Here comes the technofear. Again. Actually it seems to turn up at ever-diminishing intervals; the gap between my mastering some aspect of new technology and my realising that I’m still light-years behind developments gets steadily smaller, partly, I suppose, because my mastering the new technology increases my access to information about other technological stuff. This isn’t going to get any better this side of the singularity, is it?
The particular issue this time arises from the application I’m putting together for a new phase of the Reception of Thucydides project. Compared with the previous phase (see previous posts), this includes some really neat ideas for outreach and impact activity, largely due to one of my (I hope) future collaborators, Liz Sawyer, including the proper development of the Thinking Through Thucydides multi-layered digital text thing that I’ve been trying to get off the ground for a bit. That’s really good, said the internal reviewer in Bristol, but it’s a shame you’re not planning to develop an app as well.
Hmm. As I believe the current argot would have it, WTAF? Please bear in mind that it was only this summer that I ceased to be one of those old-fashioned people who use their mobile phone solely for phone calls, and mainly just to let me wife know that I’m on my way home. Having upgraded to a SmartPhone, and while still struggling to master the swipy-swipy technique (why can I make the text bigger but not smaller?), I now find that I’ve merely moved into the class of old-fashioned people who use their mobile phone solely to check their email now and again. I more or less understand the idea of apps in principle, I just don’t grasp them in practice – and I struggle to imagine what a Thucydides app would look like. You type in a question about foreign affairs, political issues or personal relationships, and up pops a decontextualised, mistranslated pearl of Thucydidean wisdom? You type in a question about foreign affairs, political issues or personal relationships, and every time the answer is: the strong do what they can. and the weak suffer what they must? (Which, to be fair, isn’t any more vacuous than the usual Give me the serenity to accept the stuff that’s unavoidable etc. line).
I’m honestly not opposed to the idea in principle; I simply don’t know where to start. Or how much money I would need to add to the budget to cover development costs, but that’s a lesser issue. So, I would genuinely be interested if any of you younger and/or more digitally native people had some helpful suggestions – I can guarantee you some sort of credit in the event that it gets off the ground…
Sphinx 
It is, on reflection, quite surprising that (to my knowledge, anyway) no one has yet written a Thucydides agony aunt column. I don’t think it would necessarily be just about the principle of changing what you have the power to change and accepting what you don’t, useful though that might be; also helpful reminders of the different motivations that might be influencing your estranged partner’s behaviour, emphasis on the role of chance and contingency and so forth. But I think I’m still thinking in very pre-digital terms…
Random collection – some relevant to Th scholars, and some of more general interest or amusement. Distance in nautical miles or speediest route to your present location from Syracuse, Corcyra, Athens etc (Google Map). Random Quote of the Day. Finding more or less apt quotation from Thucydides as origin of claim by politician or political theorist (Shazam for Political Aphorisms). Search Perseus for parallel remarks or idioms. Peloponnesian Timeline, matched to present day (“Today N years ago Pericles made a Speech” – and here’s the link). Quick link to image, biography, speech, later reception (Wiki). Editions and Translations through the ages. Role-play in assembly or in camp or battle (gaming). Most (all?) of these would be modifications of existing Apps of a kind that accomplished App-makers could probably be coached/coaxed into making. There are probably already some grammar and translation Apps for ancient Greek, but I suspect they’re still rather poor.
I imagine an app or digital tool might be fairly helpful as a prosopographical tool. The app could give brief biographical information and list of the references to a certain individual within Thucydides and in other sources.
An app would also make it easy to collect different and conflicting interpretations of significant passages. An app user could look up 5.105.2 and find what Morley had written on the subject, and Hornblower, and Connor, and so on. I do not know if that would lead to copyright issues.
The price and development of an app can vary greatly. AppShed (http://appshed.com/) and Weejot (http://www.weejot.com/) develop learning and teaching apps. I have heard Appshed offers app development training and Weejot advertises ready-made app templates. You may find these companies useful.