One of the first digital online projects I ever did as part of a collaborative grant was an educational aid to help students and faculty members use the internet for research called, The Research Station (https://is.gd/DZqm0d).
Research Station represents an important but underexplored chapter in the history of digital humanities and educational technology partnerships. Operating from 1998-2007, it bridged the gap between the experimental internet projects of the early 1990s and the more sophisticated digital humanities platforms that emerged in the 2000s.
In looking back at projects like this it is hard to imagine why it would be innovative. But this was when Google was a baby (1997) and most academics saw the internst as place of snakeoil promises and untrustworthy inofmration. The Research Station goes the extra mile in not only seeking to help students to search and judge resources but to cite sources and discuss methods. In addition to the help for students, we also thought to help faculty members come to terms with using the internet.
The project’s collaborative model—bringing together a research university and multiple community colleges—anticipated later trends in digital humanities toward community engagement and democratization of access to research tools and resources. This approach aligns with MSU’s land-grant mission and the broader digital humanities ethos of making scholarship more accessible and collaborativeThe collaboration between MSU and the three community colleges—Delta College (University Center), Kirtland Community College (Grayling), and Mott Community College (Flint)—represented an innovative approach to higher education partnerships in the digital realm.
The primary metaphor and images are a bit corny, a train, but again, the idea is to place yourself back at the beginning of the century when images needed to be extremely light-weight and ideas of usability and web site design were just coming into their own.
Research Station (https://is.gd/DZqm0d) An extensive internet Research platform funded by MSU and 3 Community Colleges — Delta, Kirtland, and Mott. Director: Dean Rehberger. Published by the MSU Writing Center (1998-2007).