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.