When I applied to the doctoral program here, I knew that I wanted to ultimately create a digital project that included narrative and interpretation, maps, access to primary evidence, and some other things… The problem was that I had a half-visualization of what I wanted to do. Thanks to this website, I now have something like a three-quarters visualization of what I want to produce. I really loved the Thomas and Ayers website! It took me a little while to figure out how to properly navigate the site without missing anything, so I think that I would have included instructions or a more clear path, but this is not a significant criticism.
I loved the way the site was setup. The design gave me ideas of what I can do with my work and legitimated the ideas that I had and was not wholly sure about. I like the way that the primary evidence was not only referenced, but available to view. I think that this is a very important component of the “democratization” of history. A presentation like this offers the presenting historians’ persepectives and interprestations, but also offers all of the evidence used to form those interpretations. This gives the visitors of the websites the ability to form their own opinions about the evidence, which is something that has not been so easy for non-historians in the past. The evidence has always been there, but wiht this type of presentation, people don’t have to travel or research anything. (I did find at least one link that was not good anymore) The use of maps for interpretation and their presentation was great; I was very happy to see this because, despite the fact that maps can be very useful in history, it seems that thier acknowledged use has been too slight in the recent past. I imagine a more interactive map presentation in my work, somethign that dominates the discussion a bit more, but I have not put all of this together in my mind yet. I wonder also if Thomas and Ayers hhad included the ability to contact them with alternate views or ideas, or furhter supporting ideas, if such a feature would be used or appreciated at all. Overall, this was very interesting and inspiring. I now have a greater understanding of what I want to do and confidence in what I can do.
