History in the digital age - Toni Weller

The digital age is affecting all aspects of historical study, but much of the existing literature about history in the digital age can be alienating to the traditional historian who does not necessarily value or wish to embrace digital resources. History in the Digital Age takes a more conceptual look at how the digital age is affecting the field of history for both scholars and students. The printed copy, the traditional archive, and analogue research remain key constitute parts for most historians and for many will remain precious and esteemed over digital copies, but there is a real need for historians and students of history to seriously consider some of the conceptual and methodological challenges facing the field of historical enquiry as we enter the twenty-first century.

Including international contributors from a variety of disciplines - History, English, Information Studies and Archivists - this book does not seek either to applaud or condemn digital technologies, but takes a more conceptual view of how the field of history is being changed by the digital age. Essential reading for all historians.

"This is a book that is well overdue. At long last it provides an account of Digital History as a field with something to offer to the discipline as a whole. It should be read by anyone who thinks that developments in IT are likely to change the way historians work, whether they are enthusiasts, critics or just curious." - Dr Ian Gregory, Lancaster University, UK

"Drawing on an international and interdisciplinary set of authors, this book brings together many of the key issues in the nascent field of Digital History, and examines the multiplicity of ways in which digital sources, digital projects, and digital methodologies have impacted the study, practice, and teaching of history itself. Arguing for the increasing centrality to historians from students to scholars of understanding the creation, preservation, and use of traditional, digitized, and born-digital sources, History in the Digital Age grapples with the methodological and practical implications of shifting from information scarcity to information flood, of engaging with multiple mediums of historical sources and projects, and of retaining history's scholarly and theoretical rigor. History in the Digital Age is strongly recommended for anyone interested in the future of history." - Jeffrey W. McClurken, University of Mary Washington, USA

"The importance of the role of digital resources in academic life is highlighted by the recent emergence of the new discipline of digital humanities at many universities around the world. In this context, the collection of essays under review addresses pedagogical issues around the study and teaching of history in the digital age...[and] those who have concerns about the role of digitization in the historical discipline will find much here to ponder...in a way that is informative and challenging." - Thomas P. Power, University of Toronto