I reviewed three web projects on the CHNM website: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity; History Matters; and DoHistory. All three we well-designed projects that evidenced significant forethought and consideration of the potential users, yet their primary audience and intent differed.
History Matters contains a lot of good practices that any institution of learning should consider before designing a web project. The History Matters project has a variety of uses for students and teachers at the secondary and university level. History Matters provides access to primary and secondary sources that have been reviewed by professional historians, an important aspect for K-12 teachers that want to be able to direct students to trusted, reliable web sources with breadth and depth of data covering over 1,000 web sites.
The project also has links for data sharing among teachers that can facilitate the growth of the scholarship of teaching and learning with digital media. I got the feel that this website has something of interest for everyone, from the new student, experienced student, teachers, casual surfer, and researchers. The banner at the top of each page allows the user to easily navigate, thus any of the main topics is just a click away. The advanced search has over thirty pre-determined filters to aid the user. Images can be enlarged and pulled up at various resolutions, demonstrating a fair amount of sophistication in the web project. The web pages had a consistent layout which allowed the user to quickly adapt to the design intent and data presentation. To top things off, the excellent user interface is accompanied by some very effective exercises and puzzles that allow students to “be a historian.”
Obviously, I like the web project, but, alas, there are a few considerations for improvement. The initial web page seemed a tad drab, especially for K-12 students. Also, I had to back out several pages once I got into the Library of Congress site through the link on the History Matters project. Other than these minor issues, at least in my mind, the project contains a multitude of best practices.
I found many of the strengths in the History Matters project in DoHistory and Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (LEF) projects, such as consistent page layout and quick access to sources in various formats, including text, maps, images, and in LEF, in audio. DoHistory’s whodunit approach is a great way to get students to understand how much being a historian is really like being a detective. The user gets a sense of the incredible effort, knowledge, and imagination Laura Ulrich needed to accomplish the task of interpreting Martha Ballard’s diary. The diary is a rich primary source that gives today’s readers insight into the life, language, roles, and gender issues of the late eighteenth century in colonial New England area. The web project allows for the user to participate in guided mini-tours, such as the rape case of Rebecca Foster, or the user can take detours along the way. If the user wants to completely self-direct their use of the web site, they can click on the “If you’re interested in…” link.
I only had two issues with DoHistory project site. The web page would reset to the “view image” setting of Martha’s diary even though I had selected “view text” (Ulrich’s interpretation) in the previous screen. Also, after clicking on the “film” link, I was taken to Apple’s web site and could not get back to the DoHistory project web site.
LEF felt like a self-guided tour through an art gallery or museum. I liked the color background and the songs such as the funeral song for General Hoche was interesting. The pages and images loaded quickly, but the window size of the initial image hid some text and the link to enlarge the image. Also, I got an pop up box that asked me if I wanted to close the browser on the “Reason” link under primary docs, which, if you click ‘yes’, does indeed close your browser. The maps of Europe from different time periods were helpful. The site allows for self-directed use only as there are no exercises, games, or guided activities – just a comment, not really a criticism. This site seemed geared more for the serious student and teachers/researchers that for class projects.