Intro to Digital Public History Syllabus

Aiden Faust

Intro to Digital Public History Syllabus by Aiden Faust is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Contents

- Course Objectives

- Learning Outcomes

- Assignments and Grades

- Course Format

- 1. What is Public History?

- 2. Taking Public History Online

- 3. Building Your Webliography

- 4. Digital Tools and Platforms

- 5. Contested Public Histories

- 6. Role of Media in Public History

- 7. Emerging Voices in Digital Public History

- 8. Digital Public History Beyond Academia

- 9. Controversy Presentations Part I

- 10. Controversy Presentations Part II

1

Course Objectives

This course explores the practice of public history in the digital realm. Students will learn what public history as an academic sub-field is, how it is influenced by internet cultures, and consider its application outside of university settings. Special emphasis will be placed on experiential learning in this course, with a focus on digital oral history as one form of public history practice. Oral history. Students will learn to research and conduct their own online oral history interview.

Among the themes covered in this course are:

- the democratic promise of community and public history

- the challenges of engaging public audiences in historical discussions

- the relationships between history and memory

- the ethical concerns that arise in the practice of public history

- the relationships between historical questions and public audiences for historical work

- how online tools can be harnessed to make accessible historical analysis freely and publicly available online

2

Learning Outcomes

Technology Fluency Student Learning Outcome

Students who satisfy this requirement will demonstrate that they are able to do all of the following:

1. Describe key components in information technology

2. Discuss the limitations of information technology and its societal impact

History Student Learning Outcomes

Students will:

1. Assemble a range of digital sources during research, including evidence from archives, material culture, the built environment, maps, and other visual sources

2. Analyze sources in ways that correspond to the field of historical investigation

3. Create effective written and oral reports that communicate their findings

4. Formulate sustained arguments about historical events and their interpretations

5. Evaluate contemporary issues through the lens of related historical patterns and events

3

Assignments and Grades

Grading Breakdown:

- Oral history interview: 30%

- Controversy presentation: 25%

- Webliography: 25%

- Class participation: 20%

4

Course Format

Each week, the course will be divided into two sections: Discussion and Project.

The first half of class will be devoted to a discussion of the topic for the week and the assigned readings/videos/websites.

The second half of class each week will be devoted to the oral history project.

1

What is Public History?

For today’s class:

- Watch: “NCPH What is Public History?” by Dr. Yolanda C. Leyva, UTEP

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/digitalpublichistorysyllabus/?p=23

- Watch: Birkbeck Explains: What is Public History?

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/digitalpublichistorysyllabus/?p=23

- Read: Hillary Green and Transformative Digital History

https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/reframingdh/chapter/hilary-green-and-transformative-digital-history/

- Explore: American Panorama: An Atlas of United States History

Project: What is Oral History?

https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/oralhistory/part/what-is-oral-history/

2

Taking Public History Online

For today’s class:

- Watch: Ryan Cordell on ‘What is digital history?’

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/digitalpublichistorysyllabus/?p=26

- Read: Roopika Risam and New Digital Worlds

https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/reframingdh/chapter/roopika-risam-and-new-digital-worlds/

- Explore: Black Perspectives

Project: High Education Institutional Oral History

https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/oralhistory/part/higher-education-institutional-oral-history/

3

Building Your Webliography

For today’s class:

- Watch: NCPH – Digital Projects

A Vimeo element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/digitalpublichistorysyllabus/?p=41

- Read: Connie L. Lester and Finding Regional History

https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/reframingdh/chapter/connie-l-lester-and-finding-regional-history/

- Explore: The Colored Conventions Project

Project: Designing an Oral History Project

https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/oralhistory/chapter/project-title/

4

Digital Tools and Platforms

For today’s class:

- Watch: Lightning Talk: Introduction to Digital Humanities Tools

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/digitalpublichistorysyllabus/?p=47

- Read: Robert Cassanello and a Digital Public History

https://openbooks.lib.msu.edu/reframingdh/chapter/robert-cassanello-and-a-digital-public-history/

- Explore: Mapping Police Violence

Project: Preparing for Oral History Interviews

https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/oralhistory/chapter/interview-guide/

5

Contested Public Histories

For today’s class:

- Watch: Cecilia O’Leary: Controversies over Monuments and Memory

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/digitalpublichistorysyllabus/?p=52

- Watch: Monuments and Power: Memory vs. History

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/digitalpublichistorysyllabus/?p=52

- Read: Controversy in Public History … Can We Move Beyond Relativism?

https://march.rutgers.edu/controversy-in-public-history-can-we-move-beyond-relativism/

- Explore: The Hallowed Grounds Project

Project:

https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/oralhistory/part/recording-technology/

6

Role of Media in Public History

For today’s class:

- Watch: 15 Years of Listening to America

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/digitalpublichistorysyllabus/?p=71

- Watch: Dave Isay: Everyone around you has a story the world needs to hear

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/digitalpublichistorysyllabus/?p=71

- Read: Two Sides of the Story: How Historians and Journalists Can Work Together

- Explore: 98 Acres in Albany

Project: Oral History Interview Practice

https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/oralhistory/chapter/interview-guide/

7

Emerging Voices in Digital Public History

For today’s class:

- Watch: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on The Danger of a Single Story

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/digitalpublichistorysyllabus/?p=75

- Read: Rethinking diversity: Dr. Rhonda Jones, Public History is Sexy

https://ncph.org/history-at-work/rethinking-diversity-jones/

- Explore: Visualizing the Red Summer

Project: Conducting Your Oral History Interview

https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/oralhistory/chapter/interview-guide/

8

Digital Public History Beyond Academia

For today’s class:

- Read: Our Side of the Tracks: Community Curation of Black History in Acworth, Georgia (Part 1)

https://ncph.org/history-at-work/our-side-of-the-tracks-part-1/

- Read: Our Side of the Tracks: Community Curation of Black History in Acworth, Georgia (Part 2)

https://ncph.org/history-at-work/our-side-of-the-tracks-community-curation-of-black-history-in-acworth-georgia-part-2/

- Explore: Historic Black Acworth Image Collection, 1890-2020

Project: Conducting Your Oral History Interview

https://ubalt.pressbooks.pub/oralhistory/chapter/interview-guide/

9

Controversy Presentations Part I

For today’s class:

- Prepare for your presentation!

- Explore: Proud & Torn: A Visual Memoir of Hungarian History

Project: Processing Oral Histories

10

Controversy Presentations Part II

For today’s class:

- Prepare for your presentation!

- Explore: Confluence: The History of North American Rivers

Project: Reflections on the Oral History Project