Rosenzweig stated in Our Cultural Commonwealth, “Digital technology favors openness and collaboration.” Scholarship is stepping into the digital world, sharing resources and encouraging feedback and commentary on ideas and projects in many, many different forms. The one thing holding any rapid progression is the technology of the devices through which we interact digitally (as I believe was mentioned in class a few weeks ago). This divide between digital technology and the machine to view it struck me and I wonder what collaboration in the digital sphere would like like if the technology of the machine (such as kindle) ceased to be an obstacle.

My research interests are fairly broad and eclectic, which will hopefully be dwindled as delve more into each topic and am faced with the realities of which would be more feasible for class. That said – I’m still thinking about a project on Henry V or the Battle of Agincourt (1415). I’ve always be fascinated by this time period and the English goal of “reclaiming” the French crown. I will also be looking into the Federal Writers Project – a part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) as I would generally like to know more about it. Also, I was thinking of creating a project around Herman Melville, his works, and life in New York.

Roy Rosenzweig discusses the idea of the fragility and vulnerability of evidence in the digital era. We are moving toward a culture of digital documents and attempting to leave paper and printed matter behind. How will this impact historical documentation? Historians will need to adapt to recording/relating history in the digital era – dealing with documents that are in flux and lack the static stability of printed materials.

Both Friedman and Rosenzweig discuss the multiple narratives of the origins of the internet. This flexibility in its history is akin to its ever-changing, fluid nature. Information is updated or deleted  – it seems to always be in flux. Regarding the internet there is not a static record that archivists can confront and handle in the same terms as analog materials. Moore’s Law, a “self-fulfilling prophecy” as Friedman calls it, states that pace of technology will accelerate exponentially. Documents created on “new” software one year may be obsolete in two.

How can archivists capture the fluidity of the internet and also contend with rapid pace of technology?

My name is Sarah Hodge. I’m starting my second year in the LIU -NYU dual degree program. So, hopefully by May I will have an MA in archives and an MLIS to my name. I have worked at the National Archives in New York for a year and a half – mostly toiling in the processing room. I graduated from Southern Illinois University with a BA in English/Creative Writing several years ago.

I’m mainly interested in the conservation/preservation side of archives. My historical interests are roughly the 15th and 16th centuries of England (Henry V and the Battle of Agincourt).

I once had Myspace, but migrated to Facebook because I liked the cleaner layout. Before I started the MA program I worked at an internet company called ThomasNet where I basically tagged clients’ sites with WebTrax, a traffic tracking software. Last year I took a website architecture class at LIU, so I have a little experience with HTML and website building. I am looking forward to improving on my knowledge and feeling more confident of my web application skills.