Ian Gregory

“ The answer, I would argue, is to remember that they are first and foremost historians and that historians fundamentally are in the business of taking complex, incomplete sources that are full of biases and errors, and interpreting them critically to develop an argument that answers a research question. Digital sources do not change this; however, they do increase both the opportunity and the complexity. As identified above, there are complexities centered on the implications of digitized sources and on the tools that we use to interrogate and analyze them. ”

“ The challenge for digital historians is deceptively simple: it is to do good history that combines the computer’s ability to search and summarize, with the researcher’s ability to interpret and argue. This involves both developing an understanding of how to use digital sources appropriately, and more importantly, using digital sources and methods to deliver new scholarship that enhances our understanding of the past. ”

“ Fourthly, while work on sources and methodologies is important, it is a means to an end rather than an end in itself. The work that will ultimately prove the relevance and importance of digital resources and methods will not stress the digital, it will stress the applied and make a contribution to knowledge on particular topics within history that "non-digital" historians will be interested in. ”