Over the last several years I have been asking myself how can “New Age” media improve the outlook for Public Historians? What role does social media play in today’s understanding of the past? What other avenues exist that Public Historians have not adapted to? All of these questions are forerunners in the advancement of our relationship to the past. Often we loose sight of the goal–to educate the public–when challenged with new tools through specialization. Tools such as: video, digital photography, online databases, word processor software, publishing software, or a hundred other components that never seem important till you have to find someone who is able to meet the need.
In the past decade Public Historians have found their market in schools, museums, public organizations, government, and private business. They have acted as the authority on preserving an interpreting history for the general public. Today I would like to challenge the Public Historian’s to take up the pen and the press when it comes to spreading the good word. In today’s market everyone believes in specialization example in point; you have Public Historians and Historians, You have specialization in American and European history, You have specialization in whats called the museum fields or contract history. Of course that’s just a small example of what is really out there. As a student of history, we are taught methods of research and writing but never taught publishing? Why? Are we not as concerned with the method of dissemination as we are with the method of collecting, interpreting and preserving history? Or do we just accept that our papers, theses or dissertations will be published in some journal that we submit to or that our draft will eventually find its way to a publisher and become a book by magic. I challenge this status-qua in light of the digital age of “New Media”. I challenge the Universities, public and private organizations, and Historians alike to embrace and acquire the skill sets needed to take concept to research and research to print all within the confines your office.
Now, I would
n’t challenge you without offering the tools necessary to achieve it. Just recently I acquired two rather good books on the subject. The first is Pariah Burke’s ePublishing with InDesign CS6, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2013) and Sandee Cohen, Diane Burns’ Digital Publishing with Adobe InDesign CS6, Adobe Press Books, (2013). Both are fantastic introductions on how to design and publish books and ePubs with Adobe InDesign. If each Public Historian was taught the basics of this powerful software, the Public Historian would become the master of their own realm of specialty. It’s not rocket science and frankly even without prior exposure it’s rather easy to learn. I believe the goal of the Public Historian is to educate the public and what better way to do that than via digital medium of any format. The challenge is there and the tools exist for each person to learn this skill and offer it to their respective organizations. It’s not a specialization, but rather a requirement much like research and writing.
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