Prior to arriving at George Mason University, I had some experience with Digital History and as a result was familiar with the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM).  I earned my masters degree at California State University San Marcos where I took several digital history courses.  It was in these courses that I first became familiar with RRCHNM and the digital history projects that it had created. Looking at the center from the outside, it was hard to get a grasp on exactly how it operated and what kinds of things went on in the center on a daily basis.

Even though I’ve only been at GMU and RRCHNM for a short time, the operations of the center have become much more clear to me.  RRCHNM is divided into three divisions: Education, Public Projects, and Research.  The Education division, where we will be spending our first seven-week rotation, focuses on creating digital projects for teachers and students.  Some of these projects include TeachingHistory.org and World History Matters.  They aim to provide teachers with online primary source material and to help engage students through technology.

The Public Projects division focuses on creating online exhibits and archives.  Some of the projects in this division include the September 11 Digital Archive, the Papers of the War Department 1784-1800, and the Bracero History Archive.

The last division, Research, focuses on creating tools for presenting and doing historical research in the digital age.  Some of the projects in this division include tools such as Omeka and digital publishing projects such as Press Forward.

Over the next year I will be spending time in each of these three divisions as part of the Digital History Fellowship.  During the time in each division I will help to test and update projects, attend division meetings, and will learn about how each division works.  In addition to this, the other Digital History Fellows and I will be blogging regularly, helping to produce podcasts for Digital Campus, and will tweet a day at the center.