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DIGITAL RESOURCES IN HISTORICAL RESEARCH:

USE - USER PARADIGM

Dr. Priya Thakur*

Abstract

The use of digital resources has increased exponentially in recent times and its influence

is seen at every level of an institution – library, pedagogical interaction and innovation, distance

education and research. The present paper is an attempt to outline the various paradigms of use-

user/non-user relation that exist in different aspects related to historical research. This paper

refers to the users who teach at graduate and postgraduate levels in colleges and universities

across south India. In these institutions, higher academic research is usually carried out by the

faculty itself and if one look at the latest trends in this research – it tends be more regional in

nature and often in vernacular. This presents us with interesting situation where most of the

researchers either shy away from the use of digital resources or are restrained by infrastructural

shortcomings. The paper emphasizes the need to change the attitude of the users for a better

research approach.

Key Words: Historical Research, User, Methodology

Introduction:

In the academic world, researchers hope that increased knowledge about "users in the

wild" will result in the design of more useful and usable technology-enhanced teaching and

learning environments.1But in Indian context, history is still considered as a subject related to the

study of past or old and the general understanding emphasizes the use of ‘old’ techniques to

study our past. The sources are still categorized as primary/ secondary or Literary/ archaeological

and so on.Historic research involves finding, using, interpretingand correlating information

within primary and secondary sources, in order to understand past events.The collection of

historical data is accomplished through methodical and comprehensive research inprimary and

secondary sources.2 The researchers in Indian contexts still follow this said research method and

somehow fall short of accessing the digital resources as an important tool of this research

methodology.

* Assistant Professor, Department of Studies and Research in History & Archaeology, Tumkur

University, B.H. Road, Tumkur.Karnataka.572 103.priyathakur@tumkurunivesity.in

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Since the early trends in historical research, the emphasis is laid on collection of data

from various libraries/ archives in the early part of the research. This tradition continues to be

popular in modern day historical researchers. As a result, the idea of using digital resources as

part of this study has not caught the attention/ imagination of most of the researchers/

academicians involved in higher research in History and its allied subjects and categories like

culture, art and architecture, archaeology, political, social and economic history. This neglect is

more prominent in regional academic sphere where the problem of language and scarcity of

digital version of local literary resources in vernacular and their access becomes a major barrier

for user. For instance, if we look into the recent work being done in Karnataka in history and its

allied subjects, the same phenomenon can be clearly observed.

Most of the users from the field of history and even other so called Arts and Humanities

subjects like Sociology, Political Science etc. – teachers, researchers and students find it difficult

to come to an understanding that how a digital resource can provide any useful information

worth reference and may question its validity even if it is relevant which may hamper its use in

any educational or academic process. The present syllabi in the higher institutions do emphasize

on the incorporation of computer knowledge as a part of the research methodology. Still it leaves

lot to be desired. The digital resources can include not only texts but also images, videos, maps,

books and so forth. As a result, the integration of these resources in present day historical

Research is not been prevailing in India as seen in other countries.

Hypothesis:

We have been talking about being in computer age! Even the word ‘computer’ has lost its

sharp edge in fast changing technological advances and now it appears more pragmatic to call it

as Information age. With all the information/ knowledge in our fingertips today, it is sad to see

that the history researchers are lagging behind their counterparts in other disciplines.The

misconceptions associated with the use of digital resources by users in historical research vary in

sense of technical and technological implications/ complications. The word ‘USER’ represents

the researchers, students as well as teachers of history (ancient/medieval or modern) in south

India in this paper. The problem lies in several elements, mainly the lack of infrastructure,

required computer skills, and last but not the least the acute shortage of time- a problem faced by

faculty across disciplines.This presents us with interesting situation where most of the

researchers either shy away from the use of digital resources or are restrained by infrastructural

shortcomings.

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Use – User Paradigm:

It is generally agreed that humanists and social scientists will depend on complex media

tools to realize the full potential of digital resources in their teaching and research.3 In Indian

context, if one looks into the pattern and the degree to which digital resources are being

incorporated in individual teaching approach and consequent resource use – the resultant bleak

image appears to be conspicuous. The wide range of possibilities in the uses afforded to present

generation of history researchers through the digital resources is optimistic per se. These

resources can be used in various stages of research, for instance,

• Initial phase: the user can access information related to the work already done by others as

well as work still in progress across the globe in his field of interest. This can help him in

developing a better perspective to look, plan and process his research.

• Intermediate phase: online articles/ books/ reports, library catalogues/ maps/ images help by

providing easy and fast access to vast data with citation details to the user which can assist

him in forming a strong base for his further research.

• Final phase: the user can not only benefit from the data already available through the digital

resource, but can also add and contribute additional information by uploading his resultant

work in form of text, thesis or even images. This helps the users in presenting his work to a

wider audience at global arena.

Most of the faculty lack in the cognitive skills in using these tools and are generally

depending on downloading or CTRL + X, C & V world of Wikipedia – a dangerous trend

becoming common among faculty as well as students. The biggest problem that arises from this

(re)source is the question of authenticity of the data and in the long run the credibility of the

user.Plagiarism with online resources is a real problem not only in India but across world. In

addition, they all seem to believe that everything they find on the Web is absolutely true, and

they have no interest in, or (sometimes) ability to, determine the credibility of various sources

found on the Web. Sadly, there are some faculty members who simply do not see a match

between using digital resources and their preferred approaches to teaching and research. This

thinking, in turn, either discourages or misleads the students in the usage of the digital resources.

It is also very difficult to categorize the users in a single defined extent and the users can

be divided into novice user / highly proficient / advanced user of digital resources. Non-users of

the digital resources have their own (valid) reasons, some are opposed to the use of technologies

in their classroom for a variety of valid pedagogical reasons; some are self-described enthusiasts

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frustrated by technical and nontechnical barriers, and those simply without time to think about,

let alone use, technology in teaching.4This paper looks into the users who teach at graduate and

postgraduate levels in colleges and universities across south India. In these institutions, higher

academic research is usually carried out by the faculty itself and if one look at the latest trends in

this research – it is more regional in nature and often vernacular. As a result, there arises a

misconception that digital resources – or in layman history researcher’s language – INTERNET

can provide very little help in providing necessary and valid ‘resources.’

The biggest question faced by the user is WHY and How? Most of the researchers in

History do not possess advanced skills in use of the computer – a major hurdle in accessing

digital resources. Even if they have the necessary skills, there is lack of any desire to update their

knowledge about developments/ additions occurring in resources related to their specific field of

interest. Faculty from different disciplines and institutions often has different needs with regard

to the types of resources they want and how they ultimately use resources in educational

contexts. History researchers can use a wide range of data ranging from texts, images, maps,

video clips, and documentaries and so on. Some reports which are hard to find in hard format in

the best equipped libraries can be easily located at websites like www.archive.org which

provides a vast range of information in every type discussed earlier for free download.

Archaeology, for example, has emerged into a much specialized field and increasing

turning towards physics, geology, mathematics and information technology to enrich its efforts

towards the documentation and understanding of human past. The resultant works of such efforts

are also often uploaded by the researchers as well as the institutions for the benefit of other

researchers. But History academia tend to maintain a distance from subjects like archaeology

claiming the difference between their respective research approach based on the modus visible

through adopted methodology and process of research work involved in the subjects. There is

also a lack of a dedicated manner in which the computer based research methodology of

historical research can be made more technological friendly – not only from the user perspective

but also from the long term benefit in enlarging the historical digital resources.

Resources:

The digital resources commonly available for researchers from every discipline can be

categorized mainly into following types on the basis of the visual form in which they are made

available to the user:5

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i. Collections in which complete contents of documents are created or converted into

machine readable form for online access.

ii. Scanned images, images of photographic or printed texts, etc.

iii. Online databases and CD-ROM information products, particularly those with multimedia

and interactive video components,

iv. Computer storage devices such as optical disc, CD-ROM/DVDROM,

v. Databases accessible through internet and other networks,

vi. Digital audio, video clips or full length movies; and

vii. Meta documents.

If we look into the types of digital resources available to us- the history researchers: some

resources are quite common such as library databases, scanned articles/ books in pdf or image

are available through INFLIBNET (Information and Library Network) and its related sites like

http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in which provides a platform for research students to deposit their

Ph.D. theses and make it available to the entire scholarly community in open access. A similar

platform is presented through http://www.vidyanidhi.org.in/Vidyanidhi (Meaning 'Treasure of

Knowledge' in Sanskrit) which aspires to become one of the is India's premier Digital library

initiative to facilitate the creation, archiving and accessing of doctoral theses – a project initiated

by University of Mysore. These facilities can be accesses by any member of an institution who

has received UGC support in this context.

Libraries and historical archives are regarded as the main repositories for preserving and

maintaining historical documents. Earlier, they were repositories of hard copies of vast range of

documents. Their documents may constitute either primary or secondarysources, and be

maintained in the form of books (pages bound together), ancient manuscripts, reports, transcripts,

translations, single pages, photos, paintings, video etc.6 But with the introduction of semester

systems, the faculty is always involved in the cycle of teaching- exam-valuation and finds it

difficult to travel to the nearest well equipped library or archives whenever he needs to find some

information. In such situation, these online digital resources prove to be a boon. These are not

only easily accessible but also prove be more economic for the user.

Even, various Indian museums like National Museum at New Delhi that has over two

lakh works of art of Indian and foreign origin www.nationalmuseumindia.gov.inor Indian

Museum, Kolkata which has six sections dealing with archaeology, art, anthropology, geology,

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zoology and industry www.indianmuseumkolkata.orghave shown great interest in digitalizing

their important exhibits, paintings, sculptures, coins or even manuscripts on their websites for the

general public. They even present view of their various galleries through their sites.Similarly

some other agencies maintain online bibliographical records related to specific field of historical

study. For example, a complementary program of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts

(IGNCA) http://ignca.nic.in/bib_0001.htmis to compile bibliographies of particular scholars,

especially those whose work was multi-disciplinary and multi-lingual. Also, the endeavor is to

make Bibliographies of particular subject areas and special subjects such as Hampi, Southeast

Asian art and architecture and so on.Likewise, Indian Council for Historical Research, New

Delhi also releases the list of projects, completed, undergoing or sanctioned with reports through

www.ichrindia.org. This kind of information can help in directing a researcher to look for the

cited works for further studies.

The foremost reason for not using digital resources seems to be that they simply did not

support individual faculty's teaching approaches. Lack of time is a major constraint, regardless of

institution since the introduction of semester scheme across the country. It is not easy for most of

the researchers to use the surplus of digital resources available to them as they do not how to

handle, understand and use all the data poured in front of them. Faculty—including those active

and enthusiastic in their use of digital resources can identify many obstacles to using these

resources for teaching, including finding, managing, maintaining, and reusing them in new

contexts. One of the most-cited obstacles is the availability, reliability, and expense of the

necessary equipment, both in the classroom and for personal use. This last problem is more

serious in our institutions which suffer from acute shortage of funds. As a result, most of the

researchers are forced to depend upon their own personal collection of digital resources – a

common tendency observed in most of the universities.

CONCLUSION

The author has not made an attempt to tell or advice the faculty about how to do their

research. But is just making an attempt to draw the attention of the history researchers towards

the rhetoric of new technologies which are and will make research more user friendly and less

cumbersome. The need is just to integrate information technology as part of their research

methodology and pedagogic activities which will dissolve the hypothetical divide between art

and science disciplines, at least from the perspective of research process and plan.

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In fact the division of the academic world into arts and science ignores the fact that

technologies mediate both, and every new medium which the technology brings into being

refashions the relationship between art and society and the horizon of science, in no-linear ways.

Technology is forcing a reunification of science and the arts to foster creativity and

innovation.The manner that users place queries against the archive should be kept as simple

aspossible, to allow users that are not highly competent with IT systems to work with the

system.History scholars should be encouraged not only to use these resources but also to

contribute their own works. Especially if the research happens to be in the vernacular, it should

be made available to the other researchers at the earliest by uploading it in digital format as it can

help in solving the lack of resources in local languages for the future researchers.

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