Googling the Archive: Digital Tools and the Practice of History

Googling the Archive: Digital Tools and the Practice of History

Digital humanities

Solberg suggests that new digital environments have the “potential to reorient us—both physically and conceptually,” allowing new methods and possibilities for research, and new opportunities to socio-politically reposition the field of rhetoric and composition. She charts the beginning of these opportunities by referencing a colleague who was at a meeting during the genesis of Google, then her realization of the power of emergent technologies while researching Frances Maule. Solberg continues that to preserve, and guide the field we must train students and faculty members to become experts in the use, and design, of digital information systems if we wish to produce responsible, and capable stewards of the field of the history of rhetoric and composition. She outlines a heuristic for using new digital tools defined by “affective,” “geographical,” and “virtual proximity,” with which she defines the links between self (researcher) positioning, and the technological tools utilized by the researcher.

Solberg, Janine

2012-01

Foley, Christopher

Journal Article

Solberg, Janine. "Googling the Archive: Digital Tools and the Practice of History." Advances In The History Of Rhetoric 15, no. 1 (January 2012): 53-76.