Another August day, more rain outside, and a new set of offices.  The recent IHR relocation has, in part, caused a short pause in my blog posting about History SPOT.  There are of course other reasons – largely based around the fact that not much happens in August when it comes to seminars and research training. 

I would like to say that I have a definite date for the launch of History SPOT for you, but we’re not quite there yet.  That said, we’ve almost passed the final big hurdle.  The single sign-on between the three systems that we are using (Drupal, Moodle, and Mahara) is now completed, although there is still some work to be done on the sign-off.  The toolbar on Mahara (which has caused us a little difficulty) is almost in place and a search engine now appears in the Drupal part of the website and should soon be implemented across the entire site.

Today I added the Asa Briggs: A Celebration podcasts to the History SPOT site.  Although these podcasts were already uploaded to the IHR History website a month ago I had yet to duplicate the effort.  They are now up with a little bit of additional content.  I’ll go into that more of course once the site is launched.  Whilst uploading I had a listen to one or two of them – it appears to me that Lord Briggs career provides an interesting lens for the development of the History profession in the 20th century.  I’ll write a post about it someday soon. 

I’m very much looking forward to the launch of History SPOT.  It’s been a long time coming!  Until then it would be great if you could have a look at some of our other recent activities.  In the last week IHR Digital has set up its own Facebook page which we hope will develop into a lively and interesting discussion of our activities.  The Rescript project (a platform for collaborative editing of historical texts online) is moving ahead at speed now.  Below is a link to that projects’ blog which contains fascinating insights into the texts already under their microscope.   The IHR Relocation Blog continues to be updated regularly and has most recently gained various photographs taken during the move (with more to come).  Finally, we have recently announced our winter conference.  This year we will be looking at the uneasy relationship between Historians/History and Historical Fiction writers/novels.  We are also hoping to have a larger online presence associated with this conference which I will be in a position to talk more about soon.

IHR Digital Facebook

Rescript Project Blog

IHR Relocation Blog

Novel Approaches Conference

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In addition, for those who might be wondering, the SPOT Newsletter will start again in September.