Ateneo - UPO

An introduction to Public History and Digital History. This course is designed to provide the essential information and concepts of two new branches of historiography, which often intersect creating the digital public history. The course will consist of lectures by the instructor and, during the last three sessions, will take on a seminar format: students will be asked to analyze and present a monument using what they learned during the course. The selection of the monument and the formation of groups, if any, will take place starting with the first class, so that there is sufficient time to conduct research and prepare the presentation.

All students will prepare for the exam by reading:1.    Gabriella Gribaudi, La memoria, I traumi, la storia. La guerra e le catastrofi nel Novecento, Roma, Viella, 2020.2.    Marcello Ravveduto, Giampaolo Salice, Enrica Salvatori, Storia digitale pubblica, Milano, Pearson, 2026 (only in e-book format).Students who are unable to attend and participate in the seminar will also prepare for the exam by reading:Emanuele Ertola, Tracce fasciste. L’eredità materiale del Ventennio, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2026.

At a basic level, the course aims to provide students with an overview of the concepts of public history, oral history, memory, and digital history, as well as their interrelationships. The secondary objective is to provide, through the seminar component, an opportunity to practice research skills and apply the concepts learned in the first part of the course in a practical way by analyzing a specific case study.At the advanced level, the course aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the historiographical debate on public history and the tools used in digital history, both for research and in relation to public history. The objective of the second part of the course is to develop a critical understanding of the concepts and tools used to study the examples of public history and digital public history that will be discussed in the various seminar sessions.
For this course, the teaching corresponds to 0.8 CFU, the interactive teaching to 0.5 CFU and the self-learning activities to 4.7 CFU.

None.

The course will consist primarily of frontal lectures: the instructor will cover the three main thematic areas of the course, beginning with the topics necessary for the seminar component. Throughout the course, at the end of each lecture and during office hours, the instructor will discuss with the groups their choice of topic for the seminar and provide advice and guidance. The last three sessions will be seminar-based: each group will present a case study, and the entire class will be invited to ask questions and offer comments, comparing the various cases.

Students with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request specific services and tools via the Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse e agli Studenti, consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/services-students-physical-or-learning-disabilitiesStudents with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted the University Staff, can refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination modalities, concerning academic aspects.

Assessment will take place both during the seminar portion and during the final oral exam. With regard to the seminar portion, the evaluation will consider not only each student’s presentation but also their engagement during other presentations and their participation in the discussion to compare the different cases and arrive at an overall interpretation. The final grade will be determined as follows:60% oral exam30% presentation10% participation during the seminar. he grade will be determined by the following elements:- A general knowledge of concepts and events—as a collection of facts without a conceptual link between them, accompanied by the use of inappropriate language in oral discussion—will be considered sufficient. Simply presenting one’s own case study without interaction during the seminar portion will be considered barely sufficient. Corresponding grade: 18–22- A more in-depth but not detailed knowledge of concepts and events, with the use of language generally appropriate to the topic at hand, will be considered fair. Interaction during the seminar portion with the cases presented by other participants, making comparisons and references to one’s own case study, will be considered fair. Corresponding grade: 22–26.- In-depth knowledge, demonstrating a good understanding of the relationships between different phenomena and the ability to use the concepts learned independently, applying them to various events, will be judged satisfactory. It will be judged fully satisfactory if the student demonstrates the ability to discuss the texts they have read with independent judgment, identifying the author’s point of view and engaging with it critically. Interaction during the seminar portion that demonstrates a willingness to develop a general interpretation of the phenomenon encompassing all case studies will be considered excellent. Corresponding grade: 27–30 with honors.

The lectures will follow this general outline:
Lecture 1 General introduction to the course: topics and practical matters. What are history and memory?
Lecture 2 World War I and collective memory.
Lecture 3 The public use of history from the Historikerstreit to the Italian “Civil War”; the political use of history in Italy: Southern Italian identity, the foibe, Marxism, and textbooks.
Lecture 4 “Sites of memory” and monuments.
Lecture 5 Origins, methodology, and history of oral history.
Lecture 6 Research topics in oral history; two examples of oral source analysis: Lina Kostenko and the memory of the Chernobyl disaster.
Lecture 7 Public history and historical communication. The concept of heritage.
Lecture 8: The Advent of Computer Science and the Birth of the Digital Humanities.
Lecture 9: Approaches and Historiography of Digital History.
Lecture 10: Historical Sources in the Digital Environment.
Lecture 11: Major Projects and Technological Tools.
Lecture 12 Two Examples: The History of Hackers and the Use of Generative AI in History.
Lecture 13 Seminar Presentations.
Lecture 14 Seminar Presentations.
Lecture 15 Seminar Presentations.
Gender mainstreaming.
The course also devotes space to the study of gender, particularly in lessons 2 and 6.

Basic Level:
Knowledge and Comprehension:
Demonstrate knowledge of and an understanding of issues related to public, oral, and digital history in contemporary society. Demonstrate knowledge of the key stages in the development of historiography within these three subdisciplines. Understand the connection between digital history and public history.
Applied Knowledge and Comprehension:
Demonstrate the ability to understand and discuss issues concerning public and oral history in contemporary society. Be familiar with the main tools of digital history.

At the advanced level:
Knowledge and understanding:
Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of the evolutionary stages of the three subdisciplines covered, and demonstrate an understanding of their differences and interactions, referring both to the leading authors in historiography and providing concrete examples.
Applied knowledge and understanding:
Demonstrate the ability to use the tools covered in the seminar to analyze an example of public history or digital public history and demonstrate the ability to discuss it by comparing it with the other case studies examined by the other seminar groups.

These learning outcomes are consistent with the provisions of the SUA for the degree program, framework A4.b2 (particularly for the History Area).