What is Digital History?

Hannu Salmi is Professor of Cultural History at the University of Turku.

• Introduction Notes1 The Digital Past: Sources and ProblemsDigitization of cultural heritageBiases of the digital pastBorn-digital eraViralityToward the epistemology of the born digitalNotes2 Reading and Textuality in Digital HistoryReading as a research methodReading with machinesDistant readingThe challenge of big dataTexts for historical researchDistant reading techniquesNotes3 Mapping and Viewing HistoryMaps as digital sourcesMaps as historical interpretationsFrom visual evidence to distant viewingSound and visionVisuality, textuality and metadataNotes4 Interdisciplinarity: Challenges for ResearchBeyond disciplinarityTrading across bordersTowards interdisciplinary practicesNotes5 Presenting the Past in the Digital AgeDigital history for the publicVisualizing dataPresenting change over timeAugmented and mixed realitiesTravelling in timeNotesConclusionNotesFurther ReadingIndex

‘We are all “digital historians” now, and by interrogating the origins and content of this emerging discipline, Hannu Salmi charts an intellectual landscape we must all navigate. What is Digital History? provides a sure guide and a welcome companion.’Tim Hitchcock, Director of the Sussex Humanities Lab‘I learned a great deal from this book. I appreciate its international coverage, and especially the range of examples described. It will be especially useful for introductory history courses where faculty seek to familiarize students with the breadth of online archives, and the scholarship that has been generated from them.’Jo Guldi, Southern Methodist University