The scholarly journal Civil War History has a troubling article by historian Earl Hess on “The Internet and Civil War Studies.” The article relies on surveys of Civil War historians, librarians, and archivists to gauge how academic professionals use the net. Most seem trapped in the 1990s in their usage. They don’t collaborate online, they can’t seem to sell their books online, and, worst of all, about half of them have no idea of how to use social media to draw in lay audiences!
The saddest sentence in the article is this one: “When asked if they read or contribute to social media websites oriented around Civil War topics, 47.87 percent of the respondents said no.” Got that? These historians not only don’t create social media for the masses, they don’t even read it. Another 27% said that they rarely read or posted on social media. All told, three out of four Civil War historians rarely or never even read anything in their field on social media.
Yet, more than 50% of the historians said that social media had either “a lot” of influence on their field or a moderate influence. But, of course, they don’t even bother familiarizing themselves with what is on those social media platforms! How can you say social media is a major influencer on your field, but not bother reading it?!
And even though they claim to almost completely ignore social media, including blogs, facebook, Twitter, et al, many of the historians denounced the social mediasphere as a sewer. How do they know if they don’t even read it?
The historians were particularly outraged by the lack of academic standards in social media about the Civil War. Well, I’m sorry, but if the people with the deepest knowledge about the subject stay off of social media, then they leave the field clear for the cranks and crackpots.
I am a law professor who teaches immigration law. I also write daily for social media platforms on immigration law. I deplore those sites that spread hate and misinformation, but I don’t respond to “the social media sewer” by turning off my computer. I put out reliable and well-sourced blog articles, Tweets and facebook posts. These attract hundreds of thousands of readers. Many people want to find accurate information from informed scholars. I want to be their professor.
I don’t know why so many history professors reject that role.
I will write more about this article on historians who hope the internet will just go away.
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I always appreciate your posts trying to educate the masses. They also educate me.
I agree! Social Media is an unused treasure for historians and authors. I use a fb page (two,) also I advertise as much as I can for the books I written. I have many friends (authors,) who do use fb to advertise their latest books and a very well known and respected publisher who does advertise and promote their latest works.
But overall, I do agree with your article.
This was very enlightening and very true!