Sunday, March 29, 2009
You want a Public Historian
As a discipline, Public History is about making history accessible to the public. I think the best way to define public history is to know where the public historian can be found. They typically dwell in museums caring for artefacts, producing displays, performing administrative tasks, and liaising with the public. Although this is not the only place public historians can be found. There are many non traditional jobs for public historians and well jobs that I didn't even know existed. Did you know that public historians are great at freelance historic journalism? They are useful as heritage planners, documentary and film consultants, potentially historic novelists, educators, archivists, entrepreneurs or even in government. Public Historians are well known for their adaptability, creativity and productivity. So if you have a job involving history, you want a public historian.
The Bridge of Dreams
In 2005, I had the opportunity to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and I quickly realized that it was more than just a bridge. It was a tremendous architectural success and I began to wonder about its history and the impact that this bridge would have had on average New Yorkers. I decided to do some research and this is what I discovered.
The concept for the Brooklyn Bridge arose in the early nineteenth century when New Yorkers began dreaming of a bridge to connect them with America, no one imagined the spectacle it would become. With its mixture of neo-gothic towers, steal spans and cables, Brooklyn Bridge has stood between the shores of the East River for over a hundred and twenty five years.
The construction of the Bridge was indeed a triumph of design and skill. At a time when one in every five bridges collapsed, Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world. Its granite towers were the largest structures ever built on the North American continent. Its construction was sought with many challenges and came at high finial and human cost. In order to construct the base of the bridge workers were lowered in Caissons, which were large wooden chambers that acted much like a cup flipped upside down and placed in water. The caissons were pressurized and kept the water out so workers could dig on the bed rock of the East River and lay the foundations for the Bridge. Many fell ill and died from what came to be known as Caissons Disease caused by ascending too rapidly from a place of high pressure, today this is commonly known as the Bends. Workers would have suffered from violent cramps, dizziness, vomiting, migraines, extreme fatigue, loss of sight and the loss of feeling in both arms and legs. With the caissons and other dangers of the job the bridge would claim approximately twenty seven lives, including its creator John Roebling.
After fourteen years of waiting and costing an astounding $14 million dollars, New Yorkers celebrated its opening day on May 24, 1883. This event drew close to 150,000 people who waited through the speeches so they may pay the one cent toll to cross the bridge for the first time.
No one could have predicted the tremendous impact of the Brooklyn Bridge for New Yorkers at the turn of the twenty first century. Connecting the island of New York with the main land alleviated much of the overcrowding in the city, greatly enhancing the lives of average New Yorkers. Workers could now find affordable and spacious living conditions in Brooklyn while still retaining their jobs in the city.
The Brooklyn Bridge is still open to pedestrians today, so if you are ever in New York City take some time to cross this bridge and experience its rich history.
The concept for the Brooklyn Bridge arose in the early nineteenth century when New Yorkers began dreaming of a bridge to connect them with America, no one imagined the spectacle it would become. With its mixture of neo-gothic towers, steal spans and cables, Brooklyn Bridge has stood between the shores of the East River for over a hundred and twenty five years.
The construction of the Bridge was indeed a triumph of design and skill. At a time when one in every five bridges collapsed, Brooklyn Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world. Its granite towers were the largest structures ever built on the North American continent. Its construction was sought with many challenges and came at high finial and human cost. In order to construct the base of the bridge workers were lowered in Caissons, which were large wooden chambers that acted much like a cup flipped upside down and placed in water. The caissons were pressurized and kept the water out so workers could dig on the bed rock of the East River and lay the foundations for the Bridge. Many fell ill and died from what came to be known as Caissons Disease caused by ascending too rapidly from a place of high pressure, today this is commonly known as the Bends. Workers would have suffered from violent cramps, dizziness, vomiting, migraines, extreme fatigue, loss of sight and the loss of feeling in both arms and legs. With the caissons and other dangers of the job the bridge would claim approximately twenty seven lives, including its creator John Roebling.
After fourteen years of waiting and costing an astounding $14 million dollars, New Yorkers celebrated its opening day on May 24, 1883. This event drew close to 150,000 people who waited through the speeches so they may pay the one cent toll to cross the bridge for the first time.
No one could have predicted the tremendous impact of the Brooklyn Bridge for New Yorkers at the turn of the twenty first century. Connecting the island of New York with the main land alleviated much of the overcrowding in the city, greatly enhancing the lives of average New Yorkers. Workers could now find affordable and spacious living conditions in Brooklyn while still retaining their jobs in the city.
The Brooklyn Bridge is still open to pedestrians today, so if you are ever in New York City take some time to cross this bridge and experience its rich history.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
RFID chips and Spimes
Imagine a world where everything is on the internet, as suggested by Sean Dodson, in his article "The Internet of Things". The technology exists to place these RFID chips and Spimes, in everyday objects and even in people. But what kind of implications could this have?
Not only could these chips make history with their profound and far reaching impact to the world around them. Imagine the effects on the consumer culture. These chips could be used to increase consumer convenience, predictability and in the end consumer satisfaction. For business, this technology would provide ultimate and valuable market research and would translate into larger and larger profits. This technology could better our lives or offer us a world of even more reduced liberties. Will we as a member of society, give up a little more of our liberty, in exchange for the benefits offered to us by our ever more encroaching society?
There is still one more issue I would like to bring up as a historian. I’m interested to know what effect this technology would have on historiography.
Imagine a historian is in the process of writing a historical biography. In the modern world there are already ample records to sift through when attempting to thoroughly understand a subject; in recent history, there are governmental, personal, even corporate records to choose from. Now imagine a world with RFID chips. There would be endless amounts of data. Even if the individual does not have an RFID chip themselves, if every object around every person does, it would be possible to recreate the entire world a person lived in based on their interactions with objects in the world. These every day objects would have a complete provenance on record. One would know the location and history of the objects throughout their existence and could essentially use this information to track movements and actions of historical events and figures. With these objects also recording and transmitting this information it could be accessible and stored for possibly eternity in the archives of the internet. It would stand to reason that such useful and potentially profitable information would not just end with the destruction of the object, it’s more likely that this information would be stored for future research and reference purposes. Historians could access this information and have to ability to recreate the actions of every person during every event in modern history simply by accessing the logs of nearby objects. Such ability would offer historians a truly new tool to examine history. To assign a neologism, It would be possible to have almost total-micro history. With this type of technology, the only mystery left to the historian would be access to the actual mind of the subject. Who knows where technology will take us next.
Not only could these chips make history with their profound and far reaching impact to the world around them. Imagine the effects on the consumer culture. These chips could be used to increase consumer convenience, predictability and in the end consumer satisfaction. For business, this technology would provide ultimate and valuable market research and would translate into larger and larger profits. This technology could better our lives or offer us a world of even more reduced liberties. Will we as a member of society, give up a little more of our liberty, in exchange for the benefits offered to us by our ever more encroaching society?
There is still one more issue I would like to bring up as a historian. I’m interested to know what effect this technology would have on historiography.
Imagine a historian is in the process of writing a historical biography. In the modern world there are already ample records to sift through when attempting to thoroughly understand a subject; in recent history, there are governmental, personal, even corporate records to choose from. Now imagine a world with RFID chips. There would be endless amounts of data. Even if the individual does not have an RFID chip themselves, if every object around every person does, it would be possible to recreate the entire world a person lived in based on their interactions with objects in the world. These every day objects would have a complete provenance on record. One would know the location and history of the objects throughout their existence and could essentially use this information to track movements and actions of historical events and figures. With these objects also recording and transmitting this information it could be accessible and stored for possibly eternity in the archives of the internet. It would stand to reason that such useful and potentially profitable information would not just end with the destruction of the object, it’s more likely that this information would be stored for future research and reference purposes. Historians could access this information and have to ability to recreate the actions of every person during every event in modern history simply by accessing the logs of nearby objects. Such ability would offer historians a truly new tool to examine history. To assign a neologism, It would be possible to have almost total-micro history. With this type of technology, the only mystery left to the historian would be access to the actual mind of the subject. Who knows where technology will take us next.
Promise Land Project and Symposium
This summer I'll have the opportunity to join the Promise Land Project as a research assistant under the direction of Dr Nina Reid Maroney of Huron College. The project I'm part of is a five-year $997,784 Community University Research Alliance (CURA) grant from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) for work on the significance of black history in the Promised Land communities. It is a collaborative venture involving both universities and the community.
As a wonderful orientation to the project, I was invited to attend the Promise Land Symposium which took place on March 13 to the 15th 2009, at St Clair College in Chatham Ontario. During this event I was able to meet the project team which includes both national and international researchers and supporters. I had the opportunity to meet and listen to lectures from Dr. Boulou Ebanda de B’béri from the University of Ottawa, Marie Carter of the Dresden Community, and Devin Andrews project coordinator among many other talented and dedicated team members.
This event was an opportunity for those involved in the project and the public to share their research and thoughts on the anti slavery movement of South-western Ontario in the Nineteenth Century as well as contemporary issues of cultural identity.
For my contribution over the summer, I will be completing the database of African American Canadian land settlement in South Western Ontario, work which began last year. Once this is complete I will transfer this data to a geo mapping program. The idea behind this project, is that links and connections will show themselves if they are presented visually and spatially though mapping.
If anyone is interested in learning more about the abolitionist movement in South-western Ontario I have put a display together at Huron College. It is located in the basement of the Administration wing across from the Huron Diocese Archives. And will be there to view until next month.
As a wonderful orientation to the project, I was invited to attend the Promise Land Symposium which took place on March 13 to the 15th 2009, at St Clair College in Chatham Ontario. During this event I was able to meet the project team which includes both national and international researchers and supporters. I had the opportunity to meet and listen to lectures from Dr. Boulou Ebanda de B’béri from the University of Ottawa, Marie Carter of the Dresden Community, and Devin Andrews project coordinator among many other talented and dedicated team members.
This event was an opportunity for those involved in the project and the public to share their research and thoughts on the anti slavery movement of South-western Ontario in the Nineteenth Century as well as contemporary issues of cultural identity.
For my contribution over the summer, I will be completing the database of African American Canadian land settlement in South Western Ontario, work which began last year. Once this is complete I will transfer this data to a geo mapping program. The idea behind this project, is that links and connections will show themselves if they are presented visually and spatially though mapping.
If anyone is interested in learning more about the abolitionist movement in South-western Ontario I have put a display together at Huron College. It is located in the basement of the Administration wing across from the Huron Diocese Archives. And will be there to view until next month.
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