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For the homework due on Tuesday February 2, find two history-related accounts on two social media networks (for example, two accounts on Twitter and two accounts on Tumblr). Think broadly about what history-related might mean; some examples include the MedievalPOC tumblr, CivilWarLive livetweeting of the Civil War, the Every3Minutes slave sales twitter assigned for today, or the Brooklyn Museum’s collection tweeting bot.
Remember that we are not looking for traditional websites like the NY Public Library’s digital collections–the central feature of social media is that it is interactive and many users may have an account within the same network. We are also not looking for single history-related posts; the entire account must be history-related.
(You may use one of these examples, but only one–you must find an additional three accounts on your own! You may not use the twitter accounts referenced in our reading It’s History, Not a Viral Feed, for reasons discussed in the reading. One point of extra credit if you’re the first to post an account, maximum one point.)
In your comment below, link the accounts you found, and briefly describe:
- What’s the purpose and audience of each account? How do other users interact with the account, if at all?
- How does each account use the interactive features of its network? How do your two examples from the same network differ from their use of the network’s interactivity features?
- Make a connection between your accounts and at least one of the readings assigned for today (It’s History, Not a Viral Feed by Sarah Werner; Digitisation’s Most Wanted by Melissa Terras; and Slave Sales on Twitter by Caleb McDaniel). Remember that it is polite to refer to authors by their last names, not their first names!
- You will be graded on your use of correct capitalization, spelling and grammar. Writing professionally on the internet is how we present ourselves professionally, like wearing professional clothes for a job interview.
You must also reply to at least one other student’s comment and discuss how your examples differ from the other student’s examples. Your reply is part of your grade for the assignment and not leaving a reply will deduct one point out of ten from your final score for the assignment.