A partnership of Truman Presidential Museum & Library, Truman Institute, and the MU Design Team at CTIE Project Whistlestop

Project History Sponsors: October 1996 – September 2001: U.S. Department of Education Challenge Grant Technology Innovations in Education October 1996 – September 2001: U.S. Department of Education Challenge Grant Technology Innovations in Education October 2001 to present: Truman Library Institute October 2001 to present: Truman Library Institute

Goals of 5-year U.S. Department of Education Project Primary Intended Audience: K-12 Teachers K-12 Teachers K-12 Students K-12 Students

Goals for first 5 years: 1. Build an on-line database of primary sources in support of student research that incorporates inquiry- based and project- based learning 2. Create an interactive electronic communications system to promote and support student research

Goals for first 5 years: 3. Create project based learning experiences that combine original sources and innovative uses of technology to deliver those experiences 4. Design staff-development activities that build on teacher expertise 5. Expand the learning opportunities to other schools via electronic media

Goals of last 2 years: Move from static web pages to a more dynamic DB design Move from static web pages to a more dynamic DB design Merge Project Whistlestop with Truman Presidential Library & Museum site Merge Project Whistlestop with Truman Presidential Library & Museum site

usage statistics trumanlibrary.org December 2002

Size of trumanlibrary.org website: Size of trumanlibrary.org website: Number of files comprising the website: 52,276 and counting The MySQL databases contain thousands of records. The largest is the calendar database, which contains 13 tables and 27, 960 records. The databases continue to grow.

Current Directions & Highlights Document Collections Original Style Flat html files Below collection level groupings without reference to clear organizing principle No collection level search Output of document lists inflexible Current Style Dynamically generated content from database Can be organized, sorted on the fly according to common standards, like by date Collection level search including search of document titles, photo captions, and chronologies

Documents Original Interface Design:

Documents Current Interface Design:

Materials for K-5 audience: Featuring Mo, the talking mule

Presidential Daily Appointment Calendar Full-text searchable version of Truman’s entire Presidential Appointment calendar Browsable by date Entries linked to audio and text of Truman speeches, logs of Truman’s trips to Key West, profiles of cabinet members Administrative module allows volunteers and staff to enter data into database remotely and manage and edit it

Calendar data-entry form Volunteers working for Truman Library used this web-based form to key entries from the Presidential Appointment calendar into a database table on a server. Staff from Truman Library overseeing the project used the form to proof and edit entries.

Future Plans Future features of the web site may include A web-based, interactive version of Truman Library's Decision Theater. The interactive version would integrate audio, video, graphics, and animation with interactive features that would allow users to respond to polling questions and view the results of past polls. A web-based, interactive version of Truman Library's Decision Theater. The interactive version would integrate audio, video, graphics, and animation with interactive features that would allow users to respond to polling questions and view the results of past polls. Development plans also include conversion and integration of a large photograph collection, currently not online, with the existing online photograph collection, and development of a system to manage and classify these photographs. Development plans also include conversion and integration of a large photograph collection, currently not online, with the existing online photograph collection, and development of a system to manage and classify these photographs. The web site may also grow to include a separate server for streaming audio and video, and design of web site interfaces may be refined based on usability testing. The web site may also grow to include a separate server for streaming audio and video, and design of web site interfaces may be refined based on usability testing. In addition, current static document collections may be converted to dynamic format, so that they are stored and retrieved from databases. In addition, current static document collections may be converted to dynamic format, so that they are stored and retrieved from databases.