Web Based Tools for Research Dr. Charles Kann Marcin Malec August, 2012

Overview Who am I Wiki and Photo Gallery Time Lines Time Maps Dynamic content 3-D Monuments Take away

Who am I Doctorate in Computer Science from GWU Research in Programmer Psychology and using Computers in Education. Interests include computers in education, concurrent and distributed programing, computer hardware Adjunct Professor, Computer Science, Gettysburg College

Who am I? (continued) Life long history buff, with a concentration on Gettysburg and the Civil War. Current volunteer docent at the Gettysburg RR station.

Wiki and Photo Gallery Need to easily input, manage, and present data. Ability to centralize data to make a context specific collection. Data collection will be copies of data from other sources, but represent a “one shop stop” for resources about a specific area. No need to “search” through unrelated libraries.

Wiki and Photo Gallery Civil War and/or Gettysburg specific pictures. These sites provide a central repository for resources to support other sites we will cover. These sites will allow easier searching for relevant material. http://www.chuckkann.com/CivilWar/

Time Lines Currently widely used and placed on the web, but implementations are text-only. http://mobile96.com/cw1/Vicksburg/Vickstimeline.html http://www.todayincivilwarhistory.com/gettysburg.php Many tools currently exist to create time lines, most either produce static images, or are flash based. Simile is a tool from MIT which has wide acceptance, allows web based timeline presentations

Civil War Time Line Example of a Civil War time line is being developed by the author http://chuckkann.com/timelines/CivilWar/ Uses Simile (MIT open source license) Implements a standard look and feel. This is a prototype, though the final product will be production quality. The purpose is to work with others to determine how to implement this type of time line.

Other Uses of Time Lines Biographies Political Events (Campaigns, emerging crises as in Egypt) Building Legal briefs Epidemiology (tracking epidemics) Biology (tracking life cycle data) Generally would be useful in a number of research areas.

Why Simile Open Source Can be used with dynamic content or other programming interfaces Can be extended to provide simple interfaces which are as easy for users as other time lines, but are more extendable. There are trade offs with other systems, but in my professional judgment, Simile best meets my goals and objectives.

Time Maps Time Map is a Simile based tool developed by Nick Rabinowitz. Open Source Leverages Simile Time Lines To my knowledge, this is unique software, at least in the open source community.

Civil War Time Map Example of a Civil War time line is being developed by the author http://chuckkann.com/timemaps/CivilWar/ This is a prototype, though the final product will be production quality.

Other Uses of Time Maps Political Events (Campaigns, emerging crises as in Egypt) Building Legal briefs Epidemiology (tracking epidemics) Biology (tracking life cycle data) Generally would be useful in a number of research areas.

Dynamic Content with Time Maps Gettysburg Monuments web site. Originally developed in 2006-2008 Contains over 700 monuments and other sites Modified and moved into Gettysburg Domain as a part of a research project funded by Gettysburg College. Prototype integration of “3-D” virtual views of the monuments as part of summer research funded by Gettysburg College. Marcin will cover this part of the project.

Take Away I would like to work with the CWI on these projects. Collaboration on look-feel of sites. Collaboration on generation of time lines or other software, particularly with student involvement. Lessons learned to improved software. Collaboration with CWI on defining needs and implementing software.

Ongoing Time Line / Time Map work Other formats for time lines / time maps that might match other applications (some small set of standard formats) Simple to use UI for time lines and time maps Using image maps to present data Research Tool – timeline with “index cards” to organize research Possible smart phone implementation of the monuments map as senior design project.

Author's Long Term Goals To continue to create tools to present his interests in the Civil War/Gettysburg. To continue to develop tools for time line type research. This research will be used for a partial basis for a class on “Presenting Research on the Web”, hopefully to be offered in 2014-2015 school year as a First Year Seminar.

Conclusion Thank you for your time. I hope we can find common ground to collaborate on future projects. I would be excited to find common ways to give students in educational experiences using the types of tools I am recommending. I would love feedback on future tools/classes, and support in offering class in “Presenting Research on the Web”.

Special Thanks Rod Tosten or providing funding for a student researcher this summer. Marcin Malec for converting the Monuments appplication this summer Clif Presser and Todd Neller for help in reviewing this project, and providing technical support for Marcin. Volunteers from town who have reviewed the software.