My involvement with H-Net began in the mid-1990s, when, as a graduate student, I subscribed to H-Diplo. Currently I also subscribe to H-TAH, H-HOAC, and H-DC.
Since 2001, I have served as a book review editor and editorial board member of H-DC. During the decade of my association, H-Net has evolved from a handful of networks to more than 100. In 1993, H-Net posted 15 book reviews; last year it posted hundreds. This is hardly a full listing of H-Net’s accomplishments, but it does remind us that H-Net is an extraordinary resource for the world’s historians and all those with an interest in history. As we progress through this year’s election, and as we debate the merits of new partnerships, I believe it is important that we recognize H-Net’s achievements and commend its officers, council members, reviews staff, and editorspast and presentâ—for making this success possible.
If elected to the Council, I would like to help H-Net strengthen itself as a portal to historical knowledge and resources.
Appropriately and creatively expanding our affiliations is, I believe, a step in this direction. Such an initiative will complement another H-Net need: broadening and diversifying our revenue base.
I would also like to see H-Net use the ongoing discussion on how to fix problems with the reviewing system to carefully consider ways in which reviews could become less discrete and avail themselves of features and opportunities unique to the web. Links to vendors in the banner of each review is one feature that could be applied in other ways. For instance, links to discussion logs about a book could also be provided, as H-Diplo does with its roundtable reviews. Perhaps review editors could ask reviewers to consider including not just footnotes to published sources, but hyperlinks to web resources as well. Whether or not such ideas prove viable or popular, I promise to commit to finding creative, adaptive solutions to the challenges facing H-Net and to contributing to its future success.
Finally, we should think about how we can implement and use our content management system to perhaps increase the synergy among the networks—with book review content and other web content.
