history-examples

Per the microformats process this is an examples page documenting existing real world examples of historical information published on the Web, towards the development of a history microformat.

The Problem

History seeks to show and explain change over time. With that in mind, how should we mark up content that has specific historical contexts, meanings, and/or values?

In particular, hCalendar, which can otherwise be used for marking up historic events, lacks the capability to record vague dates and eras such as:

• "circa 1950"
• "17th century"
• "Jurassic period"
• "middle ages"
• "late November" and so on.

Likewise, hCard does not have facilities for "flourished" and other genealogy related details.

Real-World Examples

Historical Timelines

Tools for Timelines

• Historical Event and Markup Linking (HEML) Project includes an "XML schema for historical events which describes the events' participants, dates, location and keywords; the schema associates these with source materials in print or on the web" and "XSLT stylesheets that combine conforming documents and generate lists, maps and graphical timelines out of them."

• SIMILE Timeline Builder from MIT. The SIMILE timeline uses JavaScript and XML to create a timeline. The XML markup :

• Timelines by XYLOGUE.

• EasyTimeline (also at Infodisiac) "is a Mediawiki graphical plugin for visual timelines."

• Timeline WordPress Plugin

HTML-based Timelines

• Browser History Timeline - Eric Meyer uses a table to show the history of browser version releases comparatively.

• Phil Gyford's CV as a timeline

• Dred Scott Case Collection - Chronology

• Chris Messina's lifestream, marked up with hCalendar

• VidaStream (aconbere's lifestream)

• Chris Glass through the years

• Timeline of Joan of Arc's life

• Microsoft's Timeline from 1975-1990

• HMS Titanic Timeline Member-created timeline at Footnote.

• Historic American Sheet Music - Timeline: 1860-1869

• The Food Timeline: Food history reference and research service.

• List of Timelines from Wikipedia. Lists timelines available on Wikipedia.

• The History Place presents Abraham Lincoln

• That Wacky Century!

• Harriet Tubman Timeline

• OurTimeLines

• Decades.com

• EVOLUTIONARY/GEOLOGICAL TIMELINE v1.0 from Talk.Origins

• Type Timeline (in Russian)

• West Midland Bird Club history
  • As of 2008-01-16, marked up with hCalendar microformats. Andy Mabbett 14:49, 16 Jan 2008 (PST)
  • Also: List of Older Bird Clubs

• History of the Baseball Uniform Timeline from the National Baseball Hall of Fame

• The History section of the History-Examples wiki page Seems that the history sections of this wiki are essentially timelines, with historical information, showing change over time.

Image and Flash-based Timelines

Image and flash-based timelines are included to get a sense of what content might be included, even though the content isn't marked up in these examples.

• Timeline: Colonial America 1600-1775

• Women's History Timeline, 1940-1949

• When Ice Ages Occur

• Timeline of Art History, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Historical Maps

Tools

• TimeMap

• Gutenkarte - Allows you to map geographic locations in texts

• Metacarta Map Rectifier - Allows you to place and rectify maps over a base map. Uses Google Maps (I think). Lots of examples of historical maps layered over modern maps for comparison.

Map Sites

• Social Explorer Maps maps historical census data on New York and Los Angeles.

• Animated Atlas of African History, 1889-2002 Uses Flash.

• David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

• London: A Life in Maps uses GoogleMaps and historical data to explore the history of London.

General History Sites

Reference

• History Wikibooks. Examples include World History,

• U.S. History, and Modern History

• BBC - History

• Eyewitness to History

• The History Channel

• World History Matters

• Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution

• DoHistory

• American Memory

• Making of America

Bloggers and Weblogs

• Early Modern Notes

• The Little Professor

• Airminded: Airpower and British society, 1908-1941

• Archaeoastronomy

• Civil War Memory

• Abraham Lincoln Blog

• Frog in a Well (east Asian history and culture)

Museums and Exhibits

• Smithsonian Institution

• National Museum of American History

• National Museum of Natural History

• The British Museum. Their World of Money is a historical exhibit on the history of money around the globe.

• A More Perfect Union: Japanese Americans and the Constitution (non-flash version)

• A Century of Chairs From the Design Museum.

• Museum of the City of New York

Types of Historical Information

Dates and Time Periods

Centuries

• 8th Century

• 15th Century

• 19th Century

Decades

• 1930s

• 1980s

Days

• June 6, 1944 "D-Day"

Events

• The Battle of Antietam on the Web

People, Biographies, and Profiles

Most biographical profiles provide dates of birth and death, detail important events with which the person was involved, and outline general historical contexts in which the person lived and participated.

• St. Joan of Arc

• Frederick Douglass

• Queen Elizabeth I

• Mahatma Ghandi

• Genghis Khan - Wikipedia

• Sir Isaac Newton

• Time 100: Margaret Thatcher

• Biography of George Washington

The following timelines provide a comparative list of the timeframes in which select political leaders around the world were in power:

• 20th Century - First Quarter

• 20th Century - Second Quarter

• 20th Century - Third Quarter

• 20th Century - Fourth Quarter

Places

• ...

Searching

• Time search time-based search engine (requires Javascript)

Existing Practices

• ...

See Also

• history examples
• history formats
• history brainstorming
• genealogy (aka family history)
• hCalendar
• lifestream