For this first module of the course, I thought that there were several important takeaways concerning the value of digital history and the information that can be communicated or derived through such formats. Furthermore, as I’ve worked through planning, structuring and detailing the first stages of my website on Omeka, the topics and material discussed thus far have certainly been helpful in determining how my project should move forward. Over the course of these past weeks I’ve thought about what I want that site to be able to provide, both in terms of the variety of materials to include and the how best to present them.
Regarding the various subjects and issues covered in the readings and the in-class discussions about them, there were several areas that I found to be applicable to the work performed on the website. In constructing the first stages of the website, alongside my plans for future work, I’ve been reflecting on the types of questions that I believe the information presented should be able to address, thinking back to discussion of whether a digital history project needed to answer anything. The most prominent question that arose in relation to my research, and will form a part of my final thesis project, is ‘Why is discussion of the diplomatic and international aspects of the American Civil War, primarily a domestic conflict, important to the overall narrative of the conflict?’
A second area that I considered in the process of structuring the website was discussion of the various public archival websites and the collection of material. What sort of material did I want to display on the website and how would present it? In my research over the past year, one of the problems I’ve run into with my topic area is how dispersed much of the material is online. Documents and information, selectively digitized and compiled across a range of different archives and online repositories, from the Library of Congress to the Internet Archive, could be limited in what they contained, lacking in contextual information, or else were difficult to find or analyze. These kinds of issues are what I want to avoid with the final website product for my project, so that it can be useful and easily navigable for referencing primary sources and other materials in the public domain.
Concerning the actual processes and work surrounding the website through Omeka, as well as on the associated WordPress site, I have a couple of thoughts about what I’ve worked on thus far, and where I want to go next. First, having never really constructed anything of this variety in an online format before, I’ve found the experience of working on the collections site to be highly engaging. Constructing and organizing collections of different items for others utilizing the materials you’ve been referencing and analyzing in your own research provides an alternative way of looking at the meaning and significance of the items in question. Interpreting these images and documents for an audience besides myself.
Thinking about to work on for future stages of the websites, I definitely want to continue to expand upon the items compiled thus far in terms of providing detail and supplementary information for those that currently lack it. Another area for expansion is in the creation of additional exhibits utilized current and new materials. Currently, the featured exhibit presents a broad narrative of the area of history being explored. What I want to do is to create exhibits focusing on some of the more specific areas in greater detail, with more in-depth referencing of associated figures, documents, and imagery. These include views on the role of slavery, Anglo-American diplomatic communication, and the perspectives of British observers in American society and as eyewitnesses to the events of the Civil War. In this way, the site can provide informative narratives that can better fit the different interests and backgrounds of visitors.
Ultimately, the same is true for what I want to do with the WordPress site, though to a lesser degree. As this site draws upon the same information and materials as the Omeka collection, there will be some similarities at first. As I figure out the right format and structure to use for presenting information through that avenue, that website will be changed to reflect it. Narratives there, at the moment, would be more condensed to various pages and posts until a more effective format is determined. The desired end goal for this work is a product – or products – that is educational, useful to research, and easy to navigate.
