Rethinking Afghanistan on facebook

Signing up to facebook groups, internet blogs and magazines, suggested by Mike as part of our Digital History course, has been very helpful to my research for my dissertation. The last section of my paper will cover the legacy of the Iranian Revolution and the hostage crisis for US – Iranian relations. Although I have been aware of and consulted the websites of the International Crisis Group and Amnesty International in the past, I have now signed up to the newsletters and blogs of a number of journals, magazines and blogs. This means the information comes to me via my email or facebook page rather than I needing to seek it out. I receive updates, reports and snippets of articles from The International Crisis Group, Foreign Policy Magazine, Enduring America, Rethink Afghanistan, National Security Archives, Foreign Affairs and The Atlantic magazine, The Slate and (just lately) Mother Jones.

Enduring America is a blog almost totally devoted to contemporary political events in Iran. As well as providing its own analysis the blog relays posts from within Iran by members of the ‘Green Movement’ which rejects the results of last year’s Iranian presidential elections and has been involved in organising a protest campaign. Just last week I attended a lecture at UCC by Houchang Chehabi, an Iranian professor of International Relations and History at Boston University, where he highlighted the increasing use of the internet (twitter, facebook, etc) by twentysomethings within Iran to organise, protest and disseminate information. Though some commentators on the situation in Iran have sought to downplay the influence of technology, surely the ability to communicate, especially with some anonymity, is vital for organising demonstrations amongst large groups of individuals and for finding others who share your political or cultural views. It is like downplaying the influence of the printing press on the Reformation!

Foreign Policy magazine started life as an academic quarterly but now is a bimonthly glossy magazine. It is owned by the Washington Post Company. It offers detailed analysis on US foreign policy issues by respected academics and reporters. I receive a ‘morning brief’ every afternoon (due to the time difference), containing world news relevant to US foreign affairs which basically covers nearly all world news. The magazine’s January cover questions whether there are parallels between aspects of Obama’s and Carter’s foreign policies possibly leading to similar problems in the future. I have stuck the article in my folder to read for the third section of my dissertation. This month’s cover features an iPhone under the title ‘Killer Apps’- a special issue about the future of war and US military strategy. In ‘The New Rules of War’ John Arguilla explores how the US military needs to change to successfully confront the rise of ‘network based conflict’ aka ‘netwar’. Networked organisations such as al Qaeda are difficult to confront and contain using traditional military strategy and while the US military have upgraded their technology and information systems Arguilla argues that these tactics are seen as augmenting existing strategies which shows that the military lack ‘deep understanding’ of the potential of networking such as collective intelligence and collective power which the internet facilitates. The US military needs to embrace these practices to fight more smartly and successfully in present day Iraq and Afghanistan and in future wars, according to the article.

Foreign Affairs sends me a weekly newsletter and ‘tasters’ of current articles and essays. Should I see anything of interest to my research I can log on to the journal via the university library website for free and read further. The journal is published by the Council of Foreign Relations in America – a non-partisan think-tank promoting debate and understanding on US foreign relations with the international community focussing on political, economic and historical issues. The front cover this month headlines with ‘After Iran gets the Bomb; How Washington Can Limit The Damage From Iran’s Nuclear Defiance’. On the same page are links to former articles which deal with Iran’s supposed nuclear ambitions from other viewpoints – very useful particularly when dealing with Iran as no-one is really sure what is happening internally so one must be wary of accepting opinions as fact.

I also signed up to The Atlantic and The Slate updates on facebook. Both cover foreign affairs but also domestic issues – political, cultural and economic. I have never been to the US and consequently have no deep understanding of the domestic issues which both exercise and inspire ordinary Americans and ultimately help shape their choice of leader and foreign policy stance. I hope that browsing the headlines of The Atlantic and The Slate will help ‘round out’ my knowledge in this area. While researching for this post I spotted Mother Jones which offers ‘smart fearless journalism’ and is run by a non-profit organisation so I have signed up for that too! Now, I just have to watch the amount of time I spend reading these every day… (just remembered The New Yorker – must sign up for that too!).

Rethink Afghanistan is a website and related facebook group looking for alternatives to the present US strategy in that country and was recommended to me by Enduring America. It began life as a 2009 documentary discussing the situation on Afghanistan and potential outcomes. It now seeks to find a non-military solution and promote debate within America on the war in Afghanistan. I also joined the National Security Archives which collects and publishes declassified US government documents.

Image of advert seeking funding in the US for the Contras in Nicaragua from the National Security Archives

This website has an extensive collection of primary source material invaluable for any US foreign policy researcher. Last year, during my dissertation on the invasion of Afghanistan, I used the archives’ ‘Electronic Briefing Book’ on the Taliban containing telegram communications between the Taliban and the US Department of State in the late 1990s which provided useful primary source material backing up my argument.

Undoubtedly, all this information I now have directed to my facebook and email account will help enhance my research and writing, I just need to be aware of the danger of spending too much time reading articles I find interesting but don’t need for my research. Or else find a way to squeeze another few hours out of the day!

I recently downloaded a Zotero add-on for Microsoft Word for generating footnotes and bibliographys. Above is an example of a bibliography I generated using this. Actually creating a bibliography made me realise how very useful the programme is so I look forward to a long and happy relationship!

I quickly browsed over this book at the start of our course. However, I decided to reread it now I have done a fair bit of work on my blog and feel I have a better grasp of the differing possibilities of using digital resources for history. In the introduction the authors discuss the different visions of the future, both positive and negative, which academics had for the impending digital age (this was in 1993). While enthusiasts envisioned a virtual learning environment without classrooms and books as a positive development, sceptics bemoaned a future where libraries would be defunct. However, as usual, the future did not turn out as predicted. When I was a kid we thought the future would be filled with flying cars and Star Trek like clothes. Instead we got mobile phones, ipods and a world of knowledge at our fingertips – different but probably even more amazing! I can live without the flying car but not my phone! I remember my dad saying in the future we would take pills which would supply all the calories and nutrients we needed instead of eating dinner but, of course, this never happened and I don’t think ever will as some of the rituals we humans have developed such as eating dinner together or reading books are too important to us fulfilling more than just a function.

As I read, I reflected on what computers and the internet have meant to me as I did my degree and as I do my masters. Certainly, to paraphrase Cohen and Rosenzweig, my laptop is my pencil. It helps me create quality work by enabling me to redraft and order my scattered thoughts which would be way more tedious on paper. I also have abysmal handwriting but my word processor renders this inconsequential. More important though is the effect of the internet on my research.

I am not sure it would have been possible to study US foreign policy while living in Cork, Ireland without the resources available on the world wide web. I do nearly all my research online as very few primary or secondary sources are available in our college library for this subject. I am constantly searching US presidential libraries and the National Security Archives for information. The availability of many different journal titles through the library website is invaluable also. I often wonder how students were able to write dissertations without access to all these resources before the advent of the internet. Or are we just raising the bar all the time? Cohen and Rosenzweig ask “How might our history writing be different if all historical evidence were available?” I wonder myself if our access to all this evidence leads to prioritising the gathering of knowledge but leaving little time for reflection. I was thinking about this the other night as I watched a movie on TV with my son. The movie, Atonement, is set in the 1930s and1940s and the characters seemed to spend a lot of time “doing nothing” – just talking, smoking, thinking, while we seem to always be “doing something” – watching stuff on the internet or TV, listening to/downloading music etc. We rarely “just be”. But maybe that’s just my family. The authors list the four major qualities brought to academia by the internet/computers as: the ability to do more, reach more people, store more data and access/use more varied sources. While these are all positive developments which will enhance the study and scope of historical research but I think we must not forget the importance of reflection in the pursuit of knowledge and insight.

I found other aspects of the books thesis interesting too such as the concept of hypertextuality or non-linearity which is said to “fracture traditional master narratives”. However, while I am often tempted down a hypertext side-road essentially we are still expected to largely learn the traditional linear narrative during our degree so I often find I have to stop myself being “distracted” by information not required for exams or papers.

The value of interactivity is hard to determine. While academically it may further learning some of the responses you find on internet newspaper sites and texted into news shows on the radio are just uninformed rants. I can do uninformed ranting all on my own! For news analysis I want to listen/read people with some expertise who can give me informed reasoned opinions so I think the value of interactivity is often limited.

Lastly, I think the aspect of dissemination of information is one which deserves consideration and debate. Cohen and Rosenzweig argue against academic “gated communities” which exclude many who haven’t the resources to access them. This debate questions the very nature of our capitalist society where everything including knowledge and creativity is potentially a product with a price tag attached. We have discussed aspects of this at home in relation to the justification of downloading music for free. This wide-ranging debate is too big for my blog but I do think the freedom the web has provided to creative types to reach an audience is a wonderful thing. Some of the cartoons and music clips my son shows me are so strange/innovative/imaginative I can’t help but believe that removing creativity, artistic or academic, from the grasp of commercialism is a positive development. This cartoon, Salad Fingers, is a good example – scary, weird but somehow good….

US - Iranian Relations Mind Map

On Wikipedia it says mind maps encourage brainstorming and act as a “graphical method of taking notes” but I tend to use them to provide structure to my plans and order my thoughts as often I get lost following ideas or lines of research which ultimately prove not to warrant such in-depth study. The hierarchical structure that the mind map imposes makes clear the weight of importance due to each idea. Whilst doing my mind map and researching the concept I came across some literature on learning styles and began to reflect on whether I had a learning style and if so what it was. I followed a UCD paper I found on google to Richard Felder’s site. As well as being a professor of Chemical Engineering he also is involved in the National Effective Teaching Institute in the US. On his site a took a test to discern my learning style the results of which I will add below along with my mind map. Although not strongly in any one camp it does show I am more a reflective than active learner and more verbal than visual. Reflective learners like to think thing they learn through to grasp them while active learners prefer to put ideas/concepts/formulas to the test to see how they work and learn this way. Verbal learners gain more from written and spoken explanations while visual learners do better if facts and ideas are expressed in pictures or diagrams.

My Learning Style Results

Carter's Inaugural Speech

Carter's Farewell Speech

I found the Tapor text analysis tool very useful. Picking out the frequently used words so quickly and easily from a speech could be really handy for my dissertation as I hope to examine the attitudes as well as actions of the Carter Administration and the US media towards Iran during the Islamic Revolution of 1979. This method could provide a real short-cut for me in doing this.

These alerts and updates have made it easier for me to keep up in research areas I am interested in and they come to me rather than I having to remember to regularly seek them out. In his lecture Mike spoke of how people learn through communities of practice akin to apprenticeships. Initially the learner stays on the periphery observing and assimilating skills and information before gradually moving towards the centre. Etainne Wenger defines communities of practice as ‘groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.’ However, I feel I am still only comfortable on the periphery and not yet confident to interact or add my voice to blogs or similar yet (other than this one!).

The section we are processing is in the parish of Ballymodan which is about 20 miles west of Cork City.
I did the 6 households that I was assigned this morning and although inputting the data is hardly riveting stuff the information contained was interesting. Especially the fact that out of 27 people only one spoke Irish! At that time Ireland was still under British rule so I guess that Irish was not taught in schools but am not sure. The majority of adults and school-age children could read and write. Only 4 adults out of the group could not. I found it interesting that one of the ancillary census forms about the types of dwellings wished the enumerator to list how many windows each house had at the front. I have heard it said there was a window tax in place in Ireland at one stage but will have to research further to discover whether this was the reason for counting windows.
When I was finished I searched through the census to see if I could find my maternal grandparents, Margaret O’Reilly and Timothy McCarthy, from Bantry. I found both their census returns which was amazing to see. They were both 17 years in 1911 and lived down the road from one another in Chapel Street in Bantry. The quality of the image below is not great but my grandmother is the last entry. Her mother remarried following the death of her husband which is why some of the family are listed as Howards while my granny and her brother, Joe, are O’Reillys.

My Grandmother's Census Return