Naiara: Introduction to "Writing History in the Digital Age"

This week’s book itself is a born-digital anthology and the authors’ experiment is digitally  (which is very different from digitized) conceived, developed and publishes. In details:

•           It was published on the web in stages.
•           During eight weeks it was open for contributors to share ideas and comments online, which made reviewing and editing a public and continuous process. Or as they call it, an “open peer review”(p.3).
•           The final version is digital and open access. No subscription fee or password required.   

Comment: This was one of my favorite readings of the semester, especially in its reflection about how historians conceive writing as a personal process that reflects their personal identity and how they prefer to mature and polish ideas over time before publishing them. To engage in digital writing (not simply digital publication) and open peer review processes may require the abandonment of the identity of the historian as the only or utmost authority in a certain subject. It is also interesting how the authors point out that digital writing requires a different set of skills – not only digital – such as curating instead of “investigating”.