Month: January 2026

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Using AI

Normally I am very hesitant and reductive to use an AI program for anything, including when the assignment is requiring me to use AI. But for this assignment I used Microsoft CoPilot to create a 2-page paper about Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, in which I prompted “Can you create a two page paper on the Red Baron and how he impacted aviation”

The essay that the program wrote was very comprehensive and had sources at the end of each paragraph it wrote. For this one specific time AI was useful in creating an essay, but in all other parts of Academic work, AI should not be used to create an essay because with written assignments it is supposed to be measuring how much information you have learnt and gathered on a specific topic/idea or person. This does not show how much information I have learnt about the Red Baron or how I interpret the sources surrounding him.

The second part of the first question was to generate an image of the historic figure/event, and I asked “Can you generate a picture of the Red Baron?”

Copilot had generated a very realistic picture of Manfred von Richthofen, however I felt very wrong about using the program to generate the picture. Since I believe that you can use a photo found on an archive or database that correlates with the figure or event.

An AI generated image of Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron, a World War One airplane ace.

The second part of this was to find a document and have an AI program transcribe the document. I used Google Gemini for this section, since I know and have been informed that Gemini has a better record of transcription of handwritten documents. The prompt I used was “Can you transcribe this image for me?”, the transcription that I had received from Gemini was decent, it had a couple mistakes in the last names of the soldiers but it had relatively the same information as the Fredericksburg National Cemetery’s website on the specific records page I chose.

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Digital Project Reviews

22 January, 2026

With these digital history project sites, I found that I enjoyed when there were multiple paths for me to explore, having the options to see just the content, the sources, the process, or a combination of the whole is something that I would think is beneficial to incorporate into the website that my team is designing. The two main history websites that I had reviewed were from the early to mid- 2000s and some items on the pages show the age of the websites yet there is clear evidence in the continuous preservation in certain parts of the websites (i.e., Valley of the Shadow). For sources, they used a combination of pictures, maps, letters, and records; the pictures can be seen through the website and in the timelines, while the records and letters were used to explain what happened in these locations/events.

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Digital Thoughts and Process

January 14, 2026– Week One

For choosing this course, I wanted to add more skills to my resume and have possible opportunities to learn more about new disciplines and avenues in the History field.

With Digital History it is the new addition to the history field that allows for Historians to create and digitize the areas of history they study. Creating new ways to interact with the study and connection of history to the public and other audiences.

On the other side, Digital Humanities is the larger term that encompasses all disciplines within the Humanities field–English, Art, History, and other disciplines–using new technologies to better understand and create new ways to explore the interaction between the academic fields and new and/or developing technologies.

The main difference between these two in my opinion, is the expansive nature of the Digital Humanities compared to the limitation of Digital History. There are also more applications for exploration and advancements in Digital Humanities compared to Digital History where you have to become cross-/interdisciplinary for further exploration and application of technology with history.