1) Some creative uses of the tools we’ve learned about so far. [e.g., how might you use Zotero for something other than citation/research? What could a WordPress blog be used for other than personal reflection? What creative ways can you think of to use Omeka? How might you use these tools in combination with each other or with others you’ve used outside of class. [Be playful with your ideas here.]]
Although I have never used Zotero before, I have definitely used WordPress blog in the past. In addition to using WordPress for personal reflection purposes, I believe that a WordPress site could be used for a small/local business or restaurant website. The WordPress blog is user friendly platform for people who are creating a website that might not have a lot of experience with digital technology. Another benefit of WordPress is that it is easy to navigate for internet users. Omeka can be used for a museum collection, a library collection, and for learning and teaching school curriculum.
2) Based on your review of the Digital History websites above: Think about what you like about these websites as a whole, and what you don’t. What works and what doesn’t? What elements would you want to incorporate and which do you want to avoid in your own project?
For the second part of the assignment, I looked at six Digital history websites including: Great Molasses Flood, Map Scholar University of Huston Digital History, Emile Davis Diaries, UNC and the Omeka based cite The Civil War in Art website at http://www.civilwarinart.org
- Great Molasses Flood
- Pros: The website’s first page is a front page of a newspaper with many words, letters and titles that you can click on for more information about the historic event. The bright color of the clickable information on the first page makes the website visually appealing and it encourages internet users to interact with the website.
- Cons:As a Mac user, the website felt unnatural and uncomfortable to navigate.The information provided on the page was not well organized and became very cluttered if you clicked on multiple links on the home page for more information.
- Map Scholar
- Pros: Great Resource for cartographers and geographers, easy to navigate and provides links to instructions o to create your own Map Scholar collection online. The news tab provides updated information about map collections, map news and map resources.
- Cons: Website could be more visually appealing and creative
- University of Huston Digital History
- Pros: Website is visually appealing, well organized and provides a link to printable versions of web pages. Has a plethora of resources including primary and secondary sources, images, audio clips, movie trailers, links to additional information and quizzes for students.
- Cons: Many of the links open up a new window that is not connected to the main website. Therefore, a internet user has to keep the main website page open at all times.
- Emile Davis Diaries
- Pros:Easy to navigate. Emile’s diary entries are easy to locate on the front page and web designers allow internet users to write comments about Emile’s daily diary entires. Visually appealing and professional.
- Cons: Very little critical analysis or historical context is provided in addition to the diary entires.
- UNC Chapel Hill
- Pros: Links are at the top of the page therefore, it is easy to navigate for internet users and has a very simple design.
- Cons: Boring color scheme, unimaginative design and an overall lack of creativity.Projects under the heading “projects” are not centered around a common theme.
- #1 Omeka Based Site: The Civil War in Art
- Pros: A search box is provided on the first page with links to social media sites.Visually appealing and creative. Includes text, primary documents (text and pictures), teaching resources and suggestions for educators, a glossary of terms for students and additional links to more information about the topic. Suggested links on sub-topic pages. Tags are used to help people find specific information.
- Cons:Some exhibit pages only provide a few paragraphs about the specific sub-topic.
