The European invasion of the Americas displayed the dark side of human nature, and indeed it was a terrible time, but especially for the indigenous people of the Americas. For the inidgenous people, the expansion of Europe proved to be the begining of the end of their prolific and comfortable existence, and nothing short of disastrous for them.
It's interesting to note the degree of cruelty used by the early explorers and settlers. Their stark disregard for human rights and ethnocentrism is shocking. It is difficult to concieve how persons can remove all moral direction, particularly since the Europeans supposedly based their morals on the Christian teachings.
But the initial explorations were flawed from the moment they were conceived, since their were founded on the selfish greed of powerful monarchs and merchants. Could we really expect Columbus to have behaved any differently, being that his moral compass was misdirected by his commitment to his investors, as a first rate business man? (See a short video on Columbus as a business man at the History Channel website by clicking HERE.)
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Blogging Assignment - Quick Reference
Next, take a look at the following guidelines for your history blog:
Notice on the schedule that there are essentially 6 modules with reading, audio/video and a quiz. You will be required to post to your blog 5 times (50 pts for each post). While you will be required to read and take the quiz for each module, you may choose for which module you do not want to post to your blog.
Remember that blog posts will be due by Midnight of the last date indicated for each Module. For example, the post for Module 2 is due by midnight, June 26.
Essentially, a blog entry should be three to four paragraphs—roughly 300-500 words or the equivalent of 1–2 double-spaced pages.
While there are many things that one can post to one's blog, you will want to be sure that you are mindful that your posts, including other content (videos, photos, etc.) should deal with North American History from the 1500s through 1877.
Each post should refer to the course material (using proper citations) for that module.
Each post should have a title.
By the end of the summer, your blog will have:
--at least two primary sources, properly cited and integrated into two separate posts. You may include the primary source itself in your blog post, or you may simply include a link to the source. You might start here in your search for primary sources.
As part of your integration of primary sources into your study of history, I suggest you consider questions that historians ask when looking at a primary source. Be sure to choose a source or sources that you find interesting. Ideally, the sources you choose would have some sort of relevance to what you want to do professionally or academically. Most historical writing combines both narrative and exposition, tells a story and explains significance. Use the sources you choose to do this.
--one multimedia source (streaming audio or video, mp3, mp4, screencast, or PowerPoint/Keynote presentation) on which you comment as part of your post; again, you should cite the source in your post. Here are some suggestions.
--at least one historical photo on which you comment as part of your post; cite the source in your post. You might check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources
You should comment on these sources in your blog and/or use them in some way to construct your post.
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Online writing and reading differs from print for a variety of reasons. Clarity is the name of the game. You want your reader to be able to easily read your blog. Use the following format:
1. You might include a post number or the module number for which you are posting.
2. Space between paragraphs (which is an incorrect thing that some students do in their physical papers)
4. Titles of books should be italicized, titles of articles or documents should put in quotation marks, and so on.
5. Text links to comments should use the author’s name. Do not simply use a URL.
6. Use text links to sources on the web. Do not simply use a URL.
7. Use images carefully: resize proportionally and include them either by centering or running the text around them.
8. Choose a color scheme that is easy to read.
Other suggestions:
You might want to draft your entry in a text editing program first and copy and paste after you have finished. Use a plain text editor, such as Notepad on a Windows platform or Tex-Edit on a Mac, to avoid pasting in all sorts of weird characters that result from using MS Word. Once you have written your post and put it in the edit window, be sure to publish and proof it online to ensure that you have space between paragraphs and that any images are where you want them to be.
Examples of History Bloggers:
History News Network (http://hnn.us/articles/1572.html)
PhDinHistory (http://phdinhistory.wordpress.com/)
Eric Alterman (http://mediamatters.org/altercation/)
Invisible Adjunct (almost legendary by now) (http://www.invisibleadjunct.com/)
Notice on the schedule that there are essentially 6 modules with reading, audio/video and a quiz. You will be required to post to your blog 5 times (50 pts for each post). While you will be required to read and take the quiz for each module, you may choose for which module you do not want to post to your blog.
Remember that blog posts will be due by Midnight of the last date indicated for each Module. For example, the post for Module 2 is due by midnight, June 26.
Essentially, a blog entry should be three to four paragraphs—roughly 300-500 words or the equivalent of 1–2 double-spaced pages.
While there are many things that one can post to one's blog, you will want to be sure that you are mindful that your posts, including other content (videos, photos, etc.) should deal with North American History from the 1500s through 1877.
Each post should refer to the course material (using proper citations) for that module.
Each post should have a title.
By the end of the summer, your blog will have:
--at least two primary sources, properly cited and integrated into two separate posts. You may include the primary source itself in your blog post, or you may simply include a link to the source. You might start here in your search for primary sources.
As part of your integration of primary sources into your study of history, I suggest you consider questions that historians ask when looking at a primary source. Be sure to choose a source or sources that you find interesting. Ideally, the sources you choose would have some sort of relevance to what you want to do professionally or academically. Most historical writing combines both narrative and exposition, tells a story and explains significance. Use the sources you choose to do this.
--one multimedia source (streaming audio or video, mp3, mp4, screencast, or PowerPoint/Keynote presentation) on which you comment as part of your post; again, you should cite the source in your post. Here are some suggestions.
--at least one historical photo on which you comment as part of your post; cite the source in your post. You might check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources
You should comment on these sources in your blog and/or use them in some way to construct your post.
--------
Online writing and reading differs from print for a variety of reasons. Clarity is the name of the game. You want your reader to be able to easily read your blog. Use the following format:
1. You might include a post number or the module number for which you are posting.
2. Space between paragraphs (which is an incorrect thing that some students do in their physical papers)
4. Titles of books should be italicized, titles of articles or documents should put in quotation marks, and so on.
5. Text links to comments should use the author’s name. Do not simply use a URL.
6. Use text links to sources on the web. Do not simply use a URL.
7. Use images carefully: resize proportionally and include them either by centering or running the text around them.
8. Choose a color scheme that is easy to read.
Other suggestions:
You might want to draft your entry in a text editing program first and copy and paste after you have finished. Use a plain text editor, such as Notepad on a Windows platform or Tex-Edit on a Mac, to avoid pasting in all sorts of weird characters that result from using MS Word. Once you have written your post and put it in the edit window, be sure to publish and proof it online to ensure that you have space between paragraphs and that any images are where you want them to be.
Examples of History Bloggers:
History News Network (http://hnn.us/articles/1572.html)
PhDinHistory (http://phdinhistory.wordpress.com/)
Eric Alterman (http://mediamatters.org/altercation/)
Invisible Adjunct (almost legendary by now) (http://www.invisibleadjunct.com/)
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