Public History in a Digital Context Back to the Future or Back to Basics ?

This article concerns the dreams, practices and future for digital media for public history. Has the digital revolution changed the public history discipline? Thanks to characteristics such as flexibility, interactivity and capacity, digital media offer public historians new ways to present history and interact with the public. Wikipedia and the Children of the Lodz Gettho are two interesting public history cases that experiment with the potential of new media for public history. Looking at history online in general and the role public historians play there, some problems appear: a lack of historical narratives, a lack of self-criticism and digital illiteracy to name three. Based on some online field experience we distill some hands-on lessons concerning narratives, media and the public. Public historians have a lot of work ahead if they want to understand and use the Internet as a new arena for history.

That public historians emerged around the start of what Pierre Nora christened 'the age of commemoration' was no coincidence.7 All kinds of commemorative initiatives, new and revitalized museums, a renewed interest in archives, a fascination with origins, the popularity of genealogical research, the interest in heritage, et cetera, are all expressions of the urge of society, social groups and individuals to remember and commemorate.These social developments together with the introduction of oral history in the 1980s and 1990s influenced the way historians regarded their own role in the interpretative process.Instead of writing history and telling the public about it, historians would use the interview format to listen to the public.Public historians acknowledge, without succumbing to postmodern relativism, the various ways in which 'the' public is involved in the past.They believe that historians don't have the exclusive right to interpret the past.This conviction does not mean that historians do not have an interesting role to play in what Samuel called 'Theatres of Memory'.8 In education, politics, entertainment, the arts and the heritage sector, we find historians engaging in history practices, with or without an academic mandate and from a variety of motives and starting points.
The discipline of public history deals with the role of history and historians in society, both in the past and the present.Throughout the world, every year, new curricula in public history appear to prepare young historians for the task of interpreter, curator, guide and guardian of history.Since 2008 the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands awards a full master's degree in Public History.9 In Flanders a professional master's degree in public history was put on hold when the Flemish government decided at the end of 2012 to indefinitely postpone a number of two year master courses.10 In Flanders a research seminar public history including an internship (10 ects) that is dedicated to public history in the broad sense, can be followed only in the ma at the University of Ghent, see www.ipg.ugent.be/onderwijs.public history in a digital context: back to the future or back to basics?danniau The utilitarian and ideological movements of public historians of the 1970s developed into a full historical sub-discipline, researching the broad spectrum of historical practices outside the traditional research institutions.11 However, the emancipation of public history as a sub-discipline wasn't accompanied by a unification of its practitioners and practices.The tasks and the particular interests of public historians vary with the sector in which they work, the traditions in which they were raised and the specific (national) context in which they operate.
With the foundation of the International Federation for Public History (ifph) in 2012, which aims to encourage world-wide cooperation and research among public historians, public history has reached its latest milestone.It is remarkable that ifph-members mainly come from Europe and Anglo-Saxon countries.Up to now the emancipatory movement and organisation of public history has not spread to Africa, Asia or South America.The ifph is committed to actively seeking historians and organisations in these continents who are public historians in practice, if not in name.It will be interesting to see the origins of the participants in the ifph's first world conference on public history in Amsterdam in 2014.12 For now public history is really a Western affair, also in the context of this article.

Shared authority
A basic principle of public history is that historians, as experts on the past, do not have the exclusive right to that past, but (want to) enter into dialogue with the experiences and interpretations of the public.This can be done explicitly through conversation but also implicitly by choosing historical themes, research approaches or presentations in accordance with the public interest.To his frustration his statement on shared authority has been misinterpreted time and time again by historians and museum curators as an enquiry and invitation to involve the public.However, it is not about giving up authority, or willingness to do so, but an acknowledgement of the dialogic dimension of public history: [...] we need to recognize the already shared authority in the documents we generate and in the processes of public history engagement -a dialogic dimension, however implicit, through which 'authorship' is shared by definition, and hence interpretive 'authority' as well.15 Frisch does not undervalue the authority of historians, but rightly points out that (good) public history aims for a dialogue between expertise and experience.That the traditional authority of museums would be undermined by the new digital technology, because the user has lots of tools and sources 'to do' history himself, is not the issue at stake.The 'active' user, the user who makes his voice heard or is acknowledged as an influence, is not new to public historians.Which doesn't mean that it is self-evident or easy for the public historian to use the rapidly evolving (digital) communication channels for the dialogue between expert and public.Breaking the one-way communication between the experts and the lay public requires efforts.Not all projects are as succesfull as intented.16

The promises of digital media for public historians
The appearance of new media and digital technology made the work of public historians a lot more interesting.Digital media have a number of attractive properties for those who want to collect, keep and present the past for a broad public -the traditional tasks of public historians.Dan Cohen and the late Roy Rosenzweig, pioneers of digital history and the founders of the leading Centre for History and New Media (chnm) at George Mason University, mention some public history in a digital context: back to the future or back to basics?danniau quantitative and qualitative properties in the introduction to the standard work Digital History.17 We will enumerate the most important ones and elaborate on them.
Digital media are easy and cheap to use.Therefore, the threshold for in presenting and sharing history online is very low.Everyone can develop a website, write a blog or share data.Cohen and Rosenzweig remark that 'the number of authors of history web pages is likely greater than the number of authors of history books'.18 The traditional roles of experts -historians and scholars in general -and the public which acknowledges them and (can) consult them, is not reflected online: digital history possible does not seem to be a sustainable option.22 On the other hand, it is clear that the largely digitized daily and public life forms a great challenge for archives.Although no legal distinction is made between a paper and a digital archive, the digital data of governments, businesses and individuals run a greater risk of virtual dust gathering and vanishing instead of being safely deposited in archives.The permanence of born-digital material such as websites, games, metadata and databanks is precarious and governments and archives are concerned as to how to store this information well and systematically.23 Closely related to the digital media's capacity is their accessibility.Online history -in theory -is available to everybody, anytime, anywhere.Digital access saves both professional researchers and amateurs an incredible amount of time and money in their search for sources and information.Objects and documents that were -due to their fragility -only taken out of their climatecontrolled safes for consultation in the most exceptional circumstances, are both protected and accessible thanks to their digitisation.
A fourth property of digital media is their flexibility.Text, sound, (moving) image, relational data and 3d-presentations can all be traced to simple ones and noughts in the digital environment.Moreover, according to Cohen and Rosenzweig, this flexibility means that a single fact can exist in various forms -in various languages or various complementary components.
When searching a database for a particular person you can find a biographical entry, pictures, publications and relatives of that person, but also studies and opinions of them.24 This flexibility has consequences for how history is 'consumed' -perceived -by the user.All the various formats can also be public history in a digital context: back to the future or back to basics?danniau combined and adapted in different ways.By textsearching immense amounts of text can be searched automatically.Wiki's, blogs, image banks, podcasts, YouTube, Flickr, maps and so on can be integrated in/to web platforms by mashup.Another example of this flexibility is the activation of old media by digital reproduction (re-mediation) such as graphs, timelines, maps and diagrams.25 This diversity and manipulation of digital media has an impact on how history is produced.
The conceptual foundation of the Internet is the HyperText Transfer Protocol, a concept that defines the structure of digital text.The hypertextuality of the Internet ensures that we can criss-cross from one online item to another and in this way are liberated from a fixed linear narrative.The Internet is so constructed that there is no centre and no periphery, only the point of departure of the user.For historical representations this means we can move without any difficulty between places, events and objects, from long-term to short-term, micro to macro levels and so on.That hypertext and history are natural allies was already suggested by the inventor of the concept, Vannevar Bush in 1945.26 Due to the technical and widely used concretisation that hypertextuality has acquired with the World Wide Web, in 1999 digital historian Richard Ayers repeated Bush's hope that 'hypertextual history might grow into the most sophisticated form of historical narrative'.27 The conditional form in his article is crucial: up to now hypertextuality has not en masse transformed the representation of historical information.
Interaction is the final property of digital media we will discuss, and probably the most interesting to public historians.In contrast to publications or television, online media allow interaction and dialogue.Web 2.0, the social web, added yet another dimension to this interaction.28 The Internet no longer connects merely sources and receivers: individuals and communities can share information, highlight and tag, react and give feedback.All kinds of lowthreshold tools make every user a potential curator, archivist or historian.An endless series of publications, conferences and workshops focus on questions

Digital public history?
The question whether there is such a thing as 'digital public history' runs parallel to the question whether 'digital history' and 'digital humanities' are independent disciplines.There is much debate on the (necessity of) definition, delineation, methodology and theory forming.31 Some universities incorporate digital media in existing departments and curricula; others start a separate research group or curriculum.The Manifesto of the Digital Humanities that was issued in Paris in 2010, moved us somewhat beyond the issue by defining digital humanities as a 'transdiscipline', 'embodying all the methods, systems and heuristic perspectives linked to the digital within the fields of A definition for digital public history in relation to all digital history could be 'digital projects that primarily aim to communicate and interact with the public'.However, within public history there never was a theoretical distinction between digital and 'other' public history.'Public historians already exist in the now co-existing public and digital spheres'.41 From now on public history in a digital context: back to the future or back to basics?danniau we will refer to (aspects of) public history practices that manifest themselves specifically in the digital area as 'digital public projects', in contrast to public history practices that do not find expression online, which we will call 'analogue public projects'.

Public history -two case studies
The aforementioned properties and principles of digital media hold great promise for public history.We will analyse two cases that make optimal use of the new media and seem to make good on this promise.

Wikipedia
Ironically the most successful form of digital public history does not have a single professional historian on the payroll.'Wikipedia is a free multi-lingual internet encyclopaedia written by a number of authors on a voluntary basis'.42 While Wikipedia is, indeed, more than a 'public history project', it is still an exceptionally interesting case study for public historians, since it is the largest and best-known supplier of historical information.At the moment Wikipedia counts 100,000 active authors and 23 million entries in 25 languages.Anyone who respects the carefully drawn up guidelines can make or alter an entry.
Wikipedia is completely transparent about its methods and allocation of duties.
The origens of an entry can be reconstructed at any time by anybody.
A study by Nature in 2005 suggests that the accuracy of Wikipedia can rival that of Encyclopaedia Britannica.43 This is remarkable since Wikipedia does not have the financial resources or the experts of the Britannica.The results are consonant with recent research by Wolff, who studied the process by which the authors develop and discuss entries about the past.44 He concluded that the Wikipedia community is self-regulating, 'perfectly capable to gauge basic historical knowledge and can exclude claims that lack a factual basis' -despite the fact that the Wikipedia community consists chiefly of (white male) people without any training in history!In theory, experts and academics are welcome to contribute, but they are warned that they do not have a privileged position in the Wikipedia community.They are also not allowed to introduce original research.This is Derived from citizen science, the practice of collecting and processing scientific data by volunteers is not really a new concept, but thanks to digital technology it is now better applicable for historical purposes.public history in a digital context: back to the future or back to basics?danniau

Obstacles
Wikipedia and citizen history illustrate the innovative properties of the new media for public historians.However, from the viewpoint of professional (public) historians, the prevailing digital public projects give pause for thought.The divide between innovative best practices that are discussed at conferences and in journals on the one hand and the average public history project on the other is wide.Whether digital media encourage an interpretative presentation of history or a dialogue with the public has actually little to do with the (financial) resources invested in the project.51 Too often, public historians chase digital modalities blindly and jubilantly.But social media do not automatically attract young people, a forum without a public misses its mark, not every archaeological site profits from a 3-d presentation, and so on.Too seldom public historians experiment with content or the methodological properties of digital media, or wonder if the public even cares to be involved.After looking at the promise and potential of digital media for public history, this section looks at a number of fundamental obstacles.

Many assumptions, little research
The biggest weakness of digital public history is that there is very little user  UGentPassage.be;www.UGentMemorialis.be.76 www.ipg.ugent.be/projecten/digitale-tijdlijnen;www.tijdlijn.ugent.be.77 www.Gent1913Virtueel.be.public history in a digital context: back to the future or back to basics?danniau project is an experiment in intensive and many-faceted collaboration between heritage partners and researchers, and at the same time is a test-run for the Omeka platform.
The projects mentioned here are by themselves not greatly innovative or spectacular in either subject or scale, but the experience does gives insight into the manner in which digital media influence the practice and fundamentals of public history.The impact is enormous in the sense that the variety of participation and presentation forms has greatly increased and continues to grow at a rapid tempo.It concerns far more than websites with text and image collections: podcasts, tools, apps, forums, newsletters, social media campaigns, tutorials.Before these functionalities can be adapted and put into use in a public history project, one needs time to experiment with them.Staying abreast of the latest innovations turns out to be a labour intensive and continuous effort.
Digital projects have a use-by-date and a price ticket: unless they can be incorporated into the daily operation of an organisation prepared to invest in them permanently, they soon appear to be and feel outdated.Reflection on the concept and the content of digital projects is therefore crucial: what determines the 'usability' of form and content for the user and thus the sustainability of a digital project?It is a wonderful idea that each digital product is open ended and can continue indefinitely, but it fails to consider the limited duration of the average public history project.On the other hand, the limited duration of a public project should not be used as an excuse for not developing a digital or online window.'Closed' and momentary digital forms of publication should be negotiable.
The relatively limited duration and the price tag force the public historian to think carefully about the relevance of his project.Broadening the goals of the project and in this way disseminate its importance can be helpful.
For example, the lieux-de-mémoire films made by students for UGentMemorie are not all suitable for online publication due to technical shortcomings or superficial content.Nevertheless, the exercise was valuable because of the conversations between generations that took place and the hands-on initiation the students had in making a documentary film.The aim of a public history project can be an exquisite exhibition (digital or analogue), but it can also include experimentation with media and participation, putting together a blueprint for cataloguing with volunteers, setting up a web editing board, encouraging digital literacy among the youth, finding witnesses to a forgotten past and debating with stake-holders.Public history is a process.
There is no public history without a historical narrative.A project must be about something.Content should never give way to technology just because it is 'hot' and expected.However, how one constructs and presents the historical narratives is a matter of careful consideration.In contrast to the written discourse the digital world is visual and hypertextual.One of the revelations for the 'analogue' historians of the ipg was to find out digital history
It is a starting point that the historian Michael Frisch fully elaborated on in his standard work A Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Oral and Public History (1990).13 In this Frisch stated that sharing historical authority is inherent to oral and public history.He repeated this point in a recent article: 11 Knevel, 'Public History', 4-8.For an introduction to public history see K. Ribbens, Een eigentijds verleden.Alledaagse cultuur in Nederland 1945-2000 (Hilversum 2002).For public history in Flanders see G. Deneckere and B. De Wever, 'Publieksgeschiedenis in Vlaanderen.Tussen erfgoed, herinnering en media', in: A. Van Nieuwenhuyse and S. De Schampheleire (eds.),Geschiedenis: zijn werk, zijn leven.Huldeboek René De Herdt (Ghent 2010) 59-72.12 International Federation for Public History, www.publichistoryint.org.13 M. Frisch, A Shared Authority: Essays on the Craft and Meaning of Oral and Public History (Albany 1990).digital history 123 [...] the interpretive and meaning-making process is in fact shared by definitionit is inherent in the dialogic nature of an interview, and in how audiences receive and respond to exhibitions and public history interchanges in general.14

[
...] the even more dramatic contrast is in the social composition of the two sets of authors -web history authors are significantly more diverse and significantly less likely to have formal credentials.Their strong presence online unsettles existing hierarchies.19 Amateurs jumped on the digital bandwagon much earlier than professional historians.However, the massive public presence on the Internet should not mislead us about who is represented online.Pippa Norris pointed out the digital divide, the economic inequality between groups in terms of access to ict.20 The fact that digital media are relatively cheap has a great deal to do with what has become their virtually unlimited capacity.The amount of digital information that can be stored in a small area for very low cost -in comparison to physical storage -brought about a real revolution in the world of libraries and archives.Historians and archivists have long been dreaming of storing information without being hampered by physical limits.Today it is clear that unlimited storage capacity brings new problems.The information overload can trip us up and archives must take more care than ever to make good choices in the selection and categorisation of their collections, if they want them to be useable in the future.21 Keeping everything just because it is technically D. Cohen and R. Rosenzweig, Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web (Philadelphia 2006), chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/; L. Manovich, The Language of New Media (Cambridge 2001).Ibid.Ibid.20 P. Norris, Digital divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty, and the Internet Worldwide (Cambridge 2001); M. Warschauer, Technology and Social Inclusion: Rethinking the Digital divide (Cambridge 2005).21 See: Charles Jeurgens' contribution to this issue, 30-54.
22 R. Rosenzweig, 'Scarcity or Abundance?: Preserving the Past in a Digital Era', American Historical Review 108 (2003) 735-762; K. Jeurgens, 'De selectielijst en het historisch motief in de waardering en selectie van archieven', in: E. Put and Ch.Vancoppenolle (eds.),Archiefambacht tussen geschiedenisbedrijf en erfgoedwinkel.Een balans bij het afscheid van vijf rijksarchivarissen (Brussels 2013) 207-226.23 H. Abelson, K. Ledeen and H. Lewis, Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and Happiness after the Digital Explosion (Upper Saddle River 2008); A. Stille, The Future of the Past (New York 2002); M.G.Kirschenbaum, R. Ovenden, G. Redwine, Digital Forencisc and Born-Digital Content in Cultural Heritage Collections (Washington 2010), R. Van de Walle and S. Van Peteghem (eds.), (Meta) datastandaarden voor digitale archieven (Ghent 2009); M. Pennock, Web-Archiving (Digital Preservation Coalition, 2013).In the Netherlands the Nationale Coalitie voor Digitale Duurzaamheid (www.ncdd.nl/documents)and Digitaal Erfgoed Nederland (den) (www.den.nl) are concerned with digital durability and digital heritage.In Flanders there is Faro, Flemish centre for cultural heritage (www.faronet.be/e-documenten)and Packed, expertise centre for digital heritage (www.packed.be).On their respective websites are various reports of the Dutch and Flemish cases.24A good visualisation of this principle can be found on www.digitalvaults.org of the National Archives (vs).The possibilities that such flexibility offers for archives is illustrated by archive management system Lias (www.lias.be).
social media can be used by institutions to make contact with the public and what role remains for the professionals.29 Thanks to digital platforms and networks, historians and public are available to each other, can come together and enter into dialogue.30 The active principles of social media force public historians to spend more time and attention on communication channels and methods.Public participation and sharing authority in analysing the past -a fundamental principle of public history -can take very concrete and practical forms thanks to social media.
29 P. Andersen, What is Web 2.0?: Ideas, Technologies and Implications for Education (Bristol 2007); Museumpeil -themanummer Musea en Sociale Media 36 (2011); Digitaal Erfgoed Nederland [Netherlands' Digital Heritage] offers an introductory dossier on www.den.nl/thema/121.A critical exploration is offered by the project Unlike Us of the Institute of Network Studies (networkcultures.org/wpmu/unlikeus). 30 A. Russo et al., 'Participatory Communication with Social Media', Curator: The Museum Journal 51:1 (2008) 21-31; J. Watkins, 'Social Media, Participatory Design and Cultural Engagement', Proceedings of the 19th Australasian Conference on Computer-Human Interaction: Entertaining User Interfaces (Adelaide, Australia 2007) 161-166.31 For a collection of definitions and applications of digital humanities see the survey by Day of the dh 2012, dayofdh2012.artsrn.ualberta.ca/dh/.public history in a digital context: back to the future or back to basics?danniau humanities and the social sciences'.32 Digital humanists express themselves nowadays in all kinds of networks, centres and (online) journals.33 Digital history manifests itself as a branch of the digital humanities, rooting in the quantitative history and cliometrics of the 1970s.34 William G. Thomas III of the Virginia Center for Digital History formulated a working definition as 'an approach to examining and representing the past that works with the new communication technologies of the computer, the Internet network, and software systems'.35 However, analogous to what the Manifesto of the Digital Humanities asserts for the humanities, we can state that digital history is a transdiscipline, a state of transition in expectation to the time when digital is 'the new normal' for historians.36 32 M. Dacos, Manifesto for the Digital Humanities (26 March 2011), tcp.hypotheses.org/411.33 P. Monier, Une introduction aux humanités numériques (Marseille 2012); press.openedition.org/226; 'Essays on History and New Media', Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, chnm.gmu.edu/essays-on-historynew-media/essays.Not surprisingly digital humanists communicate mainly online by means of (collaborative) blogs, online journals and twitter (#dighum).A mindmap of the European Association for Digital Humanities attempted to chart the landscape world-wide (www.allc.org/publications/mind-map-digital-humanities).The Centre for History and New Media of the George Mason University is the base for three influential digital initiatives -the blog Digital Humanities Now (digitalhumanitiesnow.org), the online publication Hacking the Academy, a Book crowdsourced in One Week, May 21-28, 2010 (hackingtheacademy.org)and the open access Journal of Digital Humanities (www.journalofdigitalhumanities.org).The most prominent journals are Digital Humanities Quarterly (digitalhumanities.org),hastac -Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (hastac.org) and llc: The Journal of Digital Scholarship in the Humanities.At a European level dariah functions as an umbrella organisation for the facilitation of digital data from/for researchers (www.dariah.eu).34 S. Noiret, 'The Historian's New Workshop', in: I. Porciani and L. Raphael (eds.),Atlas of European Historiography: The Making of a Profession 1800-2005 (Basingstoke 2010) 69.35 S.n., 'Interchange': The Promise of Digital History', The Journal of American History 95:2 (2008), www.journalofamericanhistory.org/issues/952/ interchange/.36 P. Hinssen, Digitaal is het nieuwe normaal.De revolutie is begonnen (Tielt 2010).Digital historians are far less explicitly organised than digital humanists.Blogs on digital history are generally individual initiatives, sometimes linked to a course, and not organisations' channels.Exceptions are hist.neten Global Perspectives on Digital History (gpdh.org).In connection with the various aspects of digital history see the vision and state of the field respectively offered by E.L. Ayers, 'The Pasts and Futures of Digital History' (1999), www.vcdh.virginia.edu/PastsFutures.html; K.D. Nawrotzki and J. Dougherty (eds.),Writing History in the Digital Age: A Born-Digital, Open-Review Volume (Michigan Spring 2012), writinghistory.trincoll.edu.digital history 129 It is remarkable that among the first generation of 'digital' historians there are many public historians.37 'Public historians have been leading the way in embracing the possibilities of new technology', noted a satisfied David Walsh after the 2012 annual meeting of the ncph.38 This is not surprising considering how attractive it is for public historians to use the communication channels of the Internet and web 2.0 to interact with the public.The digital involvement of public historians contrasts with the digital behaviour of academic historians.The divide between both schools is so great that Serge Noiret posed the rhetorical question whether the difference between digital and academic history writing is simply the means of communication and the intended audience: Existerait-il alors une histoire numérique 2.0., pour un plus vaste public et une histoire faite en usant de médias traditionnels pour le seul public universitaire?Faut-il ainsi différencier l'usage des médias pour transmettre l'histoire en fonction du public auquel elle s'adresse?39 Is all online history then public history?One can argue that all historical information on the Internet -including academic articles, research infrastructures, data visualisation -is public history, because it exists in the public domain and is thus available to everyone.Apart from the fact that open access is a democratic principle for which every historian should stand up, it is naive to think that the public en masse makes use of open professional historical platforms.40 The communication and publication means nor the availability of the information are usable criteria in defining either digital or public history.
See for example the biographical introductions on the partners in dialogue s.n.'Interchange'.D.A. Walsh, 'Public History's Great Showing at the 2012 ncph/oah Annual Meeting', History News Network.30 April 2012.hnn.us/articles/ public-history-had-great-showing-2012-ncphoahannual-meeting.S. Noiret, 'La Digital History: Histoire et mémoire à la portée de tous', Ricerche Storiche 41:1 (2011) 137-138.[Is there then a history 2.0 for the general public on the one hand and a history made with traditional means just for the academic public on the other?Is transmitting history according to the public addressed thus a matter of differentiation in the use of media?] 40 Concerning the Open Access Movement see www.openaccessweek.org.All registered open access journals can be found in the Directory of Open Access Journals (www.doaj.org).41Walsh, 'Public History's Great Showing'.

48 A
classical example of citizen history is the 'memorial research project' The Children of the Lodz Ghetto of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (ushmm).49 The museum asks online visitors to reconstruct the lives and fates of 8,590 school children from the Lodz ghetto in Poland.They can do so by searching for information in online databases and digitised documents.In constructing their project the initiators took into account the lessons learned from other crowdsourcing projects: a collective aim is defined (learning the fate of 8,590 children), the results of the work are published (20 children survived World War II, 77 died), the most productive contributors are rewarded with honourable mention, remarkable histories are spotlighted and the relevance of the collective effort is clear.The project has various built-in response mechanisms and both historians from ushmm and other users verify the data.By reading and checking the work of others, users learn from each other about methodology and important considerations.The quality of the user research of the trial version in 2008-2009 was not very high: only one third of the material submitted by the test group was ultimately validated by historians.In spite of the fact that members of the museum staff could do the work more quickly and accurately, ushmm decided to continue the project because of its social and educational value.Project leader David Klevan explained this decision:I hesitate to refer to any data as 'bad' data because each time a learner submits 'bad' data, they receive feedback about the submitted data that hopefully helps them to learn more about the history and become a better researcher.50In the Children of the Lodz Ghetto historians share, not relinquish, authority in a digital setting.Experts -historians -have a clear role guiding the volunteers in historical criticism and verifying the research results before publication.But the eventual publication consists of the research findings of the volunteers.The case demonstrates the senselessness of measuring the success of a multilevel project simply on the basis of quantitative parameters.
research, comparative or meta-research, either about digital public practices or based on digital public practices.52 The problem is partly caused by the nature of public history projects.Public history projects attempt to 'produce' as much as possible with the time and means available (yet another interview, yet another education package, yet another workshop...).There is little time for reflection or positioning public history projects in a larger context.Before you know it, the collaborator is already gone or busy with another project.When something is published about a (digital) public project, it is usually written by involved parties and generally only highlights the successful aspects of the project.The line-up of contributions in journals and at conferences is the herald of a good news show.Even in a journal such as The Public Historian the articles are reports rather than enquiries or reviews.53 This results in a lack of sources, figures, directories, quantitative and qualitative 51 For innovative online history see EdTEchTeacher Resource, Best of History Websites (www.besthistorysites.net).52 An exception was the conference 'Websites as Sources' that the cvce and the Université de Luxembourg organised in 2012 (www.digitalhumanities.lu),see among others the research of T. Cauvin and J. Peter on the historical discourse on websites.53 The ncph understands its tradition as a professional publication and is considering the future of the journal.In 2012 it carried out a survey among readers and universities to gauge their expectations of the journal (publichistorycommons.org/speaking-of-thesurvey-part-2-what-role-for-the-ncph-journal).
digital history projects to experiment with digital techniques and the online presence of historians.74 This last section gives a brief overview of a number of ipg projects and will try to answer the question to what extent digital practices have fundamentally altered the activities of the public historian.UGentMemorie is the longest running project of the ipg.Its theme is the history and memories of the University of Ghent in preparation for its bicentennial in 2017.75 The website www.UGentMemorie.be(2011) functions as a hub and flywheel for the public project.The history, the heritage and the memories of the university and city, of science and society are revealed in all kinds of entries and dossiers.Debates, exhibitions, publications, interviews and film assignments for students are a few of the analogue projects surrounding the website.The walk UGentPassage and the biographical databank UGentMemorialis are digital spin-offs.The thematic site www.familiegeschiedenis.be (2012) arose out of a partnership with Familiekunde Vlaanderen [Flemish Family History] (fv).It brought together existing but scattered methodological and historical knowledge on writing family history.The intended public is both 'experts', such as members of fv, and 'beginners' such as students who are taking the course in Family History.The thematic website offers instructions in five steps, a list of sources with methodological guidelines, and all kinds of tools and links.A web editorial panel takes care of adding sources and tools and preparing thematic dossiers.The coming organisation website of fv and a forum will form a triptych with www.familiegeschiedenis.be.As part of a faculty education innovation project the ipg is currently examining the educational possibilities of interactive timelines as an instrument for constructing an historical frame of reference.The subsequent application www.tijdlijn.ugent.be is being tested by students of the teacher training course and by first year students of the History bachelor during the academic year 2012-2013.76 The most recent ipg project is www.Gent1913Virtueel.be[Ghent 1913 Virtual] 77 , a platform that unites diverse research and digitising initiatives of six city and university services in connection with the commemoration of the Ghent World Fair, in the conviction that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.Through an image bank, timeline, thematic exhibitions and an interactive 3d model all the facets of the World Fair of 1913 are shown.The 74 These were public history projects lasting from a few months up to four years that never had more than two staff members.For a complete overview, see www.ipg.ugent.be/projecten.75 www.UGentMemorie.be;F. Danniau, R. Mantels and C. Verbruggen, 'Towards a Renewed University History: UGentMemorie and the Merits of Public History, Academic Heritage and Digital History in Commemorating the University', Studium 5 (2012) 179-192; www.