AHA Session 9
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media 1
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media 1
Thursday, January 8, 2026: 1:30 PM-3:00 PM
Salon C6 (Hilton Chicago, Lower Level)
Chair:
Jesse Draper, H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online
Papers:
Session Abstract
Digital historians and digital humanists alike face challenges in an evolving digital landscape. With the ground constantly moving, new technologies emerging, and the loom of artificial intelligence, scholars are exploring new and old ways of examining the past. The panel will reflect on a range of past, current, and future practices of digital tools and methods. This session explores the evolution of digital research whether that evolution has happened at a field, individual, or national level, digital methods have changed in scope and availability. From podcasting to network analysis and image analysis to 3D models and AR viewing technology, this panel showcases how both individuals and fields of study have evolved in the digital age. Jesse Draper, will introduce the panel and the topic and then each panelist will have around 10-15 minutes to speak. Jim Ambuske considers the transformation of podcasting from interview programs to publicly engaged immersive soundscapes. This evolution raises several critical methodological and ethical questions about how historians can and should present history using this medium. In a similar vein, Marissa Knaak will explore how 3D and AR models can be used in communicating with public audiences and considering the use of space over a long period of time. She will focus on the uses of 3D and AR models for analyzing space to inform research on public spaces at the turn of the twentieth century. Gillian Macdonald and Kristen Mapes will explore the evolutions in personal and field wide research using continually evolving digital technologies. Macdonald highlights the evolution of early modern British research and digital methods that has had some growing pains especially in national histories. On this she will reflect on her own work as it has evolved to include networking techniques to better understand relationships in the early modern world. Kristen Mapes will show how opportunities for the study of medieval manuscripts have developed to encompass interactive visualizations of descriptive metadata to the application of computer vision for object detection and illustration analysis. Emily Elliot will round out the panel discussion with managing a large digital project and its impact in uncertain times. She will then talk about the challenges with hosting and how that has evolved over time.
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