Kelly in Kansas

During the final half day of AHA sessions, I planned to stop by to hear Carol Berkin's portion of the panel focusing on women historians in New York City. I ended up staying for the entire session which engaged the audience with diverse stories of how women advanced in the male-dominated profession along with dealing with the rewards and challenges of living in "the city" over 5 decades.

Later in the day I joined a friend to see Defiance. Quite moving. Then, more time in the city before the TAH Project Directors meeting.

Labels: AHA, Carol Berkin, TAH, women, women historians

Day 3 began with my teaching-focused panel with my colleagues Cary Wintz and David Gerwin. We discussed teaching techniques and technology related to teaching African-American history. David focused on slavery in the Chesapeake while Cary talked about the behind-the-scenes work that went into his book, Harlem Speaks.

Then, I discussed how we have gradually increased the technology we use with teachers in our Teaching American History grants dating back to 2001. We also discussed our delivered master's degree and the struggles of the approval and implementation of off-campus programs. Here's the link to the PPT.

Lunch brought a meeting with Cengage (formerly Houghton Mifflin) about the current edition of Making America now in preparation. Other meetings with colleagues followed along with more time in the expansive book exhibit. I headed to an afternoon session but the main speaker that interested me was unable to attend.

Dinner was with a history/techie colleague (there aren't many of us) and then more drinks with the St. Louis crew. They are _always_ fun.

Labels: AHA, Berkin, Cherny, conferences, Making America, NYC, Petrik, TAH, Teaching American History

Saturday brought the full force of historians and interactive energy to the Hilton and the Sheraton and the blocks in between.

I attended the Historians Film Committee session on Why We Fought: America's Wars in Films and History. As the panel chair noted, a few years ago, the room wouldn't have been filled because interest in films and history used to be seen as more to the periphery of more traditional historians. The overflowing into the hallway crowd heard about Ken Burns' Civil War, Clint Eastwood's foray into WWII era films, and Cold War Berlin at the movies.

Sam Wineburg was the luncheon keynote at the National History Education Clearinghouse all-day event. It was great getting to say hello when I ran into him in the hallway and, as always, his presentations always intrigue his audience. He turned Bloom's Taxonomy on its head to emphasize historical questions and questioning as opposed to primarily concentrating on rote memorization of facts and dates, especially without the proper contextualization. Our teacher leadership team member joined me there and we re-visited the book exhibits afterward. The OAH was so frantic that I wasn't able to really look around the book exhibit so this afternoon opportunity seemed like a real treat.

I joined a colleague and his wife for dinner at Dervish that evening. I'm not sure I've ever been to a specifically Turkish restaurant before. More common for me is the Mediterranean food.

Labels: AHA, historians, NHEC, Sam Wineburg, Wineburg

We arrived in New York for New Year's Eve given the great rate the AHA was able to secure for those of us able to fly to the city early. The snow was beautiful and we survived New Year's Eve.

More historians filtered in on Thursday, but it wasn't until Friday that the historians dominated the lobby, including the lobby bar. The atmosphere was that of running into old friends and colleagues mixed with the uncertainly facing not only those seeking new or their first faculty positions but those with positions hoping they would not be cut due to budget constraints before a suitable candidate accepted their positions.

The email information for registration ensured a much faster and smoother registration process - especially for those of us with last names beginning with one of the last letters of the normal groupings. Keep up the great work, AHA staff! We know what a major headache registration glitches can be for everyone involved.

The ever-anticipated Exhibit Hall opened at 3pm and stayed open until 7. My duties at OAH prevented me from spending any real time there so I looked forward to not having rushed time among the books during this convention. Additionally, it's always a good place to run into the people you want to make sure to see, even if just to briefly touch base.

Presidential Professor Carol Berkin was her usual dynamo self running around the convention and checking on her books. She is always surprised by her enthusiastic fans but her fans certainly aren't. Great scholarship that is actually fun to read is not all that common. And her dedication to the profession and her acknowledgment of the importance of teaching despite her scholarly status is most effectively demonstrated by her editorship of History Now.

A member of our Teaching American History grants Teacher Leadership Team was able to fit the meeting into his busy schedule although he has to leave early to return for an in-service on Monday. It's great to see one of our program's graduates take in the complexity of offerings at a professional conference such as the AHA. My first "mentoring" duty was helping him dissect the diverse program.

Spending some time with my major professor/continuing mentor was also enjoyable.

Labels: AHA, Berkin, historians, history

Yesterday's AHA Blog pointed to Dan Cohen's post on a new CHNM's new NEH grant, “Scholarship in the Age of Abundance: Enhancing Historical Research With Text-Mining and Analysis Tools.”

Here's Dan's synopsis:

We will first conduct a survey of historians to examine closely their use of digital resources and prospect for particularly helpful uses of digital technology. We will then explore three main areas where text mining might help in the research process: locating documents of interest in the sea of texts online; extracting and synthesizing information from these texts; and analyzing large-scale patterns across these texts. A focus group of historians will be used to assess the efficacy of different methods of text mining and analysis in real-world research situations in order to offer recommendations, and even some tools, for the most promising approaches.

Matrix is developing some similar tools as evidence of similar humanities technology organizations mine the web to assist all of us in better managing information overload and utilize various means of AI to help us find more date faster.

Labels: AHA, CHNM, Cohen, data mining, digital, historians, Matrix

Does online peer review outrank print review? Here's some food for thought.

One issue not addressed, however, is the audience of each publication. It doesn't matter whether it's print distribution or online hits - although the latter is probably much more likely to mean a piece was actually read by someone - the actual audience does play a role here.

Labels: AHA, online, peer reviews, writing

The AHA was an engaging experience all the way around this year. I met with a colleague from Baltimore and we spend some much needed time catching up like you can only do face to face. The book exhibits were full of their usual intrigue and scholarly interactivity. Talking to the folks at Inside Higher Ed was also insightful.

Dinner with my major professor on Thursday and dinner with two colleagues on Friday meant great food at 1789 and Nora's. I don't know whether or not Nora's claim to being the first certified organic restaurant in the nation is true but the food is innovatively prepared and always worth a return visit.

Mornings came too early but meeting with colleagues and publishers made it worthwhile.

The H-Net reception meant ADM and I were able to touch base and discuss mutual interests. Congrats on your most recent accomplishments!

Sessions - especially those with an emphasis on teaching - were well-attended.

Other highlights included the great group at the Purdue University reception and dinner with big name Latin Americanist along with important book editor.

Next year's meeting in New York only promises to be more fun and engaging!

Labels: ADM, AHA, conferences, H-Net, professional meetings, receptions

There will be a blogger meet-up for any blogger interested in attending who will be at AHA or lives in DC:

7am Saturday: Cafe International, 2633 Connecticut Ave, just across Connecticut from the Woodley Park metro entrance

Thanks for organizing this, ADM!

See you there!

Labels: AHA, bloggers, blogging

If you're going to the American Historical Association annual meeting, they've posted a blog entry with area maps. Of course, I'm most interested in this one. Not sure yet if I"m giong given that I will be in DC twice in the 6 weeks before.

Labels: AHA, annual meeting, interactive, maps, restaurants

As I work more to have actual weekends (note the verb) where I can choose what I want to do without feeling overwhelmed by pending/looming deadlines, I'm going to start celebrating Fridays more - a way to compartmentalize my life a bit s that work doesn't control everything else.

The TAH Project Directors conference was the best they ever had along with extensive collaboration time with colleagues both in the hotel and in the Quarter. They separated out the first year grantees which was a great thing for those of us who have had several grants. Meetings that offer engaging content are worth it - those that are introductions to the experienced just frustate everyone involved. Carol Berkin's talk on colonial female spies and Lee Ann Potter's "mystery" were some of the highlights - history and teaching history are great combinations.

Now we're all busy writing up our annual and/or final reports that are due next week. And that's on top of writing our TAH 2008 proposals!

I'm also excited about being asked to join the TWG (Technical Working Group) for the TAH Clearinghouse Project proposed by George Mason University/Stanford University/AHA, among others. This should be another engaging experience and I'm anxious to see more of the inner workings of CHNM. My friend Paula that is there has given me some clues but being involved in the development of a project with such great personnel and resources available to it will be such a fun and engaging experience. The anticipated launch date is February 1, 2008. Thomas Thurston (also of H-TAH with me) and I had a nice chat with Kelly Schrum (someone else who spells their first name correctly ;-) ) in New Orleans about how the existing community can work to enhance the work of this community that will have the technology and manpower to do what we have only dreamed of doing.

TGIF!

Labels: AHA, Berkin, CHNM, clearinghouse, George Mason University, H-TAH, history, Potter, Revolutionary Mothers, Schrum, spies, Stanford, Teaching American History, Thurston

Here's my reply to a discussion over at Edwired by Dan Cohen.

Ditto to many of Sage comments in support of your analysis. We’re often missing the broad strokes and then wonder why our own students cannot put history into its broader context. I think one of the SUNY schools has developed a “broad-field” doctoral program that teaches future historians how to not over-specialize so that no one else understands you except for a few, select fellow specialists in your particular field.

There are so many topics and connects to explore in history and wiping away the broad themes as being only in support of the dead, white males is just ridiculous.

Carol Berkin at Baruch is one of the “traditionally” trained historians who "broke out" to write for popular audiences and has been criticized for same. Yet, thousands of people will know more about women in the American Revolution thanks largely to her book, Revolutionary Mothers. It’s a manageable work for those people who don’t get paid to read for a living and tells some great stories. Who could ask for more from anything they read?

Despite some of its challenges dealing with where to go next in technology, H-Net is one of the best examples of organizations who allow a broader membership within its larger context. While some individual communities believe gatekeeping is important to what they are doing, others explore areas traditionally ignored by the “authorities” in the profession. H-Net used to meet in conjunction with the AHA and this year is moving it’s more official meeting space to the Social Science History Association - a community that is more interested in technology and is more diverse in its active membership.

Blogs like yours, H-Net, and other social networking approaches in person and online make our profession much more rich and diverse.

Labels: AHA, Berkin, Cohen, Edwired, H-Net, historians, history, Revolutionary Mothers