Compare History Websites

http://valley.vcdh.virginia.edu/

The Valley of the Shadow site is set up much like a history museum, with the various time periods setup as galleries basing the site on the periods before, during and after the American Civil War. After enter from the home page site is laid out like a map. I found the lay out easy to navigate and consistence from one time period to another. The explanation of how to best us the site is clearly visible at the bottom of the second page, this provides the user a better understanding of how the site creators envisioned visitors to use it.

The focus of the site is also very clearly laid out between Franklin County, PA and Augusta Count, VA this made the comparison of the two communities straightforward to compare and contracts from the before, during and after the civil war.

historychannel.com

The History Channel website is a geared towards the non-academic community offering a wide variety of topics from Ancient Discovers to The Universe. The over all feel of the site is very commercial and is a tool for the History Channels television channel. Unlike the Valley of the Shadow site which is to be a tool in and of its self for the discovery of history.
To get to any type of research base takes several steps to dig down into the site. Where as the Valley of the Shadow sites is very focused, the History Channel sits is boarder. I feel like the History Channel sites overall purpose is to sell you new DVD's and other products.

dohistory.org

Like the Valley of the Shadow 's site this general feel of the site is more educationally. The purpose of Do History site is to show individuals with an interesting historical reconstruction of a person’s life how to do it. The site does not seem to be graphically well laid out as in the Valley of the Shadow or the History Channel sites. But the text is well written and the stated purpose of the site as:
“A site that shows you how to piece together the past from the fragments that have survived. Our case study: Martha Ballard.”
The use of one person as a how to guide I find to be very useful for those you learn best by example.

americanhistory.si.edu/index.cfm

The website for the National Museum of American History like the Valley of the Shadow feels like you are about to enter a museum. Of course the American History museum is a real world place where thousands of people visit. Looking at the various links bring memories to mind of my own visits to it. The site's mix of interactive and research based pages are instep with the Smithsonian Institution's ongoing information age evolution.