Yes: we have a research methods course in our department. But I think that we need to distinguish between methods (which are a way of approaching the sources) and what I might call "research management." You can have a terrific research design, know what your theoretical frame is, and then collapse under the weight of the evidence itself.
Sorry I wrote a lengthy post earlier but can I just ask, You wrote... " Creating a bespoke digital archive that has some integrity without the help of a librarian or an archivist is a foundational skill"... As a professor of history, could you not ask the university librarians to assist you or if you could get some (free) help from students who study librarianship and digital archiving techniques. You could pay them like a mom pays a baby-sitter. Oh thanks for your help, heres $40
There is a problem which you missed out. A lot of people do not realise that electronic data storage is NOT permanent. For example CD and DVD etc has a general lifespan of about 7 or 8 years, after which the coating that backs the disk will degrade and there are very very few disks that survive 15 or 20 years. Another problem is that USB disks need to be accessed at least once a year or once every two years at most, because if you do not access them in that time they can corrupt. The permanence of digital media is a huge issue and one which all the major players are spending Billions, if not Trillions a year to solve. Lastly there is this: I had files that I stored 25 or 30 years ago, but now cannot find any modern software capable of reading them and the old software that could read them no longer works on modern computers. It is of great concern to everyone whose job involves archiving data. Artists, historians, data warehouses, etc etc etc. Microsoft ploughs hundreds of millions a year into this problem, so does Google and many companies most people never heard of
Gotta tell you that I have met the woman who came up with that gag. By the 1980's, she had moved to Casper, Wyoming, where she was on the radio every morning doing a chatty old fashioned AM radio show. She interviewed me (about who knows what: the local NOW chapter, I suppose.) She was amazing. I'm sorry, I don't remember her name.
Really interesting piece, especially since I haven't done any real research in decades. Back in the day when I was in graduate school (English, UCLA, mid 60s), we had a required course on Research Methods in our first semester. Do these kinds of courses still exist?
Yes: we have a research methods course in our department. But I think that we need to distinguish between methods (which are a way of approaching the sources) and what I might call "research management." You can have a terrific research design, know what your theoretical frame is, and then collapse under the weight of the evidence itself.
Sorry I wrote a lengthy post earlier but can I just ask, You wrote... " Creating a bespoke digital archive that has some integrity without the help of a librarian or an archivist is a foundational skill"... As a professor of history, could you not ask the university librarians to assist you or if you could get some (free) help from students who study librarianship and digital archiving techniques. You could pay them like a mom pays a baby-sitter. Oh thanks for your help, heres $40
There is a problem which you missed out. A lot of people do not realise that electronic data storage is NOT permanent. For example CD and DVD etc has a general lifespan of about 7 or 8 years, after which the coating that backs the disk will degrade and there are very very few disks that survive 15 or 20 years. Another problem is that USB disks need to be accessed at least once a year or once every two years at most, because if you do not access them in that time they can corrupt. The permanence of digital media is a huge issue and one which all the major players are spending Billions, if not Trillions a year to solve. Lastly there is this: I had files that I stored 25 or 30 years ago, but now cannot find any modern software capable of reading them and the old software that could read them no longer works on modern computers. It is of great concern to everyone whose job involves archiving data. Artists, historians, data warehouses, etc etc etc. Microsoft ploughs hundreds of millions a year into this problem, so does Google and many companies most people never heard of
Gotta tell you that I have met the woman who came up with that gag. By the 1980's, she had moved to Casper, Wyoming, where she was on the radio every morning doing a chatty old fashioned AM radio show. She interviewed me (about who knows what: the local NOW chapter, I suppose.) She was amazing. I'm sorry, I don't remember her name.
Really interesting piece, especially since I haven't done any real research in decades. Back in the day when I was in graduate school (English, UCLA, mid 60s), we had a required course on Research Methods in our first semester. Do these kinds of courses still exist?