I found this week’s readings on collaboration interesting. I really like the idea of collaborative work in the humanities, each person brings something different to the table and therefore will, hopefully, make for a better project, article, or book. But I am still unsure as to how collaboration works in detail. I guess my question falls a bit more on the practical side of things, or maybe I just don’t know anything about publishing, but I am curious to know how the breakdown of collaboration happens. I realize that there is probably not a set format for every project, but is it generally that each author writes their own section or do they work on everything together?  I feel that books and articles have much more room for personal expression and have more of a sense of an author’s voice than scientific articles, so whose voice gets used? And how do the  intellectual property rights work for this? Who gets included as a collaborator, if anyone has any kind of input is that enough for them to be considered a partial author?

For my research topic I want to look into and chronicle the history of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club. They are a primarily African American club in New Orleans, and one of the Mardi Gras krewes (so finding primary sources in New York might get a bit interesting). Zulu has a really interesting history which relates to the racism and segregation of New Orleans, even after the Civil Rights movement. I would like to create a website which features photos, music and literature (both scholarly and pop culture). I want to trace their trajectory, kind of, from a band of “tramps” to one of the most favored parades. And I think I want to talk about their throws, and how the Zulu beads and coconut have become highly prized and possibly mention the coconut they gave to Obama, but that might be going too far…

The articles and books we have read thus far have dealt primarily with the United States, but this week we read about the historical technological advancements in other countries as well. Wright’s book got me thinking about how, as professionals, we are responsible for creating and maintaining information, websites, catalogs, etc. which are accessible to people from different countries. Yet, we tend to think of the Internet as a U.S. based phenomenon though we are not the only culture who uses it. As professionals, how would we ensure that what we are putting out on the Internet has multinational appeal? And/or should we specifically cater to multinational audiences as well as our primary audience, especially when we  use the Internet, as it is a worldwide tool?

My del.icio.us username is TracieLogan

A several points in his book, Friedman alludes to or mentions that personal interaction is being replaced by interaction over the internet. These situations, in effect, use a both literal and figurative screen to separate people from each other. Yet paradoxically, and as stated by Ian Hardy and quoted by Rosenzweig, this impersonality also allows for emotional directness. This distance allows the public to interact with history in a manner which is more comfortable for them as well as broadens their access to different areas of history.

Is this distance always to our advantage as public historians and archivists? For while digital tools, like digital archives, are necessary and helpful in our society, is there also not a downside if interaction with the information offered online comes to replace the interaction with the object or artifact itself? For example, how would a museum curator walk the line between granting the public access to his or her archives to pique their curiosity, and losing the public’s interest in seeing the physical object because they have access to the archive online?

Hi, my name is Tracie Logan and I am a first year student in the Archiving/Public History program, with a primary interest in Public History. I graduated this May with a B.A. in History and Psychology from Loyola University New Orleans. My experience with technology is slim. I’ve used social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace, and have followed some blogs, but I have little experience (none, really) in creating websites or with anything else behind the scenes. I interned at a museum which had a poorly designed and executed website, so digital history has taken on a new importance to me and I think that this is a vital set of skills to have.

I look forward to meeting you all on Wednesday!