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.
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.
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