Comments on: Making my (collaborative) butter sculptures of history http://makinghistorypodcast.com/2008/12/05/making-my-collaborative-butter-sculptures-of-history/ The Blog for Making History Podcast Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:37:26 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: matt b http://makinghistorypodcast.com/2008/12/05/making-my-collaborative-butter-sculptures-of-history/#comment-120 matt b Sat, 06 Dec 2008 18:24:34 +0000 http://makinghistorypodcast.com/?p=165#comment-120 Collaboration's difficult, particularly 1) because the task of writing is such a solitary one - unlike scientific experimentation, and 2)history is so impressionistic that two different people can look at the same evidence and come up with three interpretations. I've collaborated on two papers (with the same person), and in both cases one person did a bulk of the writing, and the other offered heavy revision suggestions. The benefits of sharing sources and cross-fertilizing with ideas are real, though. Collaboration’s difficult, particularly 1) because the task of writing is such a solitary one – unlike scientific experimentation, and 2)history is so impressionistic that two different people can look at the same evidence and come up with three interpretations.

I’ve collaborated on two papers (with the same person), and in both cases one person did a bulk of the writing, and the other offered heavy revision suggestions. The benefits of sharing sources and cross-fertilizing with ideas are real, though.

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