Some while ago, I wrote up my thoughts on being public intellectuals in the new digital age. I had always meant my 'manifesto' to serve as an introduction to a larger piece on digital history - that I would try and get published. I wrote parts of this larger piece and presented it at a conference in Madison - but I have been severely distracted since then. And, it may have sat unfinished forever.
But recently, I got an email from Paula Petrik, Professor at George Mason University and a true inspiration for us digital historians, that she had assigned my manifesto to her graduate class, History and New Media, and that her students had responded enthusiastically. First of all, let me just ask history teachers everywhere to visit that class site and go over the syllabus to see a great example of successful incorporation of blogs/digital media in the class.
With some trepidition, I visited the class blogs to see what they said. You can read Bill's Waiting on Abdulhamid II, Jenny's History Polyglot: How to Translate or Interpret in a Digital World, Historiarum's I'd Love to Take a Public Beating, Misha's Thank you, Sepoy, and Laura's Three Cheers for Digital History. I found the comments to be probing, provacative and interesting and it made me realize that I really need to finish the second half of the manifesto.
But it wasn't until I read that the good people at Progressive Historians - a ribald bunch of troublemakers, also liked the manifesto that I really cemented my resolve to write this weekend.
Long Live Digital History.
I'm glad we convinced you. :) The work you're doing here is excellent and critically important -- the profession as a whole will benefit greatly the more you can get this out there and get people talking about polyglotism in digital media. Thanks for this.
I didn't realize that there was going to be more! I'm beyond thrilled!