Recreating Historical Landscapes: Vimy Ridge Memorial

There was sleet that morning but that was hardly an excuse for the newly formed Canadian Corps to yield their assault on German lines at Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917. Weeks of preparation had gone into that moment and, despite the weather, nothing was about to stop the attack. Since that fateful day when the Canadian Corps took the ridge, the landscape in northern France has changed from the muddy, water-filled craters and trenches to that of memorial. However, it has also captured the results of the war, preserving those trenches and encapsulating the cost of war with the colossal monument. Some may never have the opportunity to visit the historic national site but with the aid of digital technology, users of history will still be able to view and study it with the hopes of gaining a general understanding of the memorial park. Such an example of this use of technology was created for a project in Western University's History 9808: Digital History course. The methods used for its creation, the benefits and limitations of using said methods, and the story that was created through the curating of primary sources will be discussed further below.

The goal of the project was to compare the modern day landscape to the terrain that the soldiers of the First World War faced. The images were selected with the intent of conveying the way the historical landscape has changed over the last 96 years from a battlefield to that of a mingled landscape, containing both memorialization and reflections of the past.  However, articulating this change was not the only story being told through the digitization of Vimy Ridge. A social history was created by using only images of the battle from the perspective of a soldier instead of utilizing only aerial shots which would have ignored the purpose and significance of the Vimy Ridge site. To properly articulate that story, certain digital tools had to be utilized.

The project was created using a number of digital resources, the most prominent being Trimble’s Sketchup. Sketchup is a 3D modeling program which allows users to design and recreate buildings or landscapes. In the case of Vimy Ridge, the monument had been previously built and stored in the 3D warehouse (Figure 1 and 2). This allowed for more time to be given to recreating the surrounding landscape of the memorial park and the preserved trench system. Although it was challenging to learn all the tricks to the program, Sketchup provides a medium for historians to recreate historical landmarks and display the results in a digestible format as seen in the video below. However the project would not have been nearly as successful had it not been for the digitizing of Library and Archives Canada’s holdings of Vimy Ridge photographs. Without the digitization of these photographs, the project would not have contained the comparative aspect that brings purpose to the 3D model of the ridge. Finally, the use of this blog makes the findings and comparisons accessible to those who wish to seek it out and use it, a method of sharing that academics are wary to use but provides the most traction for spreading ideas on a wide basis.

Figure 1: 3D model of the back of the Vimy Ridge Monument. Found in the Trimble 3D warehouse.

Figure 2: 3D Model of the front of the Vimy Ridge Monument. Geo-referenced through Sketchup.

This is what the final product looked like: 

Picture 1: Canadian troops advance up the ridge through barbed wire and under artillery fire.

Picture 2: Canadian pioneers fell trees in the post-battlefield.

Picture 3: Artillery was used to smash through the wire before the battle to ease the advancement of troops.

Picture 4: Canadian troops advance over the crest of the ridge. Picture taken from either a trench or a crater.

Picture 5: Canadian troops search German trenches for enemy soldiers. Note the amount of water in the trench.

Picture 6 and 7: View of Petit Vimy and the battlefield to the east from the ridge.

As noted above, the purpose of the project was to show the difference between 1917 and 2013 landscapes. The animations seen in the video were meant to highlight the selected photographs and show the change sustained by panning past the photograph to show the 3D landscape. Particular features that I wished to address were the reforestation project the Canadian government undertook (seen in Figure 3), the change that the trenches experienced through their preservation (Figure 4) and the destruction of war versus the memorialization of the past (examples in Figures 5 and 6).

Figure 3: Reforestation project undertaken by the Canadian government to replenish the destruction French forests suffered.

Figure 4: Preserved trench system to the south west of the monument

Figure 5: Land covered in barbed wire with explosion; Vimy Ridge Memorial in the background.

Figure 6: Artillery bombardment to break up barbed wire with the grass and tree covered ridge in the background.

However it must be acknowledged that digitally reconstructing historical sites provides limitations. The first is the difficulties of retaining accuracy. In the case of Vimy Ridge, there was no way to visit the site and measure the trench systems precisely or know which trees were planted where. When viewing the model, there is no way of knowing if the trenches were that deep or if that many oak trees actually existed on site. As well, since the site is in a digital format it must conform to the confines set by the program. When using Sketchup, memory and processing power must be considered when recreating sites. The Vimy Ridge Park is 107 hectares, covered in trees and an impressive, towering monument. When placing all of the landscape into the program a severe lag appears which distorts the image of the site and diminishes the quality of viewing and understanding the conveyed message. Thus, compromises had to made regarding the number of tress and other alterations to the terrain. Given these limitations, when digitally recreating historical sites historians must consider what they are willing to sacrifice or adapt to achieve their task.

While there are limitations to using programs like Sketchup, this should not overshadow the benefits of digitally recreating historical landscapes. After all, the digital reconstruction of the Vimy Ridge Memorial Park has its advantages to historiography and users of history. It has been acknowledged that digital history provides accessibility that scholars and other users of history lacked in the past. Recreating Vimy Ridge allows those with the interest in the site to explore its features and the conclusions made by the creator. As well, projects of Vimy Ridge recreations, such as this one that examined the change of terrain over time, can be examined and engaged with on a broader level, especially when considering the utilization of the blog format to share it.

In addition to accessibility, the 3D model and the photos create a historical moment frozen in time. Weather will affect the landscape within a few years and technological advances will render the model outdated and obsolete. However it will still provide some insight for those studying the comparison made between the digitally recreated model of 2013 and the photographic evidence of 1917. It offers a primary source for future scholars, whether it is to study the model itself or the digital tools monopolized during this time.

Nothing in either the digital or material world is without its flaws and often those flaws gain much attention. Although the produced Vimy Ridge model for this project is not perfect or wholly accurate it still offers a primary source for studying change over time and the technological skills at our current disposal. Arguments can be made through the visual communication with use of photographs paired with the 3D model. Could this project have been done differently? Certainly; that is the benefit to the digital and technological advances being made every day. However, it is how historians use these formats that will determine how successful the conveyance of their arguments and messages are.

Bibliography

“Canadians advancing through German wire entanglements- Vimy Ridge. April, 1917.” Photograph. Library and Archives Canada. April 1917. http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/ index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=3404765&rec_nbr_list=3194488,3394738,178448,3379688,3379695,3397815,3404765,3194785,3397842 (accessed November 29, 2013).

“Canadian Pioneers felling shatter trees near Vimy Ridge. October, 1917.” Photograph. Library and Archives Canada. 1914-1919. http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=3405562&rec_nbr_list=3405562,3194322,3379699,3241489,3403081,3395321,3404770,3397830,3520900,3213530 (accessed November 20, 2013).

 “Canadian searching Captured German trenches for Hiding Germans at Vimy Ridge, during the Battle of Vimy Ridge”. Photograph. Library and Archives Canada. April 9-14 1917. http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=3194789&rec_nbr_list=3259716,3233068,3233067,3329414,2837452,3194757,3194789,3194784,2836024,2890448 (accessed November 28, 2013).

Castle, W.I. “View over the crest of Vimy Ridge, showing the village of Vimy, which was captured by Canadian troops.” Photograph. Library and Archives Canada. May 1917. http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=3192998&rec_nbr_list=3395330,3397007,3192998,165633,165653,3405563,3623100,3521863,3623102,3395246 (accessed November 29, 2013).

Hucker, Jacqueline. ““Battle and Burial”: Recapturing the Cultural Meaning of Canada’s national Memorial on Vimy Ridge”. The Public Historian 31 no. 1 (2009): 89-109.

Munroe, Susan. "Smashing Barded Wire at the Battle of Vimy Ridge." About.com Canada Online. http"//canadaonline.about.com/od/ww1battles/ig/Pictures-Battle-of-Vimy-Ridge/Smashing-Barbed-Wire-at-Vimy.htm (accessed November 1, 2013).

“(W.W.I- 1914-1918) Canadians advancing over the crest of Vimy Ridge April 1917” Photograph. Library and Archives Canada. April 1917. http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam _archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=3521852&rec_nbr_list=3521995,3329245,3194252,3403082,3521922,3521842,3521932,3395332,3522072,3521852 (accessed November 30, 2013).

“(W.W.I- 1914-1918) The battlefield as seen from Vimy Ridge looking towards the German lines. May 1917). Photograph. Library and Archives Canada. May 1917. http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.phpfuseaction =genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=3521934&rec_nbr_list=3521964,3379684,3521844,3521864,3521934,3521884,3194778,3521858,3521928,3521898 (accessed November 30, 2013).

Canada's History Forum 2013: Don't Fear the Technology

I just finished a couple of sessions on the Canada's History Forum 2013 and all I can say is: “Wow, what an experience!” I’ve never tuned into a live conference before so the experience was foreign yet highly enjoyable. Despite watching through a computer screen, I still felt connected to the speakers and the audience and I suspect that the ongoing Twitter conversations helped develop that bond.

Originally I planned to tune into the 2:30 session only but when I checked if the Livestream was working I ended up watching most the forum from the opening remarks.  Shortly after 1:00 p.m. the audience was introduced to the winners of the 2013 Young Citizens Video Project. Students, ages 11-14, were asked to create videos on the history of northern Canada and Aboriginal people. One video that was particularly jarring was by an eleven year old girl who discussed residential schools with a frankness reserved for adults and included an oral history component. The section in the program was called “Are Our Kids Better at This Than We Are?” Based on these videos, I would say they are better than me, maybe not so for some of my colleagues who build entire penitentiaries in their spare time but impressive none the less.

Abandoning chronology to make a point, later in the day at 2:30 pm Daniel Davis and Shawn Graham discussed how technology has changed the way we present history. More importantly, they discussed the significance of being engaged with technology. Shawn Graham stated that he experienced a “glorious failure” by asking students to play Civilization 4 and create a game diary, only to realize that students needed to write their own game to understand the “world view” and logic of the game they were playing. Daniel Davis echoed the necessity of people’s involvement in the creation of technology and doing things first hand when discussing crowd sourcing. One particularly interesting examples that he used was “SmithsonianMobile”, an app that allows visitors to post information about the museum themselves whether it be experiences or events. From Shawn Graham’s and Daniel Davis’ presentations we should be able to see that individuals, young and old, are able to learn more about history through technology by being involved in its production.

The involvement of individuals in the creation of technologically driven history isn’t just a benefit to students and visitors of museums who are trying to learn it but to those individuals who are attempting to reconnect with their heritage. Earlier in the day, keynote speaker Kate Hennessy discussed the role of Aboriginals of the Inuvialuit group helping name and rename artifacts part of the MacFarlane Collection. Traveling up north, Hennessy and the rest of her team discussed with elders of the community what particular artifacts were called and what purpose they had. The pieces were then digitized and made part of an online exhibit where anyone could view the artifacts. Teachers of the North West Territories could access lesson plans to incorporate the exhibit into their curriculum. The inclusion of the Inuvialuit was critical for reconnecting the people with artifacts that had been taken from them and acknowledging the power of the people when developing exhibits.

However, what I enjoyed the most about Hennessy’s presentation was a quote she made.

“People, not technology, change history.”

The focus of the forum today was to discuss how technology is making us change the way we present history and how we teach it. We made it appear as if technology had taken on a physical form and was holding a gun to our heads while telling us to conform to the ever changing twenty first century. We are forgetting that without you or I embracing its ability to reach wider audiences and engage people in the process of history, technology has no purpose. We are the vehicles of change and technology is but a tool to make those changes. Deborah Morrison said earlier in the day that teachers are often behind the times when using technology and they should not be afraid to use it. This goes double for historians. We should not be intimidated by the foreign land of technology but rather we should jump in feet first, get messy, and learn from ourselves and from others. After all, if an eleven year old can produce a video on the trauma of residential schools why can’t we?

Bonus: Another meme because they went over so well last week.

The Benefits of the Inaccurate Videogame

“But it needs to be accurate otherwise people won’t learn anything from it.”

This is a rough quote of myself in an undergrad seminar called “Doing Canadian History”. We were learning about film and everyone in that course, including myself, sat aloft in our ivory towers, looking down our noses at the peasants and their silly little movies where the historical clothing, events, and accents were fabricated and false. Since I uttered that ignorant statement my perspective has changed but there are still historians out there who feel that historical films, television shows, and videogames need to be accurate otherwise they are useless or damaging to the progress of knowledge.

What they don’t realize is a videogame that represents history in a different way is doing exactly what they feared it would stunt. It is often forgotten that videogames are similar to controversial books in the realm of historiography. Adam Chapman in his article “Privileging Form over Content: Analysing Historical Videogames” discusses how a gamer approaches a game is just as important as the content it presents. Specifically, the way the gamer interacts with the game can create an opportunity “for engaging with discourse about the past” [1]. Gamers can interact with the ideas present with the game and make critical decisions based on this engagement. It could be as simple as determining that a fictional character probably did not assassinate the archbishop of Pisa but it is still a critical analysis of a source.

This sort of engagement is crucial for children in particular. Susan Engel notes that children do not need facts and figures stuffed into their heads but rather they need to “develop ways of thinking and behaving that will lead to valuable knowledge and skills later on”[2]. Is that not one of the purposes of studying history? To force people to critically think and be able to use that skill later on in life regardless of the situation? If that rhetorical question is false, pardon me for misinterpreting the point of my undergraduate career and disregard everything I've said thus far. Otherwise I hope you agree when I say that it is a good thing if a videogame is “inaccurate” or represents history in a different way so that these sorts of skills can be nurtured.

However, what I appreciate the most about Chapman’s article is the question of what is considered proper history. Why must we compare a historical video game to a book? They are of a different structure, media, and purpose. It is as if we are comparing apples to oranges or- as Diane Carr states- “…disparaging a map for not being life-size”[3]. As historians and public historians we need to be aware that videogames have their place in educating the public about events and trends in the historical narrative. If we are so concerned about the accuracy of the game- although by now I hope you agree that accuracy is not a necessity- we should become more involved in game development.

It is not as if game developers do not want us there. In fact, they seek people like you and I out. For the third installment of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed a professor at the Université de Montréal by the name of Francois Furstenberg was called into action as a collaborator for the game. He said: “In a class, you can teach 30 students, sometimes 200. With a videogame like this, you have the opportunity of getting tens of millions of people interested in history”[4]. Videogames and other forms of digital gaming should be taken seriously by us historians. For the most part, it is an uncharted land for those in academia and we need to make ourselves viable resources to gaming developers, lest the gravy train rolls out of the station without us.

[1]. Adam Chapman, "Privileging Form over Content: Analyzing Historical Videogames", Journal of Digital Humanities http://journalofdigitalhumanities.org/1-2/privileging-form-over-content-by-adam-chapman/.

[2] Susan Engle, "Playing to Learn", New York Times 1 February 2010.

[3] Diane Carr, "The Trouble with Civilzation," in Videogame, Player, Text ed. T. Krzywinska and B. Atkins (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007), endnote 6.

[4] Dominique Nancy "Historian Francois Furstenberg works on the video game Assassin's Creed III" U de M Nouvelles December 10, 2012.

Pinning History: My Experiences with History Pin

In last week’s class we discussed the power of digital photographs and audio clips in history. We were tasked with the assignment of “pinning” historical photographs onto modern maps using the website “History Pin.” The site is a community of shared glimpses into the past with pictures, audio clips, and video. Anything can be pinned to the map and help communities across generations come together and learn about the past.

Last week I was feeling particularly nostalgic and homesick and I decided to focus my interests on Saskatchewan when pinning. First, I wanted to show the construction of the Delta Bessborough in my hometown of Saskatoon. The hotel began construction at the beginning of the Depression and due to the financial downturn of the decade it was several years later that the hotel was official opened. It has become a landmark in Saskatoon’s downtown core and a site for many conferences, music festivals, and weddings since.

I had some issues with pinning the image using street view. First, the street view image of the Bes had a fish-eye filter on it, warping the turrets at the top of the hotel. Second, after I thought I was finished and saved my image I went to check my work and found the image nowhere near the location I was certain I had pinned it. After a little fiddling I was reach a final product I was happy with.

Delta Bessborough 1931

Faded out Historical Image

Despite how handy it is to have the ability to see how a building has changed over the course of its construction, I believe that History Pin is fair more beneficial for monuments, buildings, or locations that no longer exist. I decided to pin the Weyburn, Saskatchewan Mental hospital to the map. Bear with me while I get a little sappy. I grew up in Weyburn and one of the coolest and creepiest places I ever went was the old mental hospital there. While I lived in Weyburn, the mental hospital was converted into a number of things, including an old folks’ home. It was a rich part of Weyburn’s heritage but it was becoming a financial strain. In 2008-09 the massive building was torn down. It broke my heart to see that eerie place knocked to the ground. For the Weyburn Mental Hospital, History Pin provides an opportunity to see what it used to look like in its glory days, if you could call them that.

Pinned Image on the map

Street view of Weyburn Mental Hospital today.

However, was bothered me the most about History Pin was that it relies too heavily upon the street system of Google Maps. You can pin an image out in the middle of a field on the map but you won’t be able to pin it to street view because it is not on a street. This is incredibly limiting when considering military historians could greatly benefit from recreating battle fields on modern day landscapes for people to better understand the terrain.

But, I must remind myself that this isn’t necessarily meant for the academic crowd. It’s intended for the general population to interact with each other, to engage with their personal history and their community’s past. All the things I pinned meant something to me and perhaps they mean something to others as well. This is a prime example of digital history become public history and inspiring the public to become part of making history.

To say the least, I have an infatuation with History Pin now and I suspect I’ll be doing a considerable amount of pinning in the future.

"About a 3 on the technologically literate scale": My Adventures with GIS

Yesterday we visited the GIS lab and had a workshop with Don Lafreniere. GIS is a geographic information system that uses raw data to recreate landscapes, city spaces, or buildings. Examples of recreations include “Rome Reborn” by Bernard Frischer or the military garrison in Victoria Park by Mark Tovey.

Map of Victoria Park as used by Mark Tovey in his research.

GIS is used as both a visual tool and analytical tool. Not only do GIS maps recreate a site but they can reveal trends in areas, cities, regions, or countries. As Patrick A. Dunae et alt. stated, “A relatively new tool for social historians, it offers novel way of exploring and understanding historical activities and the environments in which they took place.”(2) One can see where an area was historically filled with low-income families based on the submission of data about professions held by occupants. Researchers can also see on the same map how that area may have changed or remained stagnant over the decades. Although GIS can rarely reveal the “why” to questions, as it is quantitative data, it still has its benefits.

The Map of Napoleon's March to Moscow by Charles Minard shows how many and when soldiers died on the march to Moscow but does not reveal the cause of death. This is one of the limitations that GIS maps have.

Before reading up on reconstructed historical landmarks or GIS I had never been particularly interested in numerical data of the past. More often than not I would find myself skimming charts and other such information. Although I knew it was a critical feature of historical analysis, I didn’t really care how many servants lived in one area or what major resources were shipped out of which port. I didn’t even really care how big a monument was in square meters or the distance that a troop of soldiers covered over a two hour period in a heated battle. Why didn’t I care? I suppose it’s because I’m a visual learner and throwing a bunch of numbers in my face doesn’t really do anything for me. However, with GIS. the numbers can take on a physical manifestation that represents exactly what I need to know. Edward Tufte argues that the purpose of GIS mapping is to help with “content-reasoning tasks”(136) and this holds true for those wanting quantitative information without the monotonous chore of shifting through and making sense of numbers and statistics.

However, despite the ease of utilizing a GIS map to understand a concept, the creation of such a map is far from that. As I realized yesterday at the workshop, the act of georeferencing is not my idea of effortlessness and I gained a new appreciation for digital historians. We were asked to download a set of data and plug the documents into ArcGIS, one of the preferred GIS tools. After a couple of hours of being carefully led through the programming and playing catch-up to the group after encountering a couple of hiccups that left me bewildered, I finally understood a fraction of ArcGIS. It was not an easy task but the results were astounding. I had never considered using city directories or censuses to plot where particular individuals lived to show socio-economic trends. I had never thought to look at the change over time by superimposing images over one another.

 

A fire insurance plan given to us for our recreation of downtown London.
This was just one of many raw data sources Don Lafreniere compiled for this project.

Seeing that I’m about a 3 on the technologically literate scale and accidentally saved my finished project on the desktop instead of my hard drive, I have nothing to show for all the frustration I had after today’s workshop. But I do have a new appreciation for all the work digital historians put in to compiling raw data for the creation of one picture that communicates more than a chart of numbers will ever do.

Sources:

Dunae, Patrick A. at alt. "dwelling Places and Social Spaces: Revealing the Environments of Urban Workers in Victoria Usin Historical GIS". Labour 72 (2013): 1- 37.

Tufte, Edward R.. Beautiful evidence. Cheshire, Conn.: Graphics Press, 2006.

Serendip-omatic: An Underwhelming Experience.

"Feed. Grab some text or link to your personal library. Whirl. Magically compare your research with major collections. Marvel! Be amazed by what turns up."

Oh boy was I amazed by what turned up. The quote above comes from an online resource tool called Serendip-o-matic. Based off the term serendipity, a happy surprise or accident, this online resource is used for linking users to digital materials in libraries, museums and archives. The system will use key words or phrases of your research interest and search major databases to find images or other primary sources that they believe will benefit you.

I was particularly interested in Serendip-o-matic as in my final year I had to create a museum exhibit around an obscure Near Eastern deity and had struggled to find sources pertaining to my research. The prospect of having primary sources gathered for me was exciting and slightly aggravating knowing that I could have used it during my time of need. However, after using Serendip-o-matic I was glad that I hadn’t put too much stock in the website.

Following the steps I plugged in relevant information about my deity. His name (Baal), what he was god of (fertility, agriculture, storms), where he was from (Near East), who his sister was (Anat, goddess of war and love), and a brief synopsis of his mythology. Plugging in all this information and clicking “Make some magic!” revealed nothing that I would have expected. Not only did it take words out of context (separating Near East into two words) but there wasn’t a single picture of Baal to be found. A small plaque of what could have been his sister Anat was surrounded by images of farmers, Greek gods, and one link to a book on a temple in Syria. To say the least, I was not impressed.

What Serendip-o-matic should have found: Baal with Thunderbolts.

View this stele at the Louvre

However, I should not be overly critical of the site. Once I tried searching just “Baal” I was able to see more archival records on archaeological digs and a few images that could have been to some use. Serendip-o-matic uses the basic technology it was created with and attempts to create a fuller scope of resource material based on a selection of words, regardless of the context of the words. The purpose of the site is to broaden the scope of the resources but this proves to be of little use to those with a specific query.

In short, Serendip-o-matic could be so much than it is. With such a deep pool of resources to pull from, the site could become a hub for searching topics on the Internet. For researchers to only need one website instead of searching for the best primary sources at different online archival databases, research could be conducted in a timelier fashion. However, based on the organization of the site at the moment I would suggest it not be used as a hard and fast resource tool. Although it would be an interesting tool to play around with for entertainment sake, its academic use is limited due to the formulation of its results.

Resources:

serendipomatic.org

louvre.fr

"But I thought engaging with the public was the point of National Historic Sites": A Reaction to the Claire Campbell PDS

On September 19, a professional development series workshop was held where members of the history graduate program and faculty members attended a lecture on National Historic Sites and Environmentalism by Dr. Claire Campbell. Dr. Campbell presented some interesting information regarding national sites in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta. What I found particularly useful was her insight on the necessity of considering the environment at the time of the founding of particular sites and how that reflects the actions of the historical figures. But this blog is not on all that I learned from Dr. Campbell, although I should perhaps write another to engage with her findings, but rather it is to discuss the reaction I heard from the audience.

It was a snicker.

It seems strange to focus on something so small but I heard a snicker from a group of History MA students when Dr. Campbell brought up a slide that showed a happy couple sitting in the endangered grasses of the Bar- U Ranch for their wedding photos. I thought it a particularly odd thing to laugh at but it happened again when referring to conferences and meetings being held at other national sites. That’s when it occurred to me that the students and –to some degree- the faculty were laughing at the idea of national historic sites being used by the public for the events they so saw fit.

Image from Parks Canada.

I was perplexed. What was so funny about people engaging with history in unconventional way? Why was it a problem that conferences were being held at sites that educated them while they worked? Is that not the point of public history? To be utilized by the people and to engage with the public? I feel like my first two weeks at Western are a sham if this is false.

However, the laughter could have been for a completely, and more unfortunate, reason. Perhaps the students and few faculty members were laughing because they believed that the couple in the photo or the companies referred to in passing were not worthy to be there in the grass and in the historic board rooms. Weddings shouldn’t happen at the Bar-U because the people who book the weddings are ignorant of the history there. They do not know that the grass is endangered and they do not know that the Ranch was supported by the Federal government during a time when there was tension between the government and the people of Alberta. Therefore, they do not deserve to use that space.

An elitist perception of the purpose of national historic sites is created by this logic. The truth about Canadians, and most people to their respective country, is they don’t know everything about their past. It’s just the way it is. We can blame the parents, we can blame the school system, we can blame the government but when it comes down to it, some people just don’t care to read about it. But that doesn’t mean that they should be barred from access to these spaces. One shouldn’t be expected to pass a historical quiz before entering these sites or before they book their conference or wedding. The point of the site’s existence is to educate. So while the couple is getting their pictures taken and the guests have nothing to do or while a board member is taking her coffee, they could be learning something about that site. Is that not the overarching goal of a national historic site?

Then again, the snickers from the audience could have been directed at the site lowering itself to selling its space to the common folk. To that I become particularly annoyed with the academic crowd. Just this past week in History 9800 Public History: Theory, History, and Practice we learned about the history of national historic sites and museums. In most cases national historic sites were only supported by the federal government if they showed signs of self-sufficiency (Pannnekoek, 73). The booking of weddings and conferences are what often saves national sites from collapsing as it offers additional revenue to that of gate fees or gift shops. I suspect few would snicker knowing that it is up to these sites to find funding opportunities to stay afloat even if it means appearing as if they are pandering to the general public.

The answer to stopping the laughter is not to tell academic historians to keep their noses out of things they don’t understand. Quite the opposite, in fact. I believe that academic historians should be required to take a public history course. Naturally, there is a reason why they chose the ivory tower over the public sphere and they are not required to convert. However, I believe that if they were made aware of the difficulties that public history faces (funding, engaging a public that seems forever drifting away) they would perhaps cease the chuckles at sites that are opening their spaces. Perhaps they would understand that sometimes it is not about how much an individual takes away from a space but that they acknowledge it as part of their history by interacting with it. They would realize that even though they would rather research and write books for other academics as a means to perpetuate the growth of knowledge and critical thought, that they too have a role within the realm of public history if they were to accept it.

Source:

Pannekoek, Frits. "Canad's Historic Sites: Reflections on a Quarters Century, 1980-2005." The Public Historian 31, 1 (2009): 69-88.

First World War Soldier Experiences and Digital History

Everyone has always asked me what I specialize in and what my interests are in history. I have had my fingers in a number of pies over the course of my undergrad and came out with several research interests. However, the one that has dominated my experience with the digital humanities would be soldier experiences in the First World War.

I had the great fortune of having a professor in my fourth year who was dedicated to public history and -to some extent- the digital humanities. We were assigned to create a biography of a service man or woman using diary entries or letters on Malaspina University Canadian Letters and Images Project. We were to then flesh out the details of the individual using attestation papers, the Canadian census and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission if he or she had died overseas. It was my first time diving into online records and I found myself developing a serious connection to an individual who was gone before I was even born.

Having access to the story of an individual that I may have never heard of had it not been for the assignment changed the way I approached figures and events of the First World War. For the first time in the four years of my undergrad the people I was learning about were humanized. They were real people, getting sick from the countless diseases that ran rampant in the mud slick trenches. They were soaked to the bone and sleep deprived from countless hours of artillery bombardment. They were dying in the muck and barbwire, not just being counted as another casualty in a statistic. Surely I would have had the same experience if I had been handed a collection of letters or diary entries in the form of a book or gone to the archives to see the census records but the fact that I could search these documents from home changed the way I researched my new interest.

It’s not just the addition of archival records to the Internet that has made my research interest more accessible. Since I am particularly keen on museums and the way they create outreach with younger audiences I explored the Canadian War Museum a few months back and discovered a variety of online exhibits and information packages meant for connecting the public with Canadian wars and peace times. It has also developed a substantial online section for teachers to engage their students in learning about the First World War through material culture and even online games that put the player in situations on the front line. Although a little dated and meant for young children, the game still serves to interact with and inform the player of soldier experiences. Give it a try here. This use of digital humanities by the Canadian War Museum is another example of how my research interests have been expanded and made accessible through online sources and the Internet.

However, despite my searches, there appears to be a lack of digital landscapes. For an event with so many battle fields, little has been done to capture the locations. For this particular field of interest, a fly through of Vimy Ridge or the Battle of the Somme would assist students and researchers in understanding the landscape and topography the soldiers were faced with. Perhaps this blogger will have to take on such an addition to the digital humanities for an upcoming project.

Flip Board, The History Channel, and Ancestory.com: Digital History's Ups and Downs

This September I had the pleasure of joining the 21^st century and updated to a smart phone, finally turning off my four year old LG Rumor II for good. One of the features I found on my phone was something called “Flip Board”. For those who are not familiar with Flip Board, it is an app which allows the user to select particular topics and read the latest stories about them. Originally I was excited to keep myself in the loop regarding politics and events around the world but then I found the “A Blog About History” flip board and I was in heaven. Just today I was able to learn about excavations that uncovered a Roman temple in England, and slave tunnels at Hadrian’s Villa in Italy, as well as learning about a new television series coming out this fall that will follow two soldiers in the trenches of Ypres during the First World War. Twenty years ago I would have had to wait for excavation reports to be published in academic journals before I found anything out about either dig site. The digital world has made me more connected to history than I ever was before.

Still Image from "The Wipers Times" airing on BBC. Image from: http://metro.co.uk/2013/09/11/world-war-i-comedy-drama-the-wipers-times-mixed-humour-with-humanity-3959186/

On Monday in Digital History, the question: “What is Digital History/ Humanities?” was asked. To me, digital history is the use of digital resources to enhance the experience of history for everyone, regardless of whether they are academic or not. It’s not just digitalizing archives to make the lives of academics easier but the “This Day in History” app, history based computer games, and virtual museum exhibits. Digital history includes accessibility, making far away museums closer to those who cannot afford to travel the world to see such things or creating a framework for history that is more interesting than sitting in a classroom or reading a 300 page book on a particular subject. Studying history in-depth is not for everyone but that does not mean that history should not be accessible to everyone in some form.

However there are pitfalls to digital history to be certain. Only a decade and a half ago I sat with my dad and watched grainy film footage of the First World War on the History Channel and learned that there were no “good guys and bad guys” in history. Now when I turn to that once beloved station I find myself being informed of the possible price a Yankee baseball card could bring, although the seller will never receive that price because the pawn broker is running a business not a charity. Worse, amateur historians have tried to convince me that aliens created ancient Egyptian pyramids and the colossal Nasca Lines of Peru. The History Channel only becomes what I remember of it when an anniversary approaches (Remembrance Day, Pearl Harbour) and the rest of the time it is saturated with information that is more about heritage (and baseless hypotheses) than history. The digital world will surely, and perhaps already has, become like the History Channel: brief, bright moments of critical thought with historical backing amongst the clamour of 140 character posts where history need not apply because it won’t fit.

Still image from "Ancient Aliens". Image from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivyFCRVTFZ1NWw52ruuu3f47zygCxxPveq3iP7G1e3_fvULfyFktlVzAm9fuXiSdxhq1ok-dmqRKbKonAUpIGxfKkihdx1RwAkn66iLnIYs-VWLRKiG64wDlWiIqrLEpz4iPLo25dTu6I/s320/giorgio-tsoukalos.jpeg

I apologize, I have just realized how narrow-minded and elitist that sounded. Don’t mistake what I have said for thumping a military-history-is-the-only-history chest or suggesting that heritage is not as important as history. Rather, heritage is the backbone for what spurs people forward to seek out history. Ancestry.com is the most popular example of this. People intrigued with their family’s past can trace themselves back to specific points in time. Those particularly keen to learn what prompted their female ancestor to leave Ireland in 1850 will reveal the Great Potato Famine and the mistreatment that the Irish suffered under British rule leading up to that tragic event. Heritage in digital history can result in a furthering of historical knowledge that may not have been undertaken otherwise.

For that reason I think it is important for historians and public historians to become more engaged with the ever changing face of digital resources for educating the general populace. Sometimes a particular technophobia arises among our ranks, myself included as I just begrudgingly set up my first Twitter account, but there is a growing necessity for digital literacy in the binary world of the Internet and social media. If we as historians do not keep up with the changes and utilize them to our benefit, we will become just as archaic as the ancient times we study. Based on the Darwinian frame of mind, historians of both academic and public background must, “adapt or die”.

Sources:

http://www.ablogabouthistory.com/#sthash.NOrBEZdp.dpbs

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_Lines

https://flipboard.com

Introduction Time

Hello Everyone!

My name is Carla Watson and I am a current Public History MA student at the University of Western Ontario. This blog was created for my History 9808a: Digital History course and will document particular things I am learning in my courses, as well as history related topics that I find interesting.

A little about myself. Born and raised in the prairie provinces, I attended the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. There, I obtained a BA Honours in History with a minor in Anthropology. During my time at the U of S, I had the amazing opportunity to study abroad in South Africa for a summer, learning about the history, politics, and social structure of the country. I was also privileged enough to work at the Museum of Antiquities, a museum on campus that specializes in ancient artworks and artefacts from the Near East, Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as a few medieval pieces. I worked as the Education Coordinator in my final year of study, developing custom tour packages and PowerPoint presentations for teachers to use in their classrooms. This past summer, I developed kids' camps that were themed around ancient societies like the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Aztecs, and Chinese.

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with this blog and spreading the word about all things history.