After visiting several websites that are based on archival materials and browsing through the DH project sample book, I have been able to explore many DH projects. While browsing, I have seen the advantages and disadvantages of creating a digital artifact from archival documents. Specifically, many artifacts are in remote archives and only certain scholars are permitted access. By creating a digital artifact, the documents become widely available for research for people who are restricted by both travel and accreditation. Additionally, these documents are often delicate, sensitive to light, and require extremely special handling. But, when these artifacts are digitized, they no longer require such delicate conditions. This allows the researchers to put more effort into analyzing the document, rather spending time trying to maintain adequate conditions for the document.
On the other hand, there are some disadvantages
. Specifically, when an archival document can be accessed digitally, it takes away from the special experience of traveling to the archive and handling the actual document. When a document is digitized, the document is often static, presented as a photograph or transcription. This presentation could potentially make a researcher miss an important aspect of the document, such as something that is written more lightly, that they would have been privy to if they were in the presence of the actual document.
As I explored the Moravian Lives projects, the biggest similarity I found was with another DH project, “Transcribe Bentham”. Both projects utilized crowdsourcing. The projects don’t have a sole contributor, but rather many. This method allows for more transcriptions to become available in a shorter amount of time, simply because so many people are able to be working on the project at once.
In the digital age, we are increasingly interacting with textual material on the screen more than on the printed page. Personally, my high school utilized the “iPad Program” and all our readings were digital. Because the interaction with the digital material is overpowering interaction with the printed material, our research practices changed. Post-It notes and highlighters have been replaced with digital annotations.
Additionally, our physical and emotional relationships with our objects of study are drastically shifting in a digital age. Because archival documents are more accessible now digitally, researchers lose a special bond with the material that they would have felt had they accessed the material in person. This digital difference causes a slight detachment from their objects of study. The sense of seeing the document on a screen is much different than being able to see and potentially touch the document in real life.
In the physical archive, there are different sources of knowledge and serendipitous discovery than in the digital archive. In the physical archive, researchers may be more likely to interact with other scholars 
that are studying a similar topic. Physical archives also offer the “wide-angle perspective” (185) that Whitley spoke about. However digital archives offer a different experience. As Whitley writes, “In browse mode, digital archives allow for a wide-angle perspective on their material by trusting to the wanderings of a curious mouse clicker. In search mode, the hope is that a search engine will serendipitously discover information that a browsing scholar or student might otherwise miss” (186). I would not say that the digital archive is better than the physical archive and vice versa, just that the two offer very different experiences. In my opinion, a combination of both may be the best approach for a browsing scholar or student.
Samantha is currently a sophomore Markets, Innovation, and Design major in the Freeman College of Management at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. At Bucknell, Samantha works as a Student Development Officer for the Student Calling Program and is a member of Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society, Women in Finance, and is treasurer for the Chi Mu Chapter of Chi Omega Sorority. She graduated from the Morristown-Beard School in Morristown, New Jersey in June 2017. Samantha resides in Harding, New Jersey and during the summer, Samantha works at Basking Ridge Country Club.
