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.
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