The Birth of Zero: Research Support for a Historical Twitter Reenactment

Letters & Science (College of) / History

Description

The objective of this research is to provide support for the fall 2021 historical Twitter reenactment in History 450, the History of Metropolitan Milwaukee, an OUR-supported Course-Based Research Project. Each year, I organize the course around a new theme. In fall 2021, the theme will be the first successful birth of a polar bear in captivity, which occurred in Milwaukee in 1919. In one of the culminating assignments, History 450 students will reenact the birth of Zero on Twitter. This project requires significant advance conceptualization and bibliographic research, so that enrolled students can focus their energies on the interpretive and creative work around the reenactment. The goals of the SURF collaboration are to conceptualize characters for the reenactment, develop a timeline, and provide primary and secondary source bibliographies to support each of the 20 characters in the reenactment. The methods consist of library and archival research. The research collaborator will use library books and databases, and potentially the UWM and Milwaukee County Historical Society archives, to find resources that can be used in the reenactment. The collaborator will then begin drafting a customized course bibliography document.

Tasks and Responsibilities

The student’s primary work will be library research. Through an iterative and mentor-supervised process, they will develop a list of potential characters for the reenactment, use library databases to identify potential sources, scrutinize those sources for their relevance to the project, and write up their findings. The student researcher will meet regularly with the mentor and any other members of the research team to discuss their progress.

Desired Qualifications

None listed.