Unit 13: Data Visualization

To think about the future direction of digital history you need to think about where we have come from.  Over the past twenty years things with technology have changed significantly.  I think it is hard for individuals to even fathom where we will be in five, ten or twenty years when it comes to information online.  I do think we will see an increase of online data and that we are still in the building part. I believe there is still a lot of history that needs to be digitized, but eventually we will come to some sort of capacity.  How many sites do we really need on WWI battles, how many resources do we need on the revolutionary war?  

I see sometime though where information starts to get organized or categorized better.  And when then starts I believe the data will begin to level out.   This process though will be awhile away.

No update on my project at this time.

Unit 12 Digital Online Archives

Posted 5 pictures to the site, what a cool idea.  I know Northern VA has changed a lot over time.

One digital project that I came across is Harvard-Yenching Library: The Hedda Morrison Photographs of China. The project is really amazing and has thousands of photos on it.  It also offers a really nice chronology section and looks nice and is easy to navigate.     The one that I came across that was not good for me was http://www.csusm.edu/history/masters/projects.html.  This project had a lot of links that did not work or where no longer active.  If you are going to have with past projects I think it needs to be closely maintained and up to date.

Project up Date- Right now I am working through the years of my life I have started with the 70s and have gotten through some of the 80s.  I am finding it difficult to pick out what I feel is most important for each year, but better to have too many options then not enough right?

Unit 10: What Is Real and Not Real in the Digital and Real Worlds

The first thought of reality and non-reality of the digital world, was that not all information online or that is digitalized is real.  That people/companies spend a lot of time changing and altering items that can be found online.  That not everything posted online is real.  I remember years ago having a conversation with my parents and them sharing an experience that they heard on TV and me stating, “You know that isn’t real life right.”  I feel like that same statement can be said about many things online and in the digital world.  

Then thinking about what this week’s lecture was about, is how physical, scanned and digital items can be seen as different.  I know that anytime a student or a person goes to a museum the thought of that object is way different then when they simple see a picture of it.  That holding a physical document can make your experiences a lot different.  In the world we life today the accessibility and flexibility of seeing more sources online is becoming more and more a reality. I do not believe that if a person could never see an area then it can never be a real experience.  

Physically touching a resource is the best but if that is not available I do believe that seeing this item as a scanned or digital item is second best.  I think these new items are going to become our world’s new reality.