This week we are examining the evolution of the digital web and the development of digital history projects. The list below is a sampling of various digital history sites that have been created over the last 20 or so years.
By creation date:
- The Valley of the Shadow (1993)
- Romantic Circles (1994)
- American Memory (1994)
- Dickinson Electronic Archive (1994, new incarnation - 2013)
- Amiens Cathedral Project (1996)
- Life Outtacontext (2001, Jeff Gates)
- Hawthorne in Salem (2002)
- Hurricane Digital Memory Bank (2005)
- Eye Level (2005, Gates)
- Oyez (2005)
- Digital Karnak (2008)
- The April 16 Archive (2007 - new link for Virginia Tech April 16, 2007 Archives)
- The Avalon Project (2008)
- In Our Path (2008, Gates)
- Persepolis: A Virtual Reconstruction (No information available. Message: "Next updated to be announced")
- Lascaux (Link not functioning properly.)
After looking at each of the links and placing them in the order in which they were created, we were to comment on the level of sophistication and how the forms of the digital projects have changed. It occurred to me that while the creation date was relevant and often reflected in the style and sophistication of the site, the "last updated" date might have significance as well.
By latest update (if available):
- Amiens Cathedral Project (1996)
- The Valley of the Shadow (2007)
- Digital Karnak (2008)
- In Our Path (2009, Jeff Gates)
- Hurricane Digital Memory Bank (2012)
- Dickinson Electronic Archive (2014)
- The April 16 Archive (2014 - new link for Virginia Tech April 16, 2007 Archives)
- American Memory (2015)
- Eye Level (2015, Gates)
- Hawthorne in Salem (2015)
- Life Outtacontext (2015, Gates)
- Oyez (2015)
- Romantic Circles (2015)
- The Avalon Project (No date readily available)
- Persepolis: A Virtual Reconstruction (No information available. Message: "Next updated to be announced")
- Lascaux (Link not functioning properly.)
Generally speaking, the later a site was created, the more sophisticated is the design. Eye Level, created in 2005 is far more sophisticated than The Avalon Project which was created in 2008. This is most likely due to the regular updates to the Eye Level site. This is often the case with sites that are updated regularly. There are of course exceptions to these generalities. The Hawthorne in Salem site was updated just this month, but its style and layout are more in line with its 2002 creation date. The same may be said for the American Memory site.
Two additional sites that could be added to this list are:
The Thomas A. Edison Papers at Rutgers University and
And even though a site might have been updated more recently, Romantic Circles, often it is not an entire site redesign. It might be just the addition of more materials, which is, as you note, the case with the Hawthorne site. The key is does a site remain useful, no matter how old it might be.
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