Fostering the Recent History of Science and Technology in New Media

A Proposal to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

30 June 2000

Roy Rosenzweig
Center for History and New Media
Robinson B359 MSN 3G1
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030

CHNM Proposal: Fostering the Recent History of Science & Technology in New Media30 June 2000

Fostering the Recent History of Science and Technology in New Media

1. Introduction: The Portal as a Necessity for Online Historical Work

In recent years, the Sloan Foundation has invested substantial funds in fostering a new practice—collecting and documenting the recent history of science and technology through the new electronic media. Despite some inevitable faltering, these experiments are producing valuable resources for writing the history of science and technology in the present and future. But, like any such experiments, these efforts need institutionalization and expansion if they are to have a lasting impact. The successful strategies reported at the recent Sloan-sponsored conference at Stanford—cultivating on-line archival practices among well-defined audiences, fostering popular engagement in the recent history of science and technology through Web-based interactivity—have produced promising indications that this new approach may indeed alter historical practice. But to sustain and propagate these advances will require an initiative that gives them more of an institutional base and that pushes them to a more sophisticated level.

This proposal outlines a plan to inculcating innovative research and methodological rigor within a coherent framework to guide emerging online practices in the recent history of science and technology. The Center for History and New Media will accomplish this through three interlocking strategies: (1) outreach and education, (2) aggregation, and (3) assessment. These strategies will be implemented in five major activities conducted over three years: (1) a review of Sloan-sponsored projects, (2) a guide to the recent history of science and technology online, (3) a memory bank for the recent history of science and technology, (4) a forum for best research practices online, and (5) outreach,education and training for historical practitioners. These strategies and activities are described in detail in §2 and §3. The organizational structure that will implement these activities is described in §4. A timeline of activities and deliverables is outlined in §5. The 3-year project budget is contained in §6.

All of our efforts will be organized through a web site—hereafter referred to as “the Portal”—that we will create and that will serve as a clearinghouse for online attempts at presenting the recent history of science and technology, as a collection point for diverse contributions to that history, and a guide for those seeking to initiate their own projects. [Close this para. with a discussion of how recent research on web traffic has shown that as much as half of all traffic does not circulate within well-linked sites, but is dissipated away to sites that do not link back to the core, or stagnates within sites that remain segmented apart from the rest of the internet. For sites on the recent history of science and technology—already suffering from the obscurity caused by topical fragmentation—this is a real problem. Such sites and the larger research enterprise in this area need to be closer to the mainstream of web traffic. A Portal addresses this problem. Fn John’s research on recent web traffic mapping and on the importance of commercial portals for drawing traffic.]

While the Portal will be a major deliverable of this project, it will merely be an electronic instantiation of the practices we succeed in propagating in public practice. The Portal will serve as a mechanism of public record and a forum for public participation, but ultimately it will be the diverse, historically-engaged publics—intersecting networks of scientists, engineers, scholars, and other citizens—who will comprise the most significant accomplishment of this project. If they are successfully enlisted in the public task of making the recent history of science and technology, the electronic mechanisms which sustain that engagement will burgeon of their own momentum (with some professional guidance from projects such as this one). We seek simply to become the enablers of a social process of memory that is not yet established despite the great potential to do so.As a modest first step in that direction, we propose to create the definitive starting place for anyone interested in the recent history of science and technology on the Web.

2. Strategies for Fostering the Recent History of Science and Technology Online

In the early days of the Web (way back in 1995!) any site of substance immediately drew attention to itself. Now, the Web is pretty much like the rest of life—even the most creative and innovative sites are competing with well-funded commercial operations for the attention of scholars, students, and the public. The work that has been sponsored by Sloan needs that public attention for several reasons. The existing sites need to attract more participants who can contribute historical materials; they need to attract the attention of scholars and students who will make use of the materials gathered, to write the future histories of science and technology; they need to attract the attention of the public who will learn about the history of science and technology from them; and they need to stand as exemplars to others who seek to capture the history of science and technology as it is made. We propose three interlocking strategies to accomplish these goals. Since these strategies will guide the major activities of this project over three years, they deserve some closer attention.

2.1 Outreach and Education

The Stanford conference revealed the importance of focused recruitment strategies for attracting historically significant online contributions. To involve a wide range of historical actors and witnesses in online collaboratories[1] that allow them to participate in building the historical record, it is essential that such projects develop a focused strategy for enlisting such participation. This ultimately involves identifying the social and civic networks through which most citizens and professionals engage the public issues that matter to them. Since few research projects are sufficiently large or enduring to engage these networks successfully, it is important that an authoritative organization such as Sloan establish a public space in which scholars, engineers, scientists and the public can set up lines of communication and partnership. Through outreach and education efforts, this project will initiate the institutional relationships on which such a clearinghouse may be built.

If a key goal is to broaden the historical perspective on recent science and technology by embracing participant history-making then one needs to adopt a grass-roots strategy. In other words, one needs to think about mobilizing different communities of people who might join in the practice of doing history on the Web—for example, history enthusiasts, archivists, local historians, graduate students, retired scientists and engineers, professional society staff, people affected by scientific and technological change, and others whose experiences were part of the larger story of science and technology in the postwar period. It is worth considering that much of the historical practice in the United States today actually relies heavily on volunteer and grassroots efforts. Local libraries and historical societies undertake oral histories with volunteers. Individuals collect and document the histories of their families. One of the fascinating developments of the past couple of years is the way that this dispersed, volunteer effort has been leveraged through the Web—the most dramatic example being the way that genealogical research is now widely shared on line.

2.2 Aggregation

As commercial vendors have realized, “aggregation” of content is one of the key ways that sites attract visitors; Yahoo! and Excite have found success as “portals” where people go not only to find other Web sites but also to organize their finances, find out directions, or read movie reviews. Other sites (e.g., Ivillage or slashdot) have thrived by becoming more specialized portals for communities as varied and diverse as women or Linux devotees. While we don’t share the commercial goals of Yahoo! or Excite, we want to create a Portal for all audiences interested in the recent history of science and technology. This site would preserve and extend the intellectual, archival, and historical goals suggested by the STIM projects. It would be the entry point for overlapping audiences (public, students, teachers, scientists and technologists, enthusiasts) interested in the recent history of science and technology. It would highlight the current crop of Sloan-sponsored projects while also pointing to other efforts underway by archivists, scientists, technologists, historians, and enthusiasts.

[Insert paragraph summarizing John’s research on portal traffic—which portals are most popular and why, how do traffic patterns channel out of portals. Ref. recent high-profile project that mapped traffic on the web. The key problem of aggregation is tied to larger problem of the web as an information channel with maldistributed navigation and market penetration patterns, and a low signal-to-noise ration. The barrier to entry and retention is very high. A site is like a thriving community: it must have a considerable store of value to hold its members, and it must encourage a high volume of traffic/links both in and out to remain vital, relevant and attractive to new recruits.]

By bringing together the efforts in the recent history of science and technology that already exist, one can enhance the notice that each is getting. That is particularly important if you want to foster the habit of contributing to the history of science and technology in the making. Hence, one needs to create a place (or set of places) where people will turn to learn about the recent history of science and technology. Aggregation and filtering partially serve the organizing and outreach strategies—they put one in touch with diverse constituencies who are doing this work. But it also potentially creates a set of places where contributions (whether reminiscences or other materials) can be deposited. And then, finally, it serves the goal of building an audience for the work that is being done—a key element in creating a virtuous circle of work in this area.

2.3 Assessment

Without a clear model for assessment it will be difficult to determine best practices in this rapidly emerging field, thereby making efforts at outreach, education and aggregation less effective than might otherwise be the case. We need a systematic assessment of what has and hasn’t worked in the projects sponsored by Sloan if we are going to advance practice in this area. It would also make sense to assess similar efforts that have emerged in other, related areas. For example, this fall NEH launched “My History is America’s History,” a populist effort to stimulate the documentation of family history stories and, in part, to collect those stories online. What does this grassroots project tell us that would be useful in the effort to do participant history in the history of science and technology? Such assessment should consider both technique (what works in stimulating participation) and historical value (what is the potential value to future historians in this material).

Each of the five major activities conducted by this project will have its own dedicated section within the Portal (described in more detail in §3.1-3.5). The Portal will thus serve multiple functions: as a knowledge base on best practices; as a repository of tools and resources; as a communications medium designed to promote understanding and popular participation; and as a platform for collaboration and cumulative work on research in diverse topic areas. In keeping with the spirit of our core mission, we will exemplify the practices we seek to advance.[JTS1]

3. Project Activities

3.1 A Review of Sloan-sponsored Online Research Projects

The first step in any future work must be to evaluate what has already been done. This process was begun at the recent Stanford conference. But a public conference is limited in the level of scrutiny it can offer to specific projects, and its impact on historical practice quickly fades as work in the field advances. Moreover, in a public setting commentators are not always prepared to be as candid as they might be in other contexts. A critical, thorough and ongoing assessment of the current state of this emerging area of historical practice is necessary to guide future research.

In the first two months of this project, we will organize a systematic review of existing Sloan projects in the recent history of science and technology online. To aid in the process of critical evaluation, we will consult specialists in three fields: the recent history of science and technology, digital archives, and humanities and computing. At least one specialist in each field will be hired as a consultant to write short reviews of the Sloan sites.[2] These reviewers will then convene at George Mason University for a roundtable discussion on the sites and the broader issues they raise for method, interpretation and presentation within the recent history of science and technology. The director of research for the project will incorporate these reviews into a broader analysis of the state of emerging practices in the field of online historical research. This analysis will be presented to Sloan in the form of a report on its currently funded web-based projects.

The critical discussion of online practices will not end with the report on Sloan sites. In keeping with the larger purpose of this project we will incorporate critical practice into all phases of this project. Specifically, the report on Sloan projects will form the basis for a Guide to the Recent History of Science and Technology on the Web (see §3.2) whose reviews of websites and scholarly publications will grow steadily in number over three years. The report will remain discrete from the Guide, serving as a resource within the Forum on Best Practices. It will comprise a major part of a special subsection of the Forum aimed at existing and future Sloan projects, as well as projects participating in our activities. In the last two months of the project we will produce a second edition of the report that reports the findings of this project over its three-year term, summarizes and evaluates the findings of a final conference, and outlines areas for future work in this field.

3.2 A Guide to the Recent History of Science and Technology on the Web

The Guide represents an approach to aggregation that should ultimately drive both outreach and assessment as well. This main section of the Portal will feature materials that illustrate emerging practices in the recent history of science andtechnology. Obviously this resource will never be complete, but by aiming at comprehensiveness we seek to make the Portal the definitive online source for this field.

We will offer a number of features aimed atattracting visitorsfrom diverse publics. Popular audiences will learn about science and technology through timelines, glossaries, the “answer corner” for curious visitors, interactive tools such as on-line quizzes, and featured articles and book “talks” by scientists, inventors and popularizers. Scholars and professionals will want to query the database of resources on which the Guide draws.

The Guide will add materials and features as it grows over the course of the project. These features will include:

  • annotated links: beginning with the annotated reviews of Sloan sites produced in the report described in §3.1, the Guide will draw on a database of annotated links to web sites on the recent history of science and technology.If successful, thevisibility produced by featuring these abstracts in the guide should increase traffic to the sites they describe.The Center has already demonstrated success in this approach with History Matters ( an online guide directed at teachers of U.S. history.
  • featured host essay: on a quarterly basis the Portal will have a new host whose special expertise within science or technology is highlighted in an essay linked from the main page. The host will also field moderated questions from the answer corner (see below). Acting as a sort of guest editor, the host will add new perspective and material to the site at the same time that s/he draws attention from the population of people interested in her/his expertise.
  • answer corner and quiz section:the host will answer questions from site visitors that touch on her/his area of expertise. The project team will moderate the submission and posting of these questions. This feature is aimed at drawing in a popular audience, much in the fashion already practiced by the History Channel and History.net.
  • lectures and book talks:lectures and book talks by experts in science and technology—including the host—will also be featured on a regular basis and used to draw in a popular audience. The Center already has a server that streams RealAudio and Quicktime movies, so it will be relatively easy to provide audio or video for such events.
  • timeline:this is another feature found on many popular history web sites. The project team, in consultation with the host and other experts, will create timelines for the major topical areas within the history of science and technology: [biological sciences, mechanical and engineering, chemical and pharmaceutical, physical, information technology]. These timelines will link out to resources organized in other parts of the Portal where appropriate.
  • glossary:built in conjunction with the timeline, the glossary will be a popular device aimed at familiarizing novices with basic terms and linking them to relevant sections of the Portal (e.g. “to learn more about plasma physics, see…”).The project team, in consultation with the host and other experts, will create glossaries for the major topical areas within the history of science and technology.

3.3 A Memory Bank for the Recent History of Science and Technology

Another key goal of the Portal would be to serve as a central collecting point for historical materials pertaining to recent developments in science and technology. The Guide described in §3.2 and the Forum described in §3.4will act as magnets, attracting scholars and historical subjects to the site whose interest and experience in a subject area would motivate them to deposit materials relevant to preserving and collecting this history.This traffic will then be directed to a special section of the Portal called the Memory Bank, whose features would encourage visitors to become active participants in making the recent history of science and technology.