by As my project has reached its epic conclusion, there is a lot to take away from such an achievement. I feel both joy and satisfaction with my work, but also feel as if there were some things I wish I could’ve tried out or done differently. Despite that, there is a level of satisfaction that comes with turning a blank slate of a project into a fully fleshed-out digital public history exhibit. Over the course of the semester, I was also able to receive feedback for my project from my professor and peers, as well as look at other projects done by my classmates. Combining my experiences prototyping, researching, and creating my project, here are the process and things I learned from working on it.
Research: Balance and Don’t Go Overboard
To me, research is by far the most important part of any history project I’ve worked on. As soon as I picked my topic, I went to the library and withdrew at least 10 books, and went through several piles of peer reviews. I spent most of my time researching, which both helped and hindered me. While I provided myself with an endless amount of primary and secondary sources, it also limited the amount of time I had to work on the project itself. This massive accumulation of data also hindered me in another way.
Project Creation: Keep it Simple For Your Audience
When it came to creating the project, my professor was quick to point out that not all of my audience will be historians. Due to this information, I drastically had to narrow down my data and be creative so that my secondary audience can enjoy or be captivated by my project as historians might be. This forced me to go back and carefully select and word what I wanted my audiences to learn throughout the project. My goal was to provide my audience with a detailed understanding of the Normans in the Central Mediterranean region, while also not bogging down the reader with so much information that they get bored or burnt out. This turned out to be the most challenging part of the project.
Program Selection: Visualize, Adapt, and Apply
For the longest time, I had no idea on what program I wanted to use for this project. None of the prior programs I used seemed to fit how I wanted to tell my project’s story, or they didn’t have enough digital and interactive variety to make the project engaging. This ended up hurting me in the long run, but I also found value in how important selecting the correct program is. Since I wanted to tell a story, Scalar 2 provided the perfect pathway for me to tell my story. Since it was also a new program that I’d never used before, I also had to learn to be adaptable in what I wanted to apply to the project.
The Final Touches: Pictures Are Your Friends!
Arguably my favorite part of the project was compiling media together to incorporate into the project. The internet provided a bevy of pictures that were utilized throughout the project, whether it was in-line with the text or for interactive use. I also wanted to include a series of video references that could be available for viewers who wish to expand their knowledge of the Normans of the Mediterranean further. Thanks to this project, I really learned the value of pictures in digital public history. I only hope that the pictures and other media are placed to the amusement and interest of as many readers as possible.
In conclusion, my experience and progress in my digital history project have really shaped my understanding of what it takes to be a public historian. For me, a lot of it comes down to balancing what I need to do and burying my darlings. It also didn’t help that I ended up switching the program I wanted to work on to one I never used before. However, I ended up finding a program that best suited my project and what I wanted to do. In short, the pros and cons I accumulated are nothing to ignore, and I look forward to the next step on my digital history path. I thank my classmates and professor for the feedback and encouragement I received throughout the semester.
