This week we’ve been reading a lot about digital scholarship. We link to Ed Ayers’ podcast on it, Google’s millions of dollars to support it, and a number of instances of it (podcasts, and blogs, and sites). We’ve also been reading about jobs, from tracking who got hired where to a recent survey on job satisfaction. Then, we turn to the Cold War and take a look at spies during that period, and how the Cold War has led to fear and anger in politics today. Finally, read about a new CIA documentary, forensics in the 1800s, and free online access to all of Andrei Tarkovsky’s films.

Digital Scholarship

• The Case for Digital Scholarship
  Historian Ed Ayers makes the case for digital scholarship in this Tech Therapy podcast at The Chronicle.
• Our commitment to the digital humanities
  The Official Google Blog discusses how it is supporting the digital humanities through millions of dollars in research awards. They also note achievements with Google Books, and highlight scans of Ancient Greek and Latin texts.
• History over the Air
  The Making History Podcast blog links to a number of history radio shows and podcasts. While we’ve mentioned a number of them on AHA Today before, it’s also good to highlight them again.
• On Editing a History Blog
  John Fea relates some of his experiences with blogging, which he’s gained from running The Way of Improvement Leads Home.
• Top Tens, or “Best Sites for…”
  The National History Education Clearinghouse has put together a roundup of links to lists of resources, including the New York Times‘ list of the “10 best educational websites” and Cliopatria’s History Blogroll.

Jobs

• I heard it through the grapevine; or the semi-secret world of academic hiring
  In this blog post Katrina Gulliver argues historians should do a better job tracking of who got hired where.
• COACHE Tenure-Track Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey (PDF)
  A survey on job satisfaction among pre-tenure faculty highlights some of their concerns about the ambiguities and challenges on the path to tenure. Unfortunately, the history discipline’s disciplinary straddle puts us in both humanities and social sciences in the study, depending on where the reporting department fit in the college or university.

Cold War

• Anger and Security: How the cold war ended the notion of public good
  Fear and anger in American politics. Writing for The Chronicle, Elaine Tyler May explores their origins.
• Spy Swaps: How They Did It In The Cold War
  With the recent Russian spy debacle, NPR flashes back to the spy swaps of the 1970s and 80s; listen to the story from All Things Considered.

More

• CIA offers its history lessons in film
  The Washington Post details a documentary put together by the CIA on “two CIA paramilitary officers who were shot down over China on their first mission in 1952.” This documentary may be the first in a series.
• Forensics in 1800 Paris
  Catherine Delors at the Wonders and Marvels blog takes a look at a police investigation in the 1800s, which is the subject of the new book For the King.
• All Tarkovsky Films Now Free Online
  All of Soviet director Andrei Tarkovsky’s (1932-86) films are now available online for free.

Contributors: David Darlington, Elisabeth Grant, Vernon Horn, Jessica Pritchard, and Robert B. Townsend

This post first appeared on AHA Today.