[Art_beyond_sight_learning_tools] Ancient maps soon online - audible maps for the visually impaired

[Lisa Yayla]

http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-703770.html

Hi,
This sounds very interesting and will have audible maps for the visually 
impaired.
Regards,
Lisa
*
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-703770.html
Ancient maps to soon go online*


February 19, 2006   5:43 pm

CHAPEL HILL -- While they may study places and people that are thousands 
of years old, scholars at UNC are at the forefront of modernizing 
antiquity.

Researchers long have had to dip into hefty and static atlases to study 
the stomping grounds of Alexander the Great or the Roman emperors, but 
they soon will be able to do so on a comprehensive, open-source database 
on the Internet -- thanks to UNC's Ancient World Mapping Center.

The group started the project this month with the help of a $390,000 
grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Mapping center 
leaders hope the online project will serve as a template for other 
humanities scholars to incorporate technology into their research.

"You think it's all so old, boring and crusty," Richard Talbert, 
principal investigator of the project, said of the classics. "But it's 
not."

Talbert, a history and classics professor at UNC, spent 12 years editing 
the last large atlas of classical lands. The Barrington Atlas of the 
Greek and Roman World, which was published in 2000, was the first work 
of its kind since the 1870s.

The book's 100 maps illustrate the classical world -- from the British 
Isles to the Indian subcontinent and into North Africa -- from 1000 B.C. 
to 640 A.D.

Praised by scholars, the volume does have limitations. The printed maps 
don't allow for easy inclusion of new discoveries. And at about three 
feet long and costing around $350, the book is not always accessible for 
readers.

"The more I got into it, I realized that this was likely only a 
beginning," Talbert said of his work on the Barrington Atlas.

Soon after that volume was published, the Ancient World Mapping Center 
was born at UNC and, with it, the idea to digitalize the maps.

The center also works on online and printed maps for beginning students, 
and audible maps for the visually impaired. The newest project is called 
Pleiades, after the daughters of Atlas in ancient mythology.

Pleiades' director, Tom Elliott, has a background in both the old and 
the new. He earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from Duke and 
a doctoral degree in ancient history from UNC.

Pleiades, which will bring the information from the Barrington Atlas 
online, will minimize some of the disadvantages of the printed text, 
Elliott said. For one, scholars can easily alter the maps to include new 
discoveries.

The online database also will emphasize collaboration. Somewhat like the 
Web site Wikipedia, anyone -- from university professors to casual 
students of antiquity -- can suggest updates to the maps. Pleiades will 
have a team of editors review the suggestions for accuracy.

The site also will connect with databases at other universities. Site 
visitors looking for a place on a map also may be able to find an 
overview of excavations that occurred there or listings of where it is 
mentioned in literature.

Elliott said he hoped the endeavor would lead other humanist scholars to 
incorporate technology into their research. The link is more intuitive 
in the sciences, and researchers in the humanities often have little 
training in the ways that technology can enhance their research, he said.

URL for this article: http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-703770.html

*© Copyright 2006. All rights reserved. All material on heraldsun.com is 
copyrighted by The Durham Herald Company and may not be reproduced or 
redistributed in any medium except as provided in the site's Terms of Use.
*
[back] <http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-703770.html>