With my work now, I try to share engaging and unexpected stories — history that will catch people’s attention — and then connect those stories to their broader historical context. The story of the Toronto Circus Riot for instance — sparked by a brawl between clowns and firefighters at a downtown brothel — has a lot to teach us about the influence of the Orange Order and systems of power in Victorian Toronto. My hope is that if I can catch someone’s attention, provide them with some of that broader context, and point them toward the work of historians who’ve explored that context more deeply, that person might be curious enough to want to carry on learning more.
Sara Wilmshurst This post continues my conversation with Corey Slumkoski (Acadiensis Blog), Tom Peace (Active History), Samia Dumais (Histoire Engagée), and Jessica DeWitt (NiCHE’s The Otter – La Loutre). For more, see our series page of Essays on the Future of Knowledge Mobilization and Public History Online. SW: Which challenges does your project face today? TP (AH): Relevance. Active History… Read more »
Sara Wilmshurst After the Future of Knowledge Mobilization and Public History Online workshop in August 2024, I wanted to hear more about each project’s history, structure, and plans for the future. Workshop participants Corey Slumkoski (Acadiensis Blog), Tom Peace (Active History), Samia Dumais (Histoire Engagée), and Jessica DeWitt (NiCHE’s The Otter – La Loutre) kindly answered my questions. For more,… Read more »
Commercial DNA tests have had many different impacts, from confirming existing research, breaking down brick walls, and uncovering long-hidden family secrets. DNA has become an essential component of genealogical research.
In August 2024 representatives from multiple online history projects, universities, and public history institutions met in London to discuss key topics in online knowledge mobilization. Over the next several months attendees will publish essays reflecting on the topics we discussed. In the meantime, here are some open-access resources that intersect with workshop content.
To the extent that we as historians accept as settled the first order questions about AI and instead opt to talk about nuanced details of implementation, I think we risk a very serious mistake. Here, then, I want to publicly state my view of AI and its use in history, and to do so without any qualification. I hate AI.
Herding dog behaviors originated from the hunting instincts of a wolf pack to chase, surround, and kill their prey. The human shepherd was able to redirect and utilize these instincts for their own survival and profit.
In fairness to LAC, I recognize that their problems are rooted in chronic underfunding. That and a succession of governments measuring their success with inappropriate metrics. While wishing that management had made different choices under the pressure of inadequate financing, I also wish they were not forced to choose between outreach and basic archival services.
It is as if LAC had shoveled its digitized material out into a virtual dumpster and invited researchers to dive in. There are indeed treasures to be found here, but systematic research is out of the question.
(Editor’s note: Today marks the start of International Open Access Week 2023. Four years ago we published this post by editor Krista McCracken, explaining why open access is a core value of their work as a historian, educator, and archivist. “Where we publish matters,” argues McCracken, particularly when we work with communities or for non-academic audiences. That commitment to access… Read more »
