<h1 id="week-three-sept-15-2025"><a aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1" href="#week-three-sept-15-2025"></a>Week Three: Sept. 15, 2025</h1>
<h3 id="thinking-about-the-craft-of-digital-history"><a aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1" href="#thinking-about-the-craft-of-digital-history"></a>Thinking about the “Craft” of Digital History.</h3>
This week, we focus on connecting the ideas we've captured. The power of a digital note-taking system isn't in the notes themselves, but in the web of connections between them. You will process two new readings and start research on your chosen historical topic, then work on linking those new ideas and notes into the network of notes you started in Week 2. We will also learn to think visually with Obsidian Canvas. 
Core Objective: To move from simply creating notes to actively connecting them. Students will process new readings and begin performing preliminary research on their chosen historical/archaeological topic. Students will weave those ideas into their existing knowledge base, learn to think visually using Obsidian Canvas.
Key Learning Goals: By the end of this module, students will be able to:
<ul>
<li>Process new academic readings using the established workflow.</li>
<li>Enrich their note network by adding new links and tags to connect new and old ideas.</li>
<li>Use Obsidian Canvas to visually map the relationships between historical concepts (5 items, 3 connections).</li>
</ul>
<hr>
<h3 id="checklist-for-week-3"><a aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1" href="#checklist-for-week-3"></a>Checklist for Week 3</h3>
<ol>
<li>
[ ] The Conceptual Framework (Readings):
<ul>
<li>These readings delve deeper into the theory and practice of digital public history.</li>
<li>Reading 1: Reading 2: Tebeau, M., Noiret, S., &#x26; Zaagsma, G. "Introduction" in The Handbook of Digital Public History. (12-25)</li>
<li>Reading 2: Pons, Anaclet. (2022). “The Historiographical Foundations of Digital Public History." In The Handbook of Digital Public History, De Gruyter Oldenbourg: 26-38</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
[ ] The Core Workflow: Process and Connect:
<ul>
<li>Part A: Process New Readings. As you did in Week 2, process each of this week's readings. Create one literature note and five atomic notes for each source (12 new notes total).</li>
<li>Part B: Create Links. Now, go back through all the atomic notes you have created for this course (from Week 2 and Week 3). Your goal is to enrich the connections between them. Ensure that every atomic note has:
<ul>
<li>At least two <code>[[wikilinks]]</code>: Connect the ideas from this week's readings to the concepts from last week.</li>
<li>At least two <code>#tags</code>: Add a second tag to each note to categorize it in a new way.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
[ ] New Tool: Obsidian Canvas.
<ul>
<li>Canvas is a core plugin that provides an infinite whiteboard space within your vault. It is a powerful tool for brainstorming and discovering new relationships in your research.</li>
<li>Watch the short instructional video where I demonstrate the basics of creating a new canvas and using it for historical thinking.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
[ ] The Main Activity: Creating a Concept Map:
<ul>
<li>Create a new canvas file in your vault.</li>
<li>Your task is to create a visual map that explores an ancient or medieval historical theme/topic. The objective is to help initiate research on your chosen topic (Proposal due Sept. 21st). Your canvas must include at least five items (a mix of existing notes and new cards) and at least three connection lines between them.</li>
<li>Watch video on Canvas functionality <a href="/here" title="here">here</a> Video Coming Soon</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
[ ] Assignment: Choose Your Historical Topic Proposal (10%)
<ul>
<li>With the benefit of last week's reflection and optional check-in, it is time to formalize your research plan.</li>
<li>Task: Write a 500-word proposal, including: Historical Topic, research question, digital tool or method, and preliminary sources. You must select a research topic from the ancient or medieval world and a digital tool/methodology used to study your subject. See <a href="/Crafting%20Digital%20History/4.%20Assessment/1%20Historical%20Topic%20and%20Proposal" title="1 Historical Topic and Proposal">1 Historical Topic and Proposal</a> for more details. The objective is to help ground your focus while we explore how digital research and knowledge production are performed. Starting in week 3, you will begin your historical research and link your historical topic notes with the assigned readings. Before committing to a research topic, do a quick preliminary search in the university library database to ensure you can find 3-4 good academic sources.</li>
<li>Submission: Write the proposal as a note in your vault (Make sure to link and tag it). Export it to PDF and submit it via the Google Form link on the course website in the <a href="/Crafting%20Digital%20History/4.%20Assessment/1%20Historical%20Topic%20and%20Proposal" title="1 Historical Topic and Proposal">1 Historical Topic and Proposal</a> page. Due by Sunday, Sept. 21st, 11:59 PM.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
[ ] Weekly Reflection (Ungraded):
<ul>
<li>In your <code>01 Weekly Journal</code>, reflect on this week's activities and readings. How did it feel to connect this week's new ideas with last week's notes? Was there any new emergent knowledge? Did arranging your notes on the Canvas spark any new insights? Consider some of the power dynamics at play in the creation of your notes and their publication on your Mixa/memex site. Does the publication of your notes affect and influence how you create a note?</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ol>
<hr>

Welcome

1. Course Description

2. Learning Outcomes

3. Course Schedule

4. Evaluation

5. Course Communications

6. Common Regulations

6. Contact the Professor

how the course tech is built; how the course came to be

7. Colophon

8. Reuse

Orientation and Digital Setup

Week 1

Personal Knowledge Management and Linked Thinking

Week 2

Thinking about the “Craft” of Digital History

Week 3

Crusading into the Digital Age of LLMs

Week 4

Consolidation & Check-In Week

Week 5

Digital Excavation

Week 6

Defining Data, 'Dark' Data, & Identifiers

Week 7

Fall Break

Week 8

Seeing the Past?

Week 9

Week 10

Authority and Positionality in Your Digital Research

Week 11

Publicly Crafting a Historical Argument

Week 12

Open-Access Notebook Workshop

Week 13

Exit Ticket

Week 14

1 Setting up your vault

2 Create your first note

3 Templater Plugiin

4 What Goes into a Note?

5 Properties

Hypothesis

The Simplest Online Memex Worfklow

How To Read An Academic Article

FAQ for Common Tech Issues

Where to Find help

Text Formatting

Introduction to your vault

index note

Atomic Note

Literature Note

Process Note

Weekly Journal

Topic Proposal

Weekly Work & Tasks

Consolidation Reflection

Open Access Notebook/Memex

Benchmarking Your Memex

Exit Ticket/Final Project

1 Welcome to Crafting Digital History Transcript

2 Obsidian User Interface (UI) Guide

3 Templater and Hotkeys Setup

4 How to use PDF++

5 Canvas Core Plugin Introductory Tutorial

6 Hypothes.is and Annotating the Web

7 Omnisearch Plugin for Obsidian

8 How to Use Process Notes for Digital Research Projects in Obsidian

9 Properties, Identifiers and Data Management with Obsidian Core Plugin Bases

1 Welcome to Crafting Digital History

2 Some Logistical Updates

3 Welcome to Week Two

4 What is Digital History?

5 Crusading into the Digital Age of LLMs

6 Week Four Exercise Example

7 Using Obsidian for Digital History Research and Note-Making

8 Reflection Feedback Update and Hypothes.is

9 Week Five Update

10 Consolidation Reflection Submission

11 Module Two Wrangling and Critiquing

12 Week 7 Update

13 Week 9 Welcome Back

1. Course Overview

Module 1 Contextualizing

Module 2 Wrangling & Critiquing

Module 3 Arguing & Communicating

2. Schedule

01  memex help

8. Course Files

3. Tutorials

4. Assessment

5. VideoTutorials

Crafting Digital History

News