Final Project Proposal
Washington, DC is one of the most visited cities in the United States. People travel from all over the country and around the world to explore its many museums, to admire its famous monuments, and to hear about the country’s history. Unfortunately, the mere presence of people in historical settings or surrounded by commemorations to the past does not mean that people learn anything. Often people do not learn because they do not have the time to read through nearby displays or the displays do not exist. If there were an easier way to obtain knowledge about where one visited, however, visitors would take advantage of it.
A website, which I plan to construct, about monuments and other historic sites in Washington, DC would be a more convenient way to spread information to visitors and potential visitors. The website will use a map, based on Google Maps, as the primary navigation page of the site. The monuments and points of interest will be labeled on the map with accompanying links to information about them.
Although the visitors to the site would hopefully have an interest in history, a basic knowledge of history will not be presumed. Each article written for an historic site will be written in a basic newspaper fashion with the primary and basic facts of who, what, where, when, and why in the first paragraph, followed by more detailed information expounding upon those points. In this way, even people who only read the beginning of the essay and skim the rest will have a good general understanding of the subject’s place in history. In addition to an article, the linked page will also contain pictures of the monument and have a place where people can submit their own digital images of the historic site. Ideally, one of these images would be displayed on the original map when one scrolls over the Google Map tag.
A lot of data has to be gathered and maps need to be created in order to get this site up and functional. The research and resulting essays will be beneficial to any historian interested in the United States’ past. Once the site is up and running, it will also be easy to add more history and more links of historical places as I progress in my own studies. I feel that the basic outline of this project could and should be used by anyone in a town or city interested in portraying their history in an interactive, spatial, and educational manner. The data, once the format is created, should be relatively simple to rework or replace.
When I complete the site, it will act as a great guide to anyone visiting the Washington, DC area. With a clear spatial representation of where everything is and good history that accompanies each place of interest, visitors will leave the site knowing more about Washington, DC than ever before and with the desire to visit the city and explore it as soon and as thoroughly as possible.
March 21st, 2006 at 3:11 pm
nice! we will definitely have to share resources. i like, though, that for having similar sites, there’re still enough differences to make them unique. you stick with text and tourists, and i’ll go with images and locals. kay?