Last semester, we read about the evolution of the digital humanities from computing humanities through today and the myriad types of projects in the digital public humanities today. In digital public history, willingness to embrace and adapt to change keeps projects vibrant and engaging. Even the venerable Valley of the Shadow has archived its early versions in favor of new, improved version that with improvements in user interfaces to allow for usage on a variety of devices and screen sizes. The updated version recognizes that the audience for digital public history and the preferred means of accessing projects has fundamentally changed. Digital public history projects are taking advantage of advancement in mapping, data and methods of public engagement to adapt and thrive.
Mapping and geolocation have added both increased visualization of space and distance as well as engaging audiences in an immediate and tangible way. Mapping, combined with data analytics, has driven projects that allow better visualization of concepts and ideas. Digital public history projects can also use a combination of mapping and geolocation to develop projects that engage the community at an individual level. Histories of the National Mall is an example of this, offering a personalized deep dive into the events, people and places surrounding the popular site. The potential to add curated, interactive tours or QR codes to encourage further exploration brings the project or historic site to life for users.
Data visualization programs aid in the understanding of large amounts of data, and the identification of patterns or outliers of interest of a dataset. While the dataset is still offered for review, visualizations help the larger audience evaluate the argument. Combined with mapping, data visualizations enable digital projects to create more interactivity for their desired audience.
Digital public history projects are also making use of many of the ways people continue learning outside a classroom from podcasts to TikTok(possibly about to become history itself) and YouTube. X, Blusky, and Reddit, for better or worse, allow discourse on ideas and research. Social media comes with its own problems, but also creates an opportunity to engage audiences in creative ways. Having been startled by the opening soundscape of Worlds Turned Upside Down’s first episode, I was invested in the story quickly, after I confirmed the sounds I was hearing were the episode, not someone stalking pre-dawn dog walking.
The challenge will not be embracing changes, but deciding how and what public history projects are adapted to those changes, and which are left to fade away.
