellon, and…) to provide some context and hopefully get a sense of progression from that front.

But what makes this more conducive to a digital format? I have been thinking a lot about this important question and here is a preliminary answer. My collection of essays/reviews/analysis will use hyperlinks especially in discussions of design, animation, interactivity, etc. As they say, a picture is worth 1,000 words (I realize the imprecision of this analogy but it’s the best I can do for now). Also, working with these (usually highly-technical and highly-designed) sites will raise the bar for me to learn more technical and design elements. That said, the conversion from “research paper” to digital work is something I will need to be constantly aware of. Another major challenge I will face from the way the project stands now is keeping it manageable in the digital medium (I think I would like to trim it down already).

I am a novice in this whole field from the technical web design side to knowing what digital history is out there so I am and will remain open to suggestions as long as I can. So if anyone knows of or finds something that is highly-funded, let me know and I’ll check it out.