HIS 6942 Week 6 (September 26 - October 2)

 The theme for this week was history majors within civic life that tied into last week’s discussion on public history. Students were provided with examples of history majors utilizing their degree that did not resemble traditional academic occupations such as teaching. Instead, they were provided with different occupations along with engaging in the public in new ways. This was shown with the talks with Kevin Mercer, a professor at UCF, who discussed the importance of social media and how historians can use it to both network and provide historical knowledge. Mercer and his lecture were very beneficial to both the students in class and myself due to the nature of the subject. Dr. Murphree seemed to enjoy that Mercer represented a new form of methodology that historians actively engage with and rooted within a forum that is familiar to the students. Historians actively using social media allow for a wide range of audiences to address while balancing some dangers that come from it as well.

Mercer’s talk was beneficial as it aligned with my thesis on how social media influences historical work and how historians can engage with it. I vaguely recall Mercer’s own lecture when I was still an undergraduate and was inspired by it. At the time, Twitter was not my first thought when it came to historical discourse due to the nature of its posts. Posts are limited to 250 characters which only allow for short blurbs of information. Yet Mercer presented evidence that, even with that limitation, you can network with other historians and tweet research pertaining to your topic. The lecture showed students a different sphere of academia and public history as both professors and teachers engage with each other on Twitter.

Regarding my own thesis, I propose that other sites such as YouTube and Reddit hold a larger presence than Twitter. While Mercer does discuss the importance of the site, I emphasize that these other sites provide for more durable and knowledgeable historical discourse. YouTube allows for videos to be posted that can allow users to share historical presentations on certain aspects of history. Reddit, broadly, can allow historians to engage with the public and promote themselves and their research. Social media is one form of how history majors engage in civic life.

The class continues to be going well within the COVID-19 environment. I was happy to see that one student was going to be finishing an interview and contributing to the COVID collection as they had informed me of this during Tuesday’s class. They did express some concern about privacy with the interviewee, but I believe that was due to their cautious nature. Office hours have been sparse as graduate work pulls my attention away. However, I have been freed of a busy week and can continue to perform my duties. Dr. Murphree has been a wonderful professor that is there for me. When dealing with a stressful situation, he graciously allowed me to vent about the situation which I am thankful for.