For our third blog assignment we were asked to evaluate how the internet affects our historical research. The best way for me to approach this assignment is to discuss how my love for soccer and the internet combined to teach me a great deal about the UK and Europe.
Living in the South, information about soccer was not widespread. Neither was info on Europe for that matter. After the 2006 World Cup, I fell in love with the beautiful game. I started to Google my favorite players; Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. I soon found, to my delight, that they both played for the same team; Manchester United of England’s Premier League. I quickly Google the Premier League and then the city of Manchester as so on and so forth. Suddenly, I was awash in a sea of information that honestly I am still swimming in today. One of my favorite hobbies is to read Wikipedia pages about a club’s history. I can accurately identify a club by simply seeing a flash of their crest or uniform. I am now very good at British and European geography simply because of this research into my favorite pastime. I am fluent in the obscure phrases and hard to pronounce names of the game because I can watch games online or listen to interviews on YouTube.
I fully understand that I cannot compare my story with what it must be like for a lifelong citizen of Manchester to attend a game at Old Trafford. I have seen it on TV, I know the address, and I have viewed panoramic pictures of it. However, I don’t know what it feels like to be in a pack stadium filled with excited fans. In much the same way, I feel that internet research cannot take the place of archival work. I study house museums and in particular the Rosenbaum House. I have been to the house and had read about it online and in books. I did not truly understand the home and its importance until I read the letters of the occupants and held their possessions in my hands. Understanding history is much more than simply knowing the facts. We have to meet the people, visit the sites, and touch the artifacts in order to truly comprehend.
The internet opens the world up to all people. I can visit sites that I never would have dreamed of in the past. While there are limitations on its reach, we cannot dispute its utility in our research. Internet research will always be a supplement to archival work, but it is a particularly useful and fruitful supplement.
Living in the South, information about soccer was not widespread. Neither was info on Europe for that matter. After the 2006 World Cup, I fell in love with the beautiful game. I started to Google my favorite players; Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. I soon found, to my delight, that they both played for the same team; Manchester United of England’s Premier League. I quickly Google the Premier League and then the city of Manchester as so on and so forth. Suddenly, I was awash in a sea of information that honestly I am still swimming in today. One of my favorite hobbies is to read Wikipedia pages about a club’s history. I can accurately identify a club by simply seeing a flash of their crest or uniform. I am now very good at British and European geography simply because of this research into my favorite pastime. I am fluent in the obscure phrases and hard to pronounce names of the game because I can watch games online or listen to interviews on YouTube.
I fully understand that I cannot compare my story with what it must be like for a lifelong citizen of Manchester to attend a game at Old Trafford. I have seen it on TV, I know the address, and I have viewed panoramic pictures of it. However, I don’t know what it feels like to be in a pack stadium filled with excited fans. In much the same way, I feel that internet research cannot take the place of archival work. I study house museums and in particular the Rosenbaum House. I have been to the house and had read about it online and in books. I did not truly understand the home and its importance until I read the letters of the occupants and held their possessions in my hands. Understanding history is much more than simply knowing the facts. We have to meet the people, visit the sites, and touch the artifacts in order to truly comprehend.
The internet opens the world up to all people. I can visit sites that I never would have dreamed of in the past. While there are limitations on its reach, we cannot dispute its utility in our research. Internet research will always be a supplement to archival work, but it is a particularly useful and fruitful supplement.
RSS Feed