Past-Forward

About Past/Forward

Past/Forward is a digital presentation for the American Association for the History of Computing‘s annual conference. Because AAHC offered us a unique opportunity to re-think traditional panels through their online conference, we planned and designed our presentation for the web from its beginning.

First, we began planning with a weblog, Digital History’s Past, Present, and Future, which we encourage you to visit. While not as active as we hoped, the blog allowed us to publicly and collaboratively plan for this panel. Second, we envisioned Past/Forward as a blog to offer sections that more easily allow readers to choose their own paths while exploring our topics so that one may read on collecting, teaching, or writing in order. Or, one may choose to read all of the postings that relate to “collaboration” or “Web 2.0″ through clicking the tags on the top navigation bar. Finally, we chose the blog format to encourage commenting.

In keeping with a traditional conference panel, we asked Roy Rosenzweig to comment and act as a virtual chair for our panel.

We hope you enjoy Past/Forward and look forward to your comments as we all engage in further discussions about the directions of digital history.

About the Chair

Roy Rosenzweig is the Mark and Barbara Fried Professor of History & New Media at George Mason University, where he also heads the Center on History and New Media. He is the author, co-author, or co-editor of several books, including The Park and the People: A History of Central Park, The Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life; Eight Hours for What We Will: Workers and Leisure in an Industrial City, 1870-1920 ; History Museums in the United States: A Critical Assessment; Presenting the Past: Essays on History and the Public, A Companion to Post-1945 America, and Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Presenting, and Preserving, and the Past on the Web. He is the recipient of the Richard W. Lyman Award (awarded by the National Humanities Center) for outstanding achievement in the use of information technology to advance scholarship and teaching in the humanities.

About the Authors

Jeremy Boggs: Jeremy is a PhD student in history at George Mason University, where his research interests include 19th-century U.S. social and cultural history (specifically changing concepts of cleanliness and filth in in the 19th century), history of technology, history of emotions, and the history of addiction. He is also a Web and Multimedia Associate at the Center for History and New Media. Jeremy publishes his thoughts about his interests in history, web design, and the intersection of history and new media in his blog, ClioWeb.

Sheila Brennan: Sheila is a PhD candidate in history at George Mason University where she is examining popular collecting practices in the U.S. and works for the Center for History and New Media as the Project Manager for the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank. Her research interests include online history museums, material culture, and cultural memory. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from Bates College and Master’s from the University of Notre Dame. Prior to coming to George Mason, she worked as the Director of Education and Public Programs at the U.S. Navy Museum in Washington, DC. Brennan recently co-authored “Taking a Byte Out of the Archives: Making Technology Work for You,” published in the Perspectives. Sheila also blogs at Relaxing on the Bayou.

Stephanie Hurter: Stephanie is a doctoral candidate at George Mason University where she studies political culture in Early America and new media and history pedagogy & design. She has published and presented on using new media in the history classroom. Stephanie is the Creative Lead and a project manager at the Center for History and New Media at George Mason. She also blogs at word… choice.