While I am sure my experience with technology is similar to most peoples in that I either admire how seemingly easy it makes some things look or disdain it when it fails, I would posit overall that technology has been a saving grace in my university education and continues to be. Despite the times when I have cursed the dreaded ‘get it’ button on the e-resources page of the library website for the perfect text only to find that the text was unavailable, I have always managed to subsequently find an article that served my purpose just as well. In this sense, I was just enhancing my research skills.
As identified in the other posts technology has allowed, and continues to allow access to unprecedented amounts of sources that previously would have either been impossible or impractical to get and examine. In addition it allows me to find the sources in what seems like a tenth of the time it would take to flip through a book.
However I do think that there can be dangers in using technology for the historian. Unreliable sources as well websites that could potentially be harmful, both to computer and to ones outlook are a very realistic and common occurrence in the ever evolving world of technology. Moreover an over-reliance on electronic sources and neglect for the conventional published sources could be problematic in terms of coming to a nuanced and non-biased approach.
Overall then, I do think that technology is fantastic for the historian in that it allows one to get unprecedented access to information while making the search for information and ability to cite sources a lot easier. However one should keep in mind the notion that ‘with great power comes great responsibility’; in this sense harness the power of technology but be sure to be careful.
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