For\nthis first module of the course, I thought that there were several important\ntakeaways concerning the value of digital history and the information that can\nbe communicated or derived through such formats. Furthermore, as I\u2019ve worked\nthrough planning, structuring and detailing the first stages of my website on\nOmeka, the topics and material discussed thus far have certainly been helpful\nin determining how my project should move forward. Over the course of these\npast weeks I\u2019ve thought about what I want that site to be able to provide, both\nin terms of the variety of materials to include and the how best to present\nthem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regarding the various subjects and\nissues covered in the readings and the in-class discussions about them, there\nwere several areas that I found to be applicable to the work performed on the\nwebsite. In constructing the first stages of the website, alongside my plans\nfor future work, I\u2019ve been reflecting on the types of questions that I believe\nthe information presented should be able to address, thinking back to discussion\nof whether a digital history project needed to answer anything. The most\nprominent question that arose in relation to my research, and will form a part\nof my final thesis project, is \u2018Why is discussion of the diplomatic and\ninternational aspects of the American Civil War, primarily a domestic conflict,\nimportant to the overall narrative of the conflict?\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A second area that I considered in the process of\nstructuring the website was discussion of the various public archival websites\nand the collection of material. What sort of material did I want to display on\nthe website and how would present it? In my research over the past year, one of\nthe problems I\u2019ve run into with my topic area is how dispersed much of the\nmaterial is online. Documents and information, selectively digitized and\ncompiled across a range of different archives and online repositories, from the\nLibrary of Congress to the Internet Archive, could be limited in what they\ncontained, lacking in contextual information, or else were difficult to find or\nanalyze. These kinds of issues are what I want to avoid with the final website\nproduct for my project, so that it can be useful and easily navigable for\nreferencing primary sources and other materials in the public domain. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Concerning the actual processes and\nwork surrounding the website through Omeka, as well as on the associated WordPress\nsite, I have a couple of thoughts about what I\u2019ve worked on thus far, and where\nI want to go next. First, having never really constructed anything of this\nvariety in an online format before, I\u2019ve found the experience of working on the\ncollections site to be highly engaging. Constructing and organizing collections\nof different items for others utilizing the materials you\u2019ve been referencing\nand analyzing in your own research provides an alternative way of looking at\nthe meaning and significance of the items in question. Interpreting these images\nand documents for an audience besides myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thinking about to work on for future\nstages of the websites, I definitely want to continue to expand upon the items\ncompiled thus far in terms of providing detail and supplementary information\nfor those that currently lack it. Another area for expansion is in the creation\nof additional exhibits utilized current and new materials. Currently, the featured\nexhibit presents a broad narrative of the area of history being explored. What\nI want to do is to create exhibits focusing on some of the more specific areas\nin greater detail, with more in-depth referencing of associated figures,\ndocuments, and imagery. These include views on the role of slavery,\nAnglo-American diplomatic communication, and the perspectives of British\nobservers in American society and as eyewitnesses to the events of the Civil\nWar. In this way, the site can provide informative narratives that can better\nfit the different interests and backgrounds of visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ultimately, the same is true for\nwhat I want to do with the WordPress site, though to a lesser degree. As this\nsite draws upon the same information and materials as the Omeka collection,\nthere will be some similarities at first. As I figure out the right format and\nstructure to use for presenting information through that avenue, that website\nwill be changed to reflect it. Narratives there, at the moment, would be more\ncondensed to various pages and posts until a more effective format is\ndetermined. The desired end goal for this work is a product – or products –\nthat is educational, useful to research, and easy to navigate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\u2019ve worked through planning, structuring and detailing the first stages of my website on Omeka, the topics and material discussed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"post-thumbnail":false,"twentytwenty-fullscreen":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/johnathanseitz.com\/blog\/author\/admin\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"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\u2019ve worked through planning, structuring and detailing the first stages of my website on Omeka, the topics and material discussed…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnathanseitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnathanseitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnathanseitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnathanseitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnathanseitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/johnathanseitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11,"href":"https:\/\/johnathanseitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnathanseitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnathanseitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnathanseitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}