Assignment #3

Finding historical information online, in my experience can be a tricky endeavor. Without the right tools it is easy to get lost in the millions of hits that come back if researching a common subject. Shifting through websites to find legitimate and useful sources can be a pain. But, the more experienced one becomes at searching the web, the faster you will be able to find sites that will fit your needs. This weeks readings have pointed to many deep primary source web sites can be found. Archive projects done by universities and states offer great sources for users. Two of the sites that we were directed to for this weeks readings offer great digital archives that can be used.

From the perspective of the site designer, attracting users can be a difficult task. And, even if users are attracted, if a site is designed poorly and does not flow logically or is not easily searchable, than it will be hard to keep a user base. Additionally, it is beneficial to use software that will allow users to fully utilize all of sources at the site and not become bogged down searching with a program that is not effective. As William Turkel explains in his blog Digital History for Hacks a good searching method is essential or the user could be searching file by file for relevant material. Although I do not really understand the mechanics behind it, the machine learning tool uses the patrons searches to anticipate their needs and make shifting through material much easier and quicker.