Week 1: January 20-26

WELCOME!

Syllabus & Course Sneak Preview

Review: Please watch the short welcome presentation and course sneak preview, link provided via email and on Blackboard.

Introductions (on Slack, by Tuesday, January 28, 2025)

Please accept my invitation to our Slack space (I will send you the invitation by Wednesday, January 22, 2025).
Please introduce yourself on Slack and share a photo or something else that tells us a little bit about yourself!

DUE (by Tuesday, January 28, 2025)

Please respond to the short survey about technology and your specific interests that I will email you.

Week 2: January 27-February 2, 2025

Oral History & Public History

How did oral history evolve as a historical practice and genre? How does it fit in the context of academic history on the one hand, and public history on the other? What does it mean to “share historical authority”? How is it relevant for our course focusing on the digital past?

Please review (by Monday, February 3, 2025)

My short presentation on oral history and public history (link distributed via email, Slack, and Blackboard) ~ 10 minutes

Linda Shopes, “What is Oral History?” From: History Matters: The U.S. Survey Course on the Web (2002), http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/oral/oral.pdf, pages 1-5.
“’Working’ Then and Now: Studs Terkel’s Book Interviews Resurface as Audio,” NPR Weekend edition, September 25, 2016 (5 minute listen, includes transcript), https://www.npr.org/2016/09/25/494740720/working-then-and-now-studs-terkels-book-interviews-resurface-as-audio

Option 1: “Teenage Telephone Operator Reveals Loneliness In Terkel’s ‘Working’,” NPR, All Things Considered, September 27, 2016 (5 minute listen, includes transcript), https://www.npr.org/2016/09/27/495671371/teenage-telephone-operator-reveals-loneliness-in-terkels-working
Option 2: Interview about dust storms in Oklahoma, Shafter FSA Camp, August 5, 1940, Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Workers Collection (AFC 1985/001), Library of Congress (4:31 minutes) http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/afcts.4120a1

Option 3: ‘I Didn’t Plan To Be A Union Guy’, ‘Working’ Then And Now, All Things Considered, NPR, Sept. 29, 2016, https://www.npr.org/2016/09/29/495916035/working-then-and-now-i-didnt-plan-to-be-a-union-guy
Discussions on Slack (by February 3, 2025)

Virtual field trip: This week, we’ll take a trip to an online historical resource and discuss our experiences on Slack. I will distribute a list of optional websites for your review and will also provide you with discussion questions. You may also choose your own site or resource for your field trip.
Discussion of readings/audio recordings on Slack. I’ll share detailed instructions via email.

Week 3: February 3-9

Oral History and Technology, part 1: The development of field recording and oral history from phonograph cylinders to digital audio and video recorders

How has technology shaped the development of field recording and oral history? What has been the impact of digital media technology on the practice and genre of oral history? How has digital technology affected the preservation and accessibility of analog recordings?

Please review (by February 10, 2025)

My short presentation on oral history and technology, part 1 (link distributed via email, Slack, and Blackboard) ~ 10 minutes

Listen to: “Story Corps and Stetson Kennedy,” NPR Talk of the Nation, May 23, 2005 (9 minutes, includes transcript), https://www.npr.org/transcripts/4663544
“Shove It Over” (vocals) performed by Zora Neale Hurston at Federal Music Project Office, Jacksonville, Florida, on June 18, 1939. Herbert Halpert 1939 Southern States Recording Expedition (AFC 1939/005) (2:47 minutes), https://www.loc.gov/item/flwpa000006/
“Throwback on a Comeback: The Last Cassette Tape Factory,” Great Big Story Podcast (2016), You Tube (3:13 minutes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ81-TMP4pI
Gerald Zahavi, “Notes from the Field: Digital History and Oral History,” Oral History and Digital Humanities, ed. by Douglas Boyd and Mary Larson (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), pp. 119-132. (I will distribute this article via email and on Blackboard)
Please also take a look at:
Timeline of the recorded sound industry, National Recording Preservation Plan, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-recording-preservation-plan/tools-and-resources/history/timeline/
History of sound recording, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_sound_recording

Discussions on Slack (by February 10, 2025)

Stories and reflections about analog media

DUE (by February 10)
📝 QUIZ 1

DUE (by February 10)

Blog setup: Please install your blog, write an “about” paragraph, and share a photo or something else you’d like to share. I will provide you with detailed step-by-step guidelines for the installation of your blogs.

Week 4: February 10-16

Oral History and Technology, part 2: The development of field recording and oral history from phonograph cylinders to digital audio and video recorders

Please review (by February 17)

My short presentation on oral history and technology, part 2 (link distributed via email, Slack, and Blackboard) – ~ 10 minutes

How are vinyl records made? A look inside Oregon’s first record pressing facility, The Oregonian, April 12, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbqzx0tUnPM
Doug Boyd, “Achieving the Promise of Oral History in a Digital Age,” Oxford Handbook of Oral History, ed. by Donald Ritchie (Oxford: Oxford University Press: 2010), pp. 285-302. (Distributed in class.)
Passamaquoddy song of the Snake Dance, Jesse Walter Fewkes collection of Passamaquoddy cylinder recordings, recorded in Calais, Maine on March 15, 1890 by Jesse Walter Fewkes, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2015655575/
Personal Digital Archiving: An Introduction (New City Library, Aug 8, 2014), https://guides.rcls.org/personaldigitalarchiving
We’ll also discuss a few personal digital archiving guidelines and toolkits, including:

Digital Archiving Research Guide: https://guides.lib.umich.edu/c.php?g=992751
(This is one of the best and most recent guides on digital personal archiving from the University of Michigan Libraries based on the principles: Select; Gather; Organize; Backup; Maintain)

Discussions on Slack (by February 17)

Personal digital archiving – how can we ensure that we don’t lose our most valued and important files?

DUE (by February 17)

Blog post 1: Oral history interview analysis and discussion (I will provide you with a list of optional sources you can analyze and guidelines)

Week 5: February 17-23

Navigating the Internet & Discovering and Evaluating Online Sources
How do we find reliable primary and secondary sources online, including for our final project? How do you evaluate the reliability of online sources? What is metadata and how can we use it effectively for the discovery of materials? How do search engines work and how do they control our lives?
Please review (by February 24)

My short presentation on navigating the Internet and discovering and evaluating online sources (link distributed via email, Slack, and Blackboard) – ~ 10 minutes

Evaluating Internet Resources, Georgetown University Library, https://www.library.georgetown.edu/tutorials/research-guides/evaluating-internet-content
How Google search works: https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/
Interview with Siva Vaidhyanathan (The Googlization of Everything), University of California Press Podcast, Feb. 17, 2011, available on Soundcloud (16:08 min), https://soundcloud.com/uc-press/podcast-interview-of-siva-vaidhyanathan-author-of-the-googlization-of-everything-available-now
Jason Steinhauer, Can an Oral History be Fake News? Hindsights, November 3, 2017, https://medium.com/hindsights/can-an-oral-history-be-fake-news-70864d5a10cf
“Technologies To Create Fake Audio And Video Are Quickly Evolving,” NPR, April 2, 2018 (3 minute listen), https://www.npr.org/2018/04/02/598916380/technologies-to-create-fake-audio-and-video-are-quickly-evolving
DUE (by February 24)
📝 QUIZ 2

Discussions on Slack (by February 24)

Student-led discussion of readings/audio and video recordings on Slack.

Week 6: February 24-March 2

Copyrights & Fair Use
Evaluating copyrights and fair use, locating online sources and artwork, including music and photographs, licensed under Creative Commons.

Please review (by March 3)

Aaron McCullough, Copyright Basics, George Mason University Publishing Group, March 7, 2018, https://publishing.gmu.edu/communication/copyright/copyright-basics/
“A brief history of why artists are no longer making a living making music,” Ian Tamblyn, Roots Music Canada, March 14, 2019, https://www.rootsmusic.ca/2019/03/14/a-brief-history-of-why-artists-are-no-longer-making-a-living-making-music/
“Pioneering punk label Dischord Records put entire catalogue online free,” Far Out, May 3, 2020, https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/dischord-records-punk-bandcamp-free/

DUE (March 3)
📝 QUIZ 3

Discussions on Slack (by March 3)

Copyrights & fair use
Making art & making a living

Week 7: March 3-9

Online Ethics: Privacy, informational self-determination, and the protection of culturally sensitive materials

What are the major ethical implications of doing oral history online, and how do the principles of informational self-determination and informed consent play out in an online environment? What are the major privacy issues in an online environment and how can we protect our own privacy? How can ethical stewardship of culturally sensitive materials be implemented in a digital environment?

Please review (by March 7)

“How to Protect Your Digital Privacy,” The New York Times, The Privacy Project, https://www.nytimes.com/guides/privacy-project/how-to-protect-your-digital-privacy
Please take a look at the internet and data privacy guide, Pratt Institute Libraries, https://libguides.pratt.edu/internet-data-privacy/introduction-internet-privacy
Mukurtu Archive, “About” page: http://www.mukurtuarchive.org/about
“Repatriating” Indigenous Digital Heritage: The Rise of Traditional Knowledge (TK) Labels and Licenses, American University Intellectual Property Brief, February 28, 2022, http://www.ipbrief.net/2022/02/28/repatriating-indigenous-digital-heritage-the-rise-of-traditional-knowledge-tk-labels-and-licenses/

Discussions on Slack (by March 17)

Online privacy exercise

Week 8: March 10-16 (spring break)

Spring break!

Week 9: March 17-23

Online Access and Ethics: Artificial Intelligence and Information Literacy

Please review (by March 24)

Research Guide: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Information Literacy, University of Maryland, College Park, https://lib.guides.umd.edu/AI
Discussions on Slack (by March 24)

Student-led discussion on Slack.

📝 DUE (by March 24)

Blog post 2: Podcast or online exhibition review and discussion (I will provide you with a list of optional podcasts or exhibitions you can analyze and guidelines

DUE (by March 24)

Final project initial proposal (survey response) via email

Week 10: March 24-30

Final project preparation and recap week, part 1: Primary source research and analysis; final project discussion, skills & tools discussion, copyrights & ethics recap.

DUE (by March 31)

Final project annotated bibliographies
Final project about paragraph (please share on Slack)

🧰 Skills & tools exercise, option 1 (recommended)

Install Zotero and export your draft bibliography
(Step-by-step instructions provided)

Discussions on Slack (by March 31)

Student-led discussion of readings/audio and video recordings on Slack.

Week 11: March 31-April 6

Interviewing remotely and podcast production
While you may not do your own remote oral history interview as part of the coursework, there will be – most likely – situations where you will have to facilitate or participate in other types of remote interviews in in the near future, including in job interviews. So, this week, we’ll go over a few general guidelines on remote interviewing, and will also discuss writing for podcasts and podcast production.
Please review (by April 7)

Oral History at Home, Five East Steps, Smithsonian Institution (very short film, 02:15 minutes), Smithsonian Institution, 2020: https://siarchives.si.edu/history/how-do-oral-history
Writing for Podcasts: My interview with Roger Mellen, April 17, 2020, https://hist390-kh.org/podcast/writing-for-podcasts-interview-with-roger-mellen-part-1/
Length: 9:21
Please also review/skim (especially if you’re planning to produce a podcast):
NPR: Starting Your Podcast: A Guide for Students, November 2018: https://www.npr.org/2018/11/15/662070097/starting-your-podcast-a-guide-for-students
2-page summary: Oral History at a Distance: Conducting Remote Interviews Webinar, pdf downloadable from: https://www.oralhistory.org/2020/03/26/webinar-oral-history-at-a-distance-conducting-remote-interviews/
How to hook your podcast audience, NPR Training, March 27, 2017, https://training.npr.org/2017/03/27/how-to-hook-your-podcast-audience/
Guest speaker:
Discussions on Slack (by April 7)
Student-led discussion with guest speakers on Slack.

DUE (by April 7)

Final project revised bibliographies and outline

Week 12: April 7-13

Doing digital history in public, connecting with communities
What are the opportunities and challenges of doing public history in a digital environment? How can oral history be used most effectively in community engagement and collaborative projects? What are the benefits, what are the challenges of rapid response collecting?
Reading:

Sheila Brennan, “Share Your Story”: Legacies of Online Collecting, Journal of American History 111:6 (2024): 212-221, online at: https://sheilabrennan.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Legacies-of-Online-Collecting-Brennan-JAH-6-2024.pdf
Mark Tebeau, A Journal of the Plague Year: Rapid-Response Archiving Meets the Pandemic, Collections: A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals 17:3 (2021): 199–206.
Guest speaker:
Discussions on Slack (by April 14)

Student-led discussion with guest speakers on Slack. DUE (by April 14)
FINAL PROJECT DRAFT (recommended)

Week 13: April 14-20

Online Access and Ethics: Accessibility and Digital Inequalities

Please review (by April 21)

Virginia Association of Counties, “Virginia releases draft proposal to achieve universal broadband access with $1.48 billion in federally allocated funds,” September 8, 2023, https://www.vaco.org/county-connections/virginia-releases-draft-proposal-to-achieve-universal-broadband-access-with-1-48-billion-in-federally-allocated-funds-comments-due-by-september-19/
Alexander Marre, “COVID-19 Remote Learning Exposes the Digital Divide,” Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Regional Matters, March 25, 2021, https://www.richmondfed.org/region_communities/regional_data_analysis/regional_matters/2021/rm_03_25_21_broadband
“Native Americans Long ‘Left Out’ From Broadband Push For Equity,” Bloomberg Government, October 25, 2022, https://about.bgov.com/news/native-americans-long-left-out-from-broadband-push-for-equity/
Tom Allison, “A Closer Look at Virginia’s Digital Divide in Education,” SCHEV Insights, September 2020, https://www.luminafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/digital-dividefinal.pdf
Stories of Web Users, W3C, Web Accessibility Initiative,
https://www.w3.org/WAI/people-use-web/user-stories/
Discussions on Slack (by April 21)

Student-led discussion on Slack. DUE (by April 21)
FINAL PROJECT DRAFT (recommended)

Week 14: April 21-27

Final project preparation and recap week, part 2: Primary source research and analysis; final project discussion, copyrights & ethics.

DUE (by April 28

FINAL PROJECT DRAFT (recommended)
Skills & Tools exercises (recommended)

Discussions on Slack (by April 28)

Student-led discussion of readings/audio and video recordings on Slack.
Final project draft presentations & discussion, wrap-up!!

Week 15: April 28-May 4

Last week of classes!

🥳 🎈 Virtual social gathering 🎈 🥳

Final project draft presentations & discussion, wrap-up!!

DUE (by Monday, May 5):

Skills & Tools exercises

*FINAL PROJECT (DUE May 9)

Final projects due: May 9, 2025

Syllabus credits

This course’s structure and assignments are inspired by and based on syllabi from other HIST 390 instructors, especially from Professors Mills Kelly, Abby Mullen, Mike O’Malley and Stephen Robertson, Sharon Leon, as well as from oral history courses taught by Linda Shopes, Rachel Gelfand, Dan Whitman, among others. Roy Rosenzweig’s pioneering Clio Wired courses continue to be an inspiration for doing digital history, inside and outside the classroom. I thank my History 390 colleagues Abby Mullen, Mills Kelly, Stephen Robertson, Lincoln Mullen, and Nate Sleeter, my Teaching Square colleagues Jennifer Ashley, Robin Ericson, Sanja Avramovic, and the Stearns Center staff for inspiration and support for online teaching, and my TAs and colleagues Laura Crossley and Corinne Wilkinson. Netiquette adapted from Rebecca Barrett-Fox.

License: Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Version: January 20, 2025