Web Journal

H-South as an Online Community

Established in June, 1993, H-South provides scholars of U.S. Southern history an electronic forum to discuss the “scholarly exploration of southern history; its transformations, its re-interpretations, and its meanings.” As one can see from the abundant discussion threads posted on the website, H-South certainly fosters this type of “scholarly exploration” while providing a way for a multitude of people interested in U.S. Southern history to connect to and interact with the topics and issues that interest them. As Barry Wellman and Milena Gulia argue, online communities foster more contact among members, encourage contribution to those communities, and build networks and relationships among peers.

H-South’s website is well-organized and rich with resources. Not only does H-South provide links to the discussion logs for each month since it began, it also has a page devoted to a large number of “Discussion Threads” that the editors of H-South find valuable. Here one can see various “conversations” about topics such “Biblical Justifications for Segregation”, “Condemning Historians for not Appealing to a Popular Audience”, and “Segregation on Airlines”. For the most part, the discussions focus on U.S. Southern history between the beginnings of the American Civil War to the Civil Rights movement, with most of the discussions focused on the interpretation of the Civil War, Reconstruction, slavery and emancipation, and race relations in American and southern history.

Contributions by academics and non-academics, public and independent historians, students and teachers alike, make H-South a diverse venue for scholarly discourse. Those who have posted message to the list include established academics, graduate and undergraduate students, secondary school teachers, and members of the general public. The community is among the most lively, and most diverse, listservs on H-Net and abroad. It is indeed a community, one that displays a sense of camaraderie and purpose in expanding the historical conversation American southern history.

H-South provides a venue for people to discuss their historical interests that other media cannot. While history conferences allow people to discuss issues similar to those found on H-South, the relative brevity as well as the physical location make attending the conference problematic for many. H-South is free and open to anyone interested in the topics. Intellectual contribution to H-South requires that a member only has an email address and a means to post a message to the discussion network. Online communities give more people an equal chance to participate.

In contrast, online communities such as H-South can foster further interaction and exchanges outside of the electronic format. H-South not only frequently posts messages about upcoming publications, conferences, and interactive book reviews, it also allows people to propose and form conference panels on different topics. On H-South's "Panel Finder," visitors can find individuals interested in orgnaizing panels for conferences or post their own need for panel members. From here, subscribers can further discuss their work, plan meetings at conferences, and build larger networks in their respective fields. As Wellman and Guilia argue, online communities help “foster more frequent in-person meetings” such as those at conferences or seminars.

In conclusion, H-South is as much a "real" community as any other community. Members of H-South come to the network looking for advice, criticism, and encouragement for their work and interests in southern history. H-South provides a venue for information exchange, personal and professional networking, and a critical audience for ideas upon which the study of history so vitally depends.

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