The use of digital newspaper and magazine archives benefits from media historical perspective
Abstract
The mass digitisation of research materials affects the work of all historians in one way or another today. Because old newspapers in particular can be accessed more easily, their use as a source material has grown exponentially. At the same time, the special features of the source type are often omitted from consideration when scholars make interpretations based on press material.
In this review article, I valorise the importance of conceptual information related to digital history in the use of digital newspaper and magazine archives. I demonstrate that an understanding of the user interface and its effects on interpretations is required of the researcher, as well as considerations of the broader media historical context of individual texts. In addition, I discuss some practical questions that have resulted from the mass digitisation of the press material.
Keywords: digital history; digital source criticism; contextualisation; close reading; media history
