The Future of History - A presentation by Dan Cohen April 19, 2012

Organized by the Institute for Advanced Study, the Immigration History Research Center, University Libraries, and the Departments of English, Writing Studies, and History at the University of Minnesota.

What happens when the historical record is digitized, and when the events of the present are recorded only in electronic formats? Although the potential for loss exists--we are unsure whether we can preserve today's documents for future generations--new possibilities for research and teaching are beginning to emerge. This talk will explore the promise and perils of a new era of history based on computers and networks, including vast digital libraries and archives, tools for saving and communicating history, and what the coming decade will hold.

Dan Cohen is a professor in the departments of History and Art History and Director of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. His research is in European and American intellectual history, the history of science (particularly mathematics), and the intersection of history and computing.

Professor Cohen is co-author (with the late Dr. Roy Rosenzweig) of Digital History: A Guide to Gathering, Preserving, and Presenting the Past on the Web (2005), author of Equations from God: Pure Mathematics and Victorian Faith (2007), and has published articles and book chapters on the history of mathematics and religion, the teaching of history, and the future of history in a digital age. He blogs on Digital Humanities at http://www.dancohen.org/. Organized by the Digital Humanities 2.0 collaborative.

Official Website: http://z.umn.edu/DH20