Legality and Ethics of History in Photographs of the California Gold Rush

http://www.historichwy49.com/hisphotos.html

With a brief glance at the homepage for this site, it would appear that the goal of the site is to display photographs of the Gold Rush in California. If one looks at the site further though, it is actually a travel site for the Highway 49 area. The site offers some photographs from the period but also states that “some photos and drawings are available framed or on t-shirts in our general store”. This plug to buy shirts from their store with the photograph or drawing on the shirt detracts from the point, in my mind, from the point of having an historical resource but on the type of site that this site is, an advertisement for shirts is commonplace. Right below the t-shirt advertisement is a rights statement for Fair Use of photographs which reads

“Research: photos may be downloaded at no charge for use in non profit, educational research projects for students and teachers. Please email us with your name, educational affiliation, project name and a list of photos used. Please give credit under each photo: ‘Photo Credit historichwy49.com'”

By including this, the site can brush off more than fair use as the problem of the user who uses the photos. Overall, this site is not a great resource for historical research but as others has noted about Wikipedia, it could be a good starting place for research about the gold rush.

Reliability of Digital Sources

Whois.com results:

Domain Name: PRODUCTIONCARS.COM
Registrar: GODADDY.COM, LLC
Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com
Name Server: NS1.OPAVEGAS.COM
Name Server: NS2.OPAVEGAS.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientRenewProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 08-dec-2012
Creation Date: 19-dec-2002
Expiration Date: 19-dec-2014

Registered through: GoDaddy.com, LLC (http://www.godaddy.com)
Domain Name: PRODUCTIONCARS.COM
Created on: 19-Dec-02
Expires on: 19-Dec-14
Last Updated on: 08-Dec-12

Registrant:
Domains By Proxy, LLC
DomainsByProxy.com
14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States

Wikipedia-Election of 1800

URLhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_of_1800

Summery: This election allowed for the first peaceful party transfer in American politics but also led to the twelfth Amendment which required electors to distinguish between their votes for president and vice-president.

Sources: The linked sources in the article are relevant to the Electoral College and how the electorate worked in 1800. The books and articles listed in the bibliography are good sources based on the ones I have read. The talk about how nasty the election between Jefferson and Adams was and how the twelfth Amendment came from this election.

Content: The entry is organised chronologically from the election through the disputes and to the inauguration briefly. The headings make it simple to navigate to a specific event during the election.

Jane Browning’s Research

The research which Jane completed about her topic was far-fetched due to the basis in myth but sound as a historical theory. The sources she consulted to prove her research  relied on historical records from the area as well as agricultural reports and crime logs. In addition to local primary sources, she used other secondary sources to gain an insight into her topic. She began with a broad topic but narrowed her search by visiting sites.

 

Have social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube changed society for better or worse?

Social media sites have made it easier to see what friends, family, and acquaintances and social media has also made it easier to broadcast information. Some of this information posted by users of these services is as redundant as posting about eating a sandwich but these services can be used to communicate views and with each other when other services such as cell phones and television is unavailable.

Sites such as Twitter and YouTube were used extensively during the Iranian election in 2009 and helped Iranian citizens broadcast the riots which they saw. Although the Iranian government tried to limit citizens access to the internet, citizens found ways to share their experiences in the so-called “Twitter Revolution”.

In an article from the New York Times written in 2009 called Twitter Comes to the Rescue, a New Media Director, Tony Wagner, was seperated from his wife and child on a JetBlue flight. He tweeted at JetBlue and shortly after the tweet, Jetblue responded and flagged his tickets as a priority and helped seat him with his family. The same article referenced how Omni Hotels’ relation to twitter. Omni hotels monitors Twitter and gives surprise perks such as free drinks and special seating.

The explosion of social media websites in the past 10 to 15 years led organisations such as the Library of Congress to archive Tweets from Twitter in an archive. The Library of Congress is still working on creating this archive but the fact of the matter still exists, major archival libraries are working to have a digital record of social media.

Social media, although it has benefits, downsides exist which have the possibility to change human interaction. Rather than meeting with friends face to face, people are using Facebook and other similar sites as an alternative to “real” interaction. Real interaction is part of the human experience but it is slowly moving from the real world to behind the computer. While Facebook is helpful to connect or reconnect with distant family and friends, it is no substitute for real interaction