The process of digitization extracts some of the information associated with a material entity: documents can be scanned or photographed, objects photographed or measured in three dimensions, and so on. This process greatly changes the information costs associated with doing history. Digital entities will last indefinitely, can be replicated as many times as necessary and can be transmitted at the speed of light. Visualization is concerned with the role that aesthetic considerations play in understanding and usability. The most flexible approach for content creators is to divorce form from content, and to let people or machines create alternative visualizations of underlying information.
Readings for Discussion
Cohen, Daniel J. “![[WWW]](http://wikispot.org/wiki/eggheadbeta/img/sycamore-www.png){kind=small}
It’s About Russia,” Dancohen.org (6 Mar 2007)
Cohen, Daniel J. and Roy Rosenzweig. “Designing for the History Web,” Digital History. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2005.
Cohen, Daniel J. and Roy Rosenzweig. “Becoming Digital” Digital History. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2005.
Farid, Hany. “Digital Tampering in the Media, Politics and Law.”
Grafton, Anthony. “Future Reading,” and “Adventures in Wonderland,” in The New Yorker (5 Nov 2007).
Petrik, Paula. “Top Ten Mistakes in Academic Web Design,” History Computer Review (May 2000).
Unsworth, John M. “The Value of Digitization for Libraries and Humanities Scholarship,” Newberry Library Symposium (17 May 2004).
