reaction to reading 29 September 2013

This week's readings were about how to put together a web site and the pros and cons of digitising text and other data.  The digitising of data and textual artifacts is an important step in preservation but also has its limitations, which are mainly in cost and skill level.

The first text read were two chapters from Daniel Cohen's  textbook Digital History.  Cohen gives a helpful account of how to digitise manuscripts, documents and other data as well as starting a web site and the pitfalls involved with trying to have it done professionally.  He describes one as having to buy numerous computers and have them connected continuously.  Then, the caretaker of these machines ''wakes from sleep worrying about power failures, hackers and computer failures'' (Cohen).  Cohen makes one think about undertaking these tasks and urges one not to take them on at the advanced level as a novice, no matter how much skill one happens to possess.  To build a website and then to digitise information and place it on said site would be a boon to those who wish to access the information one has accumulated.  An example of this would be the British Library's digital copy of an original Beowulf manuscript from the last days of  Anglo-Saxon England.  Cohen states that the original is too fragile to view in real life, but many can see it on the Library's website, as well as letters in the margins, as if the monk copying the manuscript doodled slightly when on a break from copying the manuscript.  This technology could be used to not only display objects where everyone can see them, but restore their digital copies to their former glory so one could see what it looked like many years before.  This lends some helpful hands to research, especially for those wishing to see intricate details in the image or object that had not existed in many years.  Websites are a useful tool for anyone wishing to communicate information to the rest of the world, and this can lend some validity to a professional wishing to be taken seriously in the academic world through being a jack of all trades.  The writing of books and articles and the writing of websites and blogs increases the number of readers of the professional's work.  Websites, despite their cost are a useful tool.

The second work read was a blog on a website known as ProfHacker by a guest named Miriam Posner.  The subject of this blog was the creation of an online presence for academics.  It is a useful tool for the absolute novice with no knowledge of building a website as Ms. Posner goes through the process slowly, step by step, and gives good examples that everyone has heard of.  Examples of this are when Ms. Posner mentions Google Profile, and how to make one, Twitter and LinkedIn.  She even mentions Academia.edu, a ''social networking site for academics.''  What Ms. Posner does is give a starting point in making an online presence and getting your foot in the door, digitally speaking.  This is a clever idea in that by doing this, one can hope to network when trying to find a new position, a patron for a new work, or just someone to take the professional seriously.  This can lead to one building their own website when the notoriety comes or when the professional wishes to advance their work to the next level.  Ms. Posner's work was free from vexing jargon and was simple to follow.  It contained some surprising facts, such as Twitter being used in the academic world.  She states that it allows one to ''follow'' another's work and receive updates on future work.  A surprisingly helpful article.

The third work read was an article by Jeffrey Zeldman on ''Understanding Web Design.''  This article thoroughly got on my nerves.  Mr. Zeldman wrote this under the impression that his readers already had some knowledge of web design.  Jargon floats around like an evil spirit and the article is rigid and unhelpful until the last part, titled ''She Walks In Beauty.''  This part is helpful to a degree and even then it's only through similes such as ''Great web designs are like great buildings.  All office buildings, however distinctive, have lobbies and bathrooms and staircases.''  The article is pretentious babble.  What I could get from the site is the message of ''Make your design unique.''  This helps when trying to get others to study your work.  When one visits a site, they do not wish to see something that they have seen a thousand times before; they wish to see something new.  This ''something new'' helps to entice people onto the site and into your work.  A unique site is a must for an academic professional.