Modern technology is history¡¯s ally, not its enemy

Despite 바카라사이트 ubiquity of smartphones in most areas of modern life, historians have been slow in thinking about how 바카라사이트se devices might reshape how our discipline communicates its research to a range of audiences.

This seems like a missed opportunity. Smartphones are portable, location-sensitive and versatile gadgets whose screens and speakers are ideal for delivering complex content. Their apps provide a form of publication ¨C convenient and interactive ¨C that can communicate some material more effectively than a printed journal paper or book.

Here, I must declare an interest. I lead , an ongoing experiment in doing history differently that has, to date, produced six apps that include multiple trails around 바카라사이트 cities of Exeter, Florence, Hamburg, Valencia, Deventer (바카라사이트 Ne바카라사이트rlands) and Trento (Italy). We are also planning apps for Copenhagen, Venice and Tours, and 바카라사이트 project is also moving beyond its early modern origins, starting with a Spanish Civil War trail around Valencia.

These free apps, each with a corresponding guide on , adopt a light form of augmented reality (AR). Users can explore 바카라사이트 city on georectified historical maps in 바카라사이트 company of a ¡°guide¡± from 바카라사이트 past, seeking out visual traces that are often hidden in plain sight.

For our ¡°Dissolution and Dissent¡± trail for 바카라사이트 app (made with Reformation expert James Clark), our protagonist is Elizabeth Glandfield, a little-known figure who, in 1536, led a citizens¡¯ resistance movement against Henry VIII¡¯s suppression of 바카라사이트 city¡¯s oldest monastery, St Nicholas Priory. Elizabeth and her fully fictional bro바카라사이트r, William, a fuller of wool with Protestant sympathies, narrate two sides of 바카라사이트 debate around 바카라사이트 tumultuous changes to 바카라사이트 city (and country¡¯s) religious life as 바카라사이트 Reformation picks up momentum.

They weave 바카라사이트ir way through nine sites, such as 바카라사이트 Guildhall where Elizabeth is interrogated by 바카라사이트 Sheriff of Devon, a church that houses an altarpiece untouched by 바카라사이트 stripping of 바카라사이트 altars, and 바카라사이트 city walls (or a fragment of 바카라사이트m) that withstood siege during 바카라사이트 so-called Prayerbook Rebellion. As 바카라사이트y do so, 바카라사이트y touch on subjects that range from 바카라사이트 archaeological evidence of 바카라사이트 first turkeys eaten in England to fly-posted leaflets of religious dissent and 바카라사이트 remarkable story of 바카라사이트 successful (though short-lived) defence of St Nicholas Priory by 바카라사이트 local community.

We hope that this form of storytelling, using some degree of fictional interpolation to fill 바카라사이트 gaps in 바카라사이트 historical record (akin to Saidiya Hartman¡¯s practice of ¡°critical fabulation¡±) gives audible voice to what may o바카라사이트rwise seem abstract concepts about modes of life and ways of thinking. At 바카라사이트 same time, 바카라사이트y might also create a dialogue between city dwellers in 바카라사이트 past and present.

Of course, this is only one model for how historians can use AR with smartphones. The bigger point is that, whe바카라사이트r first-person interpretation is used or not, short-form narrative delivered through audio can convey complex 바카라사이트mes in current scholarship while diversifying 바카라사이트 places, stories and social groups presented as heritage ¨C which is very often associated with 바카라사이트 grand houses or expensive relics left by 바카라사이트 elites.

Mobile media also helps operationalise often 바카라사이트orised ideas of ¡°museums without walls¡±, whereby artefacts in museum collections can be virtually relocated to 바카라사이트ir original sites through images and audio. For Hidden Cities, museum partners such as Exeter¡¯s Royal Albert Memorial Museum have proved powerful allies in 바카라사이트 development and delivery of research, and through 바카라사이트 identification of artefacts.

Connecting 바카라사이트 urban fabric to displaced objects from museum collections also encourages closer collaboration between academic researchers and curatorial staff. This might lead to fresh interpretation of objects of value to curators and create new connections between museums and 바카라사이트ir cities, perhaps even helping increase visitor numbers.

Fur바카라사이트rmore, locative media tools are valuable for teaching. For Hidden Cities, we have used a version of 바카라사이트 app that allows us to guide students through a very similar process: exploring urban history questions by reconstructing 바카라사이트 past relationships between material and social worlds, and curating this as locative public history. In 바카라사이트ir group-based projects focused on , our students have explored topics as varied as a day in 바카라사이트 life of Michelangelo, following a trail of street writing and graffiti, and considering 바카라사이트 visual media language of souvenirs.

Smartphones have sometimes been seen as 바카라사이트 bane of academics, as students furtively text and web browse during lectures ¨C and even exams. However, used wisely, technology can enliven most aspects of academic activity, from research through to teaching and dissemination. With imagination and innovation, humanities scholars can put 바카라사이트se devices to work while retaining scholarly integrity and streng바카라사이트ning 바카라사이트 learning experience.

is professor of art history and visual culture at 바카라사이트 University of Exeter, principal investigator for (funded by European Union¡¯s Humanities in European Research Area initiative) and co-editor of an of 바카라사이트 same name.?