Visualizing History: Cuban Revolution Part I

The start of a revolution had been brewing for many years in the tiny Caribbean island of Cuba. On July 26, 1953, a group of young militants led by Fidel Castro attacked the Moncada military barracks in Santiago in a bid to overthrow U.S. supported dictator, Fulgencio Batista. Even though the attack was a failure that lead to their arrest, Castro and his followers not only succeeded in starting the Cuban Revolution but gained the attention of the Cuban people.
http://www.rcgfrfi.easynet.co.uk/ratb/cuba/cuba_rev.htm

Visualizing History: Cuban Revolution Part II

After being released from prison in May 1955 Castro, his younger brother Raul, Argentine doctor Ernesto “Che” Guevara, and their fellow rebels exiled to Mexico to prepare for their to Cuba. Their plans came to fruition on November 26, 1956 when Castro and his followers aboard the tiny yacht, Granma, arrived on Cuba. Severely outnumbered and outgunned, Castro and his followers were attacked by Batista’s soldiers has they landed on the beach. With only a few survivors, Castro and his followers regrouped in the Sierra Maestra mountains to begin their guerrilla warfare campaign.
http://library.thinkquest.org/18355/the_cuban_revolution_-_1959.html

Visualizing History: Cuban Revolution Part III

With the help of Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos, Castro began to win support from peasants as they traveled from town to town. Hidden in the rugged mountains of the Sierra Maestra from 1956 to 1959, the rebels inflicted heavy damage on the greatly numbered Cuban army. Batista’s armies were unable to cope with the style and fighting conditions of guerilla warfare. Hidden in the mountains during the rebel campaign, Che Guevara would transmit radio messages, Radio Rebelde, the Cuban people helping raise support and awareness of the rebels.

http://www2.truman.edu/~marc/webpages/revsfall99/cuba/

Visualizing History: Cuban Revolution Part IV

With insurmountable pressure from the rebels and uprisings in cities, Bastista decided to flee Cuba on January 1, 1959. Triumphant, Castro and the rebels entered Havana on January 8, 1959 to a jubilant public. With Castro in power along with his most trusted allies, they began to make social and economic changes in Cuba. Much to the behest of the U.S. government, the rebel government ordered the trial and execution of members of the Batista regime and U.S. owned business were expropriated and nationalized.

http://www.rcgfrfi.easynet.co.uk/ratb/cuba/cuba_rev.htm

Visualizing History:Cuban Revolution Part V

Even though the fighting between the guerillas and Batista’s army was over, the Cuban Revolution has continued to this day. Until now, Fidel Castro remained Cuba’s only leader. Since he has recently stepped down, his younger brother Raul has taken over with many questions being raised as to whether or not Communism will remain in Cuba. Time will tell whether not changes will be made in Cuba, which all depends on Raul Castro.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100/article/0,28804,1595326_1615513_1614695,00.html

Visualizing History: Cuban Revolution Experience

At first it would seem daunting to try to tell a story using pictures with captions. For me, it was not all that bad. I chose the Cuban Revolution because of the recent news of Fidel Castro stepping down. Since the Revolution occurred in the 20th century, I figured it would not be difficult to find pictures detailing the event.

Since the Cuban Revolution was an important event in history, there was an abundance of websites that had content that differed from one another. Instead of going to a more established websites such as museum sites or www.history.com , I chose a different route by picking websites that were made by people who were fascinated with this subject. These websites varied from having large to minimal content and differing in the amount of link or resources they had.

What could quite possibly the most difficult part of this assignment for me was choosing which pictures to use. Because there was an abundance of pictures that pertained to the Revolution, I had to narrow down pictures that had the best visual representation of the story that I was trying to tell. Of course I chose pictures that were taken during a certain part of the story. What made me finally decide is if these pictures showed important people that the story told of and that it helps create story flow. Overall, it was a enjoyable experience telling a story using pictures.

Valentine's Day Challenge: Part II

Personally, I never knew the history of Valentine’s Day until now. I figured it was some ploy by large corporations to make money but using a holiday. It was interesting to learn how it started back in era of the Roman Empire and how it evolved throughout the years.

I looked at four different websites, each having similar and different information regarding Valentines Day history. The websites:

http://www.theholidayspot.com/valentine/history_of_valentine.htm, http://www.allaboutpopularissues.org/history-of-valentines-day.htm, http://www.infoplease.com/spot/valentinesdayhistory.html, http://www.essortment.com/valentinesdayh_rygc.htm, based the origins of history on the bishop Valentine and Claudius II.

I found it interesting how historical figures and their actions could cause a yearly holiday as in the case of Valentines Day. For one I don’t know much about the Roman Empire its complex array of politics and culture. These websites were helpful in giving me an idea of how the beliefs of just one man, Claudius II, would change the lives of many people.

The content in these websites are adequate for casual viewers interested in Valentine’s Day history. On the other hand, those looking for primary sources are going to have to look for elsewhere. There is minimal content on these websites, with miniscule links and references. The lack of these options massively hurt these websites as an ideal place to gather more information on this subject.

Finding historical information for Valentines Day was not that difficult for me. As I looked at various site, I would read through each one and chose the ones that offered different content. Some sites were very short on content while others had more information that went beyond the Roman Empire. I decided to focus on the Roman Empire aspect of Valentines Day because it was the foundation from where the holiday started and it was far more interesting.

Overall, I enjoyed gathering information on this subject. It is always fun to learn something new. It is the perfect conversation stimulator for anyone who has a Valentine. Just having some knowledge is not only beneficial for historical knowledge but to also impress a special someone.

Valentine's Day Challenge: Part I

The origins of the Valentine’s Day holiday had its beginnings towards the end of the Roman Empire 270 A.D. In fourth century B.C., the Roman empire had annual drawings where teenage girls put their names in a box and were randomly selected by young men. Young Roman men had to do this has a rite of passage for the God Lupercus. For eight hundred years, this practice continued until early church fathers sought to end it. For it was the bishop, Valentine, who helped end it.

The Roman Empire’s era of power began to unravel when the lack of quality administrators led to frequent civil strife. Internal conflicts began to wear down the Roman Empire. Outside pressure from the Gauls, Huns, Turks, and Mongolians began to put pressur on the boundaries of the Empire. In order to protect his empire, Claudius, the emperor of the time, realized that the army needed to be upgraded. Claudius believed that unmarried men would make better soldiers, so he decided to make a law that young men could not marry.

Seeing that many young soldiers were demoralized by this law; Valentine took it upon himself to help them. Valentine would secretly perform marriage ceremonies for the young soldiers. Valentine risked his life on a continual basis knowing that what he was doing was against Roman law. His scheme was eventually discovered was taken into custody. Claudius, impressed with Valentine’s dignity and conviction, offered to spare his life if he converted to worshipping Roman gods. Valentine refused the offer was sentenced to execution on February 24, 270.

While in prison, Valentine met a jailor named Asterius, who asked if he could heal his blind daughter. Asterius’s daughter had her vision miraculously restored by Valentine. Before his execution Asterius wrote a farewell message to Asterius’ daughter, “From your Valentine,” a phrase that lived ever after.

Valentine would become a patron saint which would eventually lead to a festival honoring him. The festival involved young Romans offering women they admired, and wished to court, handwritten greetings of affection on February 14. Thus making Valentine’s Day celebrated around the world.

Website Evaluation: Cold War.org

For many years, the U.S. government was at odds with Russia when they were known as the Soviet Union. Animosities between the two sides were so high that they constantly spied on one another even coming close to nuclear war. Known as the Cold War, this animosity brought a new level of intelligence gathering that laid the foundation for what is used today. In order to better understand the Cold War since it is such a broad topic, I chose to evaluate http://www.coldwar.org/ to learn more.

Upon entering the website, it tells you from the very beginning that that is part of the Cold War Museum. To learn more about the Cold War museum I clicked on the large link, “Enter the Museum.” Apparently money is being raised to help build this museum in the Washington D.C. area in order to teach people about the Cold War and its impact on U.S. and foreign policy.

Since the information in this website is so broad I have decided to focus my evaluation on the 70’s aspect of the cold war. On the homepage of the website, viewers such as me can choose various links dealing with the subject. There are links such as a Trivia Game, Spy Tour, Resources, Contact, Search, and other links typical of any history website. What would be the main area of interest in this website would be the timeline located at the bottom of the homepage. It is overall a very user-friendly website. There is always an option to return to the homepage by having a link present and also links to other areas of the website are always present.

Since I have chosen the 60’s link of the websites, http://www.coldwar.org/articles/60s/index.asp, I focused on the content that is in that link of the website. Once I clicked on the link, instead of giving a brief description of the time period during the Cold War, there is just a list of links of people and events pertaining to that time period. From the U2 Incident http://www.coldwar.org/articles/60s/u2_incident.asp to the USS Pueblo http://www.coldwar.org/articles/60s/pueblo.html . The content seems to vary from link to link with mixed results. For instance, The Bay of Pigs, http://www.coldwar.org/articles/60s/bay_of_pigs.asp, had minimal information but had a link to sent me to another page that has another set of links, http://www.coldwar.org/articles/60s/links.asp. These links were not very helpful for in-depth information regarding the Bay of Pigs, with the exception of one which had primary information such as declassified documents, http://www14.homepage.villanova.edu/david.barrett/bop.html. Overall, I am not surprised with the minimal amount of content in this section of the website. Since the site is for a Cold War museum, the information would obviously be kept at a minimum in order to garner more attention for the museum.

The scholarship in this website is valid with well written information including references of the information being displayed at the bottom of the page. In the Lyndon B. Johnson link of the 60’s section, http://www.coldwar.org/articles/60s/johnson.html, information about him focused mostly about his involvement in the Cold War. This piece was written by Kathleen Johnson, a Cold War Museum volunteer. As any good historian, she referenced her information which is helpful for viewers to learn more about Lyndon B. Johnson and the Cold War.

The presentation and the use of media is kept at a minimum on this website. Compared to the National Museum of American History website, the Cold War website is the complete opposite. What the Cold War website lacks in pizzazz, they make up for an abundance of links that is full of information for people who are interested in the Cold War. There is large amount of media in this website such as pictures, videos, and podcasts, http://www.coldwar.org/museum/exhibits.html. It would have been helpful if more podcasts and videos are added because of the growth of television and radio during its time period.

Looking back, this website caters to the people who wish to do a straightforward, basic research, not so in-depth. I found the content to be overall helpful for casual viewers of the Cold War. Some people might be turned off because of its lack of presentation and media. These are factors that do not deter how helpful this website is for Cold War researchers.

History Websites: How different are they?

Not every website based on a certain subject are going to be the same. Websites cater to a certain audience depending on what they are looking for. With the subject of History, there are many websites that deal with various areas of this subject. Some people will look at History websites for casual means, others will look at it for research. There are four websites that I looked at; Valley of the Shadow http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/choosepart.html, DoHistory http://dohistory.org/home.html, The History Channel http://www.history.com/, and National Museum of American Historyhttp://americanhistory.si.edu/index.cfm, that make different approaches to history.

What I have noticed between all four is that they make different approaches to history, catering to the viewers of each website. For instance the website, Valley of the Shadow, gives a very detailed and thorough research in the area of the Civil War. While the subject of the Civil War is very broad, this website focuses on Augusta and Franklin County of Virginia. I found that much work was put into the content of this website. This website approaches history not for the casual viewer but more for the researched oriented viewer. If a historian wants to gather information on a Augusta or Franklin County newspaper during the Civil War, they would have no problem finding it with its helpful search engine and its abundance of primary materials. By picking the month, year, and content (http://www.vcdh.virginia.edu:8065/saxon/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=/vcdh/xml_docs/valley_news/newspaper_catalog.xml&style=/vcdh/xml_docs/valley_news/news_cat.xsl&level=edition&paper=rv&year=1861&month=04&day=05&edition=rv1861/va.au.rv.1861.04.05.xml#p2 .

While the Valley of the Shadow website is helpful for Civil War research, DoHistory helps the viewer become a historian instead of a spectator. There is more interaction with history in the DoHistory website then the Valley site. The site helps to study and learn historical text by using Martha Ballard as an example. Technology helps the DoHistory website teach viewers about how to transcribe and decode historical texts. This link, http://dohistory.org/diary/exercises/lens/index.html , is a great example of how technology and history go well together. Another helpful aspect of this website is that it teaches its viewers how to do their own historical research. An area that was lacking in the Valley of the Shadow website.

Since we live in a era where time is of the essence and people have little time to do much, The History Channel website presents history for the on-the-go, casual viewer. While the website does advertise their cable channel, it is a blend of history, media, interaction, and technology. There are forums were people could discuss facets of history such as WWII http://boards.historychannel.com/forum.jspa?forumID=101 or watch historical events such as the sinking of the Bismarck by the Royal Navy, http://www.history.com/media.do?action=listing&sortBy=1&sortOrder=A&topic=THIS%20DAY%20IN%action=listing&sortBy=1&sortOrder=A&topic=THIS%20DAY%20IN%20HISTORY . The History Channel websites approach to history heavily relies on media such as audio and video. The website helps give the casual viewer a better appreciation of history whether it be in the U.S. or in the rest of the world.

While all of these websites have their own unique way to history on the Internet, the National Museum of American History website is dedicated to showing viewers the historical artifacts and events that that are in their museum. Viewers could see picture and description of, for instance, George Washington's war chest http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object.cfm?key=35&objkey=41. While it is helpful to see a picture and a description of an artifact on the Internet, the website encourages the viewer to make the trip and see this artifact and others in person. To see a picture of it is one thing, but to actually see it along with other historical artifacts is a completely different story. This website helps create a sort of historical bond between the viewer and artifact. The viewer knows that they could actually go and experience history instead of reading about it in a book or on the Internet.

What all four of these websites taught me is that history can be approached in many different ways. It does not matter whether the material is primary, interactive, or in video format. The important fact is that there is an appreciation for history, making it accessible for everyone.

Gamepolitics.com: A one week study

http://www.gamepolitics.com/ is a politics and video game blog that I have been following for a week. Being very easy to follow, the blog focuses on the daily ongoings of the government and the video game industry. Updates are made on a daily basis telling its readers on the rise of video game regulations not only in the U.S. but in the rest of the world.

The main readers of this blog are gamers who are social conscious and are concerned of possible government intervention in the video game industry. With the inclusion of pictures, each post in the blog tells its readers various issues that surround government intervention due to video game violence. There are times that certain posts make some amusing anecdotes about video game foes. Not only this the blog inform, but it also entertains by having a sense of humor at times.

The blog is presented by the Entertainment Consumers Association, an advocacy group that "serves the needs of those who play computer and video games." The relationship between the ECA and the Gamepolitics blog tells that they are for video game advocacy and are against any form of government intervention and regulation. The blog also includes links to organizations that support video game advocacy and other electronic based mediums.

After each post is made, it is very interesting to see the comments of its readers. While the comments vary from being articulate to profane, one thing is certain is that video gamers that view this site are passionate about this medium. There is a stigma that video gamers are mostly kids, but that is not true. The comments from this blog show that current video gamers are older and are politically aware.

One thing for certain from this blog is that video game advocacy is on the rise because of it being a multi-billion dollar industry and its users are protective of it's rights. Non-video gamers who read this blog will question the rise of government regulation with possible First Amendment violations. They will understand that video games are under the same scrutiny that books, movies, and music went through in the past and present.