Digital archives and history research: feedback from an end‐user

Maxwell, Alexander

doi:10.1108/00242531011014664

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…It is possible that such user preference may be more pronounced when users do not realize exactly what 'online availability' means. This finding is also interesting in the light of other studies [36,37,38] which found some user reluctance towards digital materials. An alternative viewpoint, more pronounced in the UK, and later agreed with by one Slovenian participant, was that both groups preferred physical materials; although this situation is changing.…”

Section: Attitudes Of Historians To Physical and Digital Materialssupporting

confidence: 71%

“…Some studies also show that perceptions of historians towards digital materials is that they are not as reliable as traditional sources [36,37,38], and that digital technologies change patterns of behaviour [39]. Elena et al found that historians exhibit quite sophisticated retrieval competences, concluding that the perceptions of historians that digital resources are less useful and less reliable may be related to the limitations in the functionalities of archival information retrieval systems [37].…”

Section: Literature Review and Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Information Competencies of Historians as Archive Users: A Slovenia/UK Comparison

Vilar

Šauperl

Rajh³

et al. 2016

Information Literacy: Key to an Inclusive Society

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Abstract. This paper reports a study of the characteristics, skills and competencies of historians, both amateur and professional, as users of archives. It makes two main comparisons: between professional historians and amateurs, typically genealogists and family historians; and between participants in Slovenia and in the United Kingdom. The study is in two parts. First, a detailed and comprehensive literature analysis, including information competencies of archivists where relevant, as well as those of users, to identify the main issues to be examined. Second, a Delphi study with a small panel of archivists from both countries, to establish consensus or divergence of opinion, and to explore the differences, if any, between amateur and professional historians, and will also investigate any national differences. The results show a high degree of consensus, and point to common issues in the skills and competencies needed by both groups, which should be explored in a larger study.

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Section: Attitudes Of Historians To Physical and Digital Materialssupporting

confidence: 71%

Section: Literature Review and Synthesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Information Competencies of Historians as Archive Users: A Slovenia/UK Comparison

Vilar

Šauperl

Rajh³

et al. 2016

Information Literacy: Key to an Inclusive Society

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“…Maxwell () relates, from a historian's perspective, that he prefers to see digitally scanned images of original documents rather than html text versions because digital images provide an experience similar to that of original documents. The digital interface is also an important factor and should be user friendly so that users are able to browse and zoom in on digital images with minimal clicks.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers also assert that traditional archival representation methods (provenance-based or organization-based) have been little help for historians who search in digital archives (Elena et al, 2010;Katifori et al, 2008). Maxwell (2010) relates, from a historian's perspective, that he prefers to see digitally scanned images of original documents rather than html text versions because digital images provide an experience similar to that of original documents. The digital interface is also an important factor and should be user friendly so that users are able to browse and zoom in on digital images with minimal clicks.…”

Section: Patron-centered Use/user Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historians' use of digital archival collections: The web, historical scholarship, and archival research

Sinn

Soares

2014

Asso for Info Science & Tech

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This article reports a research study about historians' experiences using digital archival collections for research articles that they published in the American Historical Review. We contacted these authors to ask about their research processes, with regard to digital archival collections, and their perceptions of the usefulness of digital archival collections to historical research. This study presents a realistic portrayal of the “uses” and “impacts” of digital primary sources from the perspectives of historians who use digital collections for their research projects. The findings from this study indicate that digital archival collections are important source materials for historical studies for various reasons. However, the amount of authority digital materials possess as historical resources was disputed. Many historians preferred documents in their original form, but historians' preferences began to change as they increasingly consulted digital formats. As the web has developed into an important research platform, historians have adopted different research patterns, one of which is using random web searches to find digital primary sources. Historians' understandings of the “use” of digital archival collections revealed a spectrum of activities including finding, understanding, interpreting, and citing digital information. Historians in this study worked concurrently on multiple studies or on a larger project for a book, and each of their searches for digital collections had the potential to provide them with useful results for several research studies.

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“…This is not a limitation for the present purpose, since Google Books is being used here as a linguistic window on public awareness. If certain time periods were critical in the history of popular thought on poverty-such as the revolutionary period of the late eighteenth century, or around the late nineteenth century when scientific studies of poverty emerged in the social sciences-then we should see an upsurge 1 Maxwell (2010) comments that historians seem to have been slow to take up the scope for analysis using digitized texts. 2 I assume that they would work eight hours a day for 250 days per year for 40 years.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Two Poverty Enlightenments: Historical Insights from Digitized Books Spanning Three Centuries

Ravallion

2011

Poverty & Public Policy

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Word searches of Google's library of digitized books suggest that there have been two “Poverty Enlightenments” since 1700, one near the end of the 18th century and the second near the end of the 20th. The historical literature suggests that only the second came with a widespread belief that poverty could and should be eliminated. After the first Poverty Enlightenment, references to “poverty” (as a percentage of all words) were on a trend decline until 1960, after which there was a striking resurgence of interest, which came with rising attention to economics and more frequent references to both general and specific policies relevant to poverty. Developing countries also became more prominent in the literature. Both Enlightenments came with greater attention to human rights. The written record reflects the push‐back against government intervention and the retreat from leftist economics and politics since the late 1970s. Although many debates from 200 years ago continue today, there is little sign that the modern revival of the classical 19th century views on the limitations of government has come with a revival of the complacency about poverty that was common early in that century.

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Digital archives and history research: feedback from an end‐user

Cited by 18 publications

References 14 publications

Information Competencies of Historians as Archive Users: A Slovenia/UK Comparison

Information Competencies of Historians as Archive Users: A Slovenia/UK Comparison

Historians' use of digital archival collections: The web, historical scholarship, and archival research

The Two Poverty Enlightenments: Historical Insights from Digitized Books Spanning Three Centuries

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