Quote 1
“the camera does not lie, does it?25 In this age of PhotoShop and digital image manipulation, many students are at least a little skeptical about some images, and the obvious cases like the Bert is Evil website are easy for them to figure out”
It can be very easy to lie about the past as we don’t know what happened. History is all an imagined story that makes the most sense when put over specific details that we do know. If you look out on a pier and see a boat then look back at the boat 5 minutes later it is in a different position. You did not see the boat move but can imagine that the boat did. Your account of the boat’s position can be seen as a source to support the theory that the boat moved. This is why primary sources are important in trying to figure out the story of the past. But what happens when you can edit these sources? Trotsky being removed from photographs is an example in history where sources were doctored to remove Trotsky from history. With the idea that things can be doctored and trying to find out the reason why can call long hollowed “sources” important to historical understanding into question.
Quote 2
“In the aftermath of the hoax’s exposure, another ethical issue arose that confirmed for me the importance of having cut the hoax off at the end of the semester so that we still had time to discuss the controversy that began to emerge as we dispersed for the winter break. Because ethical considerations were so much a part of what we discussed all semester, had we not had a little time to reflect on the response of those hoaxed once they found out they were victims, I think an important lesson of the semester would have been lost.”
If a hoax like this can be perpetrated by a small group of students what else in history may have been fabricated in a similar manner?
Quote 3
“One hoax was the “Beer of 1812,” in which the students created a fictitious beer-loving history buff whose neighbor gave him an old beer recipe that, it turned out, was from Brown’s Brewery in Baltimore, Maryland, the site where the original Star Spangled Banner was sewn in 1812. “
the author suggests possible solutions to the disconnect between traditional approaches to history and the content of students’ lives. Using examples from popular culture to teach the key concepts. Using similar methods for other classes seems important for all levels of teaching history. Some of the things for undergraduates can be easily translated for high school or other grade levels but some would take more work. Exploring how to keep things up to date with culture and how to tailor it to grade level could be helpful. Students off all ages could probably get a kick out of the activity.
Multimedia example
