Description: The purpose of this project is to improve the quality, and in fact to change the nature, of the maps that faculty and students now use in the classroom. The kind of maps presently available have already proven themselves invaluable for the comprehension of many different kinds of instructional material. But they are static, presenting a single geographical view of a single period in time; and they are usually taken from copyrighted sources.
We propose to purchase and develop several software applications that will allow faculty and students to create custom maps, interactive and dynamic as well as static. In addition, we propose to develop technology that will allow integration of interactive maps with the Internet, making it possible for students to connect quickly and intuitively to relevant information resources.
Using interactive maps enables a student to focus on any given area with several levels of magnification; to use a dynamic timeline to demonstrate geographical and historical changes over an extended period; and to select from a list of information resources relevant to a selected area. The software tools and the maps developed here would be made available via the World Wide Web (through the use of interplatform languages such as Java, as well as WWW add-ons such as Macromedia Shockwave), allowing professors and students outside of Reed College to make use of the technology.
The College already has some experience in this respect: A limited set of software tools that make use of the CIA geographical database was developed in the course of the 110 Tech project, a project that integrated technological resources into selected Humanities 110 conferences. These tools support creation of static maps, as well as the creation of limited interactive maps.
The list of faculty already interested in this venture, with courses able to profit from it, is considerable. It includes practically all courses with historical content, both within the History Department and the Humanities program, as well as selected courses elsewhere, such as international economics and even literature courses dealing with subject matter like urban development. The faculty in Humanities 230, covering classical Chinese civilization, is particularly interested in the use of dynamic mapware as a means of more effectively introducing students to relatively unfamiliar historical and cultural material.