Exploring the History Web

This assignment is to check out these sites and put them in chronological order.

Avalon Project
The April 16 Archive
The Oyez Project
Valley of the Shadow
Romantic Circles
Dickinson Electronic Archive
Persepolis: A Virtual Reconstruction
American Memory
Lascaux
Digital Karnak
Hurricane Digital Memory Bank
Hawthorne in Salem
Amiens Cathedral Project
Life Outtacontext, In Our Path and Eye Level

So looking at the design and in some cases, the last time they were updated, this was my order.

American Memory
The Oyez Project
Romantic Circles
Dickinson Electronic Archive
Avalon Project
Hawthorne in Salem
Valley of the Shadow
The April 16 Archive
Amiens Cathedral Project
Lascaux
Hurricane Digital Memory Bank
Digital Karnak
Persepolis: A Virtual Reconstruction
Life Outtacontext, In Our Path and Eye Level

The more advanced the graphics, the more likely I was to assign them more recent dates. The exception to this was Jeff Gates' works because them appeared to be blogs. So while the design and data applications, like databases and search functions, weren't too sophisticated, the information was recent.

I did remember consulting The Oyez Project several years ago but had the same thought about the Library of Congress site American Memory. Both were pretty basic in their design -- fonts, graphics and presentation of data -- but it turns out, American Memory wasn't as old as I thought it was. But it still had that government feel that 25 years ago would have been reflected as a two-color print publication with overuse of half tone blues or greens.

Some early ones like Valley of the Shadow offered visual attempts to demonstrate accessing different data based on events and data, which might have been edgy at the time but now seem confusing. Worse, the information that comes from these different searches in Valley of the Shadow, is not limited to a specific time period as the interactive graphic would lead the user to believe. While it's possible that historical data and sources may not have changed in ten years, the applications to access this information have changed and the early sites haven't been updated.

The stunning graphics and movement of more recent sites, like Lascaux and Persepolis, were incredible. But the use of mapping, hi-res photography, and digital illustrations made these historic places and collections come alive. In this way, they were virtual visits to lost or hidden places.