History is for Touching

Out of all the differences within humanity, both major and trivial, across borders and through age, there is one thing that certainly unites us all: we really want to touch the off-limits museum exhibits.

We're just naturally curious, and that's a good thing. Unfortunately, there's a reason artifacts and paintings are put behind ropes and glass, so the best we can do there is stare in wonder at the remains of ancient civilizations. However, it's not like history just stopped two thousand years ago with Cleopatra. As humanity keeps moving, so does history and so do the historians that, along the way, polish off the scraps of older times, spin them around for all to see, and open a modern window to a different past.

In today's age of intellectual discovery and empires of information (remember to pay tribute to the wise land of Wikipedia), there are tons of literature and scholarly discussions about every part of history available to study. Historians go through the difficult task of compiling their observations and ideas about the past into papers and articles and books — and luckily, these are literally made for hands-on interaction.

When reading a scholarly work in history, the best way to engage with and absorb the material is by doing the opposite of what you do at a museum. Actively interacting, touching, and manipulating the work and its content is how readers can really explore these texts.

And what better way is there to demonstrate the value of directly interacting with scholarly work than through an interactive web experience? During this choose-your-own-adventure trip, I'll explain both how I prefer to engage with scholarly texts as well as the wide variety of options available to any reader. As a model to carry us through this, I'll be using an excerpt from Matthew Restall's Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest.

Quill or Stylus?

The very first choice comes before even looking at the text: Will we read the text on physical paper or on an electronic device? Both have their own benefits and drawbacks, so it's mainly up to personal preference and what works best for each individual.

Choose a path below.