Reports from the Field
Historical Images
Photoshop for Historians
Guess Speaker: Stephanie Hurter
The Challenge of Digital Scholarship
The website “From Hogan's Alley to Coconino County:Four Narratives of the Early Comic Strip,” by David Westbrook is a detailed account of early comic strips. From examples taken from the New York Journal and the New York World, Mr. Westbrook examines the underlying meaning and worlds of both the comic strip and the artist. The site/article is set up fairly well for the web. Even though it could probably be just as good in print, Westbrook does try to use new media features in the details of the strips. For example, after clicking on a thumbnail, a new window opens that allows toggling of commentary. Westbrook’s use of frames also adds a sense of organization to the over all site. However, some of the links with in the text seemed to be confusing, just ‘dropping’ the reader to a future point of the text that they would have gotten to eventually anyway. It appears that Westbrook was doing this to highlight a specific aspect, but perhaps there is a more effective method that he could have used. Publishing this material on the Web, instead of in a printed journal, adds a sense of newness to it; newness in its ability to connect several different kinds of print media together, to comment on both the image itself, and the underlying meaning at the same time, and reach an audience that perhaps would not generally read a printed version of the American Quarterly. Seemingly, by following the conventional rules of scholarly writing, and adding some new methods of publication, Mr. Westbrook is on the right path of melding two different areas of interest into one.Lynn Hunt and Jack Censer’s website, "Images of the French Revolution," is quite interesting. Although I found the opening page to be dark and undirective, once I chose an area to explore, the ideas became clearer. The navigating tools along the left edge, and the textual options on the right were easy to follow and read. While reading the essays, it was nice to be able to open the image being discussed in a smaller window for reference. Perhaps one feature change would be an enlargement button in the image window so the reader could see the details of a selected image as they read the essay it pertains to. The imaging tools in place give the reader a lot of good options to increase visibility of the image, except it is in a different section of the site. Another good feature is the ability to link from a specific image to the essay it is discussed in, as well as from the essay to the specific image. As with Westbrook’s site, this could probably have been presented in a printed form and not be affected too much. Being on the web, however, Hunt and Censer made very good use of what they did. The flash at the beginning adds interest and a sense of action, the highlighted choices as the reader scrolls over them adds ease of visualization, and the corresponding image at the top of the screen with the image assigned to each section adds to an overall site continuity.
Individual Meetings to Discuss Projects
For my senior paper, I wrote about the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848, where Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and a church full of others formally started the women’s suffrage movement. I would like to continue this topic for my final review project in the form of a photographic essay. I will focus on the images of the women, the movement as it grew, and on the progress today of helping women around the world gain the right to vote. There are several images of the early activists and their activities, and many of current-day women who have only recently gained the right to vote. The essay would be aimed at young women who are just becoming old enough to vote, and also at the general public in order to share the experiences, trials, and triumphs women have experienced while gaining their right to vote. The site will be set up similar to an exhibition, with the text and an image together, but will also include some select links if the reader would like more information on a specific topic. As a follow-up, the end pages will include a list of libraries, national parks, and other resources for the reader to explore on their own.
Archives and the Futures of Research and Scholarship
Since most of the project ideas that I thought of already have a digital archive available, I will use an example based on an existing archive. HarpWeek, by John Adler, makes almost any project with a subject from 1857-1903 is easier to research. The Harper’s Weekly and the sister newspaper Harper's Monthly was, and still is, a respected journal that swiftly reported events from around the nation. My specific example is writing a presentation of personalities and events connected with the women’s rights in the mid 19th century. Since Harper’s Weekly, and Monthly, does not have its own index of articles, searching though individual volumes at the library would be long and tedious, and may never yield any useful information. Having a searchable database that contains all of the issues is a definite time and information advantage. One can easily and quickly determine if there is anything of use available. Also, the many subject headings of HarpWeek makes cross referencing very easy. Ideas for expanding on a theme or idea are offered and then supported with significant source material. However, even with all these features, the need to pay, or be connected with a university is a considerable downfall. While I realize why this is necessary, and how it helps with the effectiveness of the site itself, opening it up to the general public could possibly increase the amount of usage on the site. I think this site adds to future research in that it makes research easier and more effective. However, the site only works as long as the site is working. As soon as the site looses support, or a server home, then this resource will be lost to future researchers, and greatly missed by current researchers who have already discovered it. If the world is going to convert important archives and databases for internet use, it would be beneficial to keep a paper version as well. Although this may not be very practical, if the site does go down, then there will still be a paper version of all the helpful informaiton from that site.