In order to understand what exactly it means “to develop information technology as a tool for scholarly humanities research,” it helps to take a closer look at the mission of the program. IATH’s central mission is to provide scholars in the humanities with the time, the tools and the techniques to document and interpret the human record in electronic form.

The IATH is helping researchers of the humanities find ways to preserve and share their research through technological mediums. Obviously the biggest medium for this is the Internet, so it is not a surprise to see that many (if not all) of the programs supported by the IATH focus on online exhibits.

What all of this means: you are only a few clicks away from top-quality humanities research covering a wide spectrum of topics. If you are interested in the history of slavery in the United States, there is a fascinating collection called “Uncle Tom’s Cabin & American Culture” that includes old newspaper articles, songs, illustrations and much more.

IATH’s central mission is to provide scholars in the humanities with the time, the tools and the techniques to document and interpret the human record in electronic form.

Or perhaps you are interested in the history of Rome, in which case you would likely find a lot of value in the Rome Reborn project. This project is a digital re-creation of ancient Rome that allows anyone to roam the streets of ancient Rome by using the Google Earth application (which is a free download.)

Written by: Drew C.

The Twitter account that I refer to is @Genny_Spencer. The story behind the account is what makes it particularly interesting. While going through some old things of an elderly family member, David Griner’s (@griner) family came across a line-a-day diary for his great-aunt that began in 1937 and lasted until 1940. This diary follows the format of posting a short quip every day. Most of the posts are informational, as opposed to emotional, and shed some light onto the lifestyles of a bygone era. Here is an example of one of the posts:

Donald Hardin came. Mamma washed. Planted potatoes. Aunt Dolly and Uncle Aaron here. Virginia Lee too. -April 3, 1937 (See it on Twitter here.)

This Twitter account gives a view of history that you don’t typically see in history books in school. It shows what life was like for people growing up in this particular time period leading up to World War II. I was particularly surprised to see a post about King George’s coronation, something that I didn’t realize interested a young teenage girl in rural Illinois. Here is my favorite post so far:

For more information, be sure to check out David Griner’s blog post about this Twitter account here.

Written by: Drew C.