HISTORICAL PRACTICE IN THE ERA OF DIGITAL HISTORY

Abstract

The current digital historical moment is an opportunity to formulate a new theory of historical practice. Our field's long-standing passive reliance on the widespread explanation of historical practice as deriving information from “primary sources” is unhelpful, incoherent, misleading, and an active inhibition to new opportunities. Our reliance on an incoherent explanation means our students are not given a precise description of our historical practice but instead learn to imitate us by gradually adopting disciplinary norms conveyed through exemplary models and the critique of work performed. Furthermore, our reliance on a misleading explanation of method means we lack a common terminology with which we all can coherently explain to our peers what we actually do. We know this, and yet we have provided no alternative. The current moment offers an opportunity to provide a theory of the practice of history that encompasses contemporary, traditional, and even ancient historical methods: capturing sources, producing data, and creating facts. Wide acceptance and implementation of a sources-data-facts model of historical practice will accelerate student understanding, improve communication with other disciplines, erase the apparent distinction between (so-called) analog and digital history, and provide a framework for the publication of historical data as a valuable end in and of itself.