| Introduction
| Images as Tools | Website Submissions Using the Web Effectively | Suggested Model Web sites | Cautions Credits |
I. IntroductionAs with all our work, figuring out what is and what is not urban is more complex than it should be. Those Web sites likely to be of value to professional scholars are included in this archive, while those which seemed primarily narratives mostly written for tourists are avoided. Also excluded are sites that require a subscription fee, like Worldcat. Except for important journals and organizations, "bare bones" sites which describe an organization but contain very little or no textual or archival information, are not listed. An example of this might be an urban museum that lists some of its exhibits, staff and hours of operation.This archive contains some sites that are not specifically urban, because the sites contain data likely to be of great interest to urbanists (for example, goverment data). In some cases, a few sites are not covered here because they are linked to an obvious connector. For example there are a number of on-line collections of documents for medieval English cities, but all are linked at the same web site, "Medieval English Towns." II. Images as ToolsPhotographs and images of documents are offered on H-Urban's websites on a rotating basis so that those who are interested in urban studies may see what is available for research, teaching, and publication. Detailed bibliographic and copyright information is provided by clicking on any single image. Before an item is used for other than research or non-profit, educational use, it is recommended that the source of the image be contacted for specifics. The Source, Copyright, Repository, and Call Numbers are provided in the Image Bibliographies as guides, not as the final determinates of the restrictions or lack of restrictions on the use of an image. H-Urban invites its visitors to offer images for use on any H-Urban web page. Images should relate to or inform on an urban studies topic or issue. Governments and private collectors are particularly encouraged to offer an item for temporary viewing on H-Urban to enhance the work of urban studies professionals. To submit an image for consideration, please contact H-Urban Editor Dr. Clay McShane (c.mcshane at neu.edu) of Northeastern University with a brief textual explanation of the item. Possible images could include photographs, posters, documents, and historical graphics like those used in advertisements. III. Website SubmissionsWebsites have proliferated in recent years and are becoming an important source of scholarly and organizational information. Scholars use them in their classes and in research. H-Urban believes that the Web Links site is an important resource for urban studies scholars, and hopes that you will inform us of excellent sites. Submit sites to Dr. Clay McShane (c.mcshane at neu.edu) for consideration.H-Urban will post new sites on it's list to all its readers. If you can't find a new site or want more current information, search the H-Urban Discussion Logs archive. IV. Using the Web EffectivelyAnne Harlow at Temple University (http://astro.temple.edu/~aharlow/Useful.htm) has put together an excellent site on using the web. The site includes tutorials for beginners, general guides to the web, essays on how to evaluate websites and guides to information sources (the latter is probably more general than a professional scholar would want to use). It has a link to http://searchenginewatch.com, a site that evaluates search engines in both Europe and America. A comprehensive site with sample citations that is worth a visit is the USA Library of Congress's internet citation guide (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ndlpedu/cite.html).
Also, much of the web is "invisible," concealed behind portals such as library home pages. See http://www.freepint.co.uk/issues/080600.htm?FreePint_Session=d37633ecd36594b13a47352f34b36a45#feature for more information on this. Gary Price of George Washington University maintains an extremely valuable list of such websites at http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~gprice/direct.htm. V. Suggested Model WebsitesIf anyone is contemplating building a site with lots of archival information, an excellent website model is Historic Pittsburgh (http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/mainpage.html), partially due to its explanation of technical matters. One of the best models for a virtual exhibit, easily adopted to classroom use, is the Chicago Historical Society’s exhibit on the famous 1872 Chicago Fire (http://www.chicagohs.org/fire/index.html). London’s Centre for Metropolitan History (http://www.history.ac.uk/cmh/cmh.main.html) website is good prototype for a research center. VI. CautionsAlthough H-Urban has tried to provide complete information on urban study sites, a number of sites give credit to neither their technical nor content authors. Also, most sites contain no dates, so readers cannot be sure how recently they've been updated. Only one site in this archive has been appropriated by commercial advertisers. John W. Neill’s site on Tomsk and Vladivostok has an irritating pop-up ad for Yahoo. VII. CreditsH-Urban Editor Clay McShane (c.mcshane at neu.edu) of Northeastern University conceived of and developed the idea of a webography of urban-related web links as a resource for urban scholars and urban professionals. The H-Urban Web Links site was initiated February 2001, and McShane served as its editor until December 2004. With his annotations and
oversight, McShane has provided a pioneering service to the urban fields. When
he wrote, "Surf City: Urban History on the Web," Urban History Review XXI (October, 2001), McShane drew upon his H-Urban experience to help guide
others in the use of the web in teaching and research. |
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