Digital History Research Articles

Review of the Book “Historical Memory in Social Media” by Sophia Tikhonova, Denis Artamonov

The subject of review is the book “Historical Memory in Social Media” by Sofya Tikhonova and Denis Artamonov. In the book, the authors focus on the design and specification of the production of images of the past on the Internet and the gaming industry, referring to various materials, from text “fake” messages and memes to computer games. Research is not limited to the description of empirical data. The supporting structure of the research is the author's concept of digital history and digital philosophy of history. Research optics is aimed at determining the status of the digital subject of history, which seems to be an acute anthropological and socio-philosophical problem. The book discusses the issues of modification of the politics of memory, the production of “fakes”, the connotation of historical events, the trend of miniaturization of history and the crisis of great narratives. Considerable attention is paid to the everyday everyday practices of information production, woven into the context of “history making”. The review pays attention to all the main structural parts of the book and reproduces the logical sequence of the key ideas of the text. With references to the original author's text, the reviewer also gives his own interpretations of the conceptual and terminological innovations of the book, and also focuses on some controversial aspects of the research.

Technology and the Historian: Transformations in the Digital Age by Adam Crymble

Historians have not been immune from the incursion of computing into their lives and work, increasingly influencing questions that they ask of historical evidence, which itself is either electronic or subject to reformulations, thanks to software. These effects were barely a whisper in the 1960s, but they became obvious with the arrival of personal computers, word-processing software, and database-management tools by the 1980s. Barely had historians begun to engage with these developments when the internet became a profoundly important new development. The profession, whether digitally “native” students or senior scholars, has to deal responsibly with all of it. Crymble’s history of how these issues evolved affords historians the opportunity to understand what is still an evolving transformation in how they work and think about their discipline.Briefly stated, Crymble describes the impact of computers on the historian’s craft through an investigation of the subject from the 1960s to the present (yes, historians have been wrestling with computers for a half-century). The story is complex because many disciplines engaged with the technology, each using different vocabularies and concepts. In fact, Crymble includes a sensible glossary of the terms that have become increasingly popular in disciplines more comfortable with computing, hoping that more historians will adopt them. Although he is fixated on the use of a shared vocabulary, his book clearly demonstrates that historians, like scholars in other fields, walked many paths toward computing. They encountered computing in libraries, classrooms, and archival collections, as well as in writing and publishing.Crymble explores the evolution of the relationship between historians and computing across five dimensions—historical research, archives, classrooms, self-learning, and “scholarly communications channels,” commonly known now as blogs (9). He devotes a chapter to each of these arenas of engagement. His terms and analyses are designed to allow scholars to speak with each other across disciplines and within subfields in history. The result is even better than might have been expected, because his writing is clear, sans jargon, despite its derivation from multiple disciplines, including computing.Since more readers will have already encountered computing in one or more of the five dimensions, some of the material will be painfully obvious, especially the ad hoc methods by which people first learned how to use computers. Nonetheless, Crymble ably shows how developments in one context related to those in other contexts. In the process, he demonstrates that computing has been more important to the work of historians than one might otherwise have thought. He also argues that the loosely conceived notions about the role of computing, and their associated historiographical methods, are in need of greater discipline.Crymble also makes some novel observations. For example, he describes the changes that team tables and collaboration have brought to classrooms, often eliminating students having to line up for lectures. Moreover, the move to digital history syllabuses has given students and professors the opportunity to simplify their interactions even further. His bibliography reveals extensive, prior conversations about these issues. Chapter 5, which is devoted to the history of blogs in historical discourse, is so informative that it could serve as a second introduction, to be read before the rest of the book.The volume is short, tightly written, and well organized, recommended as much for novices as for “gray heads” with many years of experience. Crymble is to be congratulated for bridging the gap across a confusing divide from the days before ubiquitous computing to those of Big Data, algorithms, the internet, and artificial intelligence, without losing half his audience in the process.

Open up the Culture of Masculinity in Computer Technology for Gender and Diversity. A Conversation with Judy Wajcman. By Marion Mangelsdorf

The following interview is based on an online conversation that took place in February 2021 between Feminist Science and Technology Studies (STS) researchers Judy Wajcman and Marion Mangelsdorf. In 2004 Judy Wajcman published the STS classic TechnoFeminism, in which she analyses the fundamental presence of digital technologies and technological design processes. Wajcman discusses the range of feminist positions on the technological history of digitization and draws attention to the challenges that still exist today. She casts her decidedly critical eye on the gender issues as well as the racial bias that characterize digitization and assesses opportunities for cultural change.

Critical Digital Archives: A Review from Archival Studies

Abstract Given the blurring of boundaries between historians and archivists in the digital realm, this article urges historians to pay more attention to discussions surrounding digital records and archival practices emerging from critical archival studies. More specifically, this article identifies and summarizes seven key themes and corresponding debates about digital records in contemporary archival studies scholarship: (1) materiality, (2) appraisal, (3) context, (4) use, (5) scale, (6) relationships, and (7) sustainability. A deeper knowledge of digital archival theory and practice—how records came to be in digital archives, the infrastructures that maintain them, and the tools necessary to provide access to and context for them—is not ancillary to historical work, but provides important context to do digital history better.

Perspectives: Introduction

In August 2019, economist Johan Fourie of Stellenbosch University invited Historia to publish a "reflection piece" he had written and presented in March that year at the University of the Free State. In it, he puts forward his views of what History does, what it ought to do, and how it can perhaps be done better here in (South) Africa. His central concern is with big data and digitising records. He issues a number of seemingly bold challenges and provocations to historians. A slightly edited version of that piece is reproduced below. Rather than publish it as a stand-alone piece, however, and in the spirit of respectful exchange, we are publishing four substantial engagements with several of the arguments made by Fourie. These responses are by Faeeza Ballim, Gerald Groenewald, Jennifer Upton and Tinashe Nyamunda, all of whom are experts in their respective fields and experienced in their craft. Each takes the substantive points made by Fourie seriously, and responds to them in different ways. Best read as perspectives on a complex and enduring debate amongst people who are mindful of the politics of the past as well as being critically engaged with what historians "do" in the present, they recognise the technological and methodological promises of digital histories and big data, but eloquently remind us too of their limitations and indeed their potential pitfalls. There is much more to discuss, not the least of which is the responsibility for the ownership of and access to such records in a democratic and socially just world. The authors' information is included at the close, after a brief "Response" by Fourie.

Particularly Red, by a Woman: Anne B. Poyntz and the Printing and Digitization of Her Je ne sçai quoi

ABSTRACT This article recovers Anne B. Poyntz’s Je ne sçai quoi (1769), a collection of letters and odes, as a case study for identifying junctures during printing and digitization where an author’s stated vision for her work is compromised. Poyntz printed her wishes for her book within the text itself, including two unique bibliographical features. She wanted her by-line to read “by a Woman.” She also states in the dedication that it should be “particularly red,” that is, printed in red ink. No existing copies, print or digital, contain the by-line “by a Woman.” While print copies and some digital editions do have a red dedication, most facsimiles fail to accurately represent color, which is central to the book’s meaning and the author’s identity as a woman writer. An understanding of how Poyntz’s book was printed in the eighteenth century combined with its digital histories reveals that the initial loss of control at the proposal stage was the first of several that ultimately produced an inconsistent plurality of surrogates that do not reflect Poyntz’s original vision for her book, in which visual design features are part of her story.

Review: Consolation Prize podcast. Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, George Mason University

Review: <i>Consolation Prize</i> podcast. Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, George Mason University

The Digital U-Turn in Art History

Summary Over the past decade humanities researchers have increasingly come to embrace digital methods. Art historians, however, have often resisted engaging with these developments. In this article, we explore the driving factors behind art history's reticence toward the digital turn in the humanities. Reflecting on the historiographic trajectory of the emerging field of digital art history (DAH) versus art history more generally, we selected a sample of recent articles published between 2010-2019. We used a mixture of methods, both digital and non-digital, to uncover the prevalence for different art-historical theories in DAH versus mainstream art history. We began our study by performing a text mining analysis on the references and bibliography of articles published in DAH, Art Journal, and Art History. Once we had determined a list of frequently-cited authors, we dug deeper to see how they were discussed in the body of individual texts. In other words, we employed traditional humanities methods: close reading and interpretation. DAH is typically positioned as something completely new to the discipline. However, as this study shows, DAH is closely tied to particular pre-digital methods and theories of art history, namely formalist and iconographic methods prevalent during the late nineteenth and early twentieth-century, rather than critical theory methods commonly found in more recent art-historical scholarship. Based on our analysis, we argue that DAH methods have not been embraced by art historians more generally because of fundamental differences in the theoretical underpinnings of DAH versus the broader field of art history.

Digital history of representations: analysing identity and nationalism in the Capuchin Annual periodical (1930-1977)

Article Digital history of representations: analysing identity and nationalism in the Capuchin Annual periodical (1930-1977) was published on September 1, 2021 in the journal Journal of Digital History (volume 1, issue 1).

Topic-specific corpus building: A step towards a representative newspaper corpus on the topic of return migration using text mining methods

Article Topic-specific corpus building: A step towards a representative newspaper corpus on the topic of return migration using text mining methods was published on September 1, 2021 in the journal Journal of Digital History (volume 1, issue 1).

Crafting Digital Histories of Science: A Review and Tour of Secrets of Craft and Nature in Renaissance France

Crafting Digital Histories of Science: A Review and Tour of <i>Secrets of Craft and Nature in Renaissance France</i>

Digital History, Public History, Transnational History based on Digital Archive and Curation: Towards the World Peace and Coexistence based on the Principle of Unity in Diversity

필자는 본고에서 디지털 큐레이션에 의거하여 신뢰할 수 있는 디지털 기록의 사료들을 확보하고 활용하는 디지털 역사학을 수행하자는 제안을 하였다. 디지털 아카이브와 디지털 큐레이션을 통해 기록의 4대 속성인, 진본성, 무결성, 신뢰성, 이용가능성을 유지하면서 디지털 역사학을 수행해야 함을 강조하였다. 디지털 역사학은 역사학의 한 분야가 아니라, 사료가 디지털 형태로 존재하는 시대에서의 일반적인 역사학의 방법이고 현상이라는 점도 강조하였다. 그렇다고 물리적 실체의 사료에 기반한 역사학이 약화되는 것도 아니고 두 형태의 역사학 사이에 상보관계가 형성되어 역사학을 더욱 풍요롭게 할 것임을 설명했다. 그러면서 디지털 역사학이 갖는 시·공을 초월하는 새로운 차원에 주목하고 이를 실현해야 함을 이야기 했다. 이와 함께 저자는 연계·융합의 특징 속에서 시·공을 초월하여 공공역사와 트랜스내셔널 역사를 실현하고 세계의 평화·상생의 길을 찾아 갈 수 있기를 희망한다.

Arguing with Digital History: Patterns of Historical Interpretation

Abstract Digital history has only rarely created interpretative or argumentative scholarship that contributes back to disciplinary understandings of the past. The reasons for this are varied: digital historians have often preferred to create scholarship for public audiences, or they have pursued forms of scholarship which do not lend themselves to explicit interpretation. But we contend that digital historians have not had sufficient models of patterns of historical argumentation compatible with digital historical research. In this introduction, we read the articles by Rachel Midura and Leonardo Barleta that appear in this special section, and a series of other articles, in order to show the patterns of historical argumentation that digital historians can pursue. A companion website features versions of the articles by Midura and Barleta, as well as eight additional previously published articles, annotated by their authors to highlight how they developed their historical arguments so they can serve as models for argumentative digital history.

The lost half. Quantitative methods and historical studies: a critical review Michele Nani

Starting from three recent publications (a handbook, a conference proceeding, and an edited volume), this article discusses the limited use of quantitative methods among historians, especially in the Italian context, despite the widespread debate about digital history and historical "big data". After the great promises made between the 1960s and the 1980s, and the opposite trend of the following 20 years, the spread of personal computers and the great diversification and refinement of methods have allowed for direct and experimental uses of quantitative analysis, even on a small corpus of data or from a micro-historical perspective. Widespread quantitative training would strengthen historians' reflexive and interpretative skills.

The Role of a Digital History Book in Implanting Heroic Values for the Millennial Generation

Facing the era of globalization, the younger generation continues to experience an identity crisis where the younger generation is more familiar with hero figures who do not reflect eastern values, especially those that are typically Indonesian which causes the young generation to lack concern for the nation; and reduced pride in Indonesia's nationalistic identity. Digital books or e-books are a technological development that utilizes computers used to display information in the form of text, images, audio, video and other multimedia in a concise and dynamic form that can be read by computers or other electronic devices. In this case, digital books are an alternative and the right solution for learning the history of heroism in the implementation of independent learning. The purpose of this paper is to determine the role of digital history books in teaching heroic values to students. This research is analyzed using qualitative research methods. The results and discussion are: the role of learning the history of heroes through digital book media that can make it easier to teach heroic values to students. So that students are able to emulate heroic values and actualize and serve as spirit values in the life of society, nation and state.

Время в цифровой истории

The article is devoted to the problem of representation of the image of time in digital history. The author understands digital history as a scientific direction that studies the history of digital society, as well as the history of the creation and application of information and computer technologies, their impact on the history of a man and a human society within the framework of epistemic arenas. Epistemic arenas bring together human scientists, the masses of Internet users, digital technologies and media. The category of time in digital history has a social significance, since historical knowledge in the digital age is a collective creativity based on the application of technology. The author considers the concepts of time in digital history within the framework of the concept of social time, bearing in mind that the sequence of events that saturate certain periods of time can be both real and virtual. The virtualization of history provides the individual with the opportunity to “dive” into the past and creates the illusion of time management. Time in digital history can be accelerated, «explosive», or, conversely, slowed down, which is subordinate to the interests of users who create or consume historical information. Time management allows for more effective consideration and representation of historical processes and leads to the adoption of the concept of movement in it. The idea of travelling to the past and future has become a part of the historical culture of the digital society. The future is presented as the end of history, the apocalypse, which explains the increased interest of society in the past, which in digital history has the character of a known, and therefore safe, reality.

Temporalities and Theory in Media History

This essay discusses what the topical approaches to history—digital history and different concepts of historical temporality—have to offer for media history studies especially in terms of defining a common theory of media history. The outcome of the essay is that since often media historical approaches essentially take the plurality of media historical time and the layering of media forms for granted, these new trends do not provide a key for a ‘grand theory’ of media history. Whilst the new possibilities that digital history provides for media history are substantial, the advantages are first and foremost methodological. Since media history essentially consists of both breaks and outbreaks, different layers with a different logic and tempo in which the context of a given time and space is crucial, to find one’s own body of theory for media history is not even necessary.

DISTORY: PENGEMBANGAN KAMUS DIGITAL SEJARAH BERBASIS VISUAL BASIC PADA MATERI KERAJAAN TARUMANEGARA

The transformation of learning in the 21st century requires an adjustment between the development of science and technology. Learning sources are part of the learning system that is transformed from conventional learning sources into digital-based learning sources. Digital-based learning sources are considered more practical than conventional learning sources. Digital-based learning sources can be applied to history, which many students get bored easily when studying. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a digital-based learning source for history that makes it easier for students to study it. Digital History Dictionary (Distory) is an application of a digital-based learning source that has been developed based on learning requirement analysis. Distory also can make it easier for students to find and learn history. The main purpose of the development of Distory is an innovation of digital-based historical learning sources that is economical, practical, flexible, and appropriate with learning objectives. The research methodology used in the research and development of Distory, was based on Sugiyono’s research model, namely: (1) potential and problems; (2) data collection; (3) product design; (4) design validation; (5) design revision; (6) small class trials; (7) product revision; (8) large class trials; (9) product revision; and (10) mass production. Distory is validated by experts as a basis for product improvement before field trials are carried out. Small and large class trials were carried out on the students of Madrasah Aliyah Negeri (MAN) Batu. The results of the validation of media experts, small class trials, and large class trials were 85 percent, 88.75 percent, and 89 percent, respectively. Based on these results, the development of Distory can be categorized as very decent and ready to be implemented.

What is Digital History?

Digital history is a field that escapes easy definition due to its incorporation of an ever-growing variety of methods, disciplines and endeavours. However, this slim volume – part of Polity’s What is History series – provides a solid introduction to the terrain as it lies at the start of the third decade of the twenty-first century.

Shuffled Zeppelin Clips: The Flight and Crash of LZ 129 Hindenburg in the Archives

This essay discusses practices of reuse, archiving, and digitization of historical film documents from the Nazi era. It lays out the ways in which those filmic images can contribute to questions about remembering and discussing history. In 1958 the historian Fritz Terveen, editor for history at the Institute for Scientific Film (IWF) in Göttingen, published a film on the flight and crash of the notorious zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg. These catastrophic scenes of the airship crash were reproduced and reused many times and now appear on numerous online platforms. The reappearance of analogue 16-mm film in the digital world offers the opportunity to discuss the provenance and reuses of research and educational films. The central question is how those reused and recycled film materials can claim to produce specific knowledge about historical events that are now part of cultural memory. The essay argues that films like the one on LZ 129 were always embedded in a referential system of different media and that making them accessible today requires strong contextualization within curated platforms. It is an attempt to write the recent history of film digitization, including the earliest provenance of a historic research film.