Coordinators: Hugh Blackmer, Holt Merchant, and Vaughan Stanley
Overview The proposed R.E. Lee project will build a prototype of a digital library application which unites (1) a Geographical Information Systems (GIS)-based Web interface, (2) an Access database with contributor-friendly management tools, and (3) a substantial body of pedagogically-relevant content concerning the Civil War. The resulting product will be used in Dr. Merchant's courses in 2003-2004, as a part of the process of developing and testing a Web resource for the eventual use of all partners in Associated Colleges of the South (ACS) in the Digital South Project. Two students will work on the project: Jitendra Shrestha on programming and interface design, and Benjamin Hicks on identification and preparation of digital library content from W&L collections and Internet resources.
Extending the Digital South Project The Digital South project is a W&L-based ACS initiative to develop a robust digital library of spatial data relevant to Southern states. The Civil War is an appropriate focus for development and deployment of the larger project because each of the ACS partners offers courses on the Civil War, and each has a regional legacy, including local resources (photographs, documents, maps, data) in its collections. While these resources could be digitized and made available for local use in teaching, their value would be greatly enhanced by linkage into a shared mosaic of materials on the southern United States.
Components We will build a general entry point for online study of the decades between 1850 and 1880. The unique features of this project are (1) an interface enabling users to contribute faculty research, course projects, and other media to the digital archive, locating their material in the spatial and temporal matrix, and (2) facilities for users to search the collection via a map interface. The interface will permit a user to zoom in to specific areas, choose map layers to display, define rectangles within which to query an active map layer, and retrieve hyperlinked material (see mapa.wlu.edu/ civilwar/). Utilities for search of the digital library database will also be developed. Materials included will be texts, images, statistical datasets, maps, videos, and timelines.
A 2002 R.E. Lee project under Blackmer's direction built Pirarucu, a digital library application (see amazon.wlu.edu/amazon/), which provides the basic tools and interface for a user to add and manage items, to share materials among collaborators, and to query the accumulated library. The structure of Pirarucu can be adapted for the Civil War project. Mapping functionality will be adapted from a variety of ArcIMS prototypes developed during the last 18 months (see ims1.wlu.edu), and metadata procedures and conventions can be adapted from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues (see alsos.wlu.edu), insuring interoperability with other digital library projects.
The programming task is to build a container into which content can be put by subject experts (historians) without knowledge of the technical structures. We will develop (1) an Access database with spatial and temporal dimensions, (2) Web-based user interfaces for upload and query, incorporating geographic characteristics and identifiers, (3) procedures for selection and metadata creation for a broad range of media, and (4) a substantial online collection of material drawn from W&L collections. Tools used will be ESRI's ArcGIS and ArcIMS for GIS, and Microsoft's .Net suite for databases.
The prototype developed during the summer will be used at W&L during the academic year 2003-2004, and the results of use will inform the development of an ACS-wide implementation in the subsequent year. The structure we build will be easily adaptable to other materials on the American South, and to augmentation by remote contributors.
Participants The project draws upon faculty, library and computing expertise: Holt Merchant as content expert in History and alpha tester, Vaughan Stanley and Lisa McCown as content experts in Special Collections, Hugh Blackmer as project designer and GIS coordinator, and Skip Williams as database expert.
Student participants will have a unique opportunity to participate as full collaborators in a project which pioneers the integration of GIS and database tools and builds a valuable resource for local and remote users. They will work in an environment which fosters communication and teamwork across disciplines and skills.
Ben Hicks is an advanced student in History chosen for the project by Merchant, and will work under the supervision of Merchant and Stanley to adapt materials from course syllabi, select illustrative content from W&L collections, digitize resources, enter material into the database, and choose and link remote resources. The project is an oportunity for him to engage with a broad range of library resources and digital technologies.
Jitendra Shrestha was highly recommended by Dr. Tom Whaley. His background in Computer Science equips him to learn the .Net software environment and adapt existing Pirarucu digital library structures, integrate the database with ArcIMS functionality, and build the containers and the conduits to allow users to manage the Digital South database. This experience will broaden his practical skills in software development.
Schedule In the first week, Hicks will work with Merchant and Stanley to identify a broad range of materials to be included in the digital library; in weeks 2-5 (during Stanley's vacation) Hicks will digitize materials and create basic metadata for all items; in weeks 6-8 he will complete documentation and assist in the testing of the user interfaces. In the first 3 weeks, Shrestha will work with Williams and Blackmer to adapt the Pirarucu database and construct the user interface for input into the database; in weeks 4-6 he will work with ArcGIS and ArcIMS to build the geographic user interface; weeks 7-8 will be devoted to testing and documentation.
Additional Support ACS has provided generous support to the Digital South project (see home.wlu.edu/~blackmerh/acsgis/digisouth.html) and via the Information Fluency Initiative; an application to NSF under the Digital Libraries program is currently in the developmental stages, and Blackmer is exploring NITLE support.