Hearing the Professor lament the current lack of History demonstrative of that which allows the user to interactively shape or investigate the veracity of the arguments they hear in favor or against a particular interpretation of available evidence. This worries me.
These days, it is not uncommon to come across a pair arguing how they can keep the public’s interest in the face of hyperstimulation; filmed media will add more cuts, interactive media will nuture its doling of rewards, and books read like long-form dramas. Educators pay attention to the science of how humans learn. But History? History is an analysis of surviving (and absent) evidence aimed at discovering the state of the past. I see potential in counter-argument algorithms well versed in the secondary literature, but find the academic viability of interactive visual immersion with the past limited. Perhaps visual comparisons of the state of the past suggested by differing arguments would help convince others; I’m skeptical this is all that would merely occur.
The great effort of contructing two responsive worlds solely for the purpose of one’s visual exploration would be a terrific waste of resources were one to simply stop at that point. Cheap, reliable virtual explorations – not just of worlds, but of language manipulation, as well – could come only from computer emulations not dependent upon teams of humans to operate effectively.
I digress. I worry that the distinction between improving the means by which History is practiced, consumed, cricitized, and vying for the popular attention of the masses will sacrifice or transform History in a fashion counterproductive to the purported actual goal of better understanding the past. I think my worry stems from, as Professor Roberston put it, the desire of historians for as many differing perspectives as possible, rather than accurate representation of the past; achieving the latter might certainly necessitate the former, but the reversed emphasis gives me cause for concern. Should the practice of History become divided, I expect deviations of purpose to arise; that there could already be one deviation worries me.
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