The print-plus era of digital scholarship resources has a lot on our parents’ World Book Encyclopedias. Cumbersome, outdated, and limited in scope, print resources often ripen to old age faster than they were produced in the first place. Digital encyclopedias have sought to rectify these problems – but still, issues of accessibility remain. A subscription fee to Encyclopedia Britannicaleaves no wonder why many internet users’ first resource search is the familiar, free, and navigable Wikipedia. Open access resources are necessary in the age of information sharing – but can we do better than this?
1914-1918 Online: International Encyclopedia of the First World Waris a digital collaborative between thousands of scholars, coordinated at the Institute of History at the Freie Universitat Berlin, digitally supported by several non-profit state and private institutions throughout the EU, and chaired by an international Editorial Advisory Board. This digital narrative exhibit’s aim is to provide online access to current, comprehensive, and navigable scholarship pertaining to World War I. It claims directly to fill a gap in scholarship which has, over the past century, focused disproportionately on Central and Western Europe, rather than understanding the Great War as the first Global War. The importance of Europe’s imperialist history and utilization of colonial forces is a missing perspective onto which this resource attempt to cast light. It particularly claims to reflect not only “the increasingly international research on the First World War, but also significantly [advance] it by identifying gaps and desiderata.”[1]
The site’s straightforward layout is a hallmark of its accessibility, leaving space for the user to focus on content rather than navigation. The user can navigate through one of three doors: Timeline, Themes, or Regions. The interactive mapping feature of the “Regions” theme then offers a range of survey articles, regional thematic articles, encyclopedic entries, and images. The “Theme” feature allows the user to explore a number of topics by way of key word, and contains a number of primary resources searchable by thematic reference. The “Timeline” feature itself is interactive, so that the user can enter sub-categories of dated events. The majority of the site’s content is scholarly articles, which are linked to one another for intra-site access, much like Wikipedia– but well-researched, well-cited, and reviewed. An “advanced search” feature facilitates more specific queries and provides listings of all articles and entries on a particular topic or keyword, functioning as an interactive Index.
The sheer volume of scholarship at the user’s fingertips here would be unimaginable ten years ago, even to a scholar undertaking her research in the Library of Congress. The project managers’ identification of gaps in the scholarship also assists scholars in isolating new topics for study. Their “Call for Papers” section lists a number of under-studied topics on which they are accepting submissions for review. Although the two-tiered review process appears to be arduous, it maintains a high level of credibility for the project while still allowing submissions from authors at various levels of study.
The site has been operable for four years to date, and over that time it appears the main focus has been scholarship expansion. However, as a comprehensive digital scholarship resource that focuses on a specific global era, I believe there are missing functions that the project could implement that would optimize usability. First, it is missing a video feature. There isn’t an overabundance of WWI footage, but what exists should be here. For many people, moving pictures are much more real than simple images and enhance both understanding and relatability of a historic event. Second, every article can currently be manipulated as a PDF, EPUB, or Kindle document. Thus, only by adapting an article to a different format can the user save, highlight, or note-take data. I would like to see a function where users can create an account to save articles, images, and links, and take notes or highlight within the module. That may be beyond the scope of the project’s goals – it is, after all, an digital resource exhibit. However, if its purpose is to “make knowledge freely available to the public and to support a greater global exchange of knowledge,”[2]and further is open to new scholarship that fills still-existent gaps in the field, it should be up to the task of facilitating new research as best it can.
This digital narrative exhibit is buried on page 5 of a Google search for “World War I Digital Resource.” Unfortunately, I fear that those without the proper language or links to search for it will never be able to utilize it to advance their scholarship beyond what has been studied and known for half a century. In the future, I hope this resource can improve its accessibility by simply making itself more discoverable. Quality Open Access should not be so hard to find.
Stephanie Walrath
Duquesne University
[1]"Project Overview." 1914-1918-Online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War. 2014. Accessed September 09, 2018. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/project/overview/.
[2]"Information for Authors.” 1914-1918-Online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War. 2014. Accessed September 09, 2018. http://www.1914-1918-online.net/05_information_for_authors/index.html.