Seminar 5 Ayers and the Promise of Digital History

Introduction to the Digital Liberal ArtsMDST 3703 / 7703

Fall 2010

Business

• Comments need to be in by 5 on Mondays!• Project meetings need to be completed by

end of next week – let us know if you haven’t met

• Quiz 1 can be found on the Collab site in the Resource tree. It will be visible after class.

Review

• The World Wide Web was the result of (at least) three histories – networks, hypertext, and community– Other histories: personal computing (PCs and

Macs), document management (SGML and XML), and rise of information-driven bureaucracies

– These subplots are opposites of the ones discussed• Non-linear: WWW did not fulfill vision and

expectations of hypertext theorists

Overview

• Today we move from the history of digital media to digital history . . .

• We are concerned with four broad questions:1. What is history and how best to describe it?2. What media forms can we use to narrate

history?3. How can we describe and assess these forms?4. What are some of the themes that cross-cut the

above?

Narrating History

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/apr/29/mcchrystal-afghanistan-powerpoint-slide#zoomed-picture

The Promise of the New South

Ed Ayers, 1993

Open vs. Fixed Narrative

• What is open narrative?• Why does Ayers propose it?• What did critics say of TPOTNS?• How does Ayers defend himself?• Does the book have a thesis?• Is Ayers’ task similar to that of the historian of

the web?• Are the periods connected?

Open Narrative

• Open narrative is not about being unsure of the facts

• On the contrary, it results from the control an excess of facts—”hyperempiricism”

• It’s purpose is to expose the complexity and irony of history, not the absence of historical truth

Away from Narrative :The Valley of the Shadow

What media form does Ayers develop after Promise?

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,         I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

(from Psalm 23)

“If hypertext sites were countries in a war, the Valley of the Shadow would be fighting with fighter jets and the Victorian Web would have slingshots”

Ouch.

Backstory: IATH

• Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities– http://www.iath.virginia.edu

• Established in 1992 • Funded by IBM• VOS one of two founding projects • A demonstration project for IBM; pitched as "as a

research library in a box, enabling students at places without a large archive to do the same kind of research as a professional historian."

How would you characterize this project as a work of new media? Is it a book?

The Library/Archive Metaphor

What does the site contain?

What’s in the Archive

• Content– Thousands of primary sources– Newpapers, letters, diaries, maps, images, gov docs

• Coverage– Space: Augusta Co, VA and Frankln Co, PA– Time: 1859 to 1870

• “Value-added” Interfaces– Search and browse– Timelines– Animations

• http://valley.lib.virginia.edu/VoS/MAPDEMO/Theater/TheTheater.html

– Resouces for using the site

How hypertextual is the site?

How is “associative indexing” handled?

Site Structure

• Organized hierarchically• Terminal nodes (lexia) not connected laterally• No cross-site searching• Minimal narrative

Does the site fulfill the goals of open narrative?

Criticism

• Worst of both worlds– Neither random access nor rich narrative– Exploits neither the potentials of a real library or a

digital library• Document-centric– Subject matter remains buried in the documents

• It’s strength is in the integrity of the materials• But criticized for being difficult to use• Is it scholarship?

From Database to Narrative:The Differences Slavery Made

What problems was TDSM trying to solve?

Problems with VOS

• VOS has no argument; not scholarship per se• Unclear how to use it, other than as a simple

library

How were these problems addressed by Differences?

• Narrative overlay• References as links to lexia (Historiography

and Evidence)• Conventions of making citations

Site Content

• Narrative– Summary of argument– Points of analysis

• Historiography– Secondary sources– Annotated bibliographic references

• Evidence– Primary sources– Documents– Tables (data)– Maps

Site Structure

• Hierarchy with links– Menu A: Introduction, Summary, Points, Methods– Menu B: Evidence, Historiography, Tools– Each menu item has sub-menus

• How does Differences connect to Valley?

Darnton’s Pyramid

Concise account

Expanded versions of

aspects

Documentation with interpretive essays

Theoretical and historiographical material

Pedagogic material

Core TDSM “Prismatic” StructureHistoriography

Points of Analysis

Evidence

Summary of Argument

VOS

Interface Design

• How is context established?• Can you see items in-line? • Can you compare items?

How hypertextual is the site?

How is “associative indexing” handled?

Categories used to organize content in both

• Geography• Politics

– Election of 1860– Political activtivists

• Economics– Commerce– Crops– Labor– Property

• Social structure• Race• Culture

– Religion– Education (“school”)– Urbanization (“Town Development”)

• Information and communications

Replace with tags?

Criticisms

• Nothing inherently hypertextual about the site• Thesis is not that complicated– Modernity and slavery not opposites

• Why not put exhibits inline?• Why not show points of comparison in context?– Need for transclusion

• Why explain relationship in historiography? Why not create links or use tags?

Themes

• Exposing process• From narrative to database to narrative– Library vs. Book

• Could you do TDSM in WordPress?

Return to Afghan COINS PowerPoint . . .