Subject Research, Course Guides, Documentation: Digital History: Defined (2024)

Digital history is historyscholarship and teachingthatengages self-consciouslywith digital media and computational methods. This engagement can generally be categorized in three ways:

  1. The use of digital tools and techniques to enhance and extend historical research and teaching. This includes
    • analysis and visualizationof (usually) bigdata that are historically significant. The purpose isto discover large-scale trends in data that are usuallytextual, visual, spatial, numeric, and / or (social) network related.
    • modeling, such asthe digital representation of historical objects and environments in three dimensions or extended reality
    • digitization / publishing, such as the creation of digitalcollections on the web
  2. The study of the history of digital media and communication technologies
  3. The creationof digital tools and techniques for history scholarship and teaching (such as software applications, algorithms, etc.)

Thisapproach to history scholarship became increasingly prominent after2000 to take advantage of the rise of big data and the ubiquity of digital media (such as inexpensive and powerful personal computing). Digital history seeks to integrate computational technology with history methods and materials to their mutual extension and advantage.

Subject Research, Course Guides, Documentation: Digital History: Defined (2024)

FAQs

What do you mean by digital history? ›

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.

What are digital sources in history? ›

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.

Is digital history a database? ›

Digital history not only involves the accumulation and dissemination of historical knowledge and facts using digital tools (think of databases, online syllabi, historical search engines, digitized archives, and the like), but it can also mean producing historical narratives that use or even rely on digital technology.

What is digital history Seefeldt and Thomas? ›

On another level, digital history is a methodological approach framed by the hypertextual power of these technologies to make, define, query, and annotate associations in the human record of the past." Douglas Seefeldt & William G. Thomas.

Who writes digital history? ›

Digital History: Using New Technologies to Enhance Teaching and Research is an extensive web project by John and Rebecca Moores Professor of History Steven Mintz in combination with John Lienhard, M.D. Anderson Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Sara McNeil, Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction from ...

What are the 4 types of digital? ›

Learn the 4 types of digital transformation
  • Process transformation. The primary goal of a process transformation is to make internal processes more straightforward and efficient. ...
  • Business model transformation. ...
  • Domain transformation. ...
  • Cultural/organizational transformation.
Dec 16, 2022

What are the 4 types of sources in history? ›

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.

What are the 5 examples of digital information? ›

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.

What is the definition of digital source? ›

Digital Resources can be defined as materials that have been conceived and created digitally or by converting analogue materials to a digital format.

Is digital history a textbook? ›

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.

What is considered digital information? ›

Digital information is any data that is stored, transferred, read, and used by networks, computers, and other machines. Most real-world information can be converted into digital data, from audio and video recordings to the specific gene that decides if your hair is brown.

What are the 3 types of digital data? ›

This document discusses different types of digital data: structured, unstructured, and semi-structured.

Why is digital history important? ›

The first advantage of digital media for historians is storage capacity—digital media can condense unparalleled amounts of data into small spaces.

What is digital media history? ›

The first digital media devices, such as the compact disc (CD) and the digital versatile disc (DVD), were introduced in the 1980s. These technologies allowed for the storage and distribution of digital media in a way that was not possible with analog media.

What is the definition of Digital Humanities? ›

It includes the systematic use of digital resources in the humanities, as well as the analysis of their application. DH can be defined as new ways of doing scholarship that involve collaborative, transdisciplinary, and computationally engaged research, teaching, and publishing.

What is the actual meaning of digital? ›

1. : of, relating to, or utilizing devices constructed or working by the methods or principles of electronics : electronic. digital devices/technology. also : characterized by electronic and especially computerized technology.

What is digital example? ›

Everywhere you look you'll find something that is “digital.” Computers, smartphones, streaming movies, video game consoles, household appliances, cars and thousands of other gadgets use digital information.

What is the best meaning of digital? ›

digital | American Dictionary

recording or showing information in the form of numbers, esp. 0 and 1: The old movie was re-released with digital sound. A digital watch or clock shows the time with numbers that change as the time changes.

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