What challenges do we face as history educators presenting the past in the digital world?

One of the major issues surrounding teaching history in today’s digital world is the controversies surrounding how history is presented in this medium. One of these controversies is the use of Wikipedia. Wikipedia is famously, or perhaps infamously, known to be of the teacher’s ire. Many teachers would encourage students to use more reliable sources since anyone can edit Wikipedia, possibly making the information inaccurate. However, many who are teaching history are trying to change that by having students create information on the site that is accurate and reliable. However, there are some issues when trying to improve the site. One of the issues of presenting history on Wikipedia is how the site promotes historical information. According to Sadie Bergen, “Wikipedia’s policies and website architecture support a version of the past that Rosemont College associate professor Michelle Moravac . . . compares to ‘a bad high school history class.’ Wikipedia propagates a ‘great man’ and ‘great woman’ version of the past . . . .” Many of the articles on Wikipedia show the best of the best of history and fall victim to bias, making it hard to find reputable and neutral information in the articles. However, this neutrality is also challenging to achieve as every person has bias and is what Jeremy Brown and Benedicte Melanie Olsen say trained to create “an original argument.” With Wikipedia’s policies and history students’ training, presenting history in the digital medium is possible but difficult.