The authors of this week’s articles speak to a great extend about the collaboration of scholars and professionals in the humanities field, and to a somewhat smaller extend to the interaction between scholars and graduate level students. I wonder though what can be done at an undergraduate level. If the field is moving towards a place where collaboration in research and production is much more widely accepted and encouraged (though as other students have pointed out, there are places where this trend is not encouraged) shouldn’t it start at the undergraduate level? The larger class size and differing levels of interest and capabilities are certainly daunting for a professor might want to pursue a project which demands collaboration, but I think it is also an opportunity for historians and their possible future historian students to work by trial and error and see what can work and what will not in regard to tasks, production and evaluation. An early start in this type of academic interaction might allow for tremendous understanding and appraisal, without the stress of grant-funded deadlines and publishers’ needs.

There are 2.5 million people that live in the borough of Queens and by some estimations there are over 5 million people buried underneath it. There are some really interesting and historical cemeteries all over Queens, but I think that I want to focus this project on the neighborhood of Middle Village which is host to two large, old and (in)famous cemeteries: St. John’s the Catholic one and All Faiths the Lutheran one. I hope to research their part in the rural cemetery movement on the mid 1800s as well as their functions in the 20th century as the final resting place for a wide range of known New York citizens.

First, again, a technology question. In Glut there is much discussion of certain computer developers’ ideas about the web being collaborative and bidirectional. Alex Wright says, ” In contrast to Intermedia’s read-write tools, today’s Web browser works only as a reader, designed to consume rather than create.” (220) But how exactly would a read-write web work? Did the people who thought of these types of tools really believe that everyone who used the web would be interested in creating their own content. I don’t think that up until this point in my life as a web user (meaning prior to having to use web tool extensively for this class) I would have really cared less about creating my own content to go along with what I was consuming on the web. But perhaps this is a sign  of the idea that Friedman brought about that ( and I can’t find the exact quote) we assume that things develop they way they did because that was the only way they could. Perhaps if I had been given the option to create, I would have wanted it all along.

Anderson say in “The Long Tail” that we ( collectively everyone on earth?, businesses? people trying to sell movies and music?) need to embrace niches.  In my mind it seems like a call to look outside the box, or at least to look both inside and outside the box, mainstream movies AND the small lesser  known ones. I have been thinking about this idea in regards to historical presentations. New York has so many historical institutions who present exhibits, yet in some ways I feel like they cover the same topics over and over.. does NY really need to have another presentation about the Dutch in NY, or Coney Island or any of the other ‘Hot’ topics which get presented often. What about the smaller quirkier topics? Are they not done at large arenas because they will not bring in the crowds or because the research into these types of topics needs to be more exhaustive, and time consuming? Is the web the place for the ‘indie rock’ topics of history?

On a related note, an issue I have come across in thinking about my own final project for this class. I wish to work on one of these smaller topics but have been encountering less than scholarly and less than an abundance of information. We can not really do the type of in-depth primary source original research that might go into writing a book or an article about a topic in the time that we have, or is that what the project entails? I like the idea of doing my own unique research but worry that perhaps it will not yield the necessary components that a project like this requires.

Two questions. The first being technological. In his discussion of Paul Edwards book, Roy Rosenzweig says that the author never clearly points out the ways that computers would be different today if not for the defense funding at the start. He asks, ” would we have analog computers on our desks?” Despite Friedman’s seemly clear and straightforward discussion of analog vs. digital, I am  still a little confused. I wonder in light of Rosenzweig’s question what an analog computer would really look like today. If the technology had stayed analog and not moved to digital is it possible that my 12 inch laptop could have been analog. Would the technology have advanced in the same way?

My second question relates to another part of the Rosenzweig article. In discussing the rise of email he says that its rise and the rise of newsgroups was influenced by a “growing informality of communication” This phrase struck me. I wonder if the internet and digtial media is the way to create an informality of history. Most people, I think would say they enjoy history, but historical books often written with the most respected  reserach by trained historians/ professors are not flying off the shelves. Most people in mainstream culture are more likely to view a webpage than pick up a university press history book, or even an historical non-fiction book written by say a journalist. Is the presentation of history on the internet the best way to present history to the masses? And in what ways can we, who wish to create this access to history, make the presentation informal, while interesting and informative without being vague, too simple or superficial?

Hi. I’m Brigid. I am a second year student in the Public History and Archives Program, who will be finishing her degree in 2 years instead of 18 months. My interaction and experience with digital media is slim, so I am looking forward to this class being both challenging and rewarding. My research interests include the history of Queens and I believe that this oft ignored history of the borough might be well suited to being presented in a digital format.