When asked about Vincent van Gogh, most people answer: he’s the crazy painter that cut off (part of) his ear, right? Although he’s best known for his work, his personal anguish comes a close second. We know a lot about his life because a great deal of the letters that he wrote have been preserved: […]
Tag: digital public history
Unwrapping Slavery
How do you deal with a problem you easily get lost in? You draw up a map! That is what the creators of Mapping Slavery thought of when they launched the internationally known public history project about Dutch history of slavery. Other than the German Stolperstein project which focusses on the victims of national socialism, […]
Sex Sells
By Kevin Schram Sexuality in museums. A topic discussed in the last part of Mark Liddiards research essay ‘Changing Histories: Museums, Sexuality and the Future of the Past’ on the changes occurring in museums, concerning technologies and attitudes towards the past. He argues that questions should be asked about the identity and direction of museums […]
Doing History
The article “I nevertheless am a historian’: Digital Historical Practice and Malpractice around Black Confederate Soldiers” by Leslie Madsen-Brooks centers about the idea that more and more non-academic employed historians are ‘doing’ history and that this is not a bad thing. It is stimulating and it gives hope that so many people want to engage […]
The Historical Method 2.0
The hermeneutic challenges of engaging with digital data By Lucia Hoenselaars The world is changing profoundly through the use of the internet. Web 2.0 has caused a social interconnectedness all over the globe which has in turn created the possibility of new and exciting online platforms for intellectual activity. The process of collecting, examining and […]
Upgrading the historian
Author: Maddie van Leenders One stereotype of the historian is that he is intimidated by, maybe even frightened for, but also reluctant to use new digital possibilities to do and present their historical research. Frankly, I am among them. Although the historians of this generation get more in touch with these techniques, by courses during […]
Let’s get physical.
‘The real other? Museum objects in digital contact networks’ by C. Hogsden and E.K. Poulter In ‘The real other? Museum objects in digital contact networks’ Hogdsen and Poulter go into the idea of virtually portraying objects in museums and beyond the borders of museums. Using examples of projects at the University of Cambridge Museum of Archeology […]
Gathering history online
In an age of technological improvement, history seems no longer solely to be found in books and documents in archives, museums, universities and other traditional institutions. We have reached a moment when most people in the Western world have a computer with connection to the internet which they know how to use. This instrument is […]
History screams for less screens
Author: José Boon In ‘Technology becomes the object’, the American anthropologist Gwyneira Isaac discusses the role of electronic media at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). The main question is to what extent new technology can help in transferring a message. Besides the fact that the history of American Indians is a […]