Hi! My name is Laura, I am a second-year History PhD student. My research interests include the Holocaust and the Soviet Union. In this class, I aim to learn how to use digital tools and improve my ability to navigate digital sources and platforms as I think it is important that historians keep up with the ever-evolving technology. My another goal is to produce a research paper that I would be able to submit for publication to an academic journal. This time however I hope to also enrich my projects by the methods learned in this class; as I believe that digitizing archival material in a safe and responsible manner can ensure its proper preservation and also make its use more egalitarian. Historians who belong to marginalized groups do not always have the privilege of traveling in order to conduct research, and the digitization of sources certainly helps. Having access to the Internet allowed me to use digitized archives, and that opportunity has tremendously helped my academic and professional career. I am also enthused by the format and structure of the course, it is unlike any other History class I had before.
P.S. To save everyone time, and if you prefer: books by Flanagan, Gitelman, Jockers, Kirschenbaum, Rinehart are available to AU students in the ebook format.