Case Statement - National Council on Public History

encourage students to think critically about how historical scholarship is produced online
and to furnish them with the tools and theoretical training necessary to complete quality
work in a digital environment. However, determining broader learning goals and outcomes
might include asking the following set of “who, what, where, when, why” questions: Who is
producing and consuming digital history content? What types of web projects, forms, and
genres constitute digital history? Where are these approaches taking place? When did
historians start thinking seriously about doing history digitally? Why is it important for
historians, and public historians in particular, to develop well-rounded digital history skillsets?
First, educators need to clarify for students that any scholar can become a digital
historian with a little patience, effort, and humility. This includes those with limited
technological skill-sets (like myself) who may serve more as project managers that utilize
the talents of other tech-professionals, such as graphic designers and web developers, to
complete their work. By nature, digital history is collaborative, interdisciplinary, and relies
on shared authority to succeed. Therefore, history departments located outside of “digitalrich”
campuses, like George Mason or CUNY, should encourage students to partner with
other programs tracking similar digital outcomes. Moreover, educators must communicate
the significance of “knowing one’s audience” before assigning projects that incorporate
multiple stages of production. Like most public history endeavors, one’s target audience
will determine the size, shape, and scope of their work.
Second, educators ought to convey what actually constitutes digital historical work.
This includes everything from the building of electronic databases and online museum
exhibitions to the creation of open-source web applications used by historians and other
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