I had read about the discussion pages of Wikipedia before. The AV Club (the non fake part of The Onion) does a weekly list of things called Inventory. A little while back they wrote about “Surprisingly Controversial Wikipedia Articles“, what they find controversial about the articles is based on the discussion pages of the articles. Some pretty funny stuff.
Anyway I checked out some highlights of Irish History, including Michael Collins, The Easter Rising, and Kilmainham Gaol. Kilmainham was pretty timid, a very short discussion over whether it should be “JAIL” or “GAOL” (they settled on Gaol). Michael Collins, however was another story. A heated battle raged over the make up of the Irish Free State Army, as well as citation for those facts, two editors were fighting like pretentious high schoolers. It made for some amusing reading. The Easter Rising was by far the longest, with 59 issues in the table of contents ranging from the wording of the intro, to the causes of the event itself. The arguments that ensued were again, very amusing.
…you take them both and there you have The Facts of Life, the Facts of Life.
I heard that somewhere. anyway here are two good websites and two bad websites.
THE GOOD: My favorite was the Imaginary 20th Century website. I am currently unable to access it, so I can’t give specifics, but I remember it having a very original design and was easy to use. I also really enjoyed the content.
As much as I dislike Vergara’s work, I have to say that his website is the very good. The design and ease of use outshines all of the others, there could be a little more contrast though. But I guess you get what you pay for.
Honorable Mention: The Animated Atlas of African History. I really like the potential of this website. If they could figure out a clear way to instruct visitor on the site’s use, it would put the site higher on my list.
THE BAD: The Euclid Corridor History Project had little or no instruction and unless you read the very small text in the upper left corner, or were from Cleveland, you would know that you were in Ohio. This is an easy fix though and an introduction panel could make this a great website.
I enjoyed the Out History page when I first saw it, but upon further examination, isn’t it just Wikipedia with a different skin?
Dishonorable Mention: Not sure if we covered this in class, and I have never made a website or put any kind of content online, but I feel like I could have created a website like the Indian Woods Project…when I was 12.
Also Shay’s Rebellion is a small Boston area band. They’re alright.
http://www.myspace.com/shaysrebellion4
I feel like the Shay’s Rebellion website was created by too many people each with too much to contribute. There needs to be a clear path to take upon entering the website. I would get rid of the front page and start with the “Historic Scenes” page. The six other icons on the front page are already linked to throughout historic scenes anyway. I would leave the top menu bar to aid as a navigation tool.
I have no idea what I am going to do for this project. My interest is in early 20th century Irish history. I don’t know what I could create that would qualify as a “digital historical resource”. Maybe one of thos elementary websites taht we looked at last night (like the Jacobite or Uboat sites) but I have a feeling that Dr. Cohen is looking for a little more than that. I don’t have any kind of archive of documents or anything so I don’t think that I data base would work very well. I do have a fair amount of books on the subject so perhaps an online bibliography for the time period…but I doubt that would be enough. Any thoughts?
We all know what happens when you assume… Errol Morris takes Susan Sontag and then Ulrich Keller to task for their positions on Roger Fenton’s two photographs from Crimea. I said to myself the same thing as Ann Petrone, who works in Morris’ office: the so called sommonsense solution, “Perhaps he needed to clear the road in order to get his van through.”
It is interesting that Morris is able to find so many experts on the picture and photographer, and that they are so divided on the issue. The more opinions that I read, the more divided I become.
Throughout part one I keep waiting for a CSI-style photo treatment. Checking out the shadows and plotting the arc of the sun for that date and comparing it with the supposed time of say that the pictures were taken…you know, like the moon landing sceptics did.
FOR GOD’S SAKE ERROL! HOW CAN YOU KEEP US IN THE DARK THIS LONG?! I NEED TO KNOW WHICH PICTURE WAS TAKEN FIRST! You sir, are a master of suspense. Hopefully parts two and three will yield a few more answers.
P.S. Couldn’t Morris have done a little editing on these interview transcripts? I don’t need to know about his dog or the guy who is fixing the printer.
P.P.S. Has anyone ever seen GMU professor Dan Cohen and actor Matt Winston in the same room together? I think they’re the same person. Just something to think about.
I came across this link in a tweet by ESPN columnist Bill Simmons. It is an interesting piece telling about how a blogger had his story stolen by the New York Times. Short and worth the read. http://thecomicscomic.typepad.com/thecomicscomic/2009/09/nytimes-as-borg-assimilating-my-snl-story-resistance-futile.html
English may not be Manovich’s first language, but does publishing his work online mean that it doesn’t get checked over for spelling errors? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills. Oh wait, maybe he was just stating over and over again the plural of continuo, which according to Webster’s is “a bass part (as for a keyboard or stringed instrument) used especially in baroque ensemble music and consisting of a succession of bass notes with figures that indicate the required chords”. Maybe that’s the case. I don’t know.
On a more serious note, I really enjoyed the perspective that so many advancements have lead up to the realm of new media. I never thought of anything being built in 1833 as a computer, but I guess that is what Babbage’s Analytical Engine is: A computing device.
