REQUIREMENTS (result of a brainstorming session)

I. What do researchers need? (researchers = college students, professors)

Overview

Searching (engine and browsing)

Access to the full manuscripts

Find specific info about a person or topic

Easy navigation

Rank in order of  importance:
1. Linking to related info (scholarly articles, newspapers) about a person or topic
1. Chronology (dates associated with event; apply dates to events)
1. If you know the event, be able to get to it fast; quick access to certain topics, events, etc.
1. Document type (e.g. are there any diaries, correspondence)

2. Short, Annotated bibliography; bibliographical essay (primary and secondary sources)

3. Scholarly discourse; submission form
3. Linking transcripts to the secondary sources (e.g. linking Vernon’s version of a story to the secondary source)

II. What do novice needs?

• Orientation to the subject
• Orientation of the site
• Timeline – purpose is to provide context rather than detail

Rank in order of  importance:
1. Easy navigation
1. Summaries; highlights (photo of woman and 1-2 paragraphs; pbs west web site)

2. Entertainment (e.g. Provide them with richer material photos)

III.Implementation

• Overview; orientation to the subject;
• Overview of subject/sub overviews
• Text
• oral histories are the foundation of the site.
• Paragraph describing project
• Intro to the 8 women
• Audio
• Tour
• Slide show
• Video
• Searching (SGML aided search and Browsing; research the possibility of using a commercial Search Engine)
• Two types of Searching required: within documents and between documents
• Search by: Title of document/author, person, keywords, subject, date, place, event, document type
• Browsing: provide lists for the user to chose from e.g. lists of all newspaper title organized by date, all audio clips, etc
• Access to the full manuscripts
• One page intro to dynaweb
• Find specific info about a person or topic
• Put user into dynaweb, with explanation of how to search
• Easy navigation
• Consistent use of navigation bars
• One example: Small picture with links (e.g. msnbc site)
• Timeline – purpose is to provide context rather than detail
• For the novice; one way to orient them
• Detailed timeline; Vertical as left frame