Update on Research

My team and I plan to start researching the collection itself Friday. While we are not certain on what we will focus on exactly, we have an interest in the history of the building itself. Hopefully we will also get to speak with Mark Ward (our contact in the church) this Friday or Monday.

In reference to the tools seen Wednesday, most looked useful, and I know that Timeline JS is. Timeline JS is also an extremely infuriating tool to use in my experience. The great things about Timeline, as well as Juxtapose and StoryMap I would imagine, is that learning it is simplicity itself. everything is conveniently labeled in the spreadsheet, and the preview function helps the creator know exactly what their changes do. Unfortunately like any google spreadsheet, it has a mind of its own and constantly moves the box you are typing in.

I have not had time enough to use the other tools, but they seem interesting to say the least. My team and I have yet to discuss which ones we may be interested in using. Because of their ease to use, it is likely we will use one of the Knightlab tools.

Advertisement

History Site Reviews

I feel that the Century America Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts site would be fine if two things were remedied. First while most all the information on the site was cited and easily understood, it was a little bland, and failed to capture my eye, but the simple black and white color scheme did work well in the end. Second there is a large blank area in the middle of the home page before getting to the actual site, I think it is a picture that is not loading; regardless it is irritating.

The Gilded Age Murder site used its space well, and I felt the color scheme matched the topic of early urban development, unfortunately said color scheme made it a little difficult to read what was written. On a more positive note I felt the map visitors to the site could play with gave a decent impression of the feeling of how people viewed the great size of these new urban areas.

I liked the idea behind the Virtual Paul’s Cross Project website, even if it seemed to run a little slow. Primarily I enjoyed the way that it made the history of the cathedral a more personal experience. Yet like the Century America site, this one lacked flare and much interactive material.

The idea behind the Emilie Davis Diaries site is well thought out, and the color scheme is interesting to look at, while it also does not make the content difficult to read. The only major problem with design is the small word font. What i like most about this site is the way the dates are organized at the top of the page.