Fall 2024 | Tu/Th 9:30am-10:50am | UH 08 | 3 credit hours

Assignments

The majority of coursework for this class will be creating your digital portfolios. We will use Reclaim Hosting to set up a personal website in WordPress. Each week, we will learn a new tool or new issue in the field of digital history. After practicing the tools and/or thinking critically about the topic, you will publicly post your work on your portfolio by the start of the following class. These weekly activities are meant to be introductions to each tool and topic and will build on each other as the semester progresses.

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Blog Post #1: DH Project Review

Due: Tuesday, August 27

For your first assignment, write a blog post that reviews one of the digital history projects listed below. Be sure to address the five areas outlined in the Organization of American Historian’s guidelines for reviewing DH projects that we discussed in class and include screenshots (with alt text and captions) of the project. Turn in the link to your post on Canvas.

• Content: What historical topic, period, and place does it cover? What is the purpose of the project? What sources is the project based on? What arguments or interpretations does it make?
• Design: Is the content clearly communicated? Does the structure make it easy for a user to navigate through the site? How accessible is the site for individuals of all abilities?
• Audience: Who is the audience for the site?
• Digital Media: What digital tools and technologies does the project use? How was the project built?
• Creators: Who created it, and who did what work on the project? Who funded them?

Projects for Review:

• Geography of the Post
• Electing the President, 1840-2020
• Histories of the National Mall
• Mapping Occupation: US Army Posts during Reconstruction
• Locating London’s Past
• September 11th Digital Archive
• ReSounding the Archives
• Colored Conventions Project and Digital Records
• Old Bailey Online
• Mining the Dispatch
• Photogrammar
• Valley of the Shadow

Blog Post #2: Digitization

Due: Tuesday, September 10

You will write a blog post about our visit to Special Collections and the Digitization Lab at UTA Libraries. You can also draw from the class readings on the syllabus. Your post should address the following questions:

• What did you learn about the process and workflow of digitizing primary sources? How do sources get from the physical form to the digital? 
• What technologies and tools are involved in digitization?
• Who performs the labor of digitization? Is that labor visible or invisible, and how so?
• What are the accessibility concerns when digitizing historical materials?
• How do archival collections and digitized materials create arguments?
• What is gained and what is lost when digitizing a vast array of historical materials? Do those gains and losses differ based on the type of primary source?
• What stood out to you or surprised you during the visit?

Blog Post #3: AI or Video Games

Due: Tuesday, December 3

For Blog Post #3, choose one of the following options:

Option 1: Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Write a blog post about the definition, uses, applications for history, and concerns of AI. Your post should address the following questions:

• What is artificial intelligence? 
• How do you use AI in your everyday life? 
• What are the applications of AI? 
• How can historians use AI? 
• What are the major benefits of AI?
• What are the major concerns of AI?

Your post must engage with the assigned readings for that topic listed on the course schedule and include citations. You may include images in your post but make sure they’re cited and within copyright permissions.

Option 2: Video Games as Historical Scholarship

Write a blog post about video games as a medium for historical scholarship. Your post should address the following questions:

• What are video games? 
• What video games have you played, if any? 
• Can video games be a form of historical scholarship? Why or why not? 
• What are the major benefits and concerns of video games as a medium for historical scholarship?

Your post must engage with the assigned readings for that topic listed on the course schedule and include citations.You may include images in your post but make sure they’re cited and within copyright permissions.

Grading Rubric for Blog Posts

Blog posts will be assessed based on the following criteria. Each post is worth 10 points:

• Organization: The post is focused, organized, and clearly answers the prompt in the required word length (at least 200-300 words for undergraduate level and 350-500 words for graduate level). 
• Engagement with Topic: The author illustrates in-depth engagement with the topic by referencing the readings and projects for the week and relevant in-class activities.
• Media: Appropriate and relevant images, screenshots, links, and/or videos are embedded within the post with alt text and captions.
• Citations: The post uses citations in the Chicago style for all sources used. 
• Writing Style: The post is written in a casual academic style with complete sentences and correct grammar.

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Mini Skill #1: Setting Up a WordPress Site

Due: Tuesday, August 27

Together in class, we will install WordPress through Reclaim Hosting.

After setting up your digital portfolio in class, put a link to your site in Canvas and in the #digital-portfolios channel in our class Slack group.

Mini Skill #2: Zotero Part 1

Due: Tuesday, September 3

Together in class, we will download and learn how to use Zotero. Join the HIST 4385 Group Library: https://www.zotero.org/groups/5640463/hist_4385 (you must be registered and logged into zotero online first). Using JSTOR, the UTA library catalog, and other library databases, find a book AND a journal article on a topic that interests you about the era of the American Revolution (For grad students, find a book and an article on your research topic if you prefer). Add the items to the group library for our class.

Mini Skill #2: Zotero Part 2

Due: Tuesday, September 17

Using at least two of the different digital collections we looked at in class, find five primary sources. Add your sources to the HIST 4385 Group Library: https://www.zotero.org/groups/5640463/hist_4385 in Zotero (you must be registered and logged into zotero online first). Then, write a blog post in your portfolio that cites the sources using Chicago Style citations in the note format. For each source, be sure to also include which database they came from. Summarize the sources in one sentence each. Discuss what you learned from analyzing these sources and what you learned from researching sources online.

Mini Skill #3: TimelineJS

Due: Thursday, September 19

As a class, we will create an interactive, digital timeline about the road to the American Revolution using TimelineJS. You may use the textbooks for reference. Every student will complete 1-2 entries. Entries can be events, people, ideas, places, or objects. Each entry must include a date, headline, 50-100 word description of the event, your byline, citations, media, and media credit and caption. The media can come from the digital collections we have been exploring in class and can include images, appropriate YouTube videos, and primary sources. As a group, we will publish the timeline and you will each embed it on your websites in a blog post. In Canvas, turn in the link to the spreadsheet or the published timeline link.

Mini Skill #4: Omeka Part 1 – Adding Items

Due: Tuesday, October 1

https://omeka.saracollini.org/teaching/4385/americanrevolution

We will be creating exhibits in Omeka about the era of the American Revolution.

1. First, select a topic. Your topic should be within the confines of the era of the American Revolution, loosely defined as 1750-1820, and should focus on a theme. Examples: Women’s Roles in the American Revolution, Impact of the Iroquois Confederacy, The Limits of Liberty, American Revolution in Popular Culture, etc.
2. Once you’ve selected a topic, find 5 primary sources that relate to that topic. You can research the digital collections we have been looking at in class.
3. Create a collection in Omeka. Add your name as the “Creator” and describe the theme that ties all the sources together in the “Description” field. Be sure to include a statement that explains what the significance of your collection is to the era of the American Revolution.
4. Add each one of your five items to Omeka. Use the metadata fields to describe the item. Each item should be fully described in the metadata, though you do not necessarily have to use every Dublin Core field. Be consistent and format things the same way across all your items. Include a reference to the place you found the source in the appropriate field. Include an image file. As you add your items, be sure to add them to your collection.
5. Submit the link to your collection through Canvas.

Mini Skill #4: Omeka Part 2 – Exhibits

Due: Thursday, October 10

Once you’ve added five items to Omeka, you will use these to create an exhibit. You may also use items that your classmates have added. We will have a workshop for your exhibits to discuss ideas, as well. This assignment is about the technology behind Omeka and the craft of writing for the web.

You are encouraged to use this Omeka Exhibit Planning Worksheet to design your exhibit:

The exhibit you create is expected to do the following:

• should tell a story about the era of the American Revolution based on the theme you chose for Part 1.
• should have at least 2 pages and an introduction. These pages should be designed with layouts of your choice and be organized.
• should include a minimum of five items that you’ve added to your collection or from another classmate’s collection. As you write your exhibit, you will analyze these sources and link them together with prose.
• in total, your exhibit should be between 500-1000 words.
• make your exhibit “Public” when ready to publish in Omeka.

Submit the link to your exhibit in Canvas.

Mini Skill #5: Georeferencing

Due: Tuesday, October 15

From the following collections, choose one map from the era of the American Revolution (1750-1820) to georectify in Map Warper:

• Richard H. Brown Revolutionary War Map Collection
• ARGO
• David Rumsey Map Collection
• Library of Congress
• Leventhal Map Collection

Write a blog post of least 200 words that includes the link to your georectified map and the link to the original map. In your post, describe the map as a source and how your georectified map shows change over time: 

• What places can you identify in the historical map? (streets, bodies of water, buildings, monuments)
• What information was the mapmaker trying to provide?
• What has stayed the same? 
• What has changed?

This assignment was adapted from Lincoln Mullen’s Spatial Humanities Workshop, and the Georectification with Map Warper Tutorial. See also this tutorial for Georectifying Historical Maps using Map Warper from the Boston College Libraries Digital Scholarship Group.

Mini Skill #6: ArcGIS Storymaps

Due: Tuesday, October 22

Choose a person from the provided list who lived during the era of the American Revolution (1750-1820). Using the Guided Tour template on ArcGIS Storymaps, plot their biography on the map over time with at least 5 points. You will have to do some primary and secondary source research to compile the information for your storymap. (It will help to compile the parts of your story in the Planning Worksheet before inputting it into ArcGIS Storymaps). Your storymap should include the following:

• Title and subtitle
• Your name
• Guided Map Tour with at least 5 slides
  • Each slide should have: image or video with alt text, title and date of event with one sentence description, location pin
• Citations (you can include these in each slide on the storymap or at the end in the next text section)

People

• Salem Poor
• Thomas Jefferson
• Henry Knox
• Abigail Adams
• Mercy Otis Warren
• Ona Judge
• Joseph Brant/Thayendanegea
• Deborah Sampson
• Marquis de Lafayette
• Sir Guy Carleton
• Martha Washington
• Harry Washington
• Thawengarakwen
• Phillis Wheatley
• Benjamin Franklin
• Alexander Hamilton
• Thomas Paine

Helpful Research Resources

• Mount Vernon Digital Encyclopedia
• National Park Service

It is helpful to preview your storymap. Once you’re happy with your work, publish to Public. Turn in the link to your storymap in Canvas. You may also include it in your digital portfolio.

Mini Skill #7: Databases Part 1 – Topic and Tables

Due: Tuesday, October 29

In assigned groups, you will use the primary sources in Founders Online to create a mini relational database in Airtable about a topic relevant to the era of the American Revolution.

1. Choose a topic from the provided list:

• Native Americans – events can be treaties, alliance, trade, discussion
• Slavery
  • Focus on payments to enslaved people in Thomas Jefferson’s memorandum books for one year (memorandum books begin in 1774 and end in 1826)
  • Focus on health events of enslaved people at Monticello for one year
• Religion – events like baptisms, church attendance, funerals, legislation, discussing ideas, religious service
• Literacy and Ideas – research Thomas Jefferson or George Washington’s financial accounts for one year and see when they’re paying for books (George Washington cash accounts 1761 example)
• Women’s Work – research Thomas Jefferson or George Washington’s financial accounts for one year and see when they’re paying women for work like spinning, weaving, raising food and poultry, etc.

2. Do some preliminary research in Founders Online for that topic and provide a link and/or title to one source to start with (you can also add the source to Zotero).

3. Think about the tables of information that you will need to create the relational database. For example, do you need a table of people? Payments? Locations? Sources? Church attendance? Treaties?

4. Turn in the topic and names of the tables you need for your database in Canvas.

Mini Skill #7: Databases Part 2 – Entering Records

Due: Tuesday, November 5

In assigned groups, you will use the primary sources in Founders Online to create a mini relational database in Airtable about a topic relevant to the era of the American Revolution. Once you have decided on your topics and tables, enter the fields and field types into your Airtable database. Each student should then enter 5 records, or rows of data, into the database. Turn in the link to your group’s database to Canvas.

Helpful Tutorials:

• Airtable – Organize Data in Fields

Mini Skill #8: Text Analysis

Due: Tuesday, November 12

Use Voyant to perform a text analysis of The Federalist Papers. Write a blog post about what you learned using this tool to analyze this discourse about ratifying the Constitution. In your post, include screenshot images of at least two visualizations from your analysis (word clouds, bar charts, line graphs, etc). What stood out to you from this distant reading of The Federalist Papers? Did Voyant show details you hadn’t considered? What were the most common words or phrases across all the essays? Did the most common words change over time? Was there a distinct vocabulary for individual essays? Closely read one essay with a distinctive vocabulary that interested you- why was there a distinct vocabulary compared to the rest of the corpus?