In the technology driven and digital world that we live in today, public historians are presenting their work in new and unique ways. No longer is public history just learned and experienced through a physical exhibit in a museum. Today, public historians are using new methods and technologies to create a variety of different digital public history works. These new digital public history works are designed to engage their audiences in way previously not possible.
The types of digital public history works being created by public historians are ultimately influenced by the methods and technologies of public history. One of the major ideas to keep in mind when creating any work of digital public history is that it is meant to be viewed by the general public. General public means that the intended audience is not made up of those in academia with a specialized knowledge of a certain historical topic. When dealing with this type of audience it is best to provide as much concise background details as possible. The project audience should not feel like they have no idea what the project is about or why it is important.
When navigating through a digital public history project, the audience should be given clear instructions on how to use the technology present in the project. In order for the project audience to fully engage with the content of the project they need to know exactly how to use the technology and also how to navigate through the project itself. Without these clear instructions, the audience may not be able to fully engage with the project like its creator intended them to.
The technology used in public history also plays a major role in the types of digital public history works that are being created today. These works have to adapt to the digital form in which they will be viewed by their intended audience. Creating public history projects digitally, allows the audience to have a different type of interaction then they would with something like a physical exhibit in a museum. The creators of digital public history project, can create a variety of different interactive experience that are only possible in the digital format. Creators can create experience that differ for each user interacting with the project. This level of creating different types of user interactions and experiences is something made possible by the technology used by public historians to create digital public history projects.
