"Connecting" to the Past

I'm currently working on transcribing and editing the diary of a First World War soldier. The entire process has been fascinating and a poignant experience of how the past can be so easily brought to life in the present. This is my first experience approaching a research project using digital resources to assist in the completion of my work, and it has yielded some pretty exciting results. I am working from the scanned images of a primary document, which allows me greater freedom with the document - I'm not confined to an archive and can use a pen if I want to! - without losing the critical feeling and experience of working with a genuine artifact. In addition to ensuring this wonderful document is preserved in the event something happens to the original, having the diary digitized also means I have been able to make my own copy.

Now that I've moved on to the editing (which includes adding footnotes and creating a glossary to establish context/location and explain some of the slang/terminology used by soldiers in the War), the internet has proven to be an invaluable resource. There are innumerable articles, books, and collections online that have made the answers and information I'm looking for available with ease and without cost. I've been able to cross-reference the information I've found in books with what I've found online to gain a more accurate perspective of this man's experience, and what of his story I need to help tell to make it relevant and understandable to a present-day reader.

I've also been able to find more out about who this man was because of the incredible volume of open source primary documents available online. At Library and Archives Canada, I was able to view and print his Attestation papers, which document the details of his enlistment and offer amazing insight into his personal situation as well as the tenure of the times. The most exciting thing however, happened a couple of weeks ago when I was reading an entry in his diary where he talks about being awarded a medal for what he did at Passchendaele. Ever the modest soldier, he doesn't provide any details about what he did in battle to receive this decoration, but this only incensed my curiousity. I googled his name and the type of medal he won and found myself at the Library and Archives UK site, where I was given the option of viewing the original record of his medal win for £2. After being tempted by this jackpot information find, it took little convincing to enter in my visa number. Within 30 seconds, I received an email thanking me for my support and containing the link to access my document for 52 days with the ability to print it out.

Being able to see these original documents without having to leave the house or the country for that matter, is such an amazing thing. The technology available today can so effectively be used to complement or dare I say supplement, traditional methods of research. It gives historians access to things that would otherwise be unreachable and thus lost as sources for our work. To experience all these different research methods come together has been, for lack of a better word, really cool. Digitization has made possible a final product that would otherwise have been impossible for me to create. Through the internet, the present has actually become one of history's greatest allies.

Seeking the Truth and finding it in the most unexpected places

Today a colleague and I made the trip to Chatham to visit the Black Heritage Room, a small museum that explores black heritage and history in Chatham. Waking up before the sun and making the drive along the 401 to the small Southwestern Ontario town, we weren't sure (other than Tim Horton's and McDonald's) what the visit would entail. What we found was an impressive small museum built of love, dedication, and hard work. As part of our visit, we were lucky enough to meet and interview self-made historian Gwen Robinson, a woman whose contribution to history is both incredible and noteworthy. Sparked by an interest in her family history and her son's request for assistance on a research paper, Gwen started researching and has never looked back. She is a living example of public history in practice, and the power and accomplishment that can be achieved through a passion for the past. Speaking with her and hearing the stories she has to tell makes it clear that she is a treasure to her community and to the field of history.

Frustrated that black history in Chatham was without a voice, a victim of selective history and the colour barrier, Gwen has dedicated the last 40 years to changing the face of history in Chatham. Her book, Seeking the Truth: A Story of Chatham's Black Community is a commendable achievement and the first book to tell this story. She has brought to life a history that might otherwise have been forgotten, and created the opportunity for people to understand and learn about a fascinating part of Canadian black history. I hesitate to call Gwen an amateur historian after hearing her speak and seeing shelf after shelf full of her research, but for the sake of this post, I will stick to the term, because I want to highlight the possibilities in history that are available to everyone.

Public history and particularly digital history, place a lot of emphasis on accessibility, and Gwen's achievements prove just how close to history the public can become. History of all kinds is out there waiting to be found. With interest, passion, and a dedication to "seeking the truth," anyone is capable of finding it.

If it's inspiration you're looking for, go meet Gwen Robinson and explore the Black Heritage Room. It's worth the drive to Chatham.

The Will to Remember

“To you from failing hands/ we throw the torch/ be yours to hold it high.”

90 years after the end of the First World War, only one Canadian veteran remains alive, and with him, the war will pass from living memory. Monuments, plaques and literature have already been created to ensure the veterans of the Great War are not forgotten in the physical world. But as the event fades further into the past, it becomes our responsibility to preserve their memory in our present and future consciousness by engaging with history and in active remembrance. Now, it is our turn.

War is a horrible thing, but remembrance cannot be clouded by contemporary interpretations of contemporary wars. Concepts of honour, courage, liberty, truth and justice are tainted by post-modern cynicism, but to past generations, these values were real and they were everything worth fighting for, worth dying for. Part of remembrance is accepting the truth of the past, even if it does not exist the same way in the present. Knowledge of the war that defended and preserved the civilization we know today and of the beliefs that forged nations and led people to fight, deeply enrich our modern existence and provide a constructive reminder of the capabilities of human good and evil.

In the now, it is essential that people understand that supporting our troops and veterans does not mean supporting war, and that the meaning of remembrance should not be distorted through a modern looking glass. Future generations need to be told about our history and the events that shaped our nation. They should know about the sacrifice made by so many Canadians and about the unimaginable impact of total war. They should know to be thankful for their freedoms, for their youth, and for the opportunities of their future. They should know it is a luxury to be able to take these things for granted, to expect them. They should know that history has not been as kind to past generations, and they should know that through remembrance, we have the chance to say thank you.

They had the courage to sacrifice their lives, so we must have the will to Remember.

Google as personal assistant

When the subject of information tracking comes up, it often invokes a reaction full of words like "frightening," "creepy" and "scary." I however, tend to react with "awesome," "convenient" and "useful."

We've all dreamed of being rich and famous enough to have a personal assistant to go fetch us a coffee or a good book when we don't have the time or desire to do it ourselves. The city of New York relies upon the existence of 24 hour convenience stores that deliver (insert "awesome" here) to answer the desires of people who need that bag of chips at 3am. Information tracking on the internet is really no different, yet because it involves technology (and thus some insidious plot for world domination) people are suspicious and tend to freak out and cry privacy violation and everyone's favourite thing to fear (GASP!) identity theft. People already rent dvds, buy books, clothes, music and more online - most of us have already succumbed to the romance of convenience and in doing so, have volunteered personal information as part of the exchange. Why this is such a big deal, I just can't understand. The internet having the information required to recommend books or music that I'd like doesn't mean any personal and/or private lines have been crossed. If the internet knows what I like to read and listen to, it doesn't mean it knows me. It doesn't mean it somehow knows my deepest, darkest secrets (except perhaps that I think Buffy is the greatest show of all time) and what's really going on in my life. Also, the internet's not alive, so why people care if it knows things that will make your life so much easier is beyond me. I mean, I get it, but I don't get it. Because of the abundance of information on the internet, information tracking is a godsend. If I had to sit down and go through all the books and music on amazon and itunes without having any tools to assist me, I'd get frustrated and give up. The tools available on these sites that are made possible by information tracking are essential to their function and popularity. What would be the point of them if they couldn't offer you an experience that differed from that which you'd get in a traditional store?

The last point I want to address is the idea that the internet is making us lazy. I disagree. There is a big difference between being lazy and just not wanting to. We all spend a lot of time doing things we don't want because we have to, so when you have the option not to do something you don't want to do, why would you do it anyway? It also makes absolutely no sense to do something the hard way, when an easier, more efficient way is available. It's kind of like choosing to take the train from London to Toronto that takes over 3 hours instead of the one that takes 2 hours or doing all your banking at the branch instead of online - why, why, WHY would anyone choose to do this?!

So when I find a book in the google library that would otherwise have required I go to Huron to get it, I will happily use the google library. When I buy an album on itunes and it recommends other things to me, I will listen. When my ipod shuffles songs based upon how much it knows I love them, it makes me happy. Information tracking is awesome and does so many fantastic things that I could, but would prefer not to live without. I often smile at the genius of my computer and I look forward to the day that I get a text on my phone reminding me to get milk and letting me know I can get said milk right around the corner.

Books and the internet: BFF's

"The web will illuminate rather than eliminate books." Kudos to Anthony Grafton for a line that is all at once simple and movingly expressive. Of all the readings last week, this one stood out for me because it really made me think. As someone who sometimes struggles to reconcile her immense love of books with her pro-digital opinions, I was impressed and encouraged by this article because it didn't approach the two as though they are automatically engaged in a gladiator fight to the death. In addition to being a really well crafted and well written piece, I thought it presented a balanced, realistic and positive opinion regarding the latest in Google-gate scandals. Perhaps I enjoyed it so much because like me, the author LOVES books, but I think what really struck me was that he was able to support the digitization of books without any kind of traitorous escape from Camp Book.

I'll admit, my first reaction to the Google Library went something like an old school (think Adam West) comic book word bubble, "Zap! Egads! Ack!" So here goes.....My name is Natalie and I regret to inform you that I was not initially fond of the idea of Google scanning all the books in the world. My knee-jerk reaction was that of many, which was to fear for the loss of the book and therefore hate whatever suggests changing anything. My reaction speaks ironic volumes about both my belief in books and my trust of the internet.

I adore and respect books and often think the world would be a better place if everyone spent more time reading. There is something magic about interacting with a book, when words on a page are powerful enough to transport you to another world. There is an intimacy in being absorbed by a book, when the ideas of another person are capable of conjuring meaning for so many. There is also something about being able to possess a book because it is physically present. You can own a book and it can tell you a lifetime of stories, but you can't own the internet (unless maybe you're Google) and possess the information it provides as your own.

The ying to my fear yang was my suspicion that the internet would indeed eliminate physical books in many people's lives and that we'd end up with too many people who had never experienced reading an actual book, who would then lose touch with an essential part of humanity and we'd then lose a huge part of our cultural identity and civilization would be doomed. The Grafton article extracted me from this burning Orwellian train of thought and made me look at the whole thing from a really different perspective.

I have now stopped secretly wishing the Google Library gets taken down Enron-style by copyright red tape, only to have a spiteful book written about its demise. I just had to go beyond my already conditioned opinions and look at the whole thing objectively, realizing that in fact, I could be one of the first to throw pro-Google Library parties at Camp Book. So here I stand, reformed. Books and the internet aren't against each other and they aren't to be compared. One isn't better than the other, they're just inherently different and provide two distinct experiences with the written word. Ultimately, if it's a book or a computer screen, I should just be really happy that people are reading.

So the moral of this blogging is, enter the digital dimension with the idea of turning differences into strengths and try and understand the ways that books and the internet complement rather compete with one another. I had this really profound line about "illuminating, not eliminating" but then this Anthony Grafton character up and got to it first;)

Luddite

As I've been doing the readings for class this week, I can't help but smirk at the fact that it seems they've been written just for me. I'll admit, it has taken me much longer to get through the online readings than it would have if they were on good ol' fashioned paper. I'm having a hard time processing that my academic resources are entirely online and find myself in a place where I need to do a total overhaul of my reading and studying habits, which is freaking me out a little. Gone is my trusty pen or highlighter, which I have faithfully used to underline important points in readings and write my thoughts and comments in the margins. I'm so thrown off, in fact, that I'm not sure if I should be taking notes at all or if, like the usual material I read online, I'm just supposed to come away from it with whatever my mind chose to retain.

I am a true believer in the points made in the readings about historians needing to interpret new technology and be the connector between the past and the present audience. I also think it's hugely important for the survival of our discipline because the world won't stop becoming increasingly digitized, so if we fail to hop on that train, our knowledge could be confined to a minority of people, when it has the potential to reach mass audiences. That is exactly why I chose this program and why I think it has an edge over the rest. That said, I like books and I miss them.

It's challenging enough coming back to school after four years in the working world and away from this routine. It's even harder to arrive and find that all my previous student skills and experience seem to be in need of a serious update for which I received no auto-notification on my computer screen! I'm just learning that I can't be a history student the way I used to be. Things have changed that much and that fast. Difficult as the initial adjustment period might be, I think this only further illuminates the importance, or perhaps more accurately, the necessity for learning about digital history and what new media has to offer us as historians.

The Power of the Past: The message is more important than the means

After spending the last month or so living a nomadic lifestyle, what seemed like a state of eternal moving has come to an end and I finally got settled in my new apartment. After a few days, I was apparently lost without the thrill of living out of a suitcase and having no idea where many of my personal possessions were, so I got packed again and went back to Toronto for the weekend. The main reason was to go to the Virgin Music Festival, but I also worry that I've developed some sort of sadistic addiction to moving, as though I don't recognize myself unless my shins are covered in Ikea furniture-inflicted bruises.

While I was at home, I had the chance to catch up with the goings on at the film festival, particularly with regard to Passchendaele (which I am Matrix-level excited to see). After forcing myself to move on from my nostalgia for last year's festival (where thanks to a well-connected friend, I got to go to all the galas and parties and thus spent 13 days straight having more free food and drinks and less sleep than I ever thought possible), I turned my focus to looking further into the most expensive movie ever made in Canada (an unheard of 20 million bucks). The force of nature behind this film - Paul Gross - is an impressive guy and a great Canadian. I say this not only because he played a mountie and a soldier and isn't especially hard on the eyes, but because he single-handedly fought to have this film made and therein for Canadian history to have a voice in the public realm.

I got to thinking about the various stages that he went through in order to make this film and was pleased and impressed to find that there was an element of public history in all of them. His inspiration came from his grandfather and therefore having the experience of the Great War within living memory. History certainly resonates far more in the mind when its being told as a first-person account. This motivated him to learn more and most importantly, to respect and honour not only the soldiers who gave their lives in the war, but the value that event has to all Canadians as a part of our history and a defining moment in nationhood. I always say that as a human being, the most important part of history is not memorizing dates and facts, but to feel history, to connect emotionally with the events of the past, from which one can develop an understanding of human experience and why history matters. Not everyone can be (or wants to be) a historian in the academic sense, but I think everyone is capable of feeling history, because human emotions have remained pretty much the same throughout time - love is joy and death is sadness. It's for this reason that I see great value in film and television as a way to make people see and feel the power of the past. For all the criticism - much of it warranted - that pop history receives, it is arguably the most effective and accessible way to communicate historical information to the public. Because of this movie, many people will feel something and learn something about Canadian history that they may otherwise never have known. What they see might tweak their interest and inspire them to pursue further learning. I think this potential is incredible and something historians must acknowledge as a necessity in the field as the world becomes ever more digitized and impersonal.

I wanted to urge everyone to check out the website for Passchendaele as it is a brilliant example of both public history and digital history. Paul Gross has posted all his grandfather's letters from during the war, has a blog that he wrote throughout the filming of the movie and has interactive programs to give kids an incentive to learn about the war and how people felt during that time. There's the opportunity for kids to write their own letter from the front as they'd imagine it and vivid before and after pictures of the farmland/battlefields of WW1. In doing further research, I found out that in addition to doing it because it mattered very much to him to get the info out to people, the detail put into the website was a tool he used to raise the money needed to make the film. He met with Canada's richest people and as many people from the government as he could and used the website to show them why this movie needed to be made and thus why they should give him the money to make it. This is a whole other avenue of public history and one particularly relevant to this class. This film has come at a really good time for those of us in the program as it's a really good example of public history and digital history in practice as well as a great example of what passion and perseverance in history can accomplish.

So it begins...

Hello all. Well, after staring at a blank page for a while, it seems I have no choice but to beat the blinking cursor by dwelling for a moment, in my own irony; I generally can't shut up and yet, as I start this blog, I find myself oddly at a loss for words. My experience blogging has thus far been limited to killing time at work by going to random and anonymous internet sites (ok, fine...usmagazine.com may or may not have come up once or twice) and commenting on the latest escapades of some vapid celebrity, with the sole intention to invoke an extremely amusing grammatical disaster of a response from someone on "Team Aniston." Aside from there being no birth of twins or undergarment absenteeism to comment on, I think my current "bloggers block" is because I'm not entirely sure whether to go with a trusty stream of consciousness approach or attempt to present some deeply philosophical and profound statement about the relationship between history and new technologies. Truth be told, the latter option is a far more demanding task than I'm willing to entertain at present, so I guess I'll save that for later and just stick to the basics:

I'm really excited to take this class and learn about a whole new dimension to the study of history. I am also eager to improve my (admittedly) rudimentary tech skills, as I expect that advanced knowledge of ipod and blackberry operation doesn't qualify me for any IT positions outside the Best Buy sales team. As appealing as that 40% discount is, I think this is going to be a great class and I look forward to meeting everyone.

In closing, it seems I didn't end up having any trouble finding words after all, lol.