What Google Didn't Tell You About Nick Copernicus

Google front page: February 19, 2013 - Copernicus' 540th Birthday

I wanted to do a birthday post this month, one about Lincoln (and my awesome mom!) or one about Washington (who occupies my other part-time life). But those days came and went, and Nicolaus Copernicus was a serendipitous choice for a history of science nerdling.

A quick one though, on the things that Google didn't tell you about Copernicus when you clicked on his spiraling heliocentric model.

1) Copernicus wasn't the first guy to come up with a heliocentric model. Historians point to Aristarchus of Samos for that. That doesn't mean Copernicus wasn't awesome for bringing the heliocentric sexy back.

2) Copernicus' model was a MODEL, not a theory or a system. He liked it, because the math made more sense. Sometimes Kepler and Galileo are considered the first true Copernicans, believing that the model, was in the fact what the cosmos looked like -- something to which Copernicus doesn't actually admit (Hey! It was a dangerous idea! It went against the Church!) In fact, he delayed publication of his book until on his deathbed, supposedly dying with the newly printed De revolutionibus orbium coelestium having just reached his hands. (Historians still argue about whether he believed his MODEL was a SYSTEM, whether he delayed publication for mathematical or philosophical decisions, or if it was because of fear of religious backlash).

3) Copernicus' neat little circles shown here didn't fully explain all of the data. It needed to be combined with Kepler's elliptical paths for the math to come out nicely.

4). The Ptolemaic Model (or geocentric model) still mathematically predicts where the heavenly bodies will be, and so can be (and still is) used for navigational purposes.

Copernicus died in 1543. Galileo wouldn't be born for another twenty-one years and Kepler not for another twenty-eight. What Google did tell you was that Copernicus was a starting point, an amazing thinker, who influenced the minds of future generations. He is man that we put on a deserved pedestal as an outside-the-box thinker. Google did tell you that Copernicus should be celebrated. And I whole heartedly agree.

Books from the Attic

I am reviewing my HOS books, looking for some survey and basic ones to help with my end of the year project (although I continue to bounce back and forth between historical video games and a Sci Rev website). I thought I would document by photo what I pulled down out of the attic. I put a tag with the publication date on the front.

Notice three things. 

1) I only pulled down things that were a survey across a time period. On that front, I'm also looking for VERY introductory HOS material, not an upper level, junior or senior level course.   An freshman level course can be made deeper and broader more easily, than an upper level course can be whittled down.

2) My last book was copyrighted in 1999. So I have QUITE a gap in new a current research. So the next couple of steps is going to be hunting around for more recently published HOS or HOT (History of Technology) survey textbooks (I'm pretty sure that Shapin has one--I'm going to go ahead and purchase that one). 

3) Also, I want to include some HOT, and my library certainly lacks that. So, I'll look for those too.

The smaller stack from the attic. This stack is missing Kuhn and Merchant, but that's because they live on the bookshelf in the living room, not in the attic.

 E.A. Burtt's The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science, 1924 (I'm wondering what the copyright status on this one is? I think it was extended in 1932, putting it into that complicated category.)

 D.L. Hurd and J.J. Kipling, The Origins and Growth of Physical Science, Volume 1, 1958

David Knowles, The Evolution of Medieval Thought, 1962

Lynn White, Medieval Technology & Social Change, 1962

Thomas S. Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 1962 (A pivotal work that WILL be discussed, used, etc in a survey class.)

G.E.R. Lloyd, Ancient Culture and Society - Early Greek Science: Thales to Aristotle, 1970

Richard S. Westfall's The Construction of Modern Science: Mechanisms and Mechanics, 1971

Robert Mandrou's From Humanism to Science, 1480 - 1700, 1973

Carolyn Merchant's The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution, 1980

Look at how special!!

Elizabeth L. Eisenstein's The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe, 1983

Londa Schiebinger's The Mind Has No Sex? Women in the Origins of Modern Science, 1989 

Margaret C. Jacob, The Cultural Meaning of the Scientific Revolution, 1988

David C. Lindberg's The Beginnings of Western Science, 1992 (This is the good survey text that I have. As part of this project, I may be rereading this for the final project, just to get a sense of layout. However, ending in 1450, I really need another supplemental text to finish the Sci Revolution and a lot of these bleed over into the Enlightenment.)

Steven Shapin, A Social History of Truth, 1994

Dorinda Outram, The Enlightenment, 1995

John Henry, The Scientific Revolution and the Origins of Modern Science, 1997 (This is a quick little text that I will reread as well.)

H. Floris Cohen, The Scientific Revolution: A Historiographical Inquiry, 1994 (A history of the history written about the Scientific Rev, I figured just looking at the table of contents would be helpful, but I think I have those. I'm really looking for post 1990s.)

Edited by W. Clark, J. Golinski, and S. Schaffer, The Sciences in Enlightened Europe, 1999 (This includes so really good topical pieces on newer research.)

Chapter Seven: Owning the Past?

Did you copy this right?

What Rosenzweig and Cohen (seriously, I'm going to start calling them Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, my brain cannot wrap around their names!!) really seem to be telling is that it is almost impossible to know whether a work (since 1923) still has an existing copy right or not, and for them it really doesn't seem to matter. They don't exactly let historians off the hook in allowing for the "fair use" of copyrighted work, but they like others (( )) make strong arguments for historians to utilize the "fair use" argument or that it will disappear entirely. They also offhandedly say that the keepers of the copyright are not necessarily looking to come after lowly, poor historians working on the web, and that there are certainly exceptions being an educator and making educational resources available (although there certainly is a difference between working in a gated community for students only, and publishing a website for the wide world to see). 

There is certainly a tension between academics aggressively protecting their own works, and then on the turn around trying to use other works. Although, and I think Cohen and Rosenzweig point this out, that really historians and other academics are afraid of plagiarism and having their ideas stolen, not the accredited, cited use of their works. By aggressively defend their works, it flies in the face of the "educator's exceptionalism." It also devalues the idea that education IS and CAN ONLY BE from a collective and sharing community.

If we just think for a minute about what education is, we find that teachers and other educators are sharing their own ideas to students and learners who take that information and synthesize it in new and exciting ways, making it their own -- that they can then share.

The rules of "fair use" are (AND ALL MUST BE MET, NOT JUST ONE):

• “The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes” (nonprofit educational uses are more likely to be fair as are those involving criticism, commentary, and parody); 
• “The nature of the copyrighted work” (uses of creative and unpublished works are less likely to be fair; uses of factual, published, and out-of-print works are more likely to be fair); 
• “The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole” (the smaller and less “central” the portion used, the more likely it is to be fair); 
• “The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work” (using out-of-print works and works for which there is no permissions market is more likely to be fair). 

Some of the exceptions that educators can use are:

"As such, the TEACH Act offers what one legal scholar calls “the best legislative solution to the barriers that copyright law imposes on online education that educators can hope to achieve in the near future.” But on the other hand, the law subjects you to some significant and stringent limitations. For example, only accredited nonprofit institutions qualify, access must be limited to enrolled students in the context of “mediated instructional activities,” and institutions must take steps to “reasonably prevent” the unauthorized retention and dissemination of copyrighted works presented online."

The provide a number of quick and easy resource as starting places to see if a work is covered by copyright law.

http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm#Footnote_1
http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

One of the things that I certainly noticed. which dated the text, was the discussion of audio podcasts. These are free to the internet, and are of particular importance I think for my project. What I'm thinking about doing is a website that is a "Scientific Revolution" online information and lecture resource. Something that I can use one week, in my Western Civ survey course, but that can be expanded.

We were talking last week about having a whole website designed around a course, with links, lectures, audio, video right there. And more specifically taking that and making an app out of it for a whole semester course, filled with units one would then work through. Certainly there are going to be copyright issues there. I was already thinking about composing emails to the podcasts I use most often and asking permission, but another thing that I got from this chapter was:

Better to beg for forgiveness, rather than ask for permission.

The Elements of (Web) Style

Site Design Basics

Is there a web design manifesto like Strunk and White's Elements of Style? I thought that I had one found at The Elements of Style Blog. But no, I must search on.


Web Style Guide
I didn't like this one.  It has too many design elements with twelve.  This one does have some good ideas though, that some of the others don't have. This are ideas that you want to begin to think about before you begin to build that site--that are not as obvious as a design element like a color palate--but are vital for the functioning of a good website.

1. process
2. universal usability
3. information architecture
4. interface design
5. site structure -- (I think this is the one that is really important
                              that the other design elements are NOT terribly
                              explicit about.)
6. page structure
7. page design
8. typography
9. editorial style
10. forms and applications
11. graphics
12. mulitmedia

My Ink Blog

So this one is the same list that comes from The Non-Designer's Web Book, that Rosenzweig and Cohen reference. 

1. contrast
2. repetition
3. alignment
4. proximity

Digital Web Magazine

I actually think that these five design elements. They are more helpful than the four listed previously (but truly include those).

1. balance               -- (alignment)
2. rhythm                --(proximity - movement between text, images,
                                   and white spaces)
3. proportion
4. dominance          -- (contrast - both in color, space, size)
5. unity                    -- (repetition)

ConversionXL

This is one that I found. I liked these. It used good images. Got some very good ideas also, but maybe the Gestalt Design Laws got a little to intense. Also the names of these don't necessarily identify what you are looking for, so you have to know that Hick's Law is, or Fitt's Law.

1. visual hierarchy
2. divine proportions
3. Hick's Law     --every choice require addition time for a decision
4. Fitt's Law       --time it takes to move to an area is because of the
                             distance away and its size
5. Rule of Thirds -- use a 3x3 grid to help organize
6. Gestalt Design Laws -- people see the whole before each part
                            --Law of Proximity
                            --Law of Similarity
                            --Law of Closure
                            --Law of Symmetry
                            --Law of Common Fate
                           --Law of Continuity
7. White space and clean design
8. Occam's Razor -- the simplest solution is usually the best

Site Design Analysis

I am going to review the HOS sites I discussed in the previous post for their "elements of style." And perhaps, I should keep in mind my Strunk and White elements while I'm at it.

The Galileo Project
balance                -- pretty good
rhythm                 -- simple, good
proportion            -- proportions pretty good, would like the 
                               "reading" text to be a little bit bigger
dominance           -- color palate is great, but the text is NOT a
                                dominant color, images just big enough to 
                                contribute to the text
unity                    -- very nicely done, love the inclusion of the site 
                                map, really shows the repetition and ease of 
                                finding info on the site

The History of Science Society

This site is very simple and very well done. But it is a very basic site on the Society itself, so it's not a very complex site with a lot of different information. Simple. Elegant. Front page is update with information and news. I didn't scroll all the way down, and found that in comparison with the SHOT site, I like to see the WHOLE front page, so maybe a static page?

The Society for the History of Technology

Like the HOSS site, SHOT's site is very simple and very well done. Again, it's not a very complex site with a lot of different information. Simple. Elegant. Nice colors. Cool addition right on one of the tabs at the top is a "Resource" page. HOSS could use one of those.

Cultures of Knowledge

balance and rhythm -- a pattern emerges, index on the side, larger 
                                    scroll of the "reading" text, white space to
                                    edge of page (one one or both sides, Galileo
                                    had white space only on one side)             
                                   dominance -- colors nicely done, dominant 
                                   text shows highlighted readings
unity                        -- page to page stays the same, good unity

I'd like a site map, not exactly clear what information was where. Also a link to their super cool project should be on that front page! -- Early Modern Letters Online.

Ptak Science Books

balance                 -- nice balance, breaks model I mentioned 
                                 earlier
rhythm                 -- nice relationship to the white space and images
proportion            -- images that should be bigger are
dominance           -- not a whole lot of dominant text, so eyes don't 
                                really know where to go; colors are ok - not 
                                offensive, but could use, some background 
                                color to split off sections of information; this 
                                makes information hard to find and use right 
                                away, takes some time to swim through
unity                    -- nice repetition

Also pintrest? I can't keep up. I'll figure that out when it's been around for ten years.

From Cave Paintings to the Internet

There is nothing not awesome about this. Beautifully developed and SOOOOO easy to use.  Crazy good design. 



The Scientific Revolution HomePage

balance 
rhythm                -- the rhythm of this site is not perfect, sometimes
                               you'll be following along and a link will take 
                               you back to Hatch's home page, rather than the                     
                              Sci Rev homepage, requires more hunting about  
                             how to get back to where you were
proportion
dominance           -- Sometimes pages can be really busy, with 
                                colors and patterns, but it is OLD SCHOOL
unity                    -- what is identified as a link to a new page is not    
                                very uniform

I love this site, because I've been using it since 2001 or 2002, but that is in part because it has great basic (while still a wide berth) of information on what I studied. Dr. Hatch has continued to add new idea, information, and research, but it is definitely not the most up-to-date on information or design. This site is kind of a window into the history of the History of Science.

Chapter Four: Designing for the History Web

Rosenzweig and Cohen reference The Non-Designer’s Web Book by Robin Williams and John Tollett. The suggested FOUR elements of web design are:

1. contrast
2. proximity
3. alignment
4. repetition

These are also the same four suggested on the website MyInkBlog's article "4 Principle of Good Design for Websites."

Since I found overlap between two difference references, I am going to use AT LEAST these four elements when evaluating my HOS websites from this week as well.

Let's also look at an example from information designer Edward Tufte, included my Rosenzweig and Cohen because of its glowing approval from Tufte, its simplicity, and its presentation of historical knowledge.





"One of Tufte’s most celebrated examples of great design in historical texts is Charles Joseph Minard’s map showing the disastrous expedition by Napoleon’s army into Russia in 1812. As Tufte shows, the map (which he believes 'may well be the best statistical graphic ever drawn') accomplishes all that a well-designed historical work should." What does a well designed historical work need to accomplish? The graphic depicts a tremendous amount of knowledge, while also suggesting conclusions about that history. However it also has, "An unconventional yet unmistakable beauty arises from an elegant font, careful proportions, and judicious use of white space and contrast. Minard’s carte figurative is an ideal that one suspects can be emulated, although perhaps not matched, on the web."

I was immediately reminded on a favorite webcomic creator, Randall Munroe of xkcd. Rather than writing a brilliant comic, occasionally Munroe produces even more brilliant statistical graphics like this on movie narratives.






This is the one that I was thinking of, because of its similarity in style. But as I was rereading and looking at the statistical graphics I found one recently made on US History partisanship.

You should make sure to check out his other awesome creations on Online Communities 2007, Online Communities 2010, Lakes and Oceans, Gravity Wells, Height, and Money. They're all brilliant. AND I think couldn't be consumed or enjoyed with out the web. The format and style of these is so large, that one can zoom into read the text and look at the small bits, while also getting those larger conclusions that Tufte suggests as a key element in the well-designed historical work.

Chapter Two: Getting Started

I have lots of different posts for this week, so my thoughts on chapters two are going to be relatively consolidated.

Rosenzweig and Cohen's chapter "Getting Started" was just that. A look at the bare essentials in beginning to build an online historical project. They introduced some important language, tools, and ideas about creation a website or a web tool. But more importantly they introduced questions to ask before beginning your project, as well as some simple rules to follow.

What I found was an analysis of basic web principals overlapping with the basics of good history. They write,

"The simple but elegant idea behind HTML is thus to 'wrap' passages of text with text markers, or tags, that identify the passage’s contents, much like the front and back cover help to identify the contents of a book."

It is an interesting suggestion that the physical book itself is a code that limits the way we write and what our finished text looks like. A page dictates exactly how many words across the reader will find on the page. The design and format of the book is not an accident either. Either in this chapter or chapter four, there is the suggestion that our modern book is the product of an evolutionary inventive process in which humans figured out exactly what works best for them (for example, it's rare to find a book that takes two arms to use or carry, or lines of text so long that the reader loses one's place).

Another interesting point raised by Rosenzweig and Cohen, it the meta-textual quality of producing history on the web.

"Indeed, a significant feature of the web is that anyone who writes a web page also exposes to the world the code used to create it. Historians should find this nicely matches our discipline’s emphasis on the open dissemination of knowledge."

Writing history "exposes" the "facts" used to create that history, as well as the "between the line" elements in ANY writing process -- who is the author? what biases does she have? from what time or model is she writing?

HOStiles

I figure I would do a quick post, since I found a bunch of old awesome websites and blogs on the History Of Science (hence, HOS). It was actually interesting searching for these, as I don't visit them regularly. But what I was able to do, was head to my gmail, search my buddy's name (with whom I share nerdy stuff), and hunt through old emails.

I was using my Republic of Letters, the copies of "important" research notes and personal interactions with the leading nerds of my life. Granted it is probably a stretch to compare this quick gmail search to the long distance communication networks of the 17th and 18th century philosophes, but the analogy works for me. And I'm especially thankful that I didn't have to hand copy all of my correspondence to send it to different nerds and save my responses to their queries.

The Galileo Project
The History of Science Society
The Society for the History of Technology
Cultures of Knowledge
Ptak Science Books
From Cave Paintings to the Internet
HistoryofScience.com
Dr. Hatch's The Scientific Revolution HomePage

Enjoy, nerds.

A Simple History of History Websites

This week I looked at a list of digital history, websites dedicated to historical topics, some of which were created in the early days of the interwebs.

The list in a some-what chronological order of creation; the links; and a brief commentary of each follow.

The Valley of the Shadow, 1993-207 -- 

A website investigates one Northern and one Southern community Civil War Era. It's a little difficult to find things on the site, and I'd also like to see digital images of the files like newspapers themselves. What I think is a neat idea is the little interactive "museum maps" taking the "visitor" to the archival sources.

Dickinson Electronic Archives, 1994 -- 

A cool collection of Emily Dickinson related primary sources. So it looks like they are revamping the site using a standard blog. This blog is a little awkward as the front page. I actually preferred the front page of the archived site.

Hawthorne in Salem, 2002 -- 

Made available in 2002. But this site looks even older than the Valley of the Shadow and the Dickinson Electronic Archive. That maybe be related to it's simplicity in nature. I didn't explore enough to see if there were primary sources here, or how well the information was cited.

Amiens Cathedral Project, ??? -- 

Interesting project trying to "walk" the visitor through the restoration (maybe a restoration?) of the Amiens Cathedral. This could be a cool way to present info/images, if you're not funded and if you have a lot of pictures of a particular place. This technology-wise is somewhere in the middle. Check out the Lascaux project for the modern, way awesome version of this being done.

Romantic Circles, 2007 (???) -- 

Primary sources relating to the Romantic Era. It seems  to me like they continue to add to the documents up there. But it is still a little work to find articles and what you are looking for. I love the idea of putting out online journals with articles available for free.

Persepolis: A Virtual reconstruction, (???) -- 

A step forward from the Amiens Cathedral Project. It was hard to find who is working on it or the dates created, making me skeptical. I like that this is for a city structure that no longer exists. I feel a little spoiled in this digital age--I want these virtual reconstructions to look like movies. That's probably not fair to ask poor, literally poor little historians. Consumers are not dumping hundreds of millions into these projects.

The Avalon Project, 2008 -- 

Site dedicated to primary sources in diplomacy and law throughout time. This site is really a vast collection of primary sources that looks, constantly updated and its simplicity is really its greatest strength. While it is a relatively new site, its appearance gives it the look of an older site, the difference is really in maneuverability and clean, easy interface.

Digital Karnak, 2008 --
This also looks VERY good. I love the time map. What a great idea. This is another one of those sites that allows the visitor to "walkthrough" a historical site that no longer exists. But it doesn't just do that, it aggregates other information on Karnak.

Jeff Gates creations:

In Our Path, 1983-2009 -- History of LA driving?

Life Outta Context, 2001-2010 -- The personal blog of same guy.

Eye Level, 2005-2012 -- Website of Smithsonian American Art Museum

Library of Congress-American Memory --
This is a hard one to find a date on it. But it is constantly updated, as one would hope and expect from the US Library of Congress. My suspicion is that it took quite sometime for the LOC to catch onto this digital age. Actually I think I prefer to use from the home page of the Library of Congress.

Hurricane Digital Memory Bank, 2005-2012 --
This may be an unpopular opinion, and don't mistake, I'm not making any sort of negative statement about Hurricane Katrina (or others) or the shootings at Virginia Tech. I don't know how if feel about these memory banks, like a lot of the "new media" it's soooo much stuff. I find these banks incredibly overwhelming. Maybe they are doing EXACTLY what they are setting out to do, but continuing to connect its users to the emotion of the historical events. How does a historian sort through it and use it? 

The April 16th Archive, 2011 --
An Omeka project, much like the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank.

Oyez Today, 2011 --
Audio recordings of the Supreme Court since the time that started recording in the Supreme Court. This is an interesting use of a different kind of primary source--a digital media dedicated to a digital medium.

Lascaux --
I don't know when this made, but it's got to be recent.  And it is BAD. ASS. It is a walkthrough of the Lascaux cave paintings in southern France. If you don't look at any other site you should DEFINITELY check this one out. It is beautiful and eerie. I tried to link to the english version, but you can get it in other languages. (Mom! You should especially look at this one! This almost makes Land of the Painted Caves palatable.)

BBC's History of the World Through 100 Objects --
Here's one of my own. I am really looking for cool sites related to European History, World Civilizations, History of Science. This is one that I've used before, and it's got a cool interactive timeline, that links you to interacting with the objects themselves. BBC also did a podcast series, each episode about 5 minutes talking about the objects.

How has the level of sophistication has changed on these digital websites? Rather obviously moving through a 3D space has improved dramatically as seen by the Lascaux project. Also the GUI (graphical user interface) has become more simple, user friendly. It's not just about simplicity, some of those early sites were simple, but the usability wasn't necessarily logical. Simple i think is key, but also easy to use, find, and search. 

Chapter One: Exploring the History Web

I just want to tell interesting vignettes about historical topics, but I do want my information to be taken serious. Cohen and Rosenzweig suggests at the end of their chapter on "Exploring the History Web" that

"Before you begin the more practical steps in the journey outlined in the next seven chapters you need to know why you are taking that journey, who you hope will join you, and where you hope to go."

Why am I traveling?

I like to write (and maybe a little of I like to hear myself talk), but this originally was an exercise in writing. History is a topic I love and that I love to talk about. This is a chance for me to practice a craft that I love (writing) on topics I love (history, science, history of science, craft). It also give me a chance to contribute to the "History Web," a space that as a historian I think I will inhabit and lurk around for some time to come.

The other problem is my own lack of self confidence in continue to be a "good" historian. I've been out of school for some time, and hope to never go back (maybe). I don't even know if "traditional history" is what I would do if I did go back. I often times feel like an amateur--and I am truly. I am a more of a nerdy history enthusiast than a history. Keeping up with the new scholarship is particularly hard when it's your fifth job.

"The amateurs may have leapt ahead of the professionals in using the web as a vehicle for original publication, but their interpretations often look backward rather than forward. The amateurs could learn some historiographic lessons from the professionals while in turn teaching those who practice history as a vocation to think beyond traditional forms of publication."

Where do I fit? And maybe that's why I am traveling. To find out.

Who's coming with me?

Well, my mother is obviously coming along. She's my biggest fan. I also hope that the rest of my family and my friends join me. I'd love to work up a little following, and I think that it will start with them. I have lots of history colleagues, who I used to meet for beers and wax philosophic on any number of topics. I miss that, and wonder if this is truly the way that we will do that in the future.  Electronic beers and digital history.

Where to?

I'd like to improve my crafts--both writing and history, but really where I think I'm going is a way to set up learning modules for the Western Civilization courses that I teach. I'd like to create pages on topics, that include my lecture notes, (video or audio of my lectures? that sounds "ew"), images, podcast, interesting articles, websites devoted entirely to the subject, primary sources, and on an on. I would like to use this as a place to begin my classes, as well as a place to find fun and hopefully funny historical commentary.

So it look like I am really looking at making teaching resources website, but it definitely already has the problem that much of the History Web has. 

"If categorizing sites is so difficult, why bother? One good reason is that it forces the incipient History Web creator to think about genres themselves, what Phil Agre calls the “expectable form that materials in a given medium might take.” Genres imply, in Agre’s words, “a particular sort of audience and a particular sort of activity” and are “the meeting-point between the process of producing media materials and the process of using them.” To pay attention to genres is to think about how what you are doing relates to the audience you are hoping to reach—something less necessary “in the old days, when media were few and their uses evolved slowly,” or when they evolved in an ad hoc, organic way."