This week's readings reminded me a lot about a discussion that our class had several weeks ago. In fact, I believe we were still in the conference room for this talk! We were discussing the massive amounts of information that we were putting out in internet space, what with Facebook statuses, tweets, blogs, every Google search, and every click of the mouse.
If you remember the conversation, we were talking about how one day historians could write a history about an average person's life based entirely on Facebook statuses, or perhaps write a history about an event using millions of tweets and statuses from people across the globe. We were saying in this discussion that there would be too much information out there, similar to how there is too little information for, say, a Dark Ages Historian looking at a particular poet.
Although all of these discussion alluded to this conversation from weeks ago, none made me more convinced to refresh our memories about this dialogue than William Turkel's Digital History Hacks.
The interesting thing about this article is that it never occurred to me that one could research how people input information into a search engine. When searching for the history of a specific country, for instance, most people type in "American History" as opposed to "the history of America." But, oddly enough, if the search is of a particular subject, such as technology, the same logic does not apply. People will usually type "the history of technology" instead of "technology history." (Note: I got these examples from Turkel's article. Clink the above link to see more of his examples.)
These types of calculations about who types what in search engines seems like it will quickly attract the attention of sociologists (especially those who focus on language!), if it hasn't already!
This article relates very closely to Dan Cohen's From Babel to Knowledge. In this article, Cohen talks about search engines that look for specific items using trusted sites. A great example, and one that Cohen developed, was searching for syllabi. He created a search engine that looks at only syllabi by inputting similar characteristics in the words of the document. In his syllabus search engine, you can type in the subject you want to teach and you will get examples of how similar classes arranged their syllabus.
Before I go on, let me just say: I didn't know such a thing was possible. It astounds me that with a little programming know-how, you can develop your own, useful search engine about anything you want. Another example Cohen uses is H-bot, which only looks at trusted sites when responding to a question/keyword.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find the Syllabus Finder when I did a quick Google search for it. I would have loved to try that out, although it wouldn't be as useful to me now as it would have been last Fall semester! If anyone else was able to locate this website, let me know!
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Twitter in the Classroom
It took me a little while to find an article about Twitter's effect on education that I really enjoyed. The article I chose was a New York Times article about Twitter's use in classrooms, particularly high school, but the article says that Twitter could be useful starting in elementary school through university.
Take a look at Trip Gabriel's Speaking Up in Class, Silently, Using Social Media.
Perhaps Gabriel is making a good point that telling students to put their phones away and not use their laptops is futile. People of all ages today are texting and tweeting and posting even when they're in a room full of their closest friends. So asking a student to stop may be counterproductive. Embracing this technology and putting it to use in the classroom, Gabriel argues, is helping students open up to class discussions and ask questions they might not feel comfortable voicing aloud.
My one concern as I read about Tweeting during class was: how can you be sure that people are staying on task and not doing other things as well?
It turns out that Gabriel also had this thought. He explains that Tweeting in class is only successful if teachers check the conversation after class to catch for non-class-related Tweets. Although, I would still argue that if students are tweeting on their phones, what's to stop them from texting their friends at the same time? Teachers would have no way to moderate those conversations.
Students from an English high school class who tweet for and during class were interviewed for the article. They all agreed that Tweeting allows quiet students to get involved in the discussion and interests the students enough that they are more willing to ask questions and contribute to the conversation.
Although embracing technology is a necessity these days, I'd still argue that we should tread carefully. Not every classroom will benefit from Tweeter as a way to generate conversation. For instance, our LBST courses of 110 students may overwhelm the professor and each other with questions and comments. Not to mention it would be more difficult to catch the inappropriate comments.
On the other hand, we all experienced a successful usage of Twitter in our History in the Digital Age class when Jennifer couldn't come in, but could contribute ideas and thoughts via Twitter. So perhaps with smaller classes, Twitter can become an excellent tool for teachers and professors.
To those of you who want to become a teacher or professor, would you use Twitter as a discussion tool in your classrooms? Why or why not?
Take a look at Trip Gabriel's Speaking Up in Class, Silently, Using Social Media.
Perhaps Gabriel is making a good point that telling students to put their phones away and not use their laptops is futile. People of all ages today are texting and tweeting and posting even when they're in a room full of their closest friends. So asking a student to stop may be counterproductive. Embracing this technology and putting it to use in the classroom, Gabriel argues, is helping students open up to class discussions and ask questions they might not feel comfortable voicing aloud.
My one concern as I read about Tweeting during class was: how can you be sure that people are staying on task and not doing other things as well?
It turns out that Gabriel also had this thought. He explains that Tweeting in class is only successful if teachers check the conversation after class to catch for non-class-related Tweets. Although, I would still argue that if students are tweeting on their phones, what's to stop them from texting their friends at the same time? Teachers would have no way to moderate those conversations.
Students from an English high school class who tweet for and during class were interviewed for the article. They all agreed that Tweeting allows quiet students to get involved in the discussion and interests the students enough that they are more willing to ask questions and contribute to the conversation.
Although embracing technology is a necessity these days, I'd still argue that we should tread carefully. Not every classroom will benefit from Tweeter as a way to generate conversation. For instance, our LBST courses of 110 students may overwhelm the professor and each other with questions and comments. Not to mention it would be more difficult to catch the inappropriate comments.
On the other hand, we all experienced a successful usage of Twitter in our History in the Digital Age class when Jennifer couldn't come in, but could contribute ideas and thoughts via Twitter. So perhaps with smaller classes, Twitter can become an excellent tool for teachers and professors.
To those of you who want to become a teacher or professor, would you use Twitter as a discussion tool in your classrooms? Why or why not?
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Some Articles and Some Thoughts
The two articles I read were very different from one another, so I will talk about them separately.
First, I read The Historical Profession and Archival Education. This article makes the point that archival students can take two educational paths: history or library science. Since the internet boom, library science has become the most popular route to take for archival students due to its technology focus. History, as I think we all know from being in the history department at UNCC, is in many ways still focusing on traditional research and book/article publishing.
What made this article interesting to me was that it reminded me of how museums are also changing. Anymore, if you want to become a museum professional (like me!), you really must embrace technology and incorporating it into your education, the museum, and outreach. Although I am a self-declared luddite, I still embrace the courses that UNCC have offered that would make me a better candidate for museums today. I took a video editing course, and in this course I am learned about twitter, blogging, and online exhibits.
But back to the article, I believe the author, Joseph M. Turrini, makes a good point when he says that "History departments should continue to be part of archival education." Although they must also adapt to the changing market and techniques in order to give their students the best chance at getting a job, I also believe that history offers special insight to archiving. In many case, archiving deals with very old documents, papers, journals. History will help an archivist take their skills to the next level by interpretation and explanation.
Second, I read Enhancing Internet Use for History by Categorizing Online Resources. More brief and less thought provoking than my first choice, I felt that this was a great resource. The author, Edward A. Riedinger, suggests multiple databases for historians. Among them are JSTOR and Project MUSE, both of which I have used and enjoyed using. There are also many various other sites that I have not heard of and links to them. Go check it out!
Riedinger's emphasis is on organization and categorization throughout the article. I can personally comment on the level of difficulty a person can have on creating a list of keywords to attach to a particular object so that researchers looking for the material can find it with ease. As an intern at the Earl Scruggs Center, I was introduced to the Past Perfect cataloging system. Part of making a complete entry for an item in a collection is by creating a list of searchable terms and descriptions. Not only would you include what the item is, but what it looks like, what it represents, who or what it is associated with, and more. This is where research comes into play. In addition, one must think about what type of person or research would want this particular item and what words would they be using in a keyword search.
I agree that "applying techniques of keyword and subject searching" is a vital component in navigating online databases. Historians need to be broad, but still specific enough, with their keyword searches to find what they are looking for. At the same time, those people inputting searchable terms to connect with an item or written document, must think like a researcher. The terms must be broad enough to encompass a lot of terms but narrow enough so that researchers can find what they want easily. It is a very challenging task.
First, I read The Historical Profession and Archival Education. This article makes the point that archival students can take two educational paths: history or library science. Since the internet boom, library science has become the most popular route to take for archival students due to its technology focus. History, as I think we all know from being in the history department at UNCC, is in many ways still focusing on traditional research and book/article publishing.
What made this article interesting to me was that it reminded me of how museums are also changing. Anymore, if you want to become a museum professional (like me!), you really must embrace technology and incorporating it into your education, the museum, and outreach. Although I am a self-declared luddite, I still embrace the courses that UNCC have offered that would make me a better candidate for museums today. I took a video editing course, and in this course I am learned about twitter, blogging, and online exhibits.
But back to the article, I believe the author, Joseph M. Turrini, makes a good point when he says that "History departments should continue to be part of archival education." Although they must also adapt to the changing market and techniques in order to give their students the best chance at getting a job, I also believe that history offers special insight to archiving. In many case, archiving deals with very old documents, papers, journals. History will help an archivist take their skills to the next level by interpretation and explanation.
Second, I read Enhancing Internet Use for History by Categorizing Online Resources. More brief and less thought provoking than my first choice, I felt that this was a great resource. The author, Edward A. Riedinger, suggests multiple databases for historians. Among them are JSTOR and Project MUSE, both of which I have used and enjoyed using. There are also many various other sites that I have not heard of and links to them. Go check it out!
Riedinger's emphasis is on organization and categorization throughout the article. I can personally comment on the level of difficulty a person can have on creating a list of keywords to attach to a particular object so that researchers looking for the material can find it with ease. As an intern at the Earl Scruggs Center, I was introduced to the Past Perfect cataloging system. Part of making a complete entry for an item in a collection is by creating a list of searchable terms and descriptions. Not only would you include what the item is, but what it looks like, what it represents, who or what it is associated with, and more. This is where research comes into play. In addition, one must think about what type of person or research would want this particular item and what words would they be using in a keyword search.
I agree that "applying techniques of keyword and subject searching" is a vital component in navigating online databases. Historians need to be broad, but still specific enough, with their keyword searches to find what they are looking for. At the same time, those people inputting searchable terms to connect with an item or written document, must think like a researcher. The terms must be broad enough to encompass a lot of terms but narrow enough so that researchers can find what they want easily. It is a very challenging task.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Wikipedia: Sometimes Misused
As I was watching the video Wikipedia Debate, I couldn't stop thinking about one ID test question from Dr. Smith's LBST course last semester. I think this real life example shows how Wikipedia is misused by students who are unwilling to take additional steps to get accurate information from more reliable sources. While I agree with the video that Wikipedia is a good place to start when researching, it should never be your only source of information.
Dr. Smith's LBST course looked at Slavery, Citizenship, and Manhood up to the Civil War. His tests were ID tests, where students are given a list of terms to choose to answer. On one such test, one of the terms was "Loyal Slave States." I read several answers to this ID. I was stunned by how many students said (roughly) the following: "There were eight loyal slave states. Four of them became loyal slave states after the battle of Fort Sumter."
After reading about ten incorrect answers (like above) to this ID, all making the exact same claim, I decided to check the internet to see where these students were getting this answer. 'Cause Dr. Smith certainly never said that!
I found myself at Wikipedia. The term "Loyal Slave States" has since been taken down (which, on a different note, shows how quickly this site can be changed and updated!). This is the entry that I found instead: Boarder States. Yet, if you read the first paragraph, you can still see where some of these students got their wrong answer. The original entry had faulty punctuation. And that's putting it lightly. This entry is more clear than the entry that lead these students to an incorrect answer.
My point with posting about this experience is to show how unreliable Wikipedia can be. It also illustrates how often undergraduate students go to Wikipedia and treat it as a credible source.
This is not to say that Wikipedia doesn't have value. It is a very valuable resource. As the "Wikipedia Debate" video points out, it's breadth of terms makes it a perfect starting point for nearly any research topic.
The lesson to take away from this is: check your sources and don't believe everything you read on the internet.
Dr. Smith's LBST course looked at Slavery, Citizenship, and Manhood up to the Civil War. His tests were ID tests, where students are given a list of terms to choose to answer. On one such test, one of the terms was "Loyal Slave States." I read several answers to this ID. I was stunned by how many students said (roughly) the following: "There were eight loyal slave states. Four of them became loyal slave states after the battle of Fort Sumter."
After reading about ten incorrect answers (like above) to this ID, all making the exact same claim, I decided to check the internet to see where these students were getting this answer. 'Cause Dr. Smith certainly never said that!
I found myself at Wikipedia. The term "Loyal Slave States" has since been taken down (which, on a different note, shows how quickly this site can be changed and updated!). This is the entry that I found instead: Boarder States. Yet, if you read the first paragraph, you can still see where some of these students got their wrong answer. The original entry had faulty punctuation. And that's putting it lightly. This entry is more clear than the entry that lead these students to an incorrect answer.
My point with posting about this experience is to show how unreliable Wikipedia can be. It also illustrates how often undergraduate students go to Wikipedia and treat it as a credible source.
This is not to say that Wikipedia doesn't have value. It is a very valuable resource. As the "Wikipedia Debate" video points out, it's breadth of terms makes it a perfect starting point for nearly any research topic.
The lesson to take away from this is: check your sources and don't believe everything you read on the internet.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Creating a Group Contract: Plaza-Midwood Neighborhood Group
Before working with my three group members (Jennifer, Susan, and Sean), I felt a little apprehensive about how the project would come together. What I mean is, who would make sure I was scanning and uploading my exhibit pieces correctly? How were we all going to coordinate our written descriptions of our exhibit pieces to create a coherent story?
These two questions were answered once our group worked on creating a contract. We split the four components amongst our group members to ease the burden of meeting together. Susan created "chairs" for each of us, which emphasized our individual strengths. This answered the questions that I mentioned form above.
It turns out that I- with my experience in exhibits- will help pull the exhibits together to create a coherent story. And Susan- who has scanned many images her GA position in the library last year- will help scanning and uploading the images for consistency. Jennifer is our top-dog in a way, she will be holding the group together to make sure that everyone finds the sources and information that they need for the exhibit. Last (but certainly not least) is Sean, who has a lot of experience in computers, marketing, and site-building, will help us create our website, check our links, and make navigation as simple as possible.
All of the things that I was apprehensive about seemed to have been cleared up by the simple task of creating a contract. We four make a great team. And I'm excited to work with them. It'll be work, but my teammates will make it fun and easy.
I look forward to hearing about the strategies, tasks, fears, and excitements of my classmates.
Until then- GO TEAM PLAZA-MIDWOOD!!
These two questions were answered once our group worked on creating a contract. We split the four components amongst our group members to ease the burden of meeting together. Susan created "chairs" for each of us, which emphasized our individual strengths. This answered the questions that I mentioned form above.
It turns out that I- with my experience in exhibits- will help pull the exhibits together to create a coherent story. And Susan- who has scanned many images her GA position in the library last year- will help scanning and uploading the images for consistency. Jennifer is our top-dog in a way, she will be holding the group together to make sure that everyone finds the sources and information that they need for the exhibit. Last (but certainly not least) is Sean, who has a lot of experience in computers, marketing, and site-building, will help us create our website, check our links, and make navigation as simple as possible.
All of the things that I was apprehensive about seemed to have been cleared up by the simple task of creating a contract. We four make a great team. And I'm excited to work with them. It'll be work, but my teammates will make it fun and easy.
I look forward to hearing about the strategies, tasks, fears, and excitements of my classmates.
Until then- GO TEAM PLAZA-MIDWOOD!!
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Reflections and Comments on The September 11 Digital Archive
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.
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.
Omeka.net Plugins
My group (Susan, Jennifer, Sean, and myself) are doing our online exhibit on the Plaza-Midwood Neighborhood. So far is appears that we will focus on structures and activities. Our online exhibit will be geared towards the neighborhood, people interested in the neighborhood, researchers, and the class (of course!).
So I looked on Omeka for some useful plugins. I lack the vocabulary to understand many of these plugins' internet-speak. Given that handicap, I was relieved that there were a select few that made some sense to me. The one that I felt was most useful (albeit very basic) was Google Analytics, site stats.
It allows the owner/builder of a website to track the number of people who visit the site. I admit that this seems almost too minor to note as an important plugin for our online exhibit. Despite that, I would argue that keeping track of how many people visit the online exhibit summarizes the very purpose of building a website! There would be no purpose to building an online exhibit if there is no interest in making sure that it had reached your desired audience.
So I looked on Omeka for some useful plugins. I lack the vocabulary to understand many of these plugins' internet-speak. Given that handicap, I was relieved that there were a select few that made some sense to me. The one that I felt was most useful (albeit very basic) was Google Analytics, site stats.
It allows the owner/builder of a website to track the number of people who visit the site. I admit that this seems almost too minor to note as an important plugin for our online exhibit. Despite that, I would argue that keeping track of how many people visit the online exhibit summarizes the very purpose of building a website! There would be no purpose to building an online exhibit if there is no interest in making sure that it had reached your desired audience.
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