Author: ammon

Map research

GIS and Google:

GIS would be a bit complex for this project. It is mainly used for displaying geographic data (ie. population density, economic diversity, elevation changes, etc), rather than pinpointing an items’ location.  While GIS does make some really cool maps, it is beyond the scope and needs of this internship.

Google maps, on the other hand, are more in line with things we would like to do. There are already many similar applications found throughout the web. Some examples are “home grown” at CHNM, like the Hurricane Archive, and 911 archive.

The deciding factors will be the options that work best for our needs (which are outlined in a previous post).

Discussion of Stokes The Walls Came Tumbling Down

Why did communism fall?

Some points Mills and I discussed:

  • People were fed up with many aspects of life and began to support the dissidents.
  • Gorbachev began changes in the Soviet Union and allowed and encouraged changes in other communist countries.
  • Economic issues. All countries were in debt.
  • The government could no longer afford to support the fictional deal.
  • Regime supports the people with health care, housing, work, etc, and the people give up liberties. Once the basic needs were not being met, it was no longer worth living without liberties.
  • Reagan – noticed it was an economic issue and out spent the Soviets in the arms race.
  • Soviets and all countries just didn’t have he resources and money to support their ideals.

In regards to the website:

  • We talked about what kind of maps are available (GIS, Google, Flash).
  • Keep a national narrative.
  • Make the application personable. Users able to select their own sources and be able to view them geographically.
  • Also have sources which apply and are viewable under umbrella issues.
  • Students should have the ability to select their own sources and view those sources on a map.

First meeting

I met with Mills to discuss the scope and hope of the project. Basically, I’m going to try to create a map and timeline interface for the website and the objects. When a user of the site selects the objects, they’ll be able to view them on a map and timeline. The initial thought is to use Google Maps and the Similie Timeline.

Mills also gave me a couple of books to read to help me understand the history of the fall of communism.  I’ll meet with Mills a couple of more times to discuss the books, and many more times after that (I’m sure) to discuss the progress of the maps and timelines.

I’m excited for this project/internship. Not only does it complete my MA in History, but it’s a great way to combine my love of history and web stuff.  Usually I spend a lot of time on the web stuff, and not much on the history side of things. I’m hoping I’ll have time to focus on some historical analysis and interpretation too.

Paradigms of Humanities and Medicators

Dan Cohen has a description of a recent conference about the humanities and their use of modern technology. In the post he shows that the whole aspect of scholars in the humanities requires a paradigm shift, but also mentions another paradigm shift that happened in the field of medicine. This was the efforts of Dr. John Snow in London during the cholera outbreak in the mid nineteenth century.

Continue reading Paradigms of Humanities and Medicators

Video as content

I read an article recently that noted a paradigm shift in the Web industry.  It’s actually a shift that is taking place right now!  Due to the advances of technology, video is increasingly more common, even expected in a web site.  Just as the web moved from a representation of a piece of paper to an online magazine (another web paradigm shift I should delve into), the web is moving from video seen as a novelty to video being expected as actual content.

Read the article here by Tom Green at digital-web.com.

The history of paradigm shifts

While reading a book for one of my classes (Hist 698), a reference to a paradigm shift was mentioned in regards to using the web in classroom teaching. The example given was of the motion picture industry.

In the beginning, motion pictures were basically filmed versions of plays which were enacted on stages, with a set and props. After a while the movie people realized, hey, I’m not bound to the stage! I can take my camera anywhere! So instead of making fake trees I can film real trees. Instead of creating a set that looks like the beach, I can just go to the beach!

They had a paradigm shift. They started out using new technology to do the same thing they had always been doing. But once they realized a far better potential for the technology, and broke out of the old mold, they were able to do great and wonderful things (and also terribly awful things – think of the immorality pervasive in movies nowadays).

How many other paradigm shifts are there in history? Countless, I’m sure. A very cursory search (“history paradigm shift” as a google search) turns up very few references to a historical look at paradigm shifts. A book by Thomas Kuhn seems to be it, and it’s limited to scientific revolutions.