Week 4 - History of Valentines Day and Commentary

A History of Valentine’s Day:
Valentine’s Day is a day for lovers to get together and share their bond. But this holiday’s origins are largely unknown. February has always been a month for romance and love, but St. Valentine, for whom the holiday is named, is shrouded in mystery. To date there are three catholic saints all named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend that strums the emotional heart strings is about a Valentine who was a priest during this century in Rome. During this time the Emperor Claudius the second came to the conclusion that single men made better soldiers, so using that simple logic forbade any and all marriages. This, being a terrible burden on the people and very unjust aroused the sympathies of one Valentine who, defying Claudius and his orders, continued to perform marriages for lovers in secret. However, upon his discovery Clauduis ordered the death of this Valentine. This story varies and one representation states how Valentine actually smuggled Christians out of Rome to avoid torture and persecution during this age. One version even tells how that Valentine when incarcerated in prison fell in love with a girl, possibly a jailer’s daughter, and it is alleged that he wrote her a love letter before his death signed, From your Valentine, a phrase still in repetitive use today. A very noble story, and one that could easily start such foundations as the Valentine holiday, but is it the true one? Let us observe another story.
Another version of the origins of Valentine’s Day state that it was an attempt to Christianize the celebrations of the Lupercalia festival which began around February 15th. This festival was dedicated to the Roman god of Agriculture as well as the founders of Rome Romulus and Remus and was when houses were ritualistically cleansed with sweeping and salt would be sprinkled inside. Additionally for this festival the Luperci members would gather at the legendary cave where Romulus and Remus were believed to have been reared by wolves and they would sacrifice a goat and a dog, for fertility and purification. The festival would eventually end in the tradition of using a lottery to pair off of young couples for the year, many of which would often end in marriage. This, however, was later deemed un-Christian in later years and outlawed. But St. Valentines days was officially declared by Pope Gelasius and placed on Feb 14th around 500 A.D. officiallizing the memorable holiday. Still to this day many are not sure if there was ever a real St. Valentine for whom the holiday originated or if February 14th was simply chosen because it was the beginning of the mating season for birds or some other simple piece of folklore. But to this day the oldest Valentine in known existence was a poem written by the Duke of Orleans to his wife during his term of imprisonment in the Tower of London. This was written in 1415 and is currently part of the manuscript collection of the British Library in London, England.

Commentary on Research for the History of Valentine’s Day:
History has always been an interesting topic to me. Google and other web based search engines have made the accessibility of history easier than ever, and I have to admit, this Valentine’s Day research paper was easy. By typing in ‘History of Valentine's Day you can find any number of websites that leap at the chance to tell you everything you wanted to know. The restriction placed on this assignment to not use a paying site was almost laughable. There is virtually no reason you would want to pay for this information, or almost any other with the internet out there, unless you want to make sure that the information you are getting is valid, but even so the likelihood of the information you would find on most websites being wrong is slim. People like to be right, they like to make sure their websites are correct and that you can reference them with no worries. Additionally there are several reputable websites out there for free that will also supply information of a confirmed nature as well, rendering most information pay sites out there virtually useless except for the one feature of having fewer ads and a guarantee, most of the time, for no popup ads. But all in all this project was very easy, with a topic as vastly broad and with such a large historical basis it was almost impossible not to find something to both intrigue the reader and to write about in general. I would be interested in seeing what a pay site would have to offer about this topic simply and for no other reason than to see if they can in any way justify the need for payment when the information is already at your fingertips.

Week 3 - Historical Website Review

Assignment: Review an approved History Website.Your review should cover the following issues:1) Usability;2) Content;3)Scholarship;4)Presentation;5)Use of New Media
Website: The Decameron Web - http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/dweb.shtml
This website is designed by Brown University Students for use in investigation and discussion concerning the Decameron texts. The Decameron texts are a collection of 100 stories by Italian author Giovanni Boccacio in the mid 1300s. They are presented on this website in full both in Italian and in English translation by J.M. Rigg.
This website is well constructed and has some wonderful attributes but also some severe flaws. First we will start with the Usability of this website. This website is very user friendly. However, it is primarily usable to someone who knows what the Decameron texts are. This website does describe what the Decameron texts are, but you must search a bit for the definition, whereas to a new user a quick reference would be much more helpful. But this one small thing aside this website is constructed masterfully. You have access to almost any piece of knowledge concerning these texts you could hope for. One major asset is the sheer search ability of the texts. This website offers search ability by word, character, place, or an advanced search. This is only hindered by the need to search for the Italian words. This website breaks down the characters in the stories, allowing for individual information on each for the reader, as well as breakdowns on the culture, art, black plague, society and a number of other aspects of the stories. It gives details on these components of the 100 stories, while maintaining search ability and providing a plethora of additional resources outside this website. It even has pictures of maps included to detail where events occur. In total, this website allows you to both better grasp the works, and to research them with an ease and thoroughness that is welcome. In short, very usable by someone who needs to do research. Additionally, it is very usable by the teachers too. There are sections for lesson plans, sample syllabus, and exercises for students. This website is constructed as if to host aid to a class devoted to the Decameron texts.
Though content has largely been touched on already, it must be re-iterated that this website provides a large amount of information concerning these texts. The html version of the texts are broken down in the numbered sections, and you may link between the Italian and English versions at almost any location to aid in content access. The information is thorough for a summary, which is what most of the links are. They summarize the information you look for without requiring the viewer to read through all 100 stories to analyze them for themselves. Additionally it presents histories on the author, and of the time period to help the reader get a broader picture of the dynamics of the stories. The scholarship and presentation are wrapped up largely in this as well. The information is well presented as well as well written. They are not opinion articles but are short pieces giving overall summaries of specific sections.
This website does not use too much new media however. It does offer as explained above, various additional reference sites, teaching techniques, and teaching resources, but it is fairly traditional in the website construction having a simple topics bar and a very useful search engine. The additional websites include several resources both to expand upon the research of the Decameron as well as expand upon medieval history, sources for images, and just general searches such as google.com. The website does not provide much in the way of videos or downloadable tools beyond texts, but it does have a very thorough bibliography, and resource guide for all texts, pictures, and maps used. The site also has a “What’s New” section where they keep the visitors posted on discussion board updates, and new sections of the website that are added. Beyond this there is little new technology used as this website does not even have a visible hit counter.
All in all, the website is built well for both the casual visitor and the intense researcher. It is easy enough to navigate so that a first time visitor will be able to find any information they require, while allowing them to gain an appreciation for the material presented here. It has room for improvement, mainly in presenting some of the more pertinent information in a more surface location, and it could expand itself by using some more modern technology, or perhaps some audio references without worrying about becoming too commercial, but in all it is still a very competent website, especially one that has been created solely as a source of discussion and not profit.