| Technology in Australia 1788 - 1988 Online |
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Technology in Australia 1788-1988 was published by the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) as a bicentennial project in 1988. Written by Fellows of the Academy, it is a comprehensive summary of Australia's technological development. It includes references for each of the chapters, a comprehensive index, and a host of interesting images.
But as a print publication no one knew about it and the Academy was left with a room full of copies gathering dust. And then only comes the Web, and the idea to turn this publication into an online resource.
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Why would you want to put a book online? | About the project | Exercises | Issues
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| Why would you want to put a book online? |
- There is little point in just 'putting a book online' - however using it as the basis for an online resource is another matter.
- "The vision was that the comprehensive index to the book would act as a gateway to both the narrative text in Technology in Australia and the relevant entries in Bright Sparcs or Australian Science at Work." [ See: About the Online Edition ]
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| About the project |
- Scanning - to get a digital version. Worthwhile talking to scanning agency with knowledge, experience and technology to get it 'closer' to the form you want.
- Breaking the text into units of management - in this case paragraphs.
- Images - format for web delivery (thumbnails, scale for screen), linked to units of management.
- References - coping with the variety of referenceing techniques and linking to units of management.
- Index - from page numbers to paragraph references, linking to Bright Sparcs and Australian Science at Work entities. [ See: Index ]
- Interface - designing the user interface, the look and feel of the pages, navigational elements etc., addition of free-text search engine.
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| Exercises |
- These exercises are designed to highlight issues associated with the conversion of a 'back-of-book' index to the web. You should try each exercise with each of the different access tools, i.e.
- The 'best' technique for each exercise should be noted along with any comments and problems, e.g. usability of the interfaces, ease of understanding the results, navigation, coverage etc.
- In what year was the 'ute' first produced?
- Who was the chemist responsible for the development of Vegemite? What role did he play in the Royal Australian Chemical Institute?
- I'm interested in cotton technology - What's the best access point?
- I'm interested in the development of diary technology in Australia - What's the best starting point?
- Who is G.W. Hills?
- What roles have women played in the technological development of Australia?
- Find an image of CSIRAC.
- What role did Traeger play in the development of the Royal Flying Doctor Service?
- What New Zealander played what role in the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme?
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| Issues |
- Differences between book index versus online resource index?
- Usability - what are some of the key elements?
- Index versus Search engine - comments? should the index pages be included in the free text search results?
- Currency and coping with change - how to add new terms? how to know what terms to add? analysis of search logs?
- Linking into the existing infrastructure - value of Bright Sparcs and Australian Science at Work Indexes?
- Developments - refining index, chapter index, image index, etc.
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