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EssaysubmittedbyJamesBakerinOctober2016ascourseworkforpostgraduatecertificateinhighereducation.Inlinecodesinparenthesis(forexample,‘(V1)’or‘(K2)’refertoHigherEducationAcademyUKProfessionalStandardsFramework(UKPSF)https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ukpsf.Suggestedcitation:JamesBaker,‘FosteringDigitalHistory:integratingdigitalresearchskillsintoanundergraduateHistorycurriculum’(2016)

FosteringDigitalHistory:integratingdigitalresearchskillsintoanundergraduateHistorycurriculum

IntroductionThisessaydescribesandreflectsontheintegrationofcomputationalresearchskillsintocore(thatis,compulsory)componentsoftheBAHistorydegreeprogrammeattheUniversityofSussex.WorkonthisbeganinSpring/Summer2015andwasdeliveredaspartoftwoYear1modulesthatraninthe2015/16academicyear:TheEarlyModernWorld(Autumnterm)andTheMakingoftheModernWorld(SpringTerm).TheworkwasundertakenbyTimHitchcock,SharonWebb,andJamesBaker,academicstaffintheDepartmentofHistorywithexpertiseincomputationalresearchthroughtheirworkinDigitalHistoryandDigitalHumanities.

Theessayisimportantfromateachingandlearningperspectiveforthreereasons:

1) InthecontextofaHistorydegreeprogramme,deliveringcorehistoricalandhistoriographicalknowledgealongsideskillsdevelopmentpresentschallengestobothlearnersandteachers.

2) TheworkintendstoconstructafreshintellectualtrajectoryforourHistoryundergraduates.Inlightofdigitaltransformationsinsocietyandculture,webelievethecoreintellectualoutcomesofthisendeavouraresignificantbothtothedevelopmentoftheHistoricalprofessionandofHistoryundergraduatesasengaged,informed,andcuriouscitizens.NeverthelessthismustbebalancedagainstanunderstandingthatlearnersmaynothaveexpectedDigitalHistorytoformacorecomponentoftheirlearning:few,forexample,wouldhaveanticipatedmodulesthatsoughttoproblematisebothhistorianstrepidationtowardsandresistancetonumbersandthenotionthatnumbers(especiallynumbersvisualisedasgraphsormaps)containobjectivetruth.

3) TherearefewprecedentsforBAHistoryprogrammeshavingbeenreorientatedaroundtheperspectivesofDigitalHistory,andhenceourworkisbothpioneeringandisamodelothereducatorscanbuildon.

BackgroundWhycomputationalresearchskills?WhyDigitalHistory?Andwhynow?ComputationalworkisnotnewtoHistory.Sincethemid-twentiethcenturyeconomicanddemographichistorianshaveusedcomputationaltechnologiesto

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organise,process,andpresenthistoricaldata.1Concurrentlygeographersusedgeospatialinformationsystemstointerpretthatdatainageographicalframe.ThevalueofthesemethodstoHistoricalresearchweresharplycontestedintheirtime,especiallymethods–suchasthoseusedinCliometrics–thatcloselyresembledmethodsmorecommoninthequantitativesocialsciences.Oneoutcomeofthe'CultureWars'wasthedislocationofeconomicanddemographichistoryfromthecentralconcernsoftheHistoryprofession,replacedbyanexpandedculturalhistorysensitivetogender,sexuality,race,ethnicity,emotion,andrepresentation.2

Fromthemid-1990sonwardsthefallingcostsof,risingfamiliaritywith,andimprovedaccesstocomputationalandnetworktechnologiescatalysedamassdigitisationofheritageintohistoricaldata.Alongsidethistherangeofcomputationaltoolsavailabletohistorianswithwhichtheycouldorganise,process,andpresentthathistoricaldataincreased.3AsStevenJoneswritesinhis2013bookTheEmergenceoftheDigitalHumanities:

Theemergenceofthenewdigitalhumanitiesisn’tanisolatedacademicphenomenon.Theinstitutionalanddisciplinarychangesarepartofalargerculturalshift,insideandoutsidetheacademy,arapidcycleofemergenceandconvergenceintechnologyandculture.4

PioneeringprojectsinDigitalHistorysharethestrongemphasisonmethodologyimpliedbyacategoryofintellectualenquirythatemergedalongsidenewpossibilitiesfororganising,processing,andpresentinghistoricalsources.OldBaileyOnline,LondonLives,ConnectedHistories,andLocatingLondon'sPastallputrecordsofeverydayhistoricallivesonline,broughtstructuredandunstructured

1JacobM.Price,‘RecentQuantitativeWorkinHistory:ASurveyoftheMainTrends’,HistoryandTheory9(1January1969):1–13,doi:10.2307/2504167.

2Onthe‘CulturalWars’,seeLawrenceStone,‘TheRevivalofNarrative:ReflectionsonaNewOldHistory’,Past&Present,no.85(1November1979):3–24.Onthemodesofhistoricalenquirysincesee,forexample,thechangingemphasisbetweeneditionsoftextbookssuchasTosh’sThePursuitofHistory;JohnTosh,ThePursuitofHistory :Aims,MethodsandNewDirectionsintheStudyofModernHistory,2nded.(London :Longman,1991);JohnTosh,ThePursuitofHistory,5thed.(Harlow :Longman,2010);JamesBaker,‘AHistoryofHistorythroughtheLensofOurDigitalPresent,theTraditionsThatShapeandConstrainDataDrivenHistoricalResearch,andWhatLibrariansCanDoaboutIt’,inLayingtheFoundation:DigitalHumanitiesinAcademicLibraries,ed.JohnW.WhiteandHeatherGilbert(Indiana,UnitedStates:PurdueUniversityPress,2016),http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/59763/.

3JoGuldiandDavidArmitage,TheHistoryManifesto(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2014).

4StevenE.(StevenEdward)Jones,TheEmergenceoftheDigitalHumanities(NewYork ;Routledge,2014),31.

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humanitiesdatatonewaudiences,andnewaudiencestodata-drivenandcomputationalapproachestohistoricalproblems.5DirtyBooksusedadensitometertostudytracesofhumaninteractionwiththebottomrighthandcornersofmedievalprayerbooksandinsodoingapproachedanunderstandingoftheuseofthoseprayerbooks.6TheVirtualPaul'sCrossProjectmodelledsoundandspacetorecreatealostpastexperience–theexperienceofhearinganearlymodernsermonatStPauls'Cross,anoutdoorspacebesidemedievalStPaul'sCathedral,astructurethatwaslostduringtheGreatFireofLondonin1666–andinsodoingempoweredhistorianstoinferfreshinsightsintohowsermonswouldhavebeendeliveredinanunamplifiedandnoisyenvironment.7AndIanMilliganhasenrichedourunderstandingofchildhoodinCanadainthelate-twentiethcenturyandhasinsodoingdemonstratedhowblendingtraditionalelementsofthehistorian'stoolkit–sampling,sourceanalysis,closereading–withcomputationalclusteringandnetworkingofdatacanbringtheWorldWideWebwithinthepurviewofhistoricalresearch;8aWorldWideWebwhoseearlyhistoryisnowthetopicofhistoricalstudyandwhosebillionsofarchivedpagesrequirescomputationalskillsbeyondfamiliarofficesuitestoorganise,process,andpresent.9ThisDigitalHistoryhasgatheredcriticalhistoriesandinRensBod'sANewHistoryoftheHumanitiesatextthataffirmsadeephistoryofpatternmatchinginthehumanisticmethodandinsodoingmakesitclearthatDigitalHistoryisnotechno-evangelistdisjuncturebut

5SharonHoward,‘“BloodyCode:ReflectingonaDecadeoftheOldBaileyOnlineandtheDigitalFuturesofOurCriminalPast”’,Law,Crime&History5,no.1(2015),http://www.pbs.plymouth.ac.uk/solon/journal/vol.5%20issue1%202015/Howard%20Bloody%20Code.pdf.

6KathrynRudy,‘DirtyBooks:QuantifyingPatternsofUseinMedievalManuscriptsUsingaDensitometer’,JournalofHistoriansofNetherlandishArt2,no.1–2(June2010),doi:10.5092/jhna.2010.2.1.1.

7JohnWall,‘VirtualPaulsCrossProject:ADigitalRe-CreationofJohnDonnes’GunpowerDaySermom’,2013,https://vpcp.chass.ncsu.edu/.

8IanMilligan,‘Miningthe“InternetGraveyard”:RethinkingtheHistorians’Toolkit’,JournaloftheCanadianHistoricalAssociation23,no.2(2012):21,doi:10.7202/1015788ar;IanMilligan,NickRuest,andAnnaSt.Onge,‘TheGreatWARCAdventure :UsingSIPS,AIPSandDIPStoDocumentSLAAPs’,DigitalStudies/LeChampNumérique0,no.0(31March2016),http://www.digitalstudies.org/ojs/index.php/digital_studies/article/view/325.

9ThissummaryofDigitalHistoryalsoappearsinBaker,‘AHistoryofHistorythroughtheLensofOurDigitalPresent,theTraditionsThatShapeandConstrainDataDrivenHistoricalResearch,andWhatLibrariansCanDoaboutIt’.

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ratheranassimilableoutgrowthofHistory'sintellectualheritageandconcerns.10(K1)

Inshort,DigitalHistoryisnowarecognisedpartoftheHistoricalprofessionthatisrapidlygrowinginimportance.Inresponse,thelastfiveyearshasseentheappearanceofMAprogrammes,PhDstudentships,Postdocs,Lectureships,andProfessorshipsinDigitalHistory.11Undergraduateprogrammeshavenotkeptpacewiththisdevelopment,meaningthatfewundergraduateshavethegroundinginDigitalHistoryrequiredtoaccesstheseopportunities,thisinspiteofagrowingpedagogicalliteraturearoundDigitalHistory.12Asaconsequence,thosewhomovefromundergraduateHistoryprogrammestopostgraduaterolesinDigitalHistoryfacesteeplearningcurvesandsignificantchallengesinbalancingtheacquisitionofcoreHistoricalknowledgeandcomputationalskills.(V4)

AsresearchersinDigitalHistoryandtheDigitalHumanitiesandasresearch-ledteachers,Hitchcock,Webb,andIarecommittedtobringingthecomputationalskillsanddigitalapproachesthatwevaluetoourstudents;toenrichingoursub-fieldandnormalisingtheskillsandapproachesofoursub-fieldwithintheHistoricalgroundingourundergraduatesreceive,thiswithboththeirandwidersocietal

10RensBod,ANewHistoryoftheHumanities:TheSearchforPrinciplesandPatternsfromAntiquitytothePresent(Oxford:OxfordUniv.Press,2013).

11JoPugh,‘TimeMachinesandHowtoUseThem :AnOverviewofDigitalHumanitiesTeachingandResearch’,June2014,https://dlib.york.ac.uk/yodl/app/home/detail?id=york%3a823026&ref=search.

12T.MillsKelly,TeachingHistoryintheDigitalAge,2013,http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.12146032.0001.001;M.H.Beals,‘Workshop:SlowDown!TeachingStudentstoEncodeTheirCloseReading’,M.H.Beals,8September2015,http://mhbeals.com/workshop-slow-down-teaching-students-to-encode-their-close-reading/;LincolnMullen,‘LearningHowtoTeachHistoryinaDigitalAge’,TheChronicleofHigherEducation,ProfHacker,(26August2013),http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/learning-how-to-teach-history-in-a-digital-age/51875;AdamCrymble,‘TheOriginoftheStudentSpecies’,TheIHRBlog,17May2016,http://blog.history.ac.uk/2016/05/the-origin-of-the-student-species/;HeatherFroehlich,‘OnTeachingCodingtoEnglishStudiesStudents’,HeatherFroehlich,29January2014,http://hfroehlich.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/on-teaching-coding-to-english-studies-students/;AdamCrymble,‘ExploringBigHistoricalData:TheHistorian’sMacroscope’,ReviewsinHistory,2016,http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1889;WilliamJ.Turkel,ShezanMuhammedi,andMaryBethStart,‘GroundingDigitalHistoryintheHistoryofComputing’,IEEEAnnalsoftheHistoryofComputing,June2014.

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benefitsinmind.13Thisessaydiscussestheimplementationofthesevalues,namelytheintegrationofdigitalandcomputationalresearchskillsintoacorecomponentoftheYear1HistorycurriculumattheUniversityofSussex.Theessayisdividedintothreeparts.ThefirstdescribesinbothgeneralandlocaltermstherationaleforintegratingcomputationalanddigitalskillsintoourHistoryprogramme.Theseconddescribestheplanninganddeliveryofthenewcontent.Thethirddescribeslessonslearntfromimplementationduringthe2015-16academicyearandplansforthe2016-17year.

RationaleIn1962,LouisMumfordobservedthat‘mindsundulyfascinatedbycomputerscarefullyconfinethemselvestoaskingonlythekindofquestionthatcomputerscananswer’.Inthelastcoupleofdecadeshistorianswhocontinuetorepresenttheirresearchasreading‘booksandarticles’haverestrictedthemselvestoaskingonlythekindofquestionsphysicalbooksandarticlescananswer[...]Weneedtorecognizethatwearenolongerreadingbooksandarticles,butareworkingwithmassivebodiesofdigitaltext–thedifferencebetweenonevolumeandanotherlittlemorethanalineortwoofmetadata.

TimHitchcock,'ConfrontingtheDigital:OrHowAcademicHistoryWritingLostthePlot'.14

InareportonexistingDigitalHumanitiesteachingcommissionedbytheUniversityofYork,JoPughsurveyedundergraduatehistorystudentsontheirattitudetowardsandinterestinlearningdigitalhumanitiesresearchskillsaspartoftheirBAprogramme.15Over80%agreedthat"inthefuture,digitalmethodswillbepartofthemainstreamworkofallhistorians"andthat"familiaritywithdigitaltechnologieswillmakememoreemployable".Lessthan50%,however,wereconfidentthattheyknewwhattheDigitalHumanitieswasorhowtocritiquedigitalcollectionsanddocuments.Givenalistofpotentialtopics–digitization,webdesign,socialmedia,digitalpreservation,programming,mapping,dataanalysis,crowdsourcing,markup,copyright–andaskedtodecidewhichthey’dbeinterestedinlearningabout,thecohortshowedlittleconsensus,thougherredtowardssofterskills(digitisation,webdesign,socialmedia).AsPughconcludes:

Studentsweremodestabouttheirtechnicalskills,expresseduncertaintyinworkingwithdigitalcollectionsandobjects(thoughtheyexpressedadesiretolearnmore)andwhileinaggregatetheyworkwithadiverserangeofonlineresources,theyhaveatendencytocleavetotriedandtesteddigitalresources.Atthesametime,respondentsunderstoodclearlythevalueofdigitaltechnologiesintheir

13SelectCommitteeonDigitalSkills,‘MakeorBreak:TheUK’sDigitalFuture’(HouseofLords,17February2015).

14TimHitchcock,‘ConfrontingtheDigital:OrHowAcademicHistoryWritingLostthePlot’,CulturalandSocialHistory10,no.1(2013):9–23,doi:10.2752/147800413X13515292098070.

15Pugh,‘TimeMachinesandHowtoUseThem :AnOverviewofDigitalHumanitiesTeachingandResearch’.

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futureresearchandcareerseveniftheywereperhapshazyaboutwhatthatresearchandthosetechniquesmightbelike.16

TherationaleforintegratingDigitalHistoryintoourundergraduatecurriculumistobridgethepositionHitchcocktakesandthesituationPughobserves;thatis:

- Torecognisetherealityofhowhistoriansresearchtoday;- Toembracethepossibilitiesstudentsseeforthehistoryprofession;- Toteachcomputationalmethodsattheserviceofgoodhistorywriting;- Toprovideusefulskillsforstudentswhosecareerswillmostlylikelyfall

outsideoftheprofession.

Ourstartingpointisthatavarietyandvolumeofdigitaldocumentsareafeatureofmodernwork,whetherthatworkisconductedbyahistorianorascientist,ajournalistoranadministrator.Inordertoworkeffectivelywemustbeabletomarshallthosedocuments,ourinterfaceswiththem,andtheportalsthatprovideaccesstothem.Toworkwiththematanadvancedlevelrequiresanunderstandingofandcriticalfacultytowardsthosedocuments,interfaces,andportals.History,anacademicdiscipline'workingwithmassivebodiesofdigitaltext'–aswellasdigitisedandborn-digitalimages,video,audio,code,andmetadata–isanidealenvironmentinwhichtodevelopthosecriticalskills.Indeedtheveryrefusal,identifiedbyHitchcock,ofhistorianstoacceptthisrealitythrustsfrontandcentretheprofession’suneasytraversalofphysicalanddigitaldocuments,interfaces,andportals.AsStephenJonesarguesinTheEmergenceoftheDigitalHumanities(2014)DigitalHumanities,asafieldofworkobsessedwithunpickingtheassumptionsbehindresearchmethods,hasreappraisedtheactofdigitisationsuchthataprocessonceconsideredmerelyareplicationofathing,aconversionofaphysicalobjectintoonesandzeroswithdirectpreservationandaccessbenefits,hasbeenrebornasaagatewayfortransformationofphysicalthingsintonewresearchobjectswiththeirownassociatedaffordancesandchallenges;atransformationthatcanenrich,connect,andreconfiguretheoriginaldatapoint,thethingitself.17

Thishasbeendifficultforhistorianstoembrace,andyetembraceittheymust.InmyownsupervisoryworkwithaDoctoralStudentbasedattheUniversityofSheffield,IhaveobservedthatitishardtogetaexcellentyoungscholarfromnodigitaltoenoughdigitalfastenoughwithinthetighttimescalesofathreeyearPHD,andyetmoreimportantlythatleavingdigitaltothePhDmeansyoualreadyhavetocrossthehurdleofdigitalseemingdifferent,seemingsomethingasincompatiblewithorasanadjunctofHistorywork.IndeedtherationalebehindthatPhDprogramme,aCollaborativeDoctoralStudentshipco-fundedwiththeBritish

16Ibid.,26.

17ForfurtherdiscussionseeJamesBaker,‘StevenE.Jones,TheEmergenceoftheDigitalHumanities’,ReviewsinHistory,no.1634(2014),doi:10.14296/RiH/2014/1634.

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Library,wasfromtheperspectiveofthelattertobetterunderstandhowhistorianslearncomputationalresearchskillsinordertobettersupporttheirworkwiththevastswathesofdigitaldatathatinstitutionnowholds:theBritishLibraryholdsaround170millionphysicalitemstowhichsince2013ithasbeenadding2billionwebpagesayearfromtheUKwebdomainalone(A2).18

Inasensemyjobandcomparable'DigitalHistory'positionsatHertfordshire,Loughborough,andtheInstituteofHistoryResearcharerecognitionthattheprofessionneedstobeshakenintoembracingdigitalresourcesandtechniquesbydevelopingamaturecriticalapproachtodigitalresourcesandtechniques.Hitchcock,Webb,andIseechangestoundergraduateteachingasfundamentaltodeliveringthatmuchneededjolt.Since2015theHistoryDepartmentattheUniversityofSussexhas'sold'itsprogrammetoprospectiveundergraduatesonitsresearchled,global,anddigitalcharacter.Since2014Hitchcockhasoffereda'DigitalLondon'specialsubjectmoduletoYear3students,amodulethattakescomputationalapproachestothesocialandculturehistoryofLondon.Andthedepartmentspecialisesincontemporaryhistory,offeringmodulesthroughoutthedegreeprogrammewhosechronologicalscopeincludesthe1990sandearly-2000s,periodsthatalsosawthebirthofborn-digitalrecordkeepingandtheagesoftheWWW,theharddisk,andthesmartphonerespectively.

IntegratingDigitalHistoryatthebeginningoftheundergraduatecurriculumthenislogical,tactical,andpolitical:logicalbecauseitprovidestheskillsourundergraduateswillneedtoflourishinYear2and3oftheirdegrees;tacticalbecauseitaimstoproduce'DigitalHistorians'whowillenrich,improve,andgrowourwork;andpoliticalbecauseitplacesthedepartmentatthecentreofchangestotheHistoricalprofession.Italsoservestoemboldenstudentsarrivingatuniversitytoquestionwhathistoryis,whathistoriansdo,andhowtheydoit.Thatsaid,weremainsensitivetothechallenges–bothacademicandpastoral–facedbyYear1students,agroupwithawiderangeofbackgroundsandskills.19TheHigherEducationAcademy'sreport'History,ClassicsandArchaeology:Inclusivecurriculumdesigninhighereducation'notesthatYear1Historystudentsmentionarangeofchallengesthatinclude'theexpectedlysteepriseindifficulty'andthe'level

18JamesBaker,‘#bldigitalBritishLibraryCollaborativePhDstudentship’,BritishLibraryDigitalScholarshipBlog(24February2014)http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digital-scholarship/2014/02/bldigital-british-library-collaborative-phd-studentship.html

19GarethHughesandOliviaSmail,‘WhichAspectsofUniversityLifeAreMostandLeastHelpfulintheTransitiontoHE?AQualitativeSnapshotofStudentPerceptions’,JournalofFurtherandHigherEducation39,no.4(4July2015):466–80,doi:10.1080/0309877X.2014.971109.

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ofbackgroundreadingrequired'.20Asthefollowingsectionofthisessaydescribes,wedesignedtheintegrationofDigitalHistoryintheYear1curriculumwiththeintentionofnotexacerbatingthosechallenges.

Oneexampleisworthmentioninghereasitdovetailswithourrationale.(K2)AswewerekeentoensurethatYear1studentssawDigitalHistoryaspartofratherthanadjuncttoHistory,ourprogrammeincludedlectureswhose'digital'characterwasdeliberatelyunderplayed:lecturesontheperennialproblemof'WhatisHistory?'andhowtoreadhistorywriting,aswellassessiononreferencing,usingthelibrary,andusingarchivalcollections.AstheaforementionedHigherEducationAcademyreportstates:

DesigningopportunitiesforHistorystudentstoauditandthendevelopskillssuchasnote-takingandusinglibrarieseffectivelywouldenhancetheexperienceofallstudentsstudyingthepast.21

Bybuildingtheseopportunitiesintoourdigitalskillsoffer,wesoughtbothtobridgeDigitalHistoryandHistoryandtosituatetheformerwithinanameliorationofthechallengesandanxietiesstudentsfaceatthebeginningofaHistorydegree.(K3)

ThisintegrationoftheDigitalHistoryofferingwithintheHistoryprogrammewasunderscoredbythesessionsbeingdeliveredaspartoftwoYear1modulesthatraninthe2015/16academicyear:TheEarlyModernWorld(Autumnterm)andTheMakingoftheModernWorld(Springterm).Inorderforstudent'scriticalpositionsondigitalresourcesandtechniquestodevelopinthecontextoflearningHistory,thiswascrucial.Embeddedalongsideseminarsandlecturesonhistoricalthemesandnarratives,wewereabletointegratethosethemesandnarrativesintoourexplorationsofdigitalresearchtechnologies,todescribeadvancesinourknowledgeofthosethemesandnarrativesmadethroughtheuseofdigitalresearchtechnologies,andtonormalisethepresenceofproblemsonthehistoricalmethodinthedigitalageinassessmentsotherwisetestingstudentsontheirknowledgeofthosethemesandnarratives.

PlanningandDeliveryIntheplanninganddeliveryoftheintegrationofdigitalhistoryintoourundergraduatehistorycurriculum,wewrestledwithtwokeyproblemsfacedbymanycomparableinitiativesinthesector(V3):thatis,toquotePugh'WhereshouldthebalanceliebetweendigitalandthehumanitiesinaDHcourse?'and'Whataretheskillsthataremostneededgiventhelimitedtimetodeliveracourse?'.22Onthe

20HigherEducationAcademy,‘History,ClassicsandArchaeology:InclusiveCurriculumDesigninHigherEducation’(HigherEducationAcademy,2011),2.

21Ibid.

22Pugh,‘TimeMachinesandHowtoUseThem :AnOverviewofDigitalHumanitiesTeachingandResearch’,21.

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firstproblem,we–asstatedpreviously–aimedtoensurethatourdigitalskillssessionsputHistorybeforetheDigital:thattheymarkedoutdigitalresourcesandmethodsasnewandinterestingandimportant,butthatourcollectiveinterestinthemwasnotattheexpenseofHistory,allweasked–paceMumford–wasthathistorianswerehonestabouttheroleofandpotentialforDigitalinHistory.Onthesecondproblem,thebalanceofdigitalwithinthe'course'wasset:asingleone-hourlectureeachweekofTheEarlyModernWorldandTheMakingoftheModernWorldmoduleswasreservedforour'DigitalSkills'sessions;thatis,twenty-twolecturesacrosstheYear1programme,one-quarterofthecontacttime(excludingofficehours)foreachmodule.TheselecturesweredeliveredtothetotalYear1HistoryBAandHistoryjoint-honourscohort–171students–andcorrespondinglywereheldinalargelecturetheatre.NoseminartimewasdedicatedtocontentcoveredintheDigitalSkillslectures,thoughseminarleaderswerefreetointegrateelementsattheirdiscretion.Asbothmodulesincludedlecturesdeliveredbyvariouscolleagues(inlinewiththeirresearchexpertise)andmultipleseminarleaders,integrationintoallareasofthemodules–particularlygiventheshortgestationoftheDigitalSkillslectures,moreonwhichinthenextsection–wassuboptimal.AndsowhilstthelectureformatgavetheDigitalSkillscontentprominencewithinthemodule,italsoconstrainedtheinteractivepossibilitiesforlearning:notleastduetotheinflexibilityoflecturetheatresasspaces.Finally,theDigitalSkillssessionswerealsoonlythinlytiedtoassessment:nospecific'digital'assessments–eitherformativeorsummative–wereplanned,theonlydirectintegrationwithassessmentwereexamquestionsonDigitalHistoryandthecontentwechoosetoconnectwiththehistoricalthemesandnarrativescoveredinthetwohostmodules.(A1)

Knowingwhatwehadtodo–delivertwenty-twolecturesondigitalandcomputationalresearchskillsforhistorianstiedtotwocoreYear1Historymoduleswhosethemesandnarrativesprogressedchronologically–webeganwork.AsneitherWebbnorItookupourpostsattheUniversityofSussexuntil1September2015,ourfirsttaskwastoestablishwhatweweregoodat,whatweknewabout,whatwewerepassionateabout,andwhatwethoughtneededtobecovered.BothWebbandIhadexperienceteachingdigitalresearchskillsinahumanitiescontext,andtheseexperienceformedthecoreofthesessionswedelivered.

Titlesandabstractsof2015-16DigitalSkillslecturescanbefoundinAppendixI(A2).TheAutumnprogrammebeganwiththreelecturesthatintroducedkeyconceptsthatframehistoricalpractice:whyHistorymattersandwhathistoriansdo;howdigitalsources,theWorldWideWeb,andcomputationalapproachescanchangetheroleofHistoryandthehistorian;andhowhistoriansworkwithsourcesofpastphenomena.Thesewerefollowedbylecturesdesignedtohelpstudentsbetterunderstandwhattheydoonlineinthecontextofhistorywork:usingmetadatatosemi-automatecitationcaptureandreuse,searchstrategies,judgingthewebpagesthathosttheprimarysourcesthosesearchesfind,andthechangingcommunicationchannelsinwhichhistoriansareoperating.Thefinalthreelecturesaskedstudentstothinkthroughandexperimentwithnewmodesofhistorywork:makingwebpages,usingimagerecognitionplatforms,andundertakingtextual

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analysisandvisualisationofprimarysources.TheSpringprogrammemovedtowardsexploringDigitalHistorymorecloselyandbeganwithalectureonthepropertiesofgoodDigitalHistoryprogrammesfollowedbyadevelopedcasestudy.Thesewerefollowedbythreesessionsondigitalsources:firstinlibraries,secondinthecontextofdigitalpreservation,andthirdinarchives.Theprogrammeendedwithfourlecturesthatfocusedonpracticalskills:usingcommandlinetoolstodownload,count,andmine18millionhistoricalnewspaperpages;geocodingandmappingpublicationdatafrom54,000historicbooks;cleaningupandnormalisingmetadataforthosehistoricbooks;andvisualisingpatternsthatemergefromthatcleanedandnormaliseddata.Alectureonreferencingwasalsoprovided.(V2)

Toavoiddiscussingmethodsandtechnologiesinabstraction,examplesusedintheselecturesdrewonthetopicsstudentswereencounteringintheotherlecturesandseminarsthatcomprisedtheEarlyModernWorldandtheMakingoftheModernWorldmodules.(V4)Forexample,lecture4'ZoteroandCitation'tookplaceduringaweekonChinaintheEuropeanimaginationandsostartedwiththefollowingscenario:

Whenyouusealibrarycataloguetosearchforsecondarymaterialforanessayon,say,MatteoRicci’sactivitiesinChina,thelibrarysystemsyouuseguideyouviametadataaboutbooksandarticles,informationsuchastheirtitles,datesofpublication,authors.

ComplimentinglecturesandseminarsonCaptainCook'sexplorationoftheSouthSeas,Lecture11'Ngrams,Voyant,Corpus'hadstudentsexperimentwithCook'sdiariesasdataandvisualiselinguisticpatternsinVoyant.23Lecture17'DataandthePast'builtondiscussionsaroundGermannationalismtominecontemporarynewspaperpagesformentionsof'Reich','Kaiser',and'Preußen'.Finally,inordertoreinforcelearningaroundthepropertiesof'good'DigitalHistory,eachSpringtermlecturebeganwithanexampleof'good'projectsorresearchwhosehistoricalcontentorfocuswasrelevanttothehistoricaltopicunderexaminationintheMakingoftheModernWorldthatweek.

AsDigitalHistoryisasmuchpracticalasmethodological,wewerekeentoensurethatstudentsundertookhands-onworkwithsoftwareanddataintheselectures.Inadvanceofeachlecturethatincludedapracticalelement,noticesthatdescribedwhatstudentsneededtodoinadvanceofthelecturewerepostedonStudyDirect(Sussex'svirtuallearningenvironment)andviaemail.(A4,K4)Forexample,thenoticeforLecture20'MakingRawDataYourData'wasasfollows:

NOTE:ifyouwanttofollowalonginthelecturepleasebringalaptop(orworkwithafriend;notatablet/phone)onwhichyouhaveinadvancea)downloadedthedatabelow(MMW-wk10-BLMSbook-list-subset.csv),b)downloadedandinstalledOpenRefine2.6(seeinstructionsathttp://openrefine.org/download.html)andc)runOpenRefine(seeinstructionsathttps://github.com/OpenRefine/OpenRefine/wiki/Installation-Instructions)andpointto

23StéfanSinclair,GeoffreyRockwellandtheVoyantToolsTeam,VoyantTools(2012)http://voyant-tools.org/Accessed22June2016

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http://127.0.0.1:3333/inyourwebbrowser(notInternetExplorer)tocheckitisworking.ANYproblemsemailmeatjames.baker@sussex.ac.uk.Aswiththemappinglecture,thereisnodisadvantagetoyouifyoucan'tdothisasIwilldemoeverythingonthescreen.

HavingstudentsworkontheirownlaptopsrequiredWebbandItotroubleshootinstallationissuesbothbeforeandduringeachlecture.(A3)Atthetimeandonreflectionweconsideredneitherthisnoralackoftrainingworkstationsinthelearningenvironmentasproblematic.Rather,wetooktheviewthatlearningofthiskindisbestsuitedtoworkingonone'sowndevice,asitensuresthatlearningtakesplaceinafamiliarcomputationalenvironmentandthatapproachesencounteredcanbereplicatedoutsideofthelearningenvironmentwithoutpost-classsetupandinstallationworkbecomingabarriertolearning.24Asthefinallineofournoticetostudentsmadeclear,however,followingalongwiththepracticalwasnotcompulsory.Attentivetopotentialeconomicdisparitiesbetweenstudents,wecouldnotexpecteverystudenttobringalaptoptotheselectures.(V1,V2)Toturnthistoouradvantage,weencouragedstudentstosharetheirlaptopsandbuiltthepracticalexercicesaroundpeerprogramming:thatis,whilstpartsoftheselecturesinvolvedstudentsfollowingalongtoademonstrationonthescreen,shortguidedexerciseswerebuiltinaswell.Forexample,Lecture18'GeoreferencingandMappinghistoricaldata'askedstudentstoworkinsmallgroupstoestimatethecurrentlatitudeandlongitudeofLondonaddressesthatnolongerexistusingLocatingLondon'sPastandOpenStreetMap.

Theguidanceprovidedtostudentsaroundpracticallecturesevolvedastheprogrammewasdelivered.(A3)Thisevolutionwasacommonthemeofthelecturesingeneral.IndeedalthoughAppendixIcreatestheillusionthatarigidsetoflectureswereplannedfromtheoutset,programmedeliverywasaniterativeprocess.TitlesandtopicsofeachlecturewereagreedbeforethebeginningoftheAutumnterm,butlectureabstractswerenotcompletedandpostedtoStudyDirectuntilaroundamonthinadvanceofeachlecture.Thisenabledustobeflexibleonthespecificcontentofeachlectureandresponsivetostudentneedsandtoobservationsoftheircompetency.(V3)Onthelatter,thepracticalexercisesbecameausefulbarometerofdigitalliteracyandhowthatliteracyimpactedonstudent'sconfidencetodownloadandinstallunfamiliarsoftware,readhistoricaldata,andworkthroughcomputerbasedtasks.

LessonslearntandfutureplansLookingbackontheyear,manysuccessescanbeidentified.AlltheDigitalSkillslecturesweredelivered,afeatnotinsubstantialgiventhetightturnaround.Areasofoverlapbetweenthelecturesweremanagedeffectively,ensuringthatpotentialduplicationwasrepurposedasreaffirmationofkeythemesthatgavethelectureseriesintellectualcoherence.Colleagueswhoattendedthelecturesaspartofthe

24GregWilson,‘SoftwareCarpentry:LessonsLearned’,arXiv:1307.5448[Physics],20July2013,http://arxiv.org/abs/1307.5448.

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peerassessmentprogrammewiththeSchoolofHistory,ArtHistory,andPhilosophyreportedfavourablyonthecontentanddelivery.Indeedtheresuccessisindicatedbythefactthatforthe2016-17academicyear,thelectureswillalsobeattendedbyYear1ArtHistoryBAstudentaspartoftheir'StoriesofArt'module(moreonwhichbelow).(K6)

Thereisofcourseroomforimprovement.AsWebbandIwerebothreturningtoteachinginHigherEducationin2015-16,wewerereadaptingtoteachingatthesametimeasdeliveringnewcontent,andsotimings,programmecoherence,andtheappropriatenessofmaterialforYear1studentswouldallbenefitfromexamination.Theinteractivesessionswerealsonotasinteractiveaswe'dhoped.Studentsdidbringlaptopsanddidworkinteams,butitprovedchallengingtomanagealargehands-onclassinalecturetheatresettingwhilstalsodemonstratingforthosewithoutaccesstoalaptop.Asaresult,carefulthoughthasgoneintohowwecanbetterdeliverthesesessions(moreonwhichbelow).

Reexaminationandadaptationoftheprogrammehasalsobeeninformedbyfeedbackfromstudents.(K5)Inweek9oftheSpringtermseminarleadersforTheMakingoftheModernWorlddistributedashortsurveyinclasswhichaskedstudentstorespondtothreequestions:'Whatwasthemainthemeofthedigitalskillslectures?','Whatwentwell?',and'Wouldcouldbeimproved?'.TherationaleforthissurveywastobetterunderstandwhetherornotthekeymessagesoftheDigitalSkillslectureshadbeencommunicatedeffectivelytothecohort,alongsidegivingstudentsanopportunitytoshapefutureiterationsoftheseriesthroughtheircommentsonwhatwentwellandwhatcouldbeimproved.

Itisnotmyintentiontoprovideathoroughanalysisofthesurvey,neverthelessafewthreadscanbeteasedout.Onthemainthemesofthelectures,studentsidentifiedascentraltheapplicationofdigitaltechniquesandtechnologiestothestudyofthepast,anunderstandingofwhatdigitisedsourcesare,waysofstoringandanalysingdata,andtheneedfortheseskills.Althoughnonementionedthecriticalperspectivewesoughttoengender,thiswaspleasing.Studentsreportedenjoyinglearningaboutwaystoorganisetheirsources,digitalrepositoriesavailabletothem,howtosearchonlineeffectively,andsoftwaretoolstheycanusetoanalysesources,aswellastheuseofexamples,livedemos,andinteractivesessions.Aconsistentpreferencewasheldforsessionsthatdirectlysupportedtheiressaywriting,arefrainvisibleinstudentsresponsestowhatcouldbeimproved,thoughheretherewasagreatervarietyofresponses:whilstonestudentreportedfindingthesessions'common-sensereally',anotherfoundsometopics'toocomplicated';whilstsomewantedthesessionstobeoptional,otherswantedthemembeddedintoseminarteaching.Asenseemerges,nevertheless,thatmorepractical,moreinteractivity,moreconsideredordering,andacloseralignmentwithhistoricaltopicsathandwouldbewelcomedbythecohort.

Basedontheseresponses,aswellasourreflectionsonthelectureseriesandthecommentsofcolleagues,weidentifiedthreekeyobjectivesforimprovingthe2016-17offer.(A5)Thefirstistopresentaclearernarrativeacrosstheseries,withskills

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suchaslibraryuseandreferencingatthebeginningoftheprogrammewheretheyaremostneeded.ThesecondistobetterintegratewithTheEarlyModernWorldandTheMakingoftheModernWorldbyshiftingfromlinkingtoexamplesfromseminarsandlecturesonaweek-by-weekbasis,tousingexamplesthatrunacrossanumberofdigitalskillslecturesandthusprovecoherentintegrationwiththemoduleandstrongerexamplesofhistoryinpractice.Thethirdistooffertheoryandpracticearoundaparticulardigitalhistorytheme–forexample,visualisation–inseparatelecturesratherthanattempttodobothinone.Thelatterdecisionaimstoresolvethechallengesofsinglehourhands-onlecturesandhasresultedinsignificantconsolidationoftheprogramme,withsomethemesthatpreviouslyhadstandalonesessions–suchasgeocoding–nowconsolidatedintoalargerumbrellatopic.

Theprovisionaltitlesofthe2016-17digitalskillslecturesareinAppendixII.Asin2015-16,theprogrammewillbeginwithlecturesintroducingthekeyconceptsthatframehistoricalpractice:whyHistorymatters,whathistoriansdo,andhowhistoriansworkwithsourcesofpastphenomena.Itmovesontohowhistoriansfindthosesourcesinlibrariesandarchives.Week5willbethefirstofthenewmulti-partlectures:'HistoryontheWeb'looksattherelationshipbetweenHistoricalresearchandtheWorldWideWeb,firstonconsumingandsecondoncreating.Theseriesthenmovesontoreferencingessaysandbibliographicmanagementtools,tofinallyconsidertheroleofcountinginHistoricalresearch,with'CountingHistory'splitbetweenlecturesonquantitativetheoryandmethodinHistoryandpracticewithcountingwordsintexts.TheSpringprogrammewillbeginwiththelectureonDigitalHistorypreviouslyofferedtowardsthestartoftheAutumnterm.Thislecture–onhowdigitalsources,theWorldWideWeb,andcomputationalapproachescanchangetheroleofHistoryandthehistorian–nowfunctionsasapivotpointbetweenlecturesonHistoryskillsintheAutumntermtoDigitalHistoryskillsintheSpringterm.Thereafter,theprogrammeincludesalectureonthepropertiesofhistoricaldatabeforemovingontotwothree-partlectures.Thefirst–'Makinghistoricaldata'–willincludelecturesonhowdigitalsourcesaremade,onhowhistorianscanusecomputationaltoolstoassemblecollectionofhistoricaldata,andoncleaningandnavigatingthatdataonceitisassembled,thelattertwoofwhicharehands-on.Thesecond–'Visualisinghistoricaldata'–willbeginwiththeoryandmethodaroundvisualisingdatabeforemovingontotwopracticalsessionsondatavisualisationandgeocoding/georeferencingrespectively.TheserieswillconcludewithlecturesonYear2andYear3optionmodulesthatincludeDigitalHistory,ondigitalpreservation,andonsharing,thelatterofwhichintroducesstudentstohowlicensingandcopyrightshapetheworkonhistorians.AsthelectureswillbeintegratedwithinbothHistoryandArtHistorymodules,closeattentionwillbepaidtoexamplesandinsightsthatilluminatetostudentstherichconnectionsbetweenbothdisciplines.

Theseimprovementwillgosomewaytoaddressingproblemswiththe2015-16series.Lookingfurtherahead,wehopeinthefuturetomorecloselyintegratetheDigitalSkillslectureswithassessment.ThiswillbothensurethatYear1students

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seeDigitalHistoryaspartofratherthananadjuncttoHistoryandembedlearningwithinassessmentpatternsandseminarwork.InordertoensurethatthenoveltyoftheselecturescomparedtoschoollevelHistorydoesnotfurthercomplicatetheYear1offer,wewillrecommendthatassessmentcomplimentsexistingformativeassessmentsinbothHistoryandArtHistorycoremodules.Astheseassessmentswilllikelytakealternativeforms–reflexiveessays,reviewsofDigitalHistoryprojects,orpublichistorywork–wewillpaycloseattentiontoensuringthatassessmentdesignisinclusive.AstheHigherEducationAcademywrites:

AdoptingnewformsofassessmentinHistory,ClassicsandArchaeologycanalsoraisesignificantanxietyforstudentsevenwhentheyarewellsupported.Buildingstudents’confidenceandenablingthemtotestoutalternativeformsofassessmentataformativestagesothatstudentscanbenefitfromfeedbackmaymediatesomeofthisanxiety.25

Buildingstudents'confidenceisattheheartoftheDigitalSkillslectures.ForDigitalHistorytogrowandflourishasanintegratedpartoftheHistoricalprofession,weneedstudentswhoemergefromtheirundergraduateHistorydegreesconfidentintheirabilitytodeploy,develop,andcritiquedigitalandcomputationalapproachestohistoricalphenomena.OureffortstofosterDigitalHistorybybuildingdigitalandcomputationalresearchskillsintotheYear1BAHistorydegreeprogrammeattheUniversityofSussexdrawonbestpracticebutalsobreaknewground.Whetherornotourstudentsareaware,itmakestheirundergraduateprogrammedistinctiveintheUKcontext.(V4)Bysharingourrationalebehindtheselectures,howweplannedanddeliveredthem,whatwedid,andwhatwe'dliketoimprove,wehopethatourprogramme’sfocusonDigitalHistorywon'tbesodistinctiveformuchlonger.

BibliographyBaker,James.‘AHistoryofHistorythroughtheLensofOurDigitalPresent,the

TraditionsThatShapeandConstrainDataDrivenHistoricalResearch,andWhatLibrariansCanDoaboutIt’.InLayingtheFoundation:DigitalHumanitiesinAcademicLibraries,editedbyJohnW.WhiteandHeatherGilbert.Indiana,UnitedStates:PurdueUniversityPress,2016.http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/59763/.

———.‘StevenE.Jones,TheEmergenceoftheDigitalHumanities’.ReviewsinHistory,no.1634(2014).doi:10.14296/RiH/2014/1634.

Beals,M.H.‘Workshop:SlowDown!TeachingStudentstoEncodeTheirCloseReading’.M.H.Beals,8September2015.http://mhbeals.com/workshop-slow-down-teaching-students-to-encode-their-close-reading/.

25HigherEducationAcademy,‘History,ClassicsandArchaeology:InclusiveCurriculumDesigninHigherEducation’,3.

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Bod,Rens.ANewHistoryoftheHumanities:TheSearchforPrinciplesandPatternsfromAntiquitytothePresent.Oxford:OxfordUniv.Press,2013.

Cohen,DanielJ,andRoyRosenzweig.DigitalHistory:AGuidetoGathering,Preserving,andPresentingthePastontheWeb.Philadelphia:UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress,2006.

Crymble,Adam.‘ExploringBigHistoricalData:TheHistorian’sMacroscope’.ReviewsinHistory,2016.http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1889.

———.‘StudentsShouldBeEmpowered,NotBulliedintoOpenAccess’,23July2013.http://adamcrymble.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/students-should-be-empowered-not.html.

———.‘TheOriginoftheStudentSpecies’.TheIHRBlog,17May2016.http://blog.history.ac.uk/2016/05/the-origin-of-the-student-species/.

Froehlich,Heather.‘OnTeachingCodingtoEnglishStudiesStudents’.HeatherFroehlich,29January2014.http://hfroehlich.wordpress.com/2014/01/29/on-teaching-coding-to-english-studies-students/.

Graham,Shawn,IanMilligan,andScottWeingart.ExploringBigHistoricalData:TheHistorian’sMacroscope,2016.

Guldi,Jo,andDavidArmitage.TheHistoryManifesto.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2014.

HigherEducationAcademy.‘History,ClassicsandArchaeology:InclusiveCurriculumDesigninHigherEducation’.HigherEducationAcademy,2011.

Hitchcock,Tim.‘ConfrontingtheDigital:OrHowAcademicHistoryWritingLostthePlot’.CulturalandSocialHistory10,no.1(2013):9–23.doi:10.2752/147800413X13515292098070.

Howard,Sharon.‘“BloodyCode:ReflectingonaDecadeoftheOldBaileyOnlineandtheDigitalFuturesofOurCriminalPast”’.Law,Crime&History5,no.1(2015).http://www.pbs.plymouth.ac.uk/solon/journal/vol.5%20issue1%202015/Howard%20Bloody%20Code.pdf.

Hughes,Gareth,andOliviaSmail.‘WhichAspectsofUniversityLifeAreMostandLeastHelpfulintheTransitiontoHE?AQualitativeSnapshotofStudentPerceptions’.JournalofFurtherandHigherEducation39,no.4(4July2015):466–80.doi:10.1080/0309877X.2014.971109.

Jones,StevenE.(StevenEdward).TheEmergenceoftheDigitalHumanities.NewYork ;Routledge,2014.

Kelly,T.Mills.TeachingHistoryintheDigitalAge,2013.http://hdl.handle.net/2027/spo.12146032.0001.001.

Milligan,Ian.‘Miningthe“InternetGraveyard”:RethinkingtheHistorians’Toolkit’.JournaloftheCanadianHistoricalAssociation23,no.2(2012):21.doi:10.7202/1015788ar.

Milligan,Ian,NickRuest,andAnnaSt.Onge.‘TheGreatWARCAdventure :UsingSIPS,AIPSandDIPStoDocumentSLAAPs’.DigitalStudies/LeChampNumérique50(31March2016).http://www.digitalstudies.org/ojs/index.php/digital_studies/article/view/325.

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Mullen,Lincoln.‘LearningHowtoTeachHistoryinaDigitalAge’.TheChronicleofHigherEducation.ProfHacker,26August2013.http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/learning-how-to-teach-history-in-a-digital-age/51875.

Price,JacobM.‘RecentQuantitativeWorkinHistory:ASurveyoftheMainTrends’.HistoryandTheory9(1January1969):1–13.doi:10.2307/2504167.

Pugh,Jo.‘TimeMachinesandHowtoUseThem :AnOverviewofDigitalHumanitiesTeachingandResearch’,June2014.https://dlib.york.ac.uk/yodl/app/home/detail?id=york%3a823026&ref=search.

Robertson,Stephen.‘TheDifferencesbetweenDigitalHistoryandDigitalHumanities’.DrStephenRobertson,23May2014.http://drstephenrobertson.com/2014/05/23/the-differences-between-digital-history-and-digital-humanities/.

Rudy,Kathryn.‘DirtyBooks:QuantifyingPatternsofUseinMedievalManuscriptsUsingaDensitometer’.JournalofHistoriansofNetherlandishArt2,no.1–2(June2010).doi:10.5092/jhna.2010.2.1.1.

Russell,John.‘TeachingDigitalScholarshipintheLibrary:CourseEvaluation’.Dh+lib,24July2013.http://acrl.ala.org/dh/2013/07/24/teaching-digital-scholarship-in-the-library-course-evaluation/.

SelectCommitteeonDigitalSkills.‘MakeorBreak:TheUK’sDigitalFuture’.HouseofLords,17February2015.

Stone,Lawrence.‘TheRevivalofNarrative:ReflectionsonaNewOldHistory’.Past&Present,no.85(1November1979):3–24.

Tosh,John.ThePursuitofHistory.5thed.Harlow :Longman,2010.———.ThePursuitofHistory :Aims,MethodsandNewDirectionsintheStudyof

ModernHistory.2nded.London :Longman,1991.Turkel,WilliamJ.,ShezanMuhammedi,andMaryBethStart.‘GroundingDigital

HistoryintheHistoryofComputing’.IEEEAnnalsoftheHistoryofComputing,June2014.

Underwood,Ted.‘SevenWaysHumanistsAreUsingComputerstoUnderstandText.’TheStoneandtheShell,4June2015.http://tedunderwood.com/2015/06/04/seven-ways-humanists-are-using-computers-to-understand-text/.

Wall,John.‘VirtualPaulsCrossProject:ADigitalRe-CreationofJohnDonnes’GunpowerDaySermom’,2013.https://vpcp.chass.ncsu.edu/.

Wilson,Greg.‘SoftwareCarpentry:LessonsLearned’.arXiv:1307.5448[Physics],20July2013.http://arxiv.org/abs/1307.5448.

AppendixI

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SkillsandDigitalSkillsLectures,2015/16261.WHATISHISTORY?

Thislectureformsanintroductiontothestudyofhistoryinitsbroadestsense,askingwhatrolesacademichistorywritingandadegreeinhistory,serveinmodernsociety.Italsolocatesthestudyofhistorywithinalongerhistoricaltradition;anddescribesthewaysinwhichpoliticallyengagedhistorieshavebeenusedaspartofawiderpolitics.Additionally,itexplorestherelationshipbetween'academic'history,and'public'history.Questionstoconsider:(a)Howdoyouclaimauthorityinwrittenhistory?(b)Whatrolesdoeshistorywritingandresearchhaveinmodernsocialandpoliticaldebate?Reading:Tosh,'UsesofHistory'

2.DIGITALHISTORY

'Digitalhistory'isatermthatembracesawiderangeofattitudesandpractices.Itrefersgenerallytothedigitalprovision,initiallyonCD-ROMbutnowalmostwhollyonline,ofprimarysources,articles,booksandotherformsofhistoricalcommunication.Increasinglytheseare'borndigital',thatis,theyarecreatedexclusivelyonorfortheWeb,andtheyarenotdigitalversionsofitemspreviouslycreatedorpublishedinprint.Iexamineanumberofaspectsoftherevolutionintheproductionandconsumptionofhistory.Iarguethatdigitalhistoryisnotmerelyconventionalhistorymadeavailableonline,butthatitoffersdemocratic,improvedandentirelynewwaysofcreatingnewhistoricalsources,assessinganddiscussinghistoricalissues,andmoregenerally,ofdoinghistoricalresearch.Ialsolookatthepotentialdownsideofthisrevolution,namelythelossofthematerialcultureofknowledgeandalsoofcertainskillsofreadingandinterpretation.ManyofthemostimportantresourcesareavailablethroughtheSussexLibrarysite.Thisgivesaccesstoonlineresourcesandonlinejournals,thoughthereareanumberofworldclass,freelyavailablesitessuchasTheNewtonProjectandOldBaileyOnline.

Questionsfordiscussionmightbe:1.Inwhatwaysis'doing'DigitalHistorydifferentfrompractisingconventionalhistory?2.Howdoesthepublicationofonlineresearchchangetraditionalrelationshipswithnon-academicaudiences?

26CopiedfromStudyDirectMay2016.

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3.Dothegainsmadepossiblebytheprovisionofdifferentsortsofdigitalresearchoutweighapparentlossesintermsofacquaintancewithmaterial,printedbooks,ordirectpersonalcontactwithsupervisorsandotherstudents?Reading:TheintroductiontoDoughertyandNawrotzki,'Writinghistory'.Youcanbrowsethroughpartsoftheonlineversionandnotethatthisisnon-linearreading,i.e.youareexpectedtofollowupsomebutnotallembeddedlinks.ForfurtherreadingseethesectiononWikipediaandhowdigitisationhaschangedthewritingofhistory;theconclusionandespeciallytheafterthoughtsattheendofthework.

3.READINGHISTORY

Thislectureexploreshowwereadhistory,andhowtheformofacademichistorywritingisconstructedtobalanceevidenceandargument.Bydescribinghowarticlesandbooksarenormallyorganisedandstructured,itisdesignedtoencourageyoutodeveloptheexpertiseyouneedtouseacademichistorytextsmoreinstrumentally-takingwhatyouneedfromthem.Byfirstexploringhowweread-immersively,skimreading,online,etc-andthenunpickingexamplesofindividualarticlesandbooks,thislectureseekstoenableyoutobeamoreeffectiveresearcher.Reading:BothofApplebyetal,'Tellingthetruthabouthistory'andEvans,'InDefenceofHistory'

4.ZOTEROANDCITATION

Whenyouusealibrarycataloguetosearchforsecondarymaterialforanessayon,say,MatteoRicci’sactivitiesinChina,thelibrarysystemsyouuseguideyouviametadataaboutbooksandarticles,informationsuchastheirtitles,datesofpublication,authors.Onceyoucometoreadthesearticlesandbooks,you’lllikelytakewrittenortypednotesonthemandstorethosenotesinphysicalfilesordigitalfolders.Laterwhenyoucometowriteyouressay,you’llreturntothesefilesorfolders,findyournotesonthearticlesandbooksyouread,andcopyoutthemetadatathathelpedyoufindthemaspartofthefootnotesandbibliographiesthatsupportyourargument.Thereisnothinginherentlywrongwiththisprocess.Butwhatitdoesn’tdoisfullyexploitandconnectthedigitalelementsinvolved.Thislectureisnotalectureoncitation.Rather,itisalecturethatwillempoweryoutousecitationstomakeyouressaypreparationandwritingmoreefficient,easiertomanage,andbetterabletomakeconnectionsbetweensources.ItwillintroduceyoutoZotero,referencemanagementsoftwarethatenablesyoutomanagebibliographicdataandrelatedresearchmaterials.Itwillshowyouhowtocapturewithoneclickareference,oftenwiththepublicationitreferstoattached.Itwillshowyouhowtoauto-

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generatebibliographiesandfootnotesfromthosereferences.Anditwillshowyouhowtomanageyournotes,comments,andthoughtsonthearticlesandbooksyoureadsothattheyformasimplekeywordsearchabledatabaseyoucanreturntoagainandagain.NoknowledgeofZoteroisrequired.Ifyouwanttofollowalong,pleaseinstallZoteroinadvance:instructionsareontheLibrarywebpageshttp://www.sussex.ac.uk/library/guides/endnote/zotero(note,installingZoteroinadvanceisnotcompulsory)Furtherresources:Cohen,DanielJ.(2008),‘CreatingScholarlyToolsandResourcesfortheDigitalEcosystem:BuildingConnectionsintheZoteroProject’,FirstMonday14:8http://dx.doi.org/10.5210/fm.v13i8.2233Howard,S.(2014),‘AZoteroGuide’http://sharonhoward.org/zoterowiki/(accessed16September2015)SussexLibrary,‘Zotero’http://www.sussex.ac.uk/library/guides/endnote/zotero(accessed16September2015)StudyDirect,‘Zoteromodule’https://studydirect.sussex.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=13333Takats,S.(2011),‘ZoteroVersus’http://quintessenceofham.org/2011/05/06/zotero-versus/(accessed16September2015)InstallingWordProcessorPluginsforZoteroforFirefoxhttps://www.zotero.org/support/word_processor_plugin_installation

6.SEARCHSKILLS

Weallknowhowto'search'onlineforthethingswewant;andwhensearchingforhistoricalinformation-thedateTheTreatyofWestphaliawassigned,orthecorrectspellingofAncienRegime-mostofusnowrelyonGoogle.But,wemaynotbeawareofsearchtechniquesthatcanhelpoptimisesearchresultsorthebackgroundprocessesthattailorthoseresultsbasedononlineactivityandhistory.Thislecturewillconsidersomeofthecomplexitiesinherentinsearchingthewebandwilltouchontopicssuchassearchtechniques,tailoringandmanipulation,ranking,andthe'deepweb',inordertogainabetterunderstandinghowtosearchandnavigatethewebeffectivelyforhistoricalresearch.Reading:Cohen,D.(2010)'IsGooglegoodforhistory?'(accessed8Sept2015)FurtherResources:BruceR.,&JacobsNeil(2013)'TensearchenginesforresearchersthatgobeyondGoogle'(accessed8Sept2015)Halavais,A.(2009)'SearchEngineSociety.DigitalMediaandSocietySeries'(SussexLibrary)

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Schmidt,Ben(2011)'Whathistoriansdon'tknowaboutdatabasedesign'inSappingAttention(Blog)(accessed11Sept2015)

7.JUDGINGAWEBPAGE

Allhistoricalresearchdrawsuponcollectionsofhistoricalmaterialsavailableeitherontheopenweborviasubscription.Itisnotalwaysapparent,however,howyoushouldjudgewhatyoufind.Fewclearcriteriaexistandthosecriteriacanbequicklyrenderedobsoletebythefluidityoftheweb.Andtraditionalmarkersofqualitythatreplicatethedecisionofalibrarytopurchaseabookarenotalwaysappropriate.Nevertheless,thequestionsofpowerandauthoritythathistoriansbringtotheirinteractionwithanyarchiveorbookcanandshouldbebroughttobearonthewebsitesweuse.ThislecturewillusecasestudiesofWikipedia,GoogleBooks,andWelshNewspapersOnlinetoexplorewaysinwhichyoushouldjudgewebpagescontainingcollectionsofhistoricalmaterials.Furtherresources:NationalLibraryofWales(2014),‘AboutWelshNewspapersOnline’http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=4723(accessed16September2015)Nurnberg,Geoff(2009),‘GoogleBooks:AMetadataTrainWreck’http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1701(accessed16September2015)Postrel,Virginia(2014),‘WhoKilledWikipedia?’http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/killed-wikipedia-93777(accessed16September2015)SussexLibary,OnlineResourceshttp://guides.lib.sussex.ac.uk/resources(accessed16September2015)Wadewitz,Adrianne(2013),‘Wikipediaispushingtheboundariesofscholarlypracticebutthegendergapmustbeaddressed’,ImpactofSocialScience,LondonSchoolofEconomicshttp://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2013/04/09/change-the-world-edit-wikipedia/(accessed16September2015)

8.BLOGSANDTWITTERASSCHOLARLYAUTHORITIES

Traditionally,historianshaveusedformalpublicationchannelstopublishanddisseminatetheirresearch.Increasinglyhowever,theyareturningtoblogsandmicroblogs(Twitter)tosupplementandsupportthisactivity.Thesenewmethodsof"publication"allowus,asstudentsofhistory,totapintonewandoftenengagingformsofhistoricalwritingbutcanalsohelpusdiscovernewresourcesforspecificsubjectareas.Forexample,aTweetfrom@EMhistblog('EarlyModernWorld')mayinformyouofnewonlinecollectionsor'TheEarlyModernWorld'blogmightprovidealistofnewresources.ThislecturewillconsiderhowyoumightuseblogsandTwitterinyour

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studiesandexaminehowtojudgethesesourcesaseitheranauthoritativepublicrecordoraninappropriateone.Sothatwhileweencourageyoutoexperimentintheworldofbloggingandmicro-blogging,asameanstointeractwithcurrenthistoricaldebateandotheronlineaudiences,itwillalsopromptyoutojudgetheirreliabilityandaccuracy,andquestiontheirperceivedauthority.Readings:Hitchcock,T.(2014)'Doingitinpublic:Impact,blogging,socialmediaandtheacademy'(accessed10September2015)FurtherResources:'Howto...useTwitterforacademicresearch'(accessed9September2015)Charprentier,A.(2014).'Academicblogging,apersonalexperience'(accessed11September2015)Cohen,D.(2011)'TheIvoryTowerandtheOpenWeb:Introduction:Burritos,Browsers,andBooks[Draft]'(accessed11September2015)'Bloggingforhistorians'(accessed11Sept.2015)

9.MAKINGAWEBPAGEFollowingonfrom'BlogsandTwitterasAuthorities'(Week8)thislecturewillconsiderhowyoumightgoaboutmakingyourownwebpagebyusing'outofthebox',free,software.Itwillalsogiveapracticaloverviewofhowthewebworksandabriefintroductiontothetechnologiesthatcontrolit.Readings:Cohen,D.J.,&Rosenzwieg,R.(2009)'Designingforthehistoryweb'inDigitalHistory.Aguidetogathering,preservingandpresentingthepastonthewebhttp://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/designing/(accessed11Sept.2015)FurtherResources:w3schools(on-linetutorialsinwebtechnologies/languages):http://www.w3schools.com/(accessed11Sept.2015)CodeAcademy:MakeaWebsite:https://www.codecademy.com/skills/make-a-website(accessed11Sept.2015)Wordpress:https://wordpress.com/(accessed11Sept.2015)Tumblr:https://www.tumblr.com/(accessed11Sept.2015)Weebly:http://www.weebly.com/(accessed11Sept.2015)Drupal:https://www.drupal.org/(accessed11Sept.2015)

10.IMAGES

Imagesplayaprominentroleintheargumentshistoriansmake.Thewebhasmadeiteasierthaneverforyoutofind,inspect,andstorereproductionsofhistoricalobjectswhoseoriginalsareheldingalleries,archivesormuseumsfromacrosstheworld.However,whenouronlinesearchreturnsimagesof,

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say,earlymodernpoverty,weneedtopauseandasksomequestion:whatisitthatwehaveactuallyfound?Whoisitthatchosetomaketheseimagesavailable?Whatismissingfromoursearchresults?Andwhatistherelationshipbetweenoursearchcriteriaandtheobjectsourresearchresultsrepresent?Thislecturewillintroduceyoutoanumberofmajorimagerepositories,itwillsuggeststrategiesforsearchingforimages,anditwillhelpyoumakebettersenseoftheimagesyoufind.Itwillalsosuggestwaysinwhichyoucangivesomethingbackbycontributingtothewealthofhistoricalimagesonline,intheprocessofwhichgainingarichersenseofhowbesttousetheminyourownwork.Reading:Benjamin,W.(1936)'TheworkofArtintheAgeofMechanicalReproduction'https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htmJordanova,L.(2008)'ImageMatters',TheHistoricalJournal51:3http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0018246X08007024Furtherresources:BritishCartoonArchivehttps://www.cartoons.ac.uk/(accessed16September2015)BritishMuseumCollectionOnlinehttp://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx(accessed16September2015)Burke,P.(2001)Eyewitnessing:theusesofimagesashistoricalevidenceFlickrCommonshttps://www.flickr.com/commons(accessed16September2015)HilaryDavidson(2015)FreeAcademicImageshttps://academicimages.wordpress.com/(accessed16September2015)WikimediaCommonshttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page(accessed16September2015)

11.NGRAMS,VOYANT,CORPUS

Thislecturewillintroduceyoutoanumberoftextanalysistoolsandmethodsandwillconsiderhowvisualizationtechniquesandtextanalysiscanbeusedasamethodtosupporthistoricalresearch.WewillconsiderhowdatavisualiationtechniquescanhelpustointerrogatethemillionsofdigitisedbooksandtextsnowavailabletousandseewhetherornotexperimentsusingGoogle'sNgramViewerandthetextanalysissoftwareVoyantcanbeusefulinhelpingtoexplainordetectcertainhistoricalpatternsofphenomena.BycarryingoutinclassexperimentswewilldiscusswhetherornotwecanextrapolateanyusefulpatternsaboutglobaltradeaspresentedinGoogleBookscorpusofdigitizedtextandconsiderwhatatextanalysis,usingVoyant,ofCook'sDiarymayormaynotreveal.However,

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whilethesetoolsandtechniquescanhelprevealpatternsandtrendswithintexts,wewillexaminehowhistoricalcontext,interpretationandcriticalengagementwiththeresultsofthesetechniques,or"evidence"presentedbythesetools,isstillrequiredandanimportantaspectoftextorcorpusanalysis.Reading:Zimmer,B(2013)'Google'sNgramViewerGoesWild'inTheAtlantichttp://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/10/googles-ngram-viewer-goes-wild/280601/(accessed15Sept.2015)InformationisBeautiful.Ideas,issues,knowledge,data-visualized:http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/google-ngram-experiments/(accessed11Sept.2015)Michel,etal(2011)'QualitativeAnalysisofCultureUsingMillionsofDigitizedBooks':http://www.sciencemag.org/content/331/6014/176.full(accessed9Dec.2015)AdditionalReading(asmentionedinclass):Aiden,E.,&Michel,J.(2013)'Uncharted:BigDataasaLensonHumanCulture'FurtherResources:Dirt:DigitalResearchTools:http://dirtdirectory.org/(accessed11Sept.2015)Ngrams:https://books.google.com/ngrams/infoVoyant:http://voyant-tools.org/Additionaltoolsasmentionedinclass-listedonpowerpoint.

12.WHATMAKESGOODdigitalHISTORY?

“We’vespentmillionsdigitizingtheworld’shistoricalresources.Let’sworktogethertofigureoutwhattheycanteachus”–AdamCrymbleDigitalHistoryishistoricalworkmadepossiblebytheuseofcomputationaltoolstomanipulateelectronicresourcesinwaysthatgobeyondeverydayactivitiessuchaslookingatthoseresourcesinawebbrowser,storingthemonacomputer,orwritingabouttheminawordprocessor.ThislecturebeginbyreviewingthekeymessagesfromthedigitalskillslecturesintheAutumnterm.Itwillthenoutlinethetopicsthatwillbecoveredduringthedigitalskillslecturesthisterm.Forthebulkofthelecture,however,wewillintroducedigitalhistoryprojectsthatareexemplarsofgoodpractice:thatareopen,collaborative,rigorous,drivenbyintellectualconcerns,and-mostimportantly-changeourunderstandingofpastphenomena.

13MAKINGAHISTORICALWEBSITE:THEOLDBAILEYONLINE–FROMNOSETOTALE.

Thislectureexploresthewaysinwhicholdersystemsofpublication,suchasmicrofilm,havedeterminedwhatsourcesandmaterialsareavailableonline.Itarguesthat'history'asfoundontheinternetisfundamentallyshapedby

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earlyandmid-twentiethcenturyperspectives.Thelecturesexploresthistopicthroughadetailedanalysisoftheimpactthatbotholdertechnologies,andXMLhadinthecreationoftheOldBaileyOnline(www.oldbaileyonline.org).

14.DIGITALLIBRARYSKILLS

WhetherusingLibrarySearchtolocateprintitemsheldintheLibrary,exploringourelectronicdatabasesorsearchingtheweb,digitalskillsplayanessentialpartinsuccessfulliteraturesearching.Thisinturnisvitaltotheresearchyouwillneedtocarryoutforthismodule.TheDigitalLibrarySkillslecturewillintroduceyoutotheskillsneededforeffectiveliteraturesearchingwithparticularreferencetotheassessmentsforthismodule.Inthesessionyouwilllearnhowto:

• Improveyoursearchstrategiestofindthemostrelevantmaterialsforyouressay

• SearchtheLibrary’sprintanddigitalresourcesincludingfull-textjournalarticles,ebooksandthespecifickeyreadingsneededforyourassignment

• Locatethehigh-qualitysecondarysourcesthatcanbefoundintheacademicdatabasesofyoursubjectguide

• Criticallyevaluatetheresourcesthatyoufindtoensurethattheyareappropriateforyourwork

• GethelpwithreferencingandcreatingabibliographyBeforethesessionyouwillneedtocompletetheshortPlanningasearchandFindingresourcesquizzesoninfoSuss,theLibrary’sonlinetutorialonStudyDirect.

15.DIGITALPRESERVATION

Historicalresearchreliesuponprimarysourcematerial.Thesesources(letters,manuscripts,ledgers,journals,photographs,newspaperarticles,diaries,prints,posters,maps,etc.)areremnantsofthepastwhichoftenexisttodaybecauseofthephysicalcharacteristicsofthematerialwithwhichtheyweremade.Forexamplevellumorparchments,madefromanimalskin,aswellaspapyrus,canlasthundreds,ifnotthousandsofyears(e.g.BookofKells,MagnaCarta,FaddanMorePsalter).However,this“longevity”iscertainlynotthecaseforallmaterial;papermadewithwoodpulpdeterioratesalotquickerthanonemightexpect.(But,wemustalsonotignoretheenormousconservationeffortscarriedoutwithinarchives,museumsandotherculturalinstitutionsonadailybasis).

Aswemoveintothedigitalageofhistoricalresearch,historiansrelymoreandmoreondigitisedandborndigital(re)sourceswhich“lastforever…orfiveyears,whichevercomesfirst”.Thislecturewillconsiderthefragilenatureofourdigitalrecordandlooksathowourdigitalrecordisindangerofextinction.Itwilllookatanumberofdigitalpreservationmethodsor

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strategiesandlookatsomecasestudiesthatwillhelpusashistoriansunderstandthiscomplex,butimportant,issue.Reading:DigitalRepositoryofIreland(2014),‘Long-termdigitalpreservation’,availableathttp://www.dri.ie/sites/default/files/file/Fact%20Sheet%20No%204%20Long%20term%20digital%20preservation%20ver%201.pdfO’Carroll,A.,&Webb,S.(2012),‘DigitalPreservation:SustainableAccess’inDigitalArchivinginIreland,pp.18-26,availableathttp://dri.ie/digital-archiving-in-ireland-2012.pdfFurtherReading:RoyRosenzweig,'ScarcityorAbundance?PreservingthePastinaDigitalEra'inAmericanHistoricalReview108,3(June2003):735-62alsoavailablehttps://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/links/pdf/introduction/0.6b.pdf

16.FLIPPINGTHEARCHIVE

ThissessionwillintroduceyoutothearchivesattheUniversityofSussexSpecialCollectionsandTheKeep,includingtheMassObservationArchive.Itwillalsoprovidevaluableinformationabouthowtousearchivematerialstosupportyourstudies.Ifyouhaven'tusedarchivesbefore,itmayseemalittledaunting.Youmightbethinkingalongthelinesof:HowcanIusethismaterial?Isthisrelevant?WheredoIstart?Usingoriginalmanuscripts,texts,imagesandephemeracanprovideyouwithrichmaterialforyourassignmentsandhelpyoutothinkaboutyourtopicindifferentandilluminatingways.Inthissessionyouwilllearnhowto:

• AccessTheKeepandundertakeresearchusingvariousarchivalcollections

• Developyourabilitytoresearcharangeoftopicsusingprintedanddigitalresources

• SearchTheKeep’sonlinecataloguetolocatearchivematerialsrelevanttoyourstudies

• UseMOonlineandotherdigitalresourcessuchasObserving1980’s• Gethelpwithreferencingandusingarchivesinyourassignments

SpecialCollectionsholdsover100archival,manuscriptandrarebookcollections,mostlyrelatingto20thand21stcenturyliterary,politicalandsocialhistory.Inlate2013,SpecialCollectionsmovedfromtheLibrarytoanewbuilding,TheKeep,ashortwalkfromcampus.ThissessionisdesignedtogiveyoutheknowledgeandconfidencetocomeovertoTheKeepandstartusingourcollectionsbeforeyourfinalyear.Beforethesessionyouwillneedto:

• RegisteronlinetoaccessTheKeephttp://www.thekeep.info• SubscribetoSpecialCollectionsatTheKeepArchivesonStudyDirect

https://studydirect.sussex.ac.uk• Viewhttp://www.massobservation.amdigital.co.uk

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• Viewhttp://www.massobs.org.uk• Readhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24957664

17.DATAANDTHEPAST

Ourlibrariesarenowplacesfullofdataasmuchastheyareplacesfullofbooks.Forexample,inJanuary2015EuropeanaNewspapersaggregated18milliondigitisednewspaperpagesthroughasinglesearchinterface.Twentynineteenth-centuryEuropeanlanguagesarerepresentedhere,theuseofwhichcan-nodoubt-bestudiedinordertoenrichourunderstandingofnineteenth-centurynationalism.18millionpagesis,however,moreinformationthanhistorianscanread,digest,andmeaningfullydigestintheirlifetimes,andsothislecturewilldescribehowthatdataisconstructedinwaysthathelphistoriansofnineteenthcenturyEuropeturntomethodsaidedbycomputerstohelpthemreadandinturnunderstandthevastquantitiesof'data'producedduringthiscentury.Thelecturewillconcludeby-briefly-movingforwardstothelate-twentiethcentury.Comparedwiththevastvolumesofwordprocesseddocuments,multimediafiles,andwebpagesproducedsincethedawnoftheInformationAge,18millionpagesisnotonlytinybutalsorelativelystraightforwardtocapture,preserve,andprocess.Itwilldescribesomeofthesearchivesandtheirdifferenceincharactertodigitisedrecords.Anditwillaskwhethergiventhedelugeofborn-digitaldatacreatedsincethe1990shistorianswillbeabletomeaningfullyinterpretthemodernworldwithoutmethodsaidedbycomputers?.

18.GEOCODINGANDMAPPINGHISTORICALDATA

NOTE:ifyouwanttofollowalonginthelecturepleasebringalaptop(orworkwithafriend;notatablet/phone)onwhichyouhavea)aninternetconnectionandb)downloadedandextractedthedatabelow(MMW-wk8-data.zip)inadvance.Thereisnodisadvantagetoyouifyoucan'tdothisasIwilldemoeverythingonthescreen....Mappinghistoricalinformationisanestablishedwayofinterpretatingthespatialcomplexityofpastphenomena.Machinesareideallysuitedtothistask,enablingthehistorianstogeocodeplacesisinterestandquerythemappedresults.Inthissession,IwilldemotheuseofBatchGeotogeocodeandmaphistoricaldata.Wewillexaminethemappeddata,considerthevalidityoftheresults,andexplorewhatthehistorianneedstomakebestuseofthesetechnologies.Linksandfurtherreading:batchgeo(batchgeo.com)DaveCole,'MappingaGoogleDocsSpreadsheet,'MapBoxBlog,12October2011https://www.mapbox.com/blog/mapping-google-doc-spreadsheetGetLatLon(dbsgeo.com/latlon)StevenJones,TheEmergenceoftheDigitalHumanities(London:Routledge,2013)

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LocatingLondon'sPast(locatinglondon.org,version1.0,17December2011)PoliticalMeetingsMapper(politicalmeetingsmapper.co.uk,2015)KatrinaNavickas,''WhyIamtiredofturning:atheoreticalinterlude',HistoryWorkingPapers(2011)http://www.historyworkingpapers.org/?page_id=225MiriamPosner,'MoneyandTime',MirianPosner'sBlog,14March2016http://miriamposner.com/blog/money-and-time/TileMill(mapbox.com/tilemill)

19.REFERENCINGANDESSAYWRITING

JimEndersbywillexplainwhyproperreferencingisvital,explaindigitaltoolstomakeiteasier,andshowyouthatit'sthekeytowritingbetteressays.

20.MAKINGRAWDATAYOURDATA

NOTE:ifyouwanttofollowalonginthelecturepleasebringalaptop(orworkwithafriend;notatablet/phone)onwhichyouhaveinadvancea)downloadedthedatabelow(MMW-wk10-BLMSbook-list-subset.csv),b)downloadedandinstalledOpenRefine2.6(seeinstructionsathttp://openrefine.org/download.html)andc)runOpenRefine(seeinstructionsathttps://github.com/OpenRefine/OpenRefine/wiki/Installation-Instructions)andpointtohttp://127.0.0.1:3333/inyourwebbrowser(notInternetExplorer)tocheckitisworking.ANYproblemsemailmeatjames.baker@sussex.ac.uk.Aswiththemappinglecture,thereisnodisadvantagetoyouifyoucan'tdothisasIwilldemoeverythingonthescreen....Inordertomakehistoricalinformationmachinereadable,historiansoftenneedtochangethe'raw'informationtheyfindinthearchive.Theprocessofcleaninghistoricalinformationis,however,neverneutral,requiringthehistoriantomakecriticallyinformeddecisionsthatarepartoftheprocessofunderstandingthepasttheycareabout.Asameansofworkingthroughthesedynamics,thisinteractivelecturewillbeintroduceyoutothedataclean-uptoolOpenRefine

21.DATAVISUALISATION

Datavisualisationshelpustointerpretandevaluaterawdatawhichintheirnaturalformareoftendifficulttounderstand.Theyhelpustoobserve,identifyandcritiquepatternsandtrendsthatwouldotherwiseremainhidden,andcanbeapowerfulformofcommunicationinaworldoftendominatedbylinear(hyper)text.Thislecturewillintroduceyoutotheideaofdatavisualizationanddemonstrate,usingtherawdatasetscreatedinpreviouslectures,howyoumightusesomebasic,offtheshelf,visualisationtools.Itwillalsoencourageyoutojudge,critiqueandevaluatedatavisualisations,sothatweasknotjustarethey"pretty"butaretheyuseful.Resources:VisualComplexity:http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/

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HansRosling,'TheBestStatsYou'veEverSeen':https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usdJgEwMinMExampletoolsinclude:Gephi,NodeXL,ManyEyes,GoogleFusionTables,TAPoR2.0,RoSE,ImagePlot

AppendixIIDigitalSkills2016/17(provisional)27

Autumn

1. WhatisHistory/WhatisArtHistory

2. ReadingHistory/ReadingArtHistory

3. Library

4. Archives

5. HistoryontheWebI:finding

6. Referencing(ARTHISTORYREADINGWEEK)

7. ArtHistoryontheWeb(HISTORYREADINGWEEK)

8. HistoryontheWebII:sharingandbeing

9. Zotero

10. CountingHistoryI:theory

11. CountingHistoryII:practice

12. NOLECTURE

Spring

1. WhatisDigitalHistory?AndwhatisgoodDigitalHistory?

2. DataaboutthePast

3. MakinghistoricaldataI:theory

4. MakinghistoricaldataII:getting

5. MakinghistoricaldataIII:cleaning

6. VisualisinghistoricaldataI:theory

27PreparedJuly2016.

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7. VisualisinghistoricaldataII:practice(datavisualization)

8. VisualisinghistoricaldataIII:practice(geocoding/mapping)

9. DoingdigitalhistoryinY2,Y3andbeyond(ARTHISTORYREADINGWEEK)

10. Storingandpreservinghistoricaldata

11. Sharinghistoricaldata

12. ASSESSMENTWEEK