University of Virginia

Project Director:  Bethany Nowviskie & Adam Soroka

To Support:  Creation of an open source tool that integrates timelines and maps to literary and historical materials in archival collections to strengthen the visualization of research.

Award Dates:  09/01/2009 - 08/31/2010

Outright Funds: $34,656.  Matching Funds: $0

Abstract: UVA Library seeks Level II Start-Up funding for the development of Neatline, a tool for the creation of interlinked timelines and maps as interpretive expressions of the literary or historical content of archival collections. Neatline promotes collaboration by libraries and cultural heritage institutions with scholarly end-users, who will build on standard EAD (Encoded Archival Description) metadata to produce geospatial and temporal visualizations of the textual content of cataloged letters and manuscripts. Neatline is a geo-temporal framework for fruitful interchange among scholars and the stewards of primary resources. It builds on robust, open standards and tools, including OpenLayers and SIMILE Timeline. The innovation of our approach lies in our dedication to providing a seamless, out-of-the-box experience for users without deep Web development skills. Neatline is a contribution to interpretive humanities scholarship in the visual vernacular.

Project Website: http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/scholarslab/geospatial/

Project Whitepaper Available for Download?  [no]

Jointly Funded by the NEH and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.