What is Digital History?

    It is difficult to say what digital history actually is, it is easier to say what it does. Digital history creates the learning atmosphere of a classroom, a library, or a museum anywhere at any time. It allows for those not in the academic world to access journals, books, and databases. It offers the world of higher learning to anyone with the internet. Researchers are no longer limited to what is stacked on the shelves in front of them but to almost any collection in the world. You can now virtually visit an exhibit from a museum from across the country or from across the globe. Digital history is preserving the past in large capacities by using interactive, flexible, and easily accessible media.

          In my research experience, I feel more connected to the information when I can pull it from the original article or listen to the actual recording of an interview. I would much rather browse through an exhibit myself than have to rely on an exhibit review to get my information. In a perfect world we would be able to see every original document with our own eyes or wonder the halls of every museum. Those are unrealistic dreams, right? Not exactly. With the aid of digital history, we can read the handwritten words of a president’s letter or read the front page of a newspaper from 1900 without having to leave home. There are even virtual tours of museums from the front desk all the way to their archives behind closed doors.

With almost no limitations on the historical artifacts, documents, and information one can research from a computer, the field of accessible history is expanding. It seems as though expanding and accessible are the key words when trying to define digital history. This leads me back to the original question, “What is digital history?”  Based on my own description above it seems to me that digital history is the expansion of accessible knowledge.