Suffragists Speak: Comparative Analysis Project Members:
Carol Anderson
Arti Kirch
Rosalie Lack
Sally ThomasIS 290-2 Electronic Publishing
October 05, 1998
(Note: This comparative analysis is divided into Part A. Technical Review, and, Part B. Content Review.)
Objective
In order to create an effective interface, we have explored the access and organization methods of sites that have the apparent goal of educating the user about a collection of items or particular topic. We were especially interested in methods that were strong in the following areas:
As an overall goal for our resulting product, we want the technology that underpins the content to be attractive, unobtrusive, and offer choices in using the site.
- multimedia presentations: e.g., combinations of audio and video;
- navigation: e.g., placement and persistence of tables of contents;
- interaction opportunities: e.g., the ability to pose questions for response;
- screen design: e.g., consistency and clarity of the screen layout, especially if the site is composed of several "layers";
- context: e.g., effective use of a timeline;
- content: e.g., inclusion or accessibility to secondary but related information.
Scope
It was decided that sites that might best demonstrate methods germane to the development of Suffragists Speak fell into several categories:
Business sites were also investigated. However, an initial review indicated that these sites had few of the methods mentioned above in "Objective" and thus were not useful candidates for study.
- Museums/Archives/Libraries
- Reference works, or representations of material available in another medium
- University collections and projects
Part A. Technical Review
Overview
The majority of the sites did not offer any truly interactive tools. Some did have "virtual tours" but for the most part that consisted of pages of images with accompanying text that the user scrolled through.
Below is a sampling of interesting sites that, while not necessarily the best examples, each contain at least one or two elements that represent a functionality that we could consider using on our site.
Museums/Archives/Libraries
General Description Content Multi-
mediaNavi-
gationInter-
actionScreen
DesignContext http://odysseus.sjsu.edu/arth/byzantine/index.html
A San Jose State Library student’s site. Rich Many features http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/exhibits/brown/
An example of the use of forms for collecting user reactions & input (the "Hey kids" section) Encourages
thinkinghttp://www.moma.org/onlineprojects/internyet/f-stpete.html
This is an example of the use of orientation. Timeline http://www.sjmusart.org/AlternatingCurrents/
A guided audio tour. Audio is saved as .ram file Real-
Playerhttp://www.diacenter.org/kos/dramaticreading.html
An artist’s work, with an audio + text section. Not automated http://www.diacenter.org/rooftop/webproj/fprayer/fprayer.html
An artist's site. Icons
The Huntington Museum "Votes for Women" illustrates what not to do; e.g., one section simply displays a page of approx. 20 thumbnail images which are too small to see well and have no metadata to guide users. Rich Reference works/Representations
General Description Content Multi-
mediaNavi-
gationInter-
actionScreen
DesignContext
Microsoft Encarta 98 CD-ROM. Related articles, virtual tours Consistent layout http://emporium.turnpike.net/~walk/sandiego/gaslamp/5_i200.htm
A walking tour with map-related, directional navigation. Physical places http://www.visdyn.com/jut/index.htm
Display of the interiors of houses for sale. Panora-
micviewPhysical places User controls http://www.starcitysearch.com/E/V/TORON/0020/47/80/11.html
Same technology as the preceding visdyn.com site, but map links and movement are also featured. Physical places http://www.collegenet.com/vrml/logo.wrl.gz
Difficult to use player that takes a long time to load. VRML http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/
A cyberversion of the PBS show about the West. Rich Slide show & sound Tours Search function Timeline University Collections and Projects
General Description Content Multi-
mediaNavi-
gationInter-
actionScreen
DesignContext http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/faculties/SS/ARKY/show/showintro.html
Photos related to archaeological research in the Canadian Arctic. Slow load on 56K modem. Slide show & sound http://www.msnbc.com/onair/msnbc/TimeAndAgain/archive/wknee/cover.asp
Wounded Knee history. Requires Shockwave plug-in which sometimes killed Netscape; IE also problematic. Page activated audio with pics Part B. Content Review
Overview
After conducting a thorough search for online materials related to woman suffrage in the United States, it is safe to say that our proposed publication is unique in several different ways:
What follows is a brief account of the many sites searched, including Microsoft’s Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 99; the Encarta Online Library; Yahoo’s subject directory; Alta Vista’s Search Engine (looking at the first 120 references); Project Guttenberg; and links provided from various sites encountered. This research was useful not only to confirm that our proposed publication is unique, but also to learn about primary sources (especially photographs and newsreel sources) that we may be able to obtain for our own publication.
- for its format (oral histories supplemented by other texts from the period—books, newspaper articles, and creative works—along with photographs, newsreels, and audio);
- for its subject matter (very little can be found about the World War I period of pro-suffrage activities just prior to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. In fact, some of the material encountered skews the historical context of what led to the ratification, glossing over the militant phase of the movement led by Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party, when women "pickets" staged a constant presence at the gates of the White House, and who were arrested and sent to jail in great numbers);
- for its depth (most sites are superficial in comparison to the publication we propose, which will offer the equivalent of several thousand pages of material);
- for its ability to answer the research needs of the novice and advanced users.
Archives/Libraries/Museums
1. Library of Congress, American Memory: "By Popular Demand"—Votes for Women http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/vfwhtml/vfwhome.html
2. Library of Congress, American Memory, National American Women’s Suffrage Association Collection Interesting presentation of photographs, many from the 1910-1920 period.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/naw/nawshome.html3. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, George Grantham Bain Collection Focuses on early period of suffrage movement.
http://lcweb.loc.gov/spcoll/022.html4. Library of Congress, National Photo Company Collection News photographs of New York City, early twentieth century, potential source of supplementary photographs.
http://lcweb.loc.gov/spcoll/170.html5. Library of Congress, Variety Stage materials News photographs, including items covering suffrage, of Washington, D.C., 1910s-1930s
HTTP://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/vshtml/vshome.html6. Library of Congress, Panoramic Photographs. Playscripts from the late 19th and early 20th centuries that comment on gender roles and the campaign for women's rights.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/pnhtml/pnhome.html7. National Archives and Records Association, Washington, D.C. Includes photograph of 1919 meeting of the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association in St. Louis.
http://www.nara.gov8. National Archives, Exhibit Hall, "The Featured Document: The 19th Amendment" Source of many relevant photographs and newsreels.
http://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/constitution/19th/19th.html9. The Huntington Museum, "Votes for Women" online exhibit Good presentation of primary document for classroom education.
http://www.huntington.org/vfw/index.html10. Women's Collections Roundtable 1997 Directory. Visually beautiful, but difficult to access, collection of materials related to woman’s suffrage.
http://www.archivists.org/round/home.html11. Smithsonian: National Museum of American History The Society of American Archivists created this web site, which contains brief descriptions of some archival collections that contain primary material related to woman suffrage.
"From Parlor to Politics: Women and Reform in America, 1890 - 1925"
http://www.si.edu/nmah/youmus/ex14parl.htmUniversity Collections and Projects Provides only excerpts from this permanent exhibition. 12. Duke University
http://odyssey.lib.duke.edu/women/suffrage.html13. Schlesinger Library (Radcliffe University) A "pathfinder" lists resources that would be available in many libraries for the study of the women's suffrage movement, as well as Duke's own manuscript holdings relevant to this topic.
http://www.us.net/upa/guides/schles1a.htm14. University of Rochester, Susan B. Anthony University Center, "Created Equal"—History of the Suffrage Movement Guide to the library's microfilmed holdings relating to women's suffrage (published by University Publications of America).
HTTP://www.rochester.edu/SBA/hisindx.html15. University of South Carolina, Newsfilm Library A time line and bibliography and some images relating to women's suffrage.
http://www.sc.edu/newsfilm/16. Todd Library, Middle Tennessee State University Offers a portion of the Fox Movietonews newsreel collection for the period 1919-1934 by the 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. A potential source of newsreels, but looks expensive to obtain even a listing of what’s available.
http://www.mtsu.edu/~library/microtxt/wom-micro.html17. University of Georgia Libraries, Women in History and the Law: Suffrage for Women in Great Britain and the United States, 1848-1920 Includes among its resources a 179-reel microfilm of the National Woman's Party Papers, 1913-1974. This extensive collection includes correspondence; biographical sketches; plays; surveys; minutes; drafts and reports of federal and state legislation; legal digests and reports concerning labor laws and other legal matters affecting women; trial materials and court cases; government documents including House and Senate resolutions, hearings, and bills; United Nations documents; and pamphlets and publications of the NWP. Locate the printed publication, The National Woman's Party Papers, 1913-1974: A Guide to the Microform Collection, 1979, ed. by Thomas C. Pardo; see also Review: Microform Review 15 (Fall 1986) Another source gave a contact for the National Woman’s Party, NWP President, Dorothy Ruth Ferrell, at 202-546-1210.)
http://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/pexhibit/suffrag.html18. State University of New York at Binghamton This 1997 exhibit features pieces from the newly donated Lucy Hargrett Draper Collection: British and American Women in History and Law. Highlights of the collection and exhibit include a signed photograph of Alice Paul.
Women and Social Movements in the United States, 1830-1930
http://womhist.binghamton.edu/19. University of Maryland, Women's Studies On-Line Archive. This is a very interesting, very new website intended to introduce students to a rich collection of primary documents related to women and social movements in the United States between 1830 and 1930. The material on this website begins a larger project, co-directed by Kathryn Kish Sklar and Thomas Dublin, and funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (a potential source of funding for our publication). Two editorial projects related to our publication are: a) "The National Woman's Party and the Enfranchisement of Black Women, 1919-1924."
http://womhist.binghamton.edu/nwp/introduc.htmb) "Workers, Allies and the Threat of Socialism: The New York City Shirtwaist Strike, 1909-1910"
http://womhist.binghamton.edu/shirt/socialistsrebuffsuffragists.html
http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Topic/WomensStudies/Video Documentaries This is an extensive site that contains a keyword search; bibliographies; links; reference documents; and syllabi. 20. Public Broadcasting Service, "One Woman, One Vote," 1995
http://www.pbs.org/onewoman/suffrage.htmlCommercial Sources of Photographs and News Reel Related to Woman’s Suffrage Includes information about this superb documentary (which presents a rich source of newsreels and photographs from the World War I era of suffrage), along with historical background on the suffrage movement. 21. The Stock, Archival & News Footage Network
www.footage.net22. Archive Films/Archive Photos (An Image Bank Company), New York City An umbrella organization.
(http://www.archivefilms.com)23. Producers Library Service, North Hollywood Source of several relevant suffrage news reels.
Email: stockftg@primenet.comPotential source of newsreels.
Commercial source of newsreels, could not locate web site. 24. John E. Allen, Inc.
116 North Ave Park Ridge NJ 07656
201-391-3299Other Resources
25. "History of Woman Suffrage in the United States": timeline
http://www.city-net.com/~lmann/women/history/timeline.html26. A History of the American Suffragist Movement, by Doris Weatherford, ABC-CLIO, 1995 (book advertisement)
http://www.suffragist.com/27. "75 Suffragists" Index shows that this book offers little information about the World War I era of the woman’s suffrage movement. Includes timeline.
http://www.inform.umd.edu/EdRes/Topic/WomensStudies/ReadingRoom/History/Vote/75-suffragists.htmlIncludes biographies of 15 women who were active in the National Woman’s Party.28. History of Women's Suffrage in America
http://historychannel.com/community/woman/index.html29. American Political Items Collectors (APIC) Introductory site to history of woman’s suffrage; nice navigation, nice design. Includes some photographs.
Woman's Suffrage and Political Issues Chapter
http://www.collectors.org/apic/news.htm#AN-0002130. Official Project Guttenberg Site An interesting resource, worth contacting this APIC chapter to tell them about our publication, a potential audience. Also mentions "a new suffrage Public Television documentary project by Ken Burns that is in the works," which is certainly worth finding out more about.
http://www.promo.net/pg/None of the books we are considering including in our publication (including Jailed for Freedom by Doris Stevens, 1920; and Story of the Woman’s Party by Inez Haynes Irwin, 1921) are available via the Project Guttenberg.