Blog 1

Due: June 10th.

Prompt:

• As you set up your blog/website think about how you would like to portray yourself online. The design and appearance of your site, how you describe yourself, what other pages or links you include should all reflect the digital identity you want to create for yourself.
• Once you’ve finished building your site, write a “hello world” blog post that introduces yourself to the class. In the post you should discuss how you chose to set up your blog and your approach to building a digital identity for yourself. Using the readings as evidence, discuss the importance of cultivating a digital identity and how your approach fits (or doesn’t) with what Cordell et al. discuss.

Blog 2

Due: June 12th.

Prompt:

• Write a blog post that reviews one of the digital history projects listed below. You should consult the Organization of American Historian’s guidelines for reviewing digital history projects. In your review be sure to identify the kind of digital history project (it could be more than one type) and address the five areas outlined in the OAH review guidelines. Include screenshots and examples where appropriate to support your review.
  • Projects for Review:
  • Mapping Early American Elections
  • Digital Harlem
  • Geography of the Post
  • Wearing Gay History
  • Histories of the National Mall
  • Hurricane Digital Memory Bank
  • Language of the State of the Union, Mapping the State of the Union, and The State of the Union in Context
  • September 11th Digital Archive
  • Mining the Dispatch
  • Valley of the Shadow
  • Visualizing Emancipation

Blog 3

Due: June 17th.

Prompt:

• Find five (5) primary sources from at least 3 different collections. Write a blog post that cites the items (including the databases they came from) in Chicago format. Summarize each source and discuss what you learned by reading it. Include a paragraph that discusses what you learned about searching for and finding primary sources on the internet?
• George Oberle has put together a useful subject guide on using library resources and databases to find primary sources. In particular, these two pages contain useful links as you search for primary sources:
  • Find Primary Source Books and Imprints
  • Find Primary Source Periodical Publications
• You may also wish to look at:
  • Chronicling America
  • The Digital Public Library of America
  • Library of Congress Digital Collections
  • Media History Digital Library

Blog 4

Due: February 26th.

Prompt:

• Write a blog post that discusses the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. What happened and how is the fire reflective of the Progressive era themes that you’ve read about and we’ve discussed in class. If you choose, you can discuss one element of the fire such as the role of unions, the relief organizations, or the trial. Be sure to use evidence from the readings to support your discussion.

Blog 5

Due: July 22nd by 1:30pm

Prompt:

• This week we read about big data and algorithms. Using the readings and the videos we watched by Cathy O’Neil and Safiya Noble, what is an algorithm? What is big data? What are the challenges that these two scholars outline? Do you think digital redlining the next civil rights issue of the 21st century?