Benny Kellman's Bio

Benny is a Ph.D. student majoring in U.S. History.  His areas of focus include Jewish History, Women's History, and Public History.  His personal research is on the history of small Jewish communities including Binghamton, N.Y. 

"While it is clear that everyone loves learning history and finds it rewarding and stimulating, there are ways that can make learning history even more exciting and accessible.  I am speaking, or course, about digital history and the digital humanities in general.

The highly visual nature of digital history invites and attracts the reader's attention in a way that even the best written essays do not.  In a course on History and GIS, I developed maps of the Jewish community of Binghamton in 1890, 1950, and 1975.  This storymap explores the social and geographic mobility of the local Jews.  Mobile Mentschen (arcgis.com)

Aside from providing a more visually interesting and attractive conduit for information, digital history naturally lends itself to collaborative and creative processes.  This website, Mapping  Violence, is the fruit of our class's shared and combined efforts, and by exploring it, you are completing its purpose.