I’m James Walsh,
A Digital Historian in the Making
Combining how we learn history with virtual/augmented reality technologies.
About Me
Born on the shores of New Jersey, my dream was always to combine my two biggest passions: teaching history and creating assets in virtual (VR) and augmented (AR) reality. With my pursuit of digital history, my aim is not only to provide an additional outlet to how we learn history, but to also feel history. Every laugh, every battle, every city, that is my dream to achieve.
Originally, I attended the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, graduating with both a Bachelor’s degree in History and Film/Game Design (EAE). Currently, I attend George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. My time here is dedicated to pursuing my Master’s in Digital World History. Throughout this portfolio, you will see a progression in work, projects, and other scholarly materials I do throughout my time at the University and beyond.
My Skills
What exactly can I bring to the table? That always seems to be a pressing question for anyone interested! Below are just some of the things I can bring to the table, both as a digital historian and as an incorporator of video game technology in digital history
Digital History
Video Game Incorporations
- Proficiency in peer review
- Basic-to-intermediate understanding of digital history
- Knowledge with ArcGIS StoryMaps, Voyant, Kepler.gl & Palladio
- 3D modeling, texturing, etc.
- Basic understanding of VR/AR technology
- Proficiency in audio/sound design
scholarly experience
Why virtual reality in history?
As a historian, I had always questioned how we can make teaching history more engaging, fun, and reach audiences that we can’t get through normal means. While history itself is dependent on mediums like books, peer review, and archived research, I strived to create new ways for people to learn it. Through playing video games such as Assassin’s Creed and Crusader Kings II, my obsession of learning about different cultures, religions, interactions and notable individuals throughout different centuries in these games peaked my interest into an interactive world. This led me to do research on combining video games and teaching history. Through that, I theorized that virtual and augmented reality would be my outlet and have pursued it since I went for my bachelor’s degree in 2014. All that leads me to today, where I currently am pursuing a career as a digital historian, where I am to not only teach history, but work on VR/AR programs that allow historians to compile archived historical data and work alongside game designers to recreate historical places, events, and periods in time.
