I must admit, The Polyglot Manifesto, Parts 1 and 2, presented quite an interesting argument. I think that the point that Manan Ahmed was trying to make in his two blogs speaks to the heart of the purpose of our class. The truth is, if we historians want our work to remain relevant in a technology-obsessed world, we too must become technology obsessed. We must make our archives accessible through digital collections; we must create on-line “exhibits” that present historical artifacts and materials in an interesting and engaging manner; and, we must have at least a basic knowledge of the process required to make the above two actions happen! We need to be involved in the process in order to ensure that the end result is what we envisioned. A curator cannot simply select the artifacts to be displayed in an exhibit and then walk away; they must be directly involved in the exhibit from the moment the idea is thought up, to the moment the exhibit is taken down. Therefore, a historian should be just as invovled in the creation of an on-line project, as a curator is in a exhibit. Like Manan Ahmed said, we must “not only speak past-ese and present-ese but also, future-ese.”
In addition to agreeing with Manan Ahmed’s manifesto, I also would the CSS tips and tricks listed in our other readings very helpful. I think the List-O-Matic link would be good if I was starting out with a blank website, but I currently like my navigation bar as it is. I have to admit, I haven’t played with my website much this week, although I did change some internal xhtml and css to float my picture on the right, although it didn’t change the overall look of the site at all. I did it moreso to simplify my xhtml and css for if I need to edit it later.
Also, I commented on Jared’s blog this week, although it is still not showing up on his site as it is “awaiting moderation.” Scary.
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