The Thames is still flowing faster, fuller than usual due to the rainfall in the last week, and I have not seen the Blue Heron feeding at dawn or dusk. We share a similar challenge as I seek to manage the coursework of my Public History world. What does the Blue Heron do for food when the river is so fast and so high? I eat soup and crackers when cooking takes too much time.
There have been some pearls in the work I've read. Gerald George and "fabulous bedpans" was worth a chuckle. "The Perils of 'Public' History" caught everyone's attention, because of George's presentation. I have been reflecting on the discussion in Public History about the work, the professional image and the boundaries of public history, so much that I've decided to look into a comparison between archives and public history for the essay requirement in Understanding Archives. There are differences and similarities to chart, and possibly opportunities for collaboration benefical to both disciplines. And so the writing begins . . . more later.
In Digital History our discussions have been about the current tools, computer application and digitization, the revolution in how history looks and feels on computers and without books. I'm musing again about the sheer quantity of material, and the proliferation of digital records, management issues, searchability issues, storage and longevity issues, privacy and preservation.
At the end of the week I want to work out a public history definition, to accurately and truly describe it. I want to explore and understand this work. Several months ago I began a collection of definitions that I liked and wanted to remember, gleaned from the Internet of course.
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You eat soup and crackers, I eat Kraft Dinner (it is a good source of calcium and it has iron in it ;)
And I too have been thinking a lot about the role of the internet for historians. I think I have come to the conclusion that we simply need both the internet and books. And I think there is room for both. Particularly as Public Historians who are trying to reach a broader audience, we have to be aware of what the best tool is for communication. Books reach people, they reach us as historians. However, I think that the Internet reaches a wider range of people, and that is a good thing!
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