In a global sense, this week’s lessons got me thinking about coding for different technologies and additionally, how fast they tend to change.
As I mentioned before, I jumped through hoops of fire (okay… it felt like it for a beginning programmer) to make my portfolio page work on Internet Explorer. I dabbled with conditional CSS (but couldn’t get it to work) to use the “first-line” property in my Text Assignment, which doesn’t work in Firefox (see the comment I left in my CSS code). A mere two years ago, I oversaw the creation of a 10-minute documentary on Florence Kahn, the first Jewish woman to serve in Congress. We did the original in Flash; however, that particular technology seems to be phasing out…already. As well, as we’ve discovered, it is not accessible.
Now, there are “work arounds” for all the problems I cite above. I changed all the borders and padding a bit to get my Portfolio page to work in IE (without sacrificing too much in other browsers). I stuck with my “emphasize” class that I originally used to maintain the same effect in my text assignment as “first-line.” We also have a YouTube version of the Florence Kahn video, which is more cross-platform friendly. However, all these “tricks” (or additional versions) require something extra—from some creative thinking to extra lines of code. And in a few years, what else will we have to learn?
As the Lynda.com, CSS3 First Look video makes clear, Internet Explorer (IE) tends to be the culprit in some of the minor coding hassles. It might be good to point out here that over the past 2.5 years, it appears Firefox has (triumphantly) overtaken the (evil) IE in global browser usage; however, as the W3 school warns at the bottom of the page, statistics can be deceiving. I suspect that much of our historical audience is technophobic enough to simply use the browser that comes pre-packaged with their Windows machines. (I am attempting to spread the gospel at work with little success.)
As well, the brilliantly conceived Lost Museum website (into which went a lot of methodological thought, according to Joshua Brown) already seems a bit outdated. I had trouble navigating the Flash and found the window VERY small on my computer (and was unclear how to re-size it…that might be my fault). Although I enjoyed perusing the museum, finding a specific item also proved difficult. I perked up when I saw a newspaper article related to Robert Smalls in the archives. Smalls is one of the Reconstruction-era African Americans in Congress I profiled in our book. However, I tried for nearly 30 minutes to find the document related to him in the Waxworks room to no avail.
As historians, I think we revel in the stability of things. The past will not “change” (though certainly interpretations, available evidence, and how we manage the evidence do change) and I think the lightening-speed fluxes in technology scares us. It scares me. If I want to do web design and electronic resources as part of my job, how on earth will I have the time, let alone the money to keep up with the changing technology?
I was able to get the Lost Museum’s flash window to virtually expand on my Mac by using command +. It does not make it any sharper, but it does make it easier to see from a few feet away.
I think of the commitment involved in being a digital historian as being no less onerous than that of the designer, journalist, or anybody else whose primary profession as communicator is now dependent upon digital technologies to effectively do their jobs. I think the success of Lynda.com attests to the rapid pace of change that their subscribers in a multitude of fields must continually keep abreast of and that most employers will not foot the bill for continual training. Judging by the amount of personal funds Dr. Petrik invests into her own sites, it’s probably a pretty normal thing to have to self-fund in order to keep current, not to mention maintain creative control over your own work.
Although it may be a long shot (I would not have the first clue about how it would get approved and funded), did you know that the Defense Information School (which does a great deal of digital training, particularly video) is on the other side of DC at Ft. Meade? It was consolidated from different schools in Colorado, Indiana, and Florida about 13 years ago. That might be an avenue that you could take to remain abreast of the most current technologies. Because it is DoD, they tend to get the coolest toys before anybody else.
BTW: Congratulations on dodging the recent budgetary standoff.
It is overwhelming to think of the fact that you can’t just do something once, but will have to go back time and again to rethink, recode, etc. One the one hand, I really like learning all the coding, but on the other…it’s rather more like endlessly rewriting a thesis that you’ve already poured your life into.
I also had a little trouble with the Lost World and I noticed that while I was cruising around I kept thinking of things I’d do differently…if I knew how, that is. I don’t know that I would have thought that way a few months ago.
And I wholeheartedly agree with you about wanting to learn more, do more, but being afraid that you simply won’t have the time to keep up with the latest technologies or be able to pay for it. These are precisely my concerns, too. Fortunately, grant-giving agencies are starting to really push for the digital to be included in proposed scholarly projects. This should give us all a leg-up, right?
I used to tell people that I was lucky if I could get my email to work. I think a lot of that had to do with your point about keeping up with emergent technologies. Technology changes so quickly that it is a full time job keeping up with it and it seems a bit futile for those of us who do not work full time in IT. At least now, I feel like I have a basic enough foundation that I know what kind of hiccups I may be facing, and while I may not have the solution, I have an idea where to start looking to find them. I doubt that I’ll ever be an expert in any of this, but I’m certainly more aware now than I was.
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