tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-489467304915123985.comments2011-08-02T11:21:30.258+01:00View From The LairJ D Davieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09361127656762444440noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-489467304915123985.post-55984694057125391732011-07-06T19:27:52.452+01:002011-07-06T19:27:52.452+01:00Tristram Hunt really should know better. Yes, ther...Tristram Hunt really should know better. Yes, there is nothing quite like handling a document that is decades. or even centuries, old, and even the best scanning technology won't reproduce every aspect of the original - the texture, the weight, or the smell. One of the reasons for digitization is to make sought-after records more accessible, but it is equally important to protect the documents from excessive handling. <br /><br />There is certainly more to a document that the words it contains, and if it were not for experts on historical ink and paper the infamous Hitler Diaries would never have been exposed as fakes. But for the vast majority of researchers the availability of good quality images that can be downloaded anywhere in the world is a godsend, and provides the information they need. <br /><br />There is a potential downside to digitization, which is more to do with the indexing that often goes with it; when you can parachute in directly to the page that you want you miss all the incidental details that you see when you have to trawl through a large book. So there is a danger of losing the context, but this is down to the behaviour of the researcher than the nature of the source. Perhaps Dr Hunt would do better to employing his (presumably considerable) skills and knowledge to help the newly-empowered research community appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of online research. As it stands, his comments make it sound as though he just doesn't like sharing his toys.Audrey Collinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17109060807297085410noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-489467304915123985.post-72815656978492752452011-07-03T23:37:06.388+01:002011-07-03T23:37:06.388+01:00Thank you for bringing this article to my attentio...Thank you for bringing this article to my attention – not being a reader of that newspaper. <br />I would agree that nothing could compare with actually handling original documents – that experience of ordering a document at TNA and not knowing what will turn up at the desk. Will it be an enormous box of rolled up documents or a small piece of parchment a few inches square – and how does something that small manage to survive several hundred years? I am not a “proper” historian and probably Mr Hunt would shudder at someone like me being able to access original documents, but this is our heritage – it belongs to us all and we should be able to look at it, if we want to.<br />BUT - I am a family historian. At one time we could visit a church and search parish registers, then they were filmed and we could order a microfilm and search – if we knew what parish to look at. Now images and indexes are available online for many areas of the country. How would the original books survive if everyone wanted to look at the originals?<br />So the original documents should be there for those who can make the effort to visit, but those researchers who are too far away or not able to visit, should be able to search and see images of the documents.<br />Finally, you mention the State Papers Online. Someone like me, an amateur, cannot look at this site without visiting TNA, which defeats the object of the exercise. Why is it not available to all?Christine Hancocknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-489467304915123985.post-57095578079160627482011-07-03T18:22:39.507+01:002011-07-03T18:22:39.507+01:00I'm right with you David. Speaking as a Canadi...I'm right with you David. Speaking as a Canadian who is going to the UK to do his PhD (quite happily, mind you) if digitized documents had been available earlier I may have been accepted at other universities. <br /><br />Given the expense of living in the UK and the real possibility that I may have to move back to Canada midway through my program, I'm going to spending a lot of time with a camera, digitizing the many documents I run across. One near future project I will be doing is the creation of a wiki which will have all of the photos uploaded, so I will be able to access my research from anywhere in the world.Sam McLeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00828718309612547799noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-489467304915123985.post-38577733173149715822011-06-11T15:46:44.584+01:002011-06-11T15:46:44.584+01:00This is what you find, working in the media nowada...This is what you find, working in the media nowadays. Most newsrooms are full of freelancers and subs who have no time or desire to write anything original, merely rehashing the press releases they are sent by PR companies. Anytime you see stories on such-and-such-a-day being the most depressing day of the year, invariably it is based on a release by a holiday company.<br /><br />On a separate note, do you think I have a shot of being Lord High Admiral just because I happen to marry the future monarch?Peter Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08693134227978339703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-489467304915123985.post-13643843489984253132010-03-17T21:49:43.834+00:002010-03-17T21:49:43.834+00:00Good piece and I wholly sympathise, especially wit...Good piece and I wholly sympathise, especially with my family and academic background. I seem to remember, however, being forced to learn similar sounding topics when I took GCSEs, some 12 years ago. Are you saying the curriculum is actually getting narrower still?<br /><br />Oh, and splendid isolation - a description of 19th century British foreign policy.Peter Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08693134227978339703noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-489467304915123985.post-18863678221511539822010-03-06T03:32:07.003+00:002010-03-06T03:32:07.003+00:00I am so enjoying these blogs. I learn something in...I am so enjoying these blogs. I learn something interesting and worthwhile from everyone. More please.Wendy Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11107155200998588241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-489467304915123985.post-88701011200784355962010-02-17T18:53:01.209+00:002010-02-17T18:53:01.209+00:00YAY - looking forward to the next rant!!YAY - looking forward to the next rant!!Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09801004776686714774noreply@blogger.com