Here are three example websites that express our ideals in making accessible and educational websites:
A complete project from UC San Diego
A big collaborative project at University of Wisconsin-Stout
A class project very much in progress at Boston College
Here are a few of the things that these models demonstrate for the best practices for creating these types of websites.
While not everyone agrees with the precise meaning of the term Digital Humanities, I think this quote puts it nicely as it encompasses the dynamic and wide range of this field of study:
“Digital Humanities is born of the encounter between traditional humanities and computational methods.” – Digital_Humanities by Anne Burdick, Johanna Drucker, Peter Lunenfeld, Todd Presner, Jeffrey Schnapp
Because of leaps in technology, we are able to use websites as a way to archive and demonstrate the humanities in new and exciting ways. The Digital humanities have been making leaps and bounds when it comes to creating a myriad of content that people can choose from, such as blogs, simulations, 3D models, academic virtual reality, games, etc.
Using technology allows digital humanists to reach people farther and more easily than ever before. This medium allows people to understand history in a more nuanced way. We take large amounts of data, and turn it in to educational and informative works on this site for people to seriously study or peruse.
This is about our audience and making it easy for them to access and understand it. What that means on this website is that a student or a curious layperson doesn’t have to jump on a plane to be able to contact us or view our research, and it also means that we aren’t using inaccessible jargon to describe our work.
It’s not only important to us to research and create in depth educational material, but to also make this website accessible to visitors at any level. We’ve taken a look at many a website to find ones we feel really embodies practices that lead to a website that is educational and accessible.
