Definitions

So, What is “Digital History”?

Part 2 Definitions:

In my analog university past of the late 1970’s we were obsessed with defining "History".  There were long philosophical discussions about it.  Coming from that mold I feel a strong compulsion to find well founded definitions for “Digital History”.  

For something more detailed than a student’s dictionary definition in 1979 there would have been the need to put on a jacket and go over to the library reference section, with of course my pencils and paper so that I could record the resulting nuggets of wisdom.   When I was living in Morcambe  , a seaside suburb of Lancaster, it would have entailed a 10 minute walk through the breezy streets of an autumn seaside town and a 7 mile bus ride with an abundance of stops.  

Photos of Lancaster 

As you might imagine I have just spent a considerable time reminiscing and discovering all sorts of fascinating things about my old college town that I was previously unaware of.  

On my quest for enlightenment there would be some people to confer with, but just a handful….fellow history students, the reference librarians, my history professors.  If it was an assignment I would take my graphite notes, mull over the results and create several drafts with lots of crossings out and arrows, pto’s and margin scribbles.  The final copy would be in ink laid meticulously on A4 sheets and mistakes might necessitate whole new starts until it was legible enough for handing in physically to the professor’s office.  You can only imagine the bus trips involved.

By sharp contrast here and now in 2012 I can sit in my robe at the kitchen counter and harness the almighty power of Google to pull the wisdom of an unimaginable number of minds into focus on my screen.   With the assistance of algorithms and Google’s search capacities I can even find some of the most experienced minds in the field clustered together in lively debate as the first hit.  In this particular field it is probably safe to say that the debate is going to be ON LINE.  Though out of date now by digital standards of change, the September 2008 Journal of American History has a gold mine of debate collected as a discussion around the topic of “The Promise of Digital History” which not only hammers away at defining the field, but which also nicely illustrates some of the very characteristics it aims to illuminate.

The JAH sets up the debate with a wide definition of digital history:

JAH: For a start, we might define digital history as anything (research method, journal article, monograph, blog, classroom exercise) that uses digital technologies in creating, enhancing, or distributing historical research and scholarship. Do you have other definitions?  More important, what is the promise of digital history?

William G Thomas III notes that he and Ed Ayers were probably the first to use the term “digital history” when they founded The Virginia Center For Digital History in 1997-1998.  Here is his definition of digital history:

“Digital history is an approach to examining and representing the past that works with the new communication technologies of the computer, the Internet network, and software systems. On one level, digital history is an open arena of scholarly production and communication, encompassing the development of new course materials and scholarly data collections. On another, it is a methodological approach framed by the hypertextual power of these technologies to make, define, query, and annotate associations in the human record of the past. To do digital history, then, is to create a framework, an ontology, through the technology for people to experience, read, and follow an argument about a historical problem.”

Though this may be an oversimplification, to me this definition breaks down into two major parts:

1. On the one hand “digital history” is the vast and various material of history in its digital application.  
2. On the other it is a methodology that can be applied to teaching and studying history. 

The discussion that ensues in “The Promise of Digital History” fleshes out these basic thrusts and gives nuance derived from the authors’ personal and professional experiences with “digital history”

More later.....