Online Security & Project Progress

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During our class Wednesday and through the reading assignments I learned many valuable things including what I had already imagined, which is that our online activities are not secure. I learned that the chances of being hacked are very high and that it is relatively very easy for an experienced hacker to retrieve valuable information from me. For example, l learned that firewalls are essentially roadblocks that hackers will eventually get passed. In addition, I learned that Google basically knows everything there is know about me based off storing all of the information I have searched, which is how they can target particular ads they believe will pertain to me. Also, from both the class and the readings I learned that we make it very easy for our online activities to not be secure. This is because we make fairly easy passwords to crack. This is because while we may have twenty separate accounts for various programs we maintain very similar passwords for all them if not keep the same exact one. This dangers of online activities is endless and from what I have learned the best approach to using the internet is with the mindset that someone can find anything you do and to use it at your own caution.

My project is going well. I have roughly 100 words left in my narrative essay and then have to complete my About Page, which should not take me too long. Also, I have all twelve of my items in, but plan to add more. The bulk of the work I have left for my project is to create the exhibit and collection. This, which originally seemed intimidating because I have never been that tech savvy seems like it wont be that bad anymore because after navigating through Omeka building my archive I have learned my way around the program. The particular item that I am most excited about and find most useful is President Warren G. Harding’s address at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I will not explain in detail because that is in the project, but in short he explains the importance of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and what it means to Americans. This project has proved to be challenging, but it has also been fun to learn many things I never knew before. I look forward to seeing how my project turns out.

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DC Population

During the exercise with IChart I could not find any information that would have been of use to me from the Census so i decided to make up my own for practice. The chart I made compared the Black population to the Asian population from 1960-1990 in Washington D.C.. I learned that the Asian population was significantly lower than the black population and the black population increased from the 60’s to the 70’s, but then declined back to almost near the same population as the 60’s in the 90’s. I can imagine the initial increase in population might be as a result of the migration from the South to the North. This system was a little tricky for me, but after playing around I got the hang of it and imagine I might be able to use it again in the future. 

Exhibit

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The exhibit I intend to create will be composed of pictures, articles, and Presidential speeches at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This is because these primary sources will be the most beneficial to me in answering my resource question: “ What does the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier mean for National Identity? The pictures will be beneficial to me because they show people including the President honoring the unidentified service members with the Wreath laying ceremony, which is a form of military honors to pay our respects held every Memorial Day. The articles I will be using discuss the origins of Memorial Day and what is now a tradition that makes place every Memorial Day. The Presidential speech I intent to use, which I believe to be most beneficial to my project is that of President Warren G. Harding on November 11, 1921. These items all work together to answer my research question because they all exhibit a sense of patriotism and nationalism our country had by showing support and paying respects. The exhibit, when completed will hopefully work as a way to understand the answer to my question by providing a “quick” version.

This document/text  is the Presidential speech made by President Warren G. Harding. 

This particular picture exhibits a form of military honors as the military personnel is standing in the position of attention while two military personnel place a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown. 

This picture  exhibits a gathering of people around the Tomb of the Unknown and this one.

This article discusses the origins of Memorial Day and the tradition of the laying the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown and so does this one.

 

 

Text-mining & Project Progress

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Personally, text-mining tools are not valuable to me unless I needed a huge document consolidated into an overview of phrases that are included in the document to provide me with general idea what it is about. While this is a unique and fun tool to use, especially to see if I were to use a particular word too much in a paper I still prefer to try and read everything in documents to avoid missing anything that could be of importance to me.

This week I have made some progress with the written part of my project, which is a little more than half way done and I anticipate finishing it in the next day or two. Also, I have found a few more primary sources, which includes a speech by President Warren G. Harding at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier discussing the very importance of remembering the unidentifiable service members. This will be a major key to my topic. The rest of the week and this weekend I plan on finishing the written portion and getting more work done in Omeka. The only challenging part thus far has been finding something than answers my research topic, which the primary source I noted above does just that for me. Also, navigating myself through Omeka was difficult at first, but after last class and having played around in it some more I feel much more comfortable.

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MAP

http://bit.ly/1h8vRsV

While creating my map I found it rather easy once I became comfortable with navigating myself through Google Maps. At first I ran into a problem due to operator error because I forgot to put the – symbol before the Longitude coordinates, but once I corrected that problem everything seemed to fall in place. While creating my map it was difficult for me to come up with 4 data points on the first layer because my topic is fairly specific, which is The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier located at Arlington National Cemetery. The orgins of this go over to France which obviously does not fall under the D.C. geographic spectrum so I had to explore other points relating to Tomb of the Unknowns, which confined my data points to be located all within the same proximity of each other at Arlington National Cemetery. The only point outside Arlington National Cemetery that is directly related is the Capitol Building because Congress is who passed legislation to begin burying unidentified service members at Arlington. With that said, I don’t feel their was something that didn’t work, but rather learned my research will be confined to events that have gone on at Arlington National Cemetery in honoring the Tomb of the Unknown.

While creating my own historic narrative I did gain additional insights to my research topic that will be useful to me. For example, prior to creating my map I did not know the amphitheater was located right next to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and that it had a vault when it was built that has copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Bible, the Constitution, and other various items from the time it was built.

 

Calvin and Hobbes Cartoon

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The digitized Calvin and Hobbes cartoon in the in the page headers of the syllabus do not violate copyright regulations. This is because it is protected by fair use, which is comprised of four key factors, one of which is, “the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole”. This tells us that a piece of work can be taken and used if it is only used in pieces and not taking and using a whole piece of work. With that said, the cartoons in the syllabus are only clippings from a complete cartoon, which is not on display thus allowing for the clippings to be used without violating copyright regulations. There is, however no specific limit on how much you can take from a piece of work so it is stated that is best to contact the author of the work and receive permission before using it. In addition, when using someone work it is important to also credit him or her with their work, which is exhibited in the syllabus with leaving the author’s signature on the comic visible.

Topic of interest

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The topic that I would like to look into more deeply is the development of the monuments and memorials in Washington D.C., but particularly the Arlington National Cemetery. The steps I would take to explore this topic would begin with utilizing the Library of Congress and National Archives for primary sources that might provide some detailed information regarding Robert E. Lee and why the Union was able to claim this property from him. Also, I would like to learn how the Union put the land to use and when they decided to use the land as a cemetery. Then I would like to learn about particular traditions that go on at Arlington Nation Cemetery and their origins starting at its establishment up until fifty-years ago. In addition to these traditions, I might try to find audio recordings of speeches taken place there. I might widen my research to the official Arlington National Cemetery website where I could find secondary sources that might be able to provide me with other essential information if I am unable to find them in primary sources. Lastly, I would like to also find newspaper articles from that time discussing the cemetery and see if I can find a general consensus of what the people in D.C. thought about it.

Three topics in the history of D.C.

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The three topics in the history of the District of Columbia that interest me include the development of monuments and memorials, the effect the Civil War had on Washington D.C., and the history of the various types of protests and/or political movements in Washington D.C. The history of the development of monuments and memorials is important to me because each and everyone one of them signify an important part of our American history. They tell us a story of how our country has shaped and took form as well as the sacrifices our service members have made, which is a part of history that every American should know. I would like to learn how they decided for whom to dedicate a monument or memorial as well as who was chosen to design them. The initial steps I would take to learn more about the development of the monuments and memorials is to locate and identify preferably primary sources that list all the different monuments and memorials in D.C. This would allow me to identify the very first recorded monument or memorial in Washington D.C. and move forward from there.

The effect of the Civil War on Washington D.C. is particularly interesting to me because it played a pivotal role in preventing the Confederates from entering the North with its heavy fortification and occupation of the Union Army. I would like to research and learn an array of information such as, but not limiting to the division of the population, to which civilians affiliated themselves with a particular side, the increase or decrease in population, the city before and after, and the war efforts that went on in the city to support the Union and/or Confederates. The initial steps I would take to begin my research would start with the exploration of primary resources such as newspaper articles discussing the war that might provide a sense of the environment of Washington D.C. at the time.

The history of protests and/or political movements in Washington D.C. is particularly interesting to me because there have been so many for various reasons and purposes. This would provide a great insight to the events in the past that people in America were oppose to or wanted to bring a change. I think it would be interesting to learn what these various groups were trying to achieve and if they were successful or unsuccessful. I would like to also learn if they were peaceful or violent and if they were violent then how violent were they. Also, I would like to learn if one protest in the city inspired another protest in a different part of the city. The initial steps I would take to begin my research is would begin with trying to find a primary source with the information regarding the first protest in D.C. I think I would begin with newspaper articles searching for protests dating back as far as it will allow me then once I have found a specific protest I would search the Library of Congress for that event.

iwo jima

Primary Sources

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The Rebel Attack on Washington D.C.

The first primary source I examined was a map of the Confederates plan of attack during the Civil War on Washington D.C. July 11th and July 12th 1864 led by General Jubal Early. From this map I learned that the Confederates planed to come down from the North through Maryland and attack Washington. The map included a key with colors and symbols. The color purple representing the union while a red/pinkish color represented the Confederates and then various symbols that appeared smudged represented Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery Batteries. Lastly, the map provided estimated troop sizes with the Union consisting of 20,000 and the Confederates comprised of 12,000. Ultimately, this attack resulted in the Battle of Fort Stevens.

The source of this map was the “Library of Congress, which appears to have digitized an original copy of the map. The top of the map was title with “The Rebel Attack on Washington D.C. By General Jubal Early. Confederate Army. While the bottom of the map is then certified by saying, “Plan of Rebel Attack on Washington D.C. July 11th and July 12th 1864. Copy of Official Plan made in the Office of Col. Alexander; Engineer of Defenses. While going through the contextualizing process I was able to find other maps offering similar outlines of the attack, however they lacked the credibility. While the map lacked text I attempted to analyze the map through Close- Reading by observing the details of the attack, but through that questions arose to myself thus bringing me into the Corroborating Process. While observing the map I noticed for the most part that the Rebels appeared to be directly north, but imagining that Washington was such a vital part of this war I would have thought there might be some attack from the West to flank the Union and surprise them. While I am happy this did not happen I still would have expected their to be a much more complex attack.

Lincoln Memorial

The second primary source I examined was a newspaper dated May 28, 1922. This paper included an article pertaining to the completion of the Lincoln Memorial twenty years after his assassination. This article provided background information relating to the reason behind the design and location of the memorial. While reading this article I learned it stands “Isolated, Distinguish, and Serene” because it was desired by John Jay who was Lincoln’s biographer and secretary. The location of the memorial we learn is an honor to be on the main axis of the Washington Plan and near the Washington monument. Also, it was said that Lincoln loved the Potomac River, which made it even more suiting to put the memorial there.

The source of this article is “The Washington Times” newspaper on May 28, 1922, the morning edition. When I began the contextualizing process by finding other history behind the Lincoln Memorial I found as much praise as I did in this article. Through close reading I found myself wondering if newspapers further south would regard President Lincoln with as much praise as this one. During the corroborating process I wondered why Lincoln loved the Potomac River so much. Also, I wondered if in some way this article could have been bias being a Washington D.C. newspaper and people in the South feel the same why about Lincoln some fifty-seven years after his assassination.

While working with primary sources I found both sources I examined to have some levels of difficulty to work with. While working with the map I found it difficult to read at first, but this was mostly due to operator error while learning how to zoom in and out on particular parts of the map. While working with the newspaper article I had the same difficulties as I did with the map, but what made this more challenging was reading the print because in some articles it would be very small thus requiring more time for me to zoom in then out then scroll down to the next column.

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Website Reviews

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9/11 Memorial Website

www.911memorial.org

This website is a museum site providing information on the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum located in Manhattan, NY. The purpose of this site is to remember and honor the men, women, and children murdered by terrorists attacks on February 26, 1993, and September 11, 2001. The website is intended for anyone and everyone interested in the 9/11 Memorial, which by navigating the site they can receive help on planning a trip for a visit, or taking a virtual tour through the website. In addition, this site provides World Trade Center history, and even lesson plans on how to teach children about these horrific events. Lastly, this site also provides information on how to volunteer to work at the Memorial or donate money to go towards it.

The website was very easy for me to navigate because it had a very simple format. The top of the homepage is lined with an array of options to choose from and they are clear as to where it  will take me. The title of this website gave me a general idea of the content I was going to be able to find, but I was surprised that it included much more information such as the lessons for children. This website was created by The National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center Foundation, Inc., which is headed by Michael R. Bloomberg who is the 108th Mayor of New York City, which makes this site credible. I found this website extremely valuable and not one thing that seemed to be invaluable. The content that I found to be most valuable to the site is the ability for someone to find the location of a loved one’s name on the memorial.

Battlines: Letters From America’s Wars

www.gilderlehman.org

This is an archive website that has an online exhibition of letters and audio featuring correspondence from over 200 years of American conflicts ranging from the American Revolution to the Iraq War. The purpose of this site is to explore the various burdens of war such as leaving home, the pride and worries of those left behind, and the ultimate sacrifice. This website can be used for someone seeking a better understanding of the life of someone in the military and their families during a time of war. This website was easy to navigate because the homepage includes a column with different time period starting around the American Revolution and going up to the Iraq War. Then after selecting a time period you can further your research by selecting a particular even in that time period. The title of this website made me imagine that I would just be able to view letters soldiers had written home during war, but it offered much more. Once you select the particular even the site provides a general of summary of that event, a timeline, and sub eras for that conflict.

This website was created by the Fidler Lehrman Institute of American History, which makes it credible to me. I found this website to be valuable for people seeking a better insight of the life of a soldier and their families during a time of war. I did however; find one thing to be invaluable, which was the discussion board. I feel as though someone conducting research could mistaken every participant in the discussion to be credible when in fact they might not be.

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