Katie Douthitt

The first website I began research on was Innercity.org. The website is an independent research project focused on education. The website depends entirely on donations by the viewers.

The section of the website that I chose to read about is focused on the history of a mansion called the Holt House. It is now used by the Smithsonian’s National Zoo but was originally used for medical research. This section of the website is devoted to the history of Slavery in America. The website displays a chronological order of Slavery through the years up until it ended in 1865.

The website was originally created by a member of the Columbia Heights community, Eddie Becker. Other people who are members of the community have contributed too.  Some are members of churches while others are run youth group programs. In one way or another the members who helped create the website www.innercity.org all impact the community in some way. Their passion for the community and raising awareness to the websites viewers in some ways is creditable, however their information is based solely on the research that these members have done themselves. It potentially could have mislead or misunderstood information in the contents of the website. The website is broken down into different categories, focusing on important contributions to Columbia Heights that make the community different from others.

Before starting this assignment I knew nothing of the website or what the Holt House was. The website is designed for people to learn more about the Columbia Heights area, or if they are new to the area to have a basic understanding of the history of the community. Since the website is dependent on donations, the quality is low and can be confusing to navigate. I found that the websites design made it difficult to take some of the information seriously and outdated. If I had to do research on the history of Slavery of America I would not use this website as a source.

An image of the Holt House being overgrown by vegetation

 

The second website I chose to review was A More Perfect Union. The producer of the website is the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. The website is based on the Japanese American experience. The focus of the website is Japanese American women were placed in detention camps during World War II. The website is an online exhibition. Since the Smithsonian created this website, I would say it is creditable and the information is genuine. The Smithsonian has such a highly regarded reputation, that it can be assumed all of the information is true.

Before researching this website, I was aware that the Smithsonian Museums would make online exhibitions but I did not know about this one. I believe this website is designed for anyone who expresses interest in the history between Japan and America or anyone who is genuinely interested in history.

The exhibition has a summarized history of the Japanese involvement with America starting from the early stages of Japanese immigrating to America in the early 1900s to Pearl Harbor then to present time Japanese in the United States. Overall it is a time line of events.

The website/exhibition was simply done and easy to navigate. It was easy to recognize were information was located. Another nice aspect of the website was pictures and audio was included.