Suffragists Speak: Project Proposal

Project Members:
Carol Anderson
Arti Kirch
Rosalie Lack
Sally Thomas

IS 290-2 Electronic Publishing
September 28, 1998

Initial Proposal

Rosalie and Sally worked as interns last summer at the Bancroft Library, marking up a series of eight suffragist oral history manuscripts with SGML and the Text Encoding Initiative. We are proposing to expand the work we did this summer. Most of the manuscripts include audio excerpts from the oral histories, and there are some links to related manuscripts and photographs. The site is not yet "public," but will be soon. They're viewable with the Dynaweb browser--the SGML files are translated on the fly to HTML, so can be viewed by Netscape or Internet Explorer.

We have met with the project manager at the Bancroft Library, who has given us permission to use the files, and is open to the idea of collaborating with her to improve the manuscripts that will be presented on the Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE. Here are potential areas of work:

1) Do a usability assessment of the publication as it currently exists. Make changes that help the average user (i.e., someone not familiar with SGML tags or how to do a search taking advantage of SGML tags) and, if deemed useful, add more SGML tagging that will help generate useful indexes and make the manuscripts more accessible. Determine how the individual manuscripts can best be inter-related.

2) Use the manuscripts as the basis of a CD-ROM publication, adding historical soundtracks and/or news reels (whatever can be found that is free and without copyright conflict) or secondary material that helps build a "thematic archive" (a publication that combines primary and secondary resources). (I have some interesting examples of Voyager CD-ROMS, specifically Who Built America?, which is a good example of how a basic history text was livened up with audio and video. It appears to be a hypercard publication--it's Mac driven.)

Rosalie and Sally can teach other team members about the basics of SGML and TEI, and how the oral histories are organized on the UNIX server. It would be great to collaborate with anyone who can teach us new skills that will make the CD-ROM more dynamic and interactive (javascript or perl??). And unless someone joins who has experience publishing a CD-ROM, we can all learn that together! Whether or not you're interested in publishing historical/archival materials, the skills involved would be broadly applicable.

Vision

Provide interactive tools for both novice and expert users to make the study of history a more accessible and rich experience. This will be achieved primarily by providing a context for historical events through the use of timelines and inclusion of other related primary and secondary sources, in multiple formats (text, audio, newsreel, illustrations, and photographs).

Value

The suffragist oral history series will be a valuable addition to online sources of women’s history. The viewpoints of the women are unique and compelling—they present history "in their own words," not packaged for textbook consumption. With this series, users will witness the past through the eyes of the women who were there, who recall the dramatic moments of picketing in front of the White House in 1917, of confronting President Woodrow Wilson to include women in his vision of democracy, and of being arrested and jailed for their actions. Readers will have the opportunity to learn about these women’s early influences and understand what motivated them to work tirelessly for the cause of suffrage. The views of prominent women who readers may have been introduced to in history textbooks—like Alice Paul, founder of the National Woman’s Party and champion of militant tactics, and Jeannette Rankin, the first woman to be elected to Congress, are among those represented in the series, along with lesser known but equally fascinating and accomplished women, including the poet and socialist Sara Bard Field, and writer and anthropologist Rebecca Hourwich Reyher.

The site will reproduce several thousand pages of transcripts, which, despite its inherent value, is likely to overwhelm even the most serious scholar. Offering a navigation system that will introduce and guide the reader through the pivotal moments of the World War I-era of the women’s suffrage movement will be a critical step in the process of presenting this material online. Links to timelines and multimedia sources, including photographs, audio excerpts from the interviews, and (with luck) newsreels, will help the user to understand the events in the context of the time period. Sensitive to the problem of "information overload"—especially for the reader who is being introduced to the subject for the first time—the site will guide the "novice" and "advanced" users on different paths. The novice user will be led to material that conveys historical events in a clear and concise manner, and will benefit from visual and audio materials that present a vivid impression of the time period. The advanced user will be able to link to additional scholarly articles and related primary sources that provide further details and insight to the historical significance of important events.

We are fortunate to have access to talented women’s history faculty members and women’s studies students who we can approach for feedback throughout this process. We also anticipate calling on teachers and students from some of the local high schools to comment on the value of the material and its presentation format. With this kind of user assessment, and a concrete idea of how this material could be included into high school and college classroom instruction, we think it is likely we will be successful in winning foundation support for such an endeavor. We will argue that it is not enough to provide raw content online, but that the user must have the ability to immediately grasp the scope and depth of the material offered, and have tools that will help the user make historical sense of the content.

Viability

We are exploring the viability of two options.

Technology

The technology that will be needed to support such a product will be SGML/TEI, XML, HTML, and a scripting language such as PERL or CGI. The text is currently encoded in SGML, we would add additional SGML tags in order to make the text more "searchable." We would also like to experiment with Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) to see if it would meet out needs of sending audio across the Internet (XML would be used here). We would like to include audio clips of the interviewees and add some archival video footage. HTML will be used to create the interface to the site. We will make use of a scripting language to create a form for the users to submit photos and/or stories. The scripting language would also be used to create forms with "pre-computed" searches of the SGML tags (e.g. all personal names, places, and events).

Project Description and Scope

There are four main components to this project.

We will use the existing content from the Suffragist site, which is already encoded with SGML, and investigate other related sources for primary and secondary materials. We will design and test a prototype of the products. If time permits we will examine the viability of creating a CD-ROM version of the site.

Project Roles

Group members have responsibility for a specific project function area, but are expected to contribute to, or consult on, other members' tasks as discussed with the project manager and team. All members of the team will participate in the product development including additional tagging and programming.

Project Lead/Manager (S. Thomas)

Perform initial, "visionary" research; create detailed project plan; coordinate meetings; report on deliverables; content development

Graphic Designer (A. Kirch)

Develop screen layouts; choose product "look", i.e., fonts, tool representations, etc.; specify contents of modules; arrange multimedia effects

Technical Lead (C. Anderson)

Select appropriate software; function mapping; coordinate with Technical Consultant as needed

Technical Consultant

Consult on software selection; sizing; assist in developing working prototype and fixing bugs from testing

System Integrator (R. Lack)

Work closely through out the process with technical and content development; Pre-test functions; develop test scripts; specify test bed; arrange for user tests; write up testing bugs and comments
 

Product Plan

Sep 15 - Oct 15
A. Project Startup

1. Research educational publication models and scholarly needs

a. Academic (UCB, Harvard)
b. Commercial (Houghton-Mifflin)
c. Free-lance (Abbe Don)
d. TEI project sites
2. Investigate competing products
a. Dynaweb offerings
b. Web presentations
c. CD-ROM
3. Specfy Functions
a. Visualization tools (e.g., timelines, trees, etc.)
b. Search and search record mechanisms
c. Multimedia effects
4. Content Development (determine scope of content and obtain copyright license to reproduce material online if necessary)
5. Technical Training (identify technical consultant and training resources)

Oct 1 - Nov1
B. Design

1. GUI

a.Generalized screen layout
b. Specific tools and locations for them
c. Activity representations (e.g., icons, words, etc.)
2. Content mapping (flowchart of what data is available at what level)
3. Function mapping (i.e., what can be done where)
4. Sizing

Oct 1 - Nov 1
C. Development/Prototyping

1. Tagging
3. Multimedia effects
4. Access Tools
5. Navigation
Nov 1 - Nov 07
D. User Trial and First Class Presentation

Nov 09 – Nov 23
E. Modification
1. Product
2. Business Plan

Nov 23 -Nov 30
F. Final Presentation