David Beck’s Blog

Here is my final mock-up.  I made a few slight changes to what I showed everyone in class last Monday.

website-design.ppt

Here is what I envision my site to look like for the most part.  I hope you can open this.  12 MB of creativity!

website-design.ppt

I was wondering if anyone has finished their work plan for their websites.  If you could provide me with a quick outline of things to consider, then that would be much appreciated.  Thanks.

If a historian were to concentrate his/her scholarship on uncovering something new about the past, then it would seem that all the great historical discoveries on Rome have already been made. Surely there are few historical topics more exhausted than Rome. However, 1500 years after the end of the Western Roman Empire, historians are still writing books and trying to figure out why this great empire collapsed and ushered in the Dark Ages. Simply typing in Rome into a Google search will produce over 86 million results. It is readily apparent then that the modern world has not yet quenched its thirst for all things Roman. Considering then our ever present fascination with the myth and reality of Rome, why is it that very few sites exist which detail the various theories for why Rome declined? Most articles on the passing of Rome are part of larger sites that seem to have little interest in providing a contextual analysis for the problems facing Rome from the years 235 until its ultimate breakdown around the year 476. Considering the number of school children in America alone who learn about the greatness of Rome and its subsequent problems, particularly middle school and high school age, it is clear to this historian that there is an urgent need for a website dedicated to the end of the Western Roman Empire. By understanding Rome’s problems, we can perhaps better understand our own as well.

The purpose of the site is to present to students a dynamic website that will combine text, images, videos, and a level of interactiveness that is missing from the websites of our competitors. Students today do not have the skills or the patience to wade through pages of text in order to find answers, especially at the middle school level. Asking a 14 year old to read through the various theories about Rome’s collapse on Wikipedia is almost a pointless exercise unless the child has a very high reading level. Many school systems around the country teach Roman history during the middle school years, yet there are very few websites that make learning about any part of Rome fun, or easy. The websites I have found are tedious at best and only slightly more enjoyable than watching videos in class and listening to lectures, which students traditional dislike.

The Decline of Rome website will be very easy to navigate and use. I am limiting the site to four main theories that do an excellent job of highlighting in one way or another the many issues facing Rome as it began its slow descent. There are two reasons I have chosen to do this. First, it makes using the site very easy and straightforward. I expect students to use this site in class along with their teachers. Second, this site should not be mistaken for something it is not. It is not a site that will tell you everything you need to know about the fall of Rome. I do not plan on devoting much space at all to the Eastern Empire, even though it is important to note that that half of the Empire would go on for another thousand years. Inherent in the site is a focus on the decline of Rome and the rise of the Middle Ages, although again, I will not be giving lots of space to the way society regressed, to some degree, after the final emperor was deposed. I am really highlighting for students in grades 7-12 the main theories that exist for why this amazing and terrific Empire that they have spent several weeks learning about declined and eventually weakened to the point that it was incapable of supporting itself any longer.

The design of my site is going to be very important. Again, the uniqueness of this site will be its high level of visual media (i.e. videos, images, timelines), as well as its simplicity in terms of navigation and understanding. Not only will it stand out from the competition, but also it will allow students to make connections between the problems the Western Empire faced and the problems that America faces today. Students should come away with the knowledge that empires do not exist forever and all governments, even today, need to be aware that the reasons that brought an end to Rome can and usually do bring an end to every from of government man has yet designed.

In trying to prepare to write this blog, I have spent time trying to figure out how exactly one could create a website that would very quickly climb up towards the top on any Google search. Ignoring all the algorithms that are used, the process of exactly how Google ranks pages is confusing to say the least. I understand the concept of various sites being linked to each other and essentially casting a vote for other sites. I can even wrap my head around the fact that some sites votes count more than others. For example, if my website were linked to Wikipeida entry on the fall of Western Roman Empire, then that would really help my page rank. More so than if my site were linked with a smaller less popular site. If I am correct, then simply getting my website linked with thousands of other websites may do nothing for my overall page rank. Keywords are also important in getting page rank, but from what I have read they may not be as important as having a good domain name and having dynamic links within your website.

I have decided that my domain name will either be www.fallofrome.com or www.delineofrome.com. Of course, if I do host my site through my school server, then it will probably have to incorporate the k12.va.us that our school site has within the address. In any event, my competition for getting my page ranked high on Google is not very fierce. When typing decline of Rome into the search, the top five responses are two from the about.com pages, wikipedia, one that is based on the History Alive curriculum and an entry from Historyforkids.org. So as I have said before in my previous blogs, there is really nothing out there that will does what I envision for my site. I do think that there is a market for a page devoted exclusively to the end of Rome. Especially since there are many parallels today with the current state of affairs in the United States.

In reading John and Jerry’s blog, it would seem keywords do play some role in getting my page ranked. Of course on the homepage I will have Emperors, Economy, Moral Decay, Roman Army has my main headings. I think getting my paged linked with the Wikipedia entry and even on www.Roman-empire.net would be very beneficial.

Aside from that, I have to admit that I don’t really understand all of the things one can do to ensure a high ranking from Google. I don’t quite get how we are suppose to link to other websites or even how linking within our own website can increase our page rank. Do I have to ask other sites to link with my site? Does it matter which sites link with mine?

These are important questions to consider when designing a website. By not factoring Google Page Rank into the equation, a web creator is surely dooming his site to the hinterlands of cyberspace.

The question was posed in class how we would rank emails during the Clinton Administration dealing with Al Quaida. Obviously, anything containing words like airplane, World Trade Center, Osama bin Laden should be pushed towards the top. That is what most people would be interested in, how concerned was the U.S. government about people using planes to fly into buildings.

I apologize for the brevity of this post, but I just have a tough time understanding all the in and outs of page rank and no one has really cleared it up for me on any of the blogs that have been posted on the subject thus far.

Determining the cost of my project has not been very easy. I have read Trevor’s post and Jerry’s post and still am not quite sure what my costs will be. About the only thing I know for sure is that I could do my site for absolutely no money and that it would be a worthy contribution to whatever is out there about the decline of Rome currently, which isn’t much. Before I begin to size up what may be accomplished for $0, $5,000 and $50,000, I would like to share a few more decisions I have made about what will be going on at my site.

1. I have decided to eliminate the discussion board. Quite frankly, teachers don’t have the time or patience to discuss various aspects of Rome. At least not the majority of 7-12 World History teachers. They will still be able to submit lesson plans and that feature will be apart of the site. By eliminating the discussion board, that will save me from having to constantly administer that part of the site and to be frequently backing up. I have seen teachers use discussion boards before, but mainly in pursuit of better classroom management techniques.

2. I would like to add an interactive timeline of the final two hundred years of Roman history. The Digital History website uses one and it is really cool. It uses flash, so I would need a flash expert to help me set that part of the site up. Obviously, if my budget were $0, then the map would have to be thematic in nature and not interactive.

3. The Digital History website gets around copyright laws by using trailers of movies instead of scenes or even clips. The professor in charge of the Digital History site commented to me that it seems strange that thirty seconds of a three minute song can be played while no one that he knows plays 30 seconds of a movie. I may do that as well. Of course if I have a budget of $50,000 then I could maybe see about paying to show two or three minute clips instead.

A Budge of $0

I do not plan on having a database. While a search feature would be nice, I don’t think I want to put so much information on my site that it is overwhelming to either student or teacher. Digital History has a database that you can search for various primary sources. They actually use several different databases to find newspapers, court cases, documents, and books. In the case of the primary documents and movies, someone has clearly cataloged them as they have some metadata accompanying them. In a simple version of my site, this is clearly an expense that I cannot afford, and while it would really enhance the site, it doesn’t make the cut. The next casualty is the interactive timeline. A great idea, but one that I could eliminate without it being too much of a detriment. A static thematic map showing the contraction of the West would work just as well.

Basically the site would be very straight forward with some text, images and video. The images I would use would most likely be artist paintings from before 1907, which would put them in the public domain. I could still very easily post lesson plans that teachers would contribute. I plan on hosting the site on the Spotsy County server, which should not cost me anything. All in all I think my site would do very well on little to no money.

A Budget of $5000

With some money I could probably include the interactive timeline. $5000 should also cover the expense of a part-time web designer. Although that still isn’t very much money. $5000 may also allow me to do more with images.

A Budget of $50,000

I’m pretty sure with this much money I could do everything I want to do with my site and then some. With $50,000 I could have a great interactive timeline. Perhaps include some clips of lectures by Roman experts from around the country. Only at this level of funding would I even consider putting a database into my site to allow students to search primary sources or various forms of multimedia. I could hire a full time web designer/developer who could run the site for me. The money would also allow me to form a committee to oversee the site and to ensure its future preservation. I would have the web designer, another teacher and myself. We would meet every two years to see what needs to be changed, which links have gone dead and to critically evaluate and change the site if need be.

The main thing to remember is that there are so many free sources about Rome on the internet already, that much of my site can be produced very cheaply. The more money I received in funding, then the better the design of the site could be and it would allow me to make it a much better learning module for students and teachers alike.

I just ran across this website.  It seems to be very much what I have envisioned for my site.  Here is the link.  http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/multimedia.cfm

While my site will deal only with the decline of the Western Roman Empire, this site deals with the major events in U.S. history.  I like how they have lesson plans, multimedia, primary sources, quotes and other interactive features on the site.  It seems very similar to what I want to do.

In his essay, Googling the Victorians, Patrick Leahy outlines a few of the virtues of online research. While he does not think that it totally wipes out the necessity of library research, he does think that it has made cross referencing historical artifacts easier and faster than ever. It is also allowing people to connect not just with information but with other people. Eventually, Leahy sees the day when all offline content will be “lost” to future researchers simply because it isn’t available online and researchers will not have the skills, patience, or resolve to track it down.

I know in my own research experience, combing through books, microfilm, and journals in the library is a very time consuming task that requires the patience of Job when you can’t find what you want to find right away. During my undergraduate years I was thankfully a communications major and didn’t have to do much library research. However, I do remember doing research for my public speaking class as a freshman. This was in 1993 and the internet had not yet made its appearance at Miami University. I remember I did a speech on euthanasia. We had a primitive search engine in the library that would comb through all the journals and look up the word euthanasia. It may have even provided a summary of article, but my memory is a little vague on that. I do remember then having to go downstairs and comb through the indexed journals or microfilm and then see if the article was really worth it. I had to do the same thing with a term paper that I wrote about Shakespeare during my senior year in high school. That was frustrating in that many of the articles I wanted to use the local college library did not carry. By the time I graduated from Miami in 1997, we had the internet, but again it was in a text heavy format and I didn’t really do research with it. In 2003 I enrolled at Westminster College in Pennsylvania to get my secondary education certification in History. The first paper I wrote was about fasting in the Eastern Orthodox Church. All of my research was done using the internet and finding articles on the net. I then did additional projects where I utilized database searches, combing through journals, microfilm (still), and books. Using a database like JSTOR makes researching so much easier. As I said, most colleges don’t carry every  scholarly journal. If they do, they may not have the issue that you need. With JSTOR or other databases, you get instant access to thousands of works. It is easier to search for articles that pertain to your subject. I agree with Leahy that the internet has made contacting people much easier and this in turn has brought people together to paint a more complete picture of the historical fact/person/event in question.

Today I would most likely begin my search on Wikipedia to get the basics of whatever my subject is. I would then google the subject to see what comes up. Next, it would be on to a database like JSTOR to discover what articles exist. Finally, I would head to the campus library to see what books have been written and any other related information they might have. In 1993, books about my topic would be my first stop in the research process, then followed by journals. In 2007, combing through books is much farther down on the list.  Using search engines to narrow a search has become the common first step in any research project.  It does not mean that you eliminate the need to sit in the library and go through numerous sources.  It does mean that you spend less time on fruitless pursuits.

This summer my Father and I went to the National Archives to look up information about our family and how they came to America and when. We first looked at microfilm of registration cards that my great-grandfather would have filled out when he came through the port of Philadelphia. The problem with those cards is that the information is vague and the government recorder did not always record the correct information. In many instances it just says Germany for home address. We then turned to the geneaology database that they had and that was much better. We viewed census information on-line and actually got more information about both sides of the family. Still it took us all day and we still have more information to gather.

However, if the Archives hadn’t digitized the census records we might still be looking through hundreds of reels of microfilm without luck.

Digital Research is a valuable new tool for the historian. As we progress in this new digital age, new techniques and approaches will be found and refined, which will make research easier and less time consuming. This can only help historians.

In my latest issue of Virginia Journal of Education, November 2007, there is an article about how to teach students to critically evaluate information that they find online.  Since many of us in class are creating websites that we want students in k-12 to access, I thought I would share a few of the points that the article makes.

Teachers should basically ask the following questions when planning a lesson using the web.  They are as follows:

1. Who wrote and published the material?

2. How current and reliable is the information?

3. How easy is the material to retrieve?

4. What kind of learning environment does it represent?

It recommends that teachers read the “About us” section so that they can find out where the information is coming from and it suggests that kids use more than one online source to compare information.

Finally the article concludes with the following questions. Does the site allow for student input?  Are there instructional support materials available?  Does the site offer material not available in the school library?

If anyone would like to see the article I can bring it with me to class.

The articles from Digital History, the Ninch guide and by Dr. Rosenzweig all highlight the problems that one must consider if they want to see their website up and running 10, 20 or even 30 years from now. Unfortunately, one cannot look into the future and know with any certainty what kind of software/hardware the people of the future are going to be using. Keeping your website up and running requires a detailed plan that takes several criteria into question. File formats, software, code and other considerations must be made while you are developing your site in addition to the content and design qualities that most web builders are consumed with.

In order to better express how I intend to preserve my site, I will utilize the time tested format of the question and answer.

WHAT IS THE LIFE CYCLE OF MY SITE?
Conceivably, my site could be up forever. I’m sure somewhere in the world, students will always be learning about the fall of Rome. However, realistically my site probably has a shelf life of about 5-7 years. After that, it could probably die a slow death or it would need major changes to survive. The reason I say this is because the web is constantly changing. Websites that looked cool and innovative 7 years ago, now look simplistic and uninteresting. I recall when I was first surfing the internet in 1995 how text heavy most of the sites were. Today, text heavy sites are boring and lose their users quickly if they aren’t prepared to read and scroll.

Originally I plan to have a committee that will oversee the website. They will meet every two years to discuss how the websites looks, changes that need to be made and any special features that they would like to add. For example, adding a section on how aspects of United States foreign policy may parallel with those of Rome during its two centuries of decline may be interesting especially to students from the United States, my target audience. Perhaps if this committee is vigilant my website could survive for 10-15 years instead.

WHAT CHANGES WOULD I MAKE?
I would like to use videos and animation to visualize for the students how the last days of Rome would have been. Clearly this type of technology is continually getting better and better. Copyright laws aside, I’m sure the process of embedding videos within the site and using computer animation to enhance certain aspects of the site will become better and easier to use and run on all computers. That is why having a full-time webmaster makes sense for me and would prevent the site from becoming stale.

WHAT IF YOU GET NO MONEY TO CREATE YOUR SITE?
Aside from a few pictures, my site would then be forced to be very text heavy with no videos or animation. While I would keep the text short and to the point, the visual elements of the site would have to be forgotten. It would make the site less valuable to students, but require practically no upkeep.

HOW WILL YOU PRESERVE YOUR WEBSITE FOR THE FUTURE?
I envision my site being hosted by Spotsylvania County Schools server. There will be a link from the Thornburg Middle School website as well. I think collaborating with a museum is a terrific idea and may extend the life of a website. Due to the message board I would like to have on my site, I will have to use a storage device that can handle multimedia, but that can also be periodically updated in case of problems. The message board will require incremental backups. Perhaps backing up to a magnetic tape is the way to go. How expensive is that? The Ninch guide seems to favor CDs as a way to store information. I don’t think my website is so important that I need to keep a second copy encased in special gas and sent to the salt mine of Utah for optimal preservation. However, I do think copies of my site should be held in a off-site location. These copies can be refreshed during the time the committee convenes to see what changes need to be made to the website.

Those are a few considerations that I thinking about in terms of preservation. I am hoping that we can flesh out a few of the issues in class as some of the reading concerning preservation was a bit complex.