We found that this project represented a lot of what digital humanities is about, and succeeded in what it set out to do. While there are some missteps, it overall is a well done project.

It explains how it was inspired by Elizabeth Peabody’s methods, and does a good job at going over how it all works. It especially succeeds at the digital humanity value of Experimentation, where users are free to utilize the site’s tools in a variety of ways to express information to others. Its free form style of creation is especially notable, allowing users to experiment and be creative with how they visualize history.

Where it seems to fail is conveying its target audience. With Peabody, she was a kindergarten teacher when she created this method, so presumably it was intended for that audience. However, we determined that this would be better suited towards high school and college level students – but as stated, the site does not describe its audience at any point. The Shape of History is also not the most original project, as others of its kind can be found and have been documented. Where it succeeds over its peers, however, is in its intractability and visual representation of history, making it more approachable for users.