I'm pretty new to the whole Digital History world, in the sense that I never considered it's impact on the study of history itself. I am considered a millennial, and as such I grew up with technology at my fingertips, but I also grew up in a world that didn't rely on it. So I remember the importance of making reference cards, having floppy disks available, and being familiar with the Dewey Decimal System.
It is amazing just how much the world has changed in the past twenty years or so, and after reading "Digital History: A guide to gathering, preserving, and preventing the past on the web" by Daniel J. Cohen and Roy Rosenzweig, I realize just how much historical research has been impacted by the use of digital history, specifically our ease of access and storage capability while conducting research. The local digital history centers remain connected to the community, being able to provide access to genealogy resources and other local records. I think the most surprising result that I read about would be the "publicness" that digital history propels, everything is available, even when we don't want it to be. Also, the legality behind digital history; copyright laws and ethical obligations. There is a lot of work that goes into digital historical research and preservation and as Cohen and Rosenzweig intended; it is definitely a learning process.
