|
|||||
|
It may seem strange that a historian would argue that Wikileaks publication of the Afghan War Logs was a waste of time, but it was, and it was possibly harmful. Todays followup, the posting of a huge encrypted “insurance” file on the Wikileaks site, looks like a juvenile stunt , copied from a cheap novel. Continue reading Wikileaks, Fractal and Fractional history Peter Hart, the Canadian Historian whose work on the IRA in West Cork aroused such controversy, has died, aged 46. He will be most remembered in Ireland for his book “The IRA and its Enemies: Violence and Community in Cork 1916-1923,” which drew the ire of many in West Cork for his interpretation of the actions of the IRA in the area during the War of Independence. Continue reading Peter Hart I don’t think so. That quote popped up on my Twitter stream from George Siemens who is tweeting a conference in Valencia this morning. His reaction is ‘Well tough’ but mine is no, actually they don’t hate complexity, they just hate poorly presented complexity Continue reading “students hate complexity” I found a really old post on bit.listerv.history from 1992 which shows I’ve been saying the same stuff for almost 20 years (and still can’t type properly) “I agree that many people end up in humanities undergrad courses due to a lack of direction, or failure to get into other faculties; and I accept there are very few jos for history graduates as historians. I can’t accept the “no practical use” point though. Continue reading Back on Bitnet.. Yes, the iPad is here and it is pretty and it is a game changing device but only in some ways. I was impressed with the Course Notes app which goes a long way to fixing some of the common problems of disorganisation that bedevil students, but not all – apps like that on the iPad won’t be a magic bullet to make us all smarter – and they may just confirm some folks in their dumbness. Continue reading iBut Why are Greek and Latin ‘Classics’ and not Chinese? There is no real answer to this question, which popped out of some twittering I was doing just now with Dave Parry. It is hard to argue with Dave’s position which is that this represents a European cultural bias. If we redefine classics in world rather than European terms, what languages should we add in? Continue reading World Classics Paddy Griffith is a military historian and wargamer whose work I always enjoy reading. The reporting of his famous Operation Sealion game in 1974 was my earliest exposure to wargaming and his writings on tactics in wars from the 1790s to the 1940s have added greatly to my understanding, and to my teaching. I was delighted therefore to get my hands on a copy of his Sprawling Wargames, but after reading it, I wish there was more of it. Continue reading Sprawling Wargames I’ve been reading Ged Martin’s book, Past Futures. Ged used to lecture Early modern history in UCC back when I started as an undergrad. Past Futures is a book I’m going to have to re-read, because it brings out, crisply, several important points about the nature of history which merit careful thought.The title, Past Futures referring to the futures envisaged by actors in the past, which reaches beyond simple counterfactuals, is only one of several ideas in the book Continue reading Past Futures As this term moves on, my Digital History students are (mostly) making progress on their blogs. For the course, an MA option, I decided that the assessment would be based on 10-12 blog postings showing the use of digital tools for history, and discussing readings in the area. We did all of the practical sessions last term, and I let them run wild applying those skills this term. I haven’t graded anything yet, but I am keeping an eye on things, and these are some of the highlights so far Continue reading Digital History Class Harold Jarche is one of the most popular bloggers dealing with social networking, and for good reason – he is insightful. His blog post from yesterday gathers ideas which prompt me to wonder why I haven’t already made twitter a requirement in my courses, and how I can overcome the obstacles to using it in teaching. Continue reading Can I make Twitter a requirement for my students? |
|||||
|
Copyright © 2010 Mike Cosgrave - All Rights Reserved |
|||||