Cracking the Internet: A Science Historian’s Experience Conducting Research and Communicating Findings on the Web

SIG AH is excited to welcome our special guest, Dr. Gabriel Finkelstein from the University of Colorado, Denver for a webinar exploring scholarly communications and social media from the perspective of a science historian. The promise of digital content, research technology, and social media platforms is not experienced the same for researchers in all academic disciplines. Dr. Finkelstein will discuss how the internet has changed the way an historian of science conducts his research, publishes his findings, advertises his contributions, connects with colleagues, and keeps his boss happy.

Several key themes will be explored, including disciplinary differences in the research and publishing process, discovery platforms, archival research and print versus electronic content, and the role of social media and “impact” in decisions related to publishing and promotion. The unique perspective of a science historian will be of interest to individuals and institutions carrying out or supporting multidisciplinary research programs, as well as researchers focused on the development of digital knowledge resources, discovery platforms, and scholarly communications (book and journal publishing) in the humanities.

Gabriel Finkelstein
Gabriel Finkelstein is Associate Professor of History at the University of Colorado Denver, where he teaches the history of modern Germany, Europe, science, exploration, and war. His biography of Emil du Bois-Reymond, the most important forgotten intellectual of the nineteenth century, received an Honorable Mention for History of Science, Medicine, and Technology at the 2013 PROSE Awards, was shortlisted for the 2014 John Pickstone Prize (awarded every two years by the British Society for the History of Science “to the best scholarly book in the history of science”), and was named by the American Association for the Advancement of Science as one of the Best Books of 2014.