It was easy for my to choose which of the multiple online collections that Dr. Cox suggested we look at to complete this blog post. The September 11 Digital Archive jumped out at me for a really simple reason: it's one of many emotionally-charged museums that I would like to explore for my thesis project. Now, I realize that this is not a museum's website. This is an online database/collection/archive. The point stands that it may well make it into my thesis project for it's emotional influence on visitors.
This site is very well organized. On the home page (see above link) it has a very clear statement defining what the site offers and what the purpose is. It includes clear links that are not misleading. Items like "Browse," "Contribute," and "Special Collections" are very easy to understand and the pages that they lead you to are not surprising. What I mean is, these links to further pages make sense and are easily navigated.
My interest in this website for my thesis prompted me to explore further than, perhaps, my classmates would have. For instance, I poked around in "Browse" for a few minutes. The links within this new page are very well organized into specific categories, such as interview, documents, and much more. I enjoyed this page because of its ease of use, but also because this would be a phenomenal resource for a historian, sociologist, or any research interested in 9/11.
Let's skip ahead to the link that relates to our class assignment: Collections. I followed "Special Collections" and was surprised to see screen shots and links to exhibits and other resources as opposed to important or selected items of value. What I discovered was that the links went to various collections. The one I chose to explore was September 11: Bearing Witness to History, which was built and run by the Smithsonian. This link sent me to a collection of oral histories from people all across the country- short and long accounts of their experiences on September 11, 2001. It allowed you to browse through these accounts and even invited you to add your own.
Overall, I think this website offers a diverse, plentiful, organized, and easy-to-use collection of 9/11 oral histories, documents, recordings, e-mails and videos. One important feature of this website was the "9/11 FAQs." This offers visitors the chance to put these primary sources into context- if they do not already understand the context. Especially for younger visitors to the site, this is an important addition for clarification, chronology, understanding, and context.
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