Assignment #2 ORLANDO Project

Assignment #1 Introduction to Digitial Humanities

When I first saw this course, I was quite skeptical about how it was important to history. I wasn’t sure about how digitization could help me personally with my study in history. I felt this way because my overall experience with online databases, and digital tools connected to the University of Guelph have been average at best. Taking this course, I was hoping that I could expand my narrow vision into a more broader scope of the importance of the digital world.

Professor Ross asked us to take a look at two documents to get a better understanding of the practice of digital humanities. I have had trouble to open the guide, “A Companion to Digital Humanities, ed. Susan Schreibman, Ray Siemens, John Unsworth. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004.” There is an online source of it, but it won’t open on either of my browsers or computers. I will update this assignment when I can troubleshoot around this issue.

On the other hand, I was able to open and locate Bill Turkles, “Going Digital” blog. In Turkles introduction, he writes that ” As you become more skilled at finding online sources, you will discover that new material on your topic appears online much faster than you can read it.  The longer you work on something, the more behind you will get.” This is how I often felt about using online sources in my papers. I would jump on the University of Guelph website, and find myself going through the databases with about 200-400 research results. Even when I tried to limit the parameters of the search field, I still found myself overwhelmed with information. I always found it easier to do the old library grind of taking about 6-10 books regarding your topic. At least the objects in-front of me are permeable and I know the information within them having something to do with the topic I am currently researching.As I continued reading I stumbled upon a tip that most students usually skip, or just ignore.

“Don’t assume that you are the best person for the job, either.  Ask a librarian for help.  You’ll find that they tend to be nicer, better informed, more helpful and more tech savvy than the people you usually talk to about your work.”

I find this statement completely true. As students we take this resource for granted, and don’t use it as much as we should. Librarians are often the key to the locked up research you just simply can’t find on your own. A door to a broader view of digitization if you will. I wasn’t aware of the specific databases within the field of history, until I finally decided to ask a librarian to point me in the right direction.

“The vast majority of people think that they can type a word or two into Google and choose something from the first page of millions of results”

I find this notion irritating because so many of my colleagues fall into this. Turkel reveals that as a historian or any other type of scholar searching for sources on the internet, you need to be as specific as possible. Even google has advanced search options where you can narrow the search to peer-reviewed, to date, to language and to what type of text it is. As said before, with so much data on the internet, it is only recommended that you be as specific as possible to find the search results you are seeking.

The introduction of Turkel’s blog might be pretty obvious to the “tech swavy” individuals but for scholars who are used to the study of the permeable objects infront of them, need a little guidance along the way. I highly recommend anyone who is just beginning to research through online databases to read William J Turkels blog. http://williamjturkel.net/2011/03/15/going-digital/

 

Biography: December in Nice, France.

My name is Kyle Garland, and I am currently finishing my undergrad at the University of Guelph. I am a fourth year History major and English minor, and I specialize in World War 2 history and Canadian colonial history.

As seen from my photo, I like long walks on the beach and I love to stare into the sunset. Seriously though, my hobbies are playing my guitar, rummaging for World War 2 primary sources, and playing various video games.

My experience in the field of Digital Humanities is quite minimal. Besides from the few online courses I have taken, and researching through the University of Guelph’s website. Its my goal to be more scholarly through the tools we will be learning in the Digital Humanities course, so I can create a database specifically for World War 2 history.

The tide has tu…

The tide has turned.
The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle.
We will accept nothing less than full victory.
Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”

Kyle Garland

University of Guelph: History Major/English Minor

I found this quote appropriate to define my own great undertaking with my first blog. My goal in this course is to create a more modern approach to seek information regarding the history of World War 2. I am graduating from the University of Guelph, where I only attended one World War 2 history course. It was the only one available during my four years of undergrad study. I am hoping to counter this by taking it upon myself by creating an archive of World War 2 history where students who are interested in the subject in the future may gain knowledge on their own time with my database.