Digital History (2024)

FAQs

Is digital history a good source? ›

Digital History acts like an online museum of historical works, but also includes a broad collection of reference tools including original documents, teachers' tools and transcripts as well as audio of book talks given by important historians. The enormous array of resources is impressive--at first.

Digital history is the use of digital media to further historical analysis, presentation, and research. It is a branch of the digital humanities and an extension of quantitative history, cliometrics, and computing.

Digital history involves the use of digital tools to:

Research, analyse, and visualize patterns in historical information. • Present research findings and historical narratives in an enriched content format that is both informative and entertaining.

History is the study of change over time, and it covers all aspects of human society.

The centerpiece of Digital History is an online textbook that describes itself as “an interactive, multimedia history” of North America from the pre-Columbian period to the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Most Reliable Source of History: Primary Sources

Primary sources are considered the most reliable source of history due to their direct connection to the events and people being studied. These sources provide firsthand accounts and original documents from the time period under investigation.

Examples of digital media include software, digital images, digital video, video games, web pages and websites, social media, digital data and databases, digital audio such as MP3, electronic documents and electronic books.

"Digital history is an approach to examining and representing the past that takes advantage of new communication technologies such as computers and the Web. It draws on essential features of the digital realm, such as databases, hypertextualization, and networks, to create and share historical knowledge."

Sources of information or evidence are often categorized as primary, secondary, or tertiary material. These classifications are based on the originality of the material and the proximity of the source or origin.

How do you answer fully question history? ›

Your answer requires a clear judgement e.g. '… explains to an extent'. Source points selected (quote directly from the source or paraphrase) should be supported by a detailed explanation clearly linked to the question.

To assess the accuracy of a source, ask questions like: Is the information corroborated by other reliable sources? Are there clues of bias in the source that may suggest it may be inaccurate? Is the information offered in the source plausible?

Library of Congress. Bottom Line: The Library of Congress delivers the best of America's past and present, and with teacher support it could be a reliable research resource for students.

Examples of primary sources include: personal journals/diaries/memoirs, letters, court proceedings, legislative debates, newspaper and magazine articles, movies, music, art, etc. Secondary Sources (i.e., historiography) – Books and articles produced by historians.

Yes! Smarthistory is a leading OER (open educational resource) and is designed for use in schools, museums, and at home.

To produce sound historical research, we need reliable primary sources. Records created at the same time as an event, or as close as possible to it, usually have a greater chance of being accurate than records created years later, especially by someone without firsthand knowledge of the event.