John Lutz asks this very question in the most recent issue of the Canadian Historical Association Bulletin. Lutz takes historians to task for failing to adequately prepare their graduate students for both the present and future of digital history. It is bad enough, as Lutz argues, “that the current professoriate flounder when pushed passed the basic digital skills, but worse that we should handicap the next generation.”
His argument, like that of all other digital humanists, is that history graduate students must learn how to use digital information tools because these tools have already reshaped (and will continue to reshape) how historians research, write, teach, communicate and publish. Breaking his brief article down into five sections (research, communication, teaching, dissemination/presentation/publishing, critical analyses of the digital media), Lutz outlines some of the most basic skills in digital history that graduate students should master upon completion of their degrees.
His argument will no doubt appeal to those who are already deeply tuned to digital humanities in general, but it is refreshing to see this appear in the pages of the CHA Bulletin. Because the CHA website is apparently undergoing revisions in preparation for a re-launch later this month, it doesn’t appear that the current issue of the Bulletin is actually available online. In the meantime, you can borrow my copy of Lutz’s article here.
