About the Course
In the past decade, new digital media and technologies have begun to transform the ways we experience history. This course offers an introduction to the changes that these new media and technologies are bringing to how historians research, write, present, and teach the past. Students will study the history of the Internet and digital media, and examine historical work—by scholars, teachers, archivists, museum curators, and popular historians—on the web. Historical and critical readings will provide the basis for the hands-on section of the course in which students will develop pilot online history projects.
Texts
Daniel J. Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig, Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, And Presenting the Past on the Web (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005), http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/
Articles available online.
The book is available at the University bookstore at the Sir George Williams (downtown) campus.
Assessment
Successful completion of the course depends, most basically, on regular attendance in class, evidence of preparation and application, active participation in class discussions based on close readings of the required texts, and completion of all exercises and assignments on time.
- Wikipedia Entry Edit - 10%
- Project Proposal - 20%
- Review of Another Student’s Project Proposal - 10%
- Project Presentation - 20%
- Review of Another Student’s Project Presentation - 10%
- Final Project - 30%
Pilot Project
The main assignment for this class is a digital history pilot project, to be presented to the class during the last 4 weeks of classes. You will have access to equipment and a computer lab at the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling in LB 1042-1 to help you complete your project. You will also submit 2-paragraph Introductory Statement with your project. Your website should use at least 5 primary sources.
Possible genres for your final project:
- online collecting (a “digital memory bank”)
- digital storytelling (a “virtual exhibit”)
- digital scholarship (an online article)
Assignments
You will submit all your written assignments on this blog.
To log in:
- Click on “Login” link in the menu.
- Type in your email username as your blog username and password. (Use the email you have stored in MyConcordia. If the first email address doesn’t work, try a username from another email address. I recommend that you copy and paste your username into the password field because many people mistype.)
- Click on “Write a Post” and paste or type your assignment.
- Mark your assignment with the appropriate assignment category, i.e. “0. Introductions” for the “Introductions” assignment.
Participation
Success in this class depends upon attendance at lecture and workshops and participation in any discussion provoked by the lecture and/or readings in class. There is no need for a participation part of the grade because you will not be able to complete your assignments if you don’t come.
Deadlines
The penalty for late papers and projects will be 5% of the grade per day. No extensions will be granted except in cases of a DOCUMENTED emergency.
Policies and Procedures
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is an affront to me and to your peers. Plagiarism is submitting work that is not your own as if it were yours. This includes copying material, even a few sentences, from published or unpublished sources, from the internet, or from another student without citing the source. It also includes presenting another person’s ideas or paraphrasing the work of another person without citing the source. Plagiarism also includes handing in bought papers, papers obtained from free essay websites, or having another person write your paper for you. Anyone suspected of copying other people’s work without clear acknowledgement, or of any comparable act, will be reported to the Faculty of Arts and Science for plagiarism.
Syllabus: I reserve the right to make changes to the syllabus during the year if/as necessary. Please check the online syllabus before every class.