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    This module is included inLens: Travelers in the Middle East Archives
    By: Travelers in the Middle East Archive

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    "This module explains how to bring example materials from the Travelers in the Middle East Archive (TIMEA) into Connexions. It details adding image files, sections of texts, and links to dynamic […]"

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Bringing TIMEA Content into Connexions

Module by: Lisa Spiro. E-mail the author

Summary: This module explains how to bring example materials from the Travelers in the Middle East Archive (TIMEA) into Connexions. It details adding image files, sections of texts, and links to dynamic GIS maps. "Bringing TIMEA Content into Connexions" is part 4 of a 5-part course that helps instructors use TIMEA materials and trains authors to develop new modules and courses using Connexions.

Through the Travelers in the Middle East Archive's partnership with Connexions, we hope to go a step beyond the typical online archive and make digitized texts, images and maps about the Middle East the building blocks for interactive learning communities—that is, to provide original sources and construct educational materials and communities around these sources. TIMEA modules should therefore reference content within the archive.

We’ve experimented with bringing digital texts and images from TIMEA directly into Connexions, but we have found that some tweaking of TIMEA content is often necessary. For instance, TIMEA images are typically too large—1024 pixels along the long dimension--to work in Connexions. Since the ideal width for an image in Connexions is no wider than 600 pixels, we suggest that you download it from the TIMEA site, resize it, and upload it into Connexions as part of your module. At the same time, readers should be able to see the larger version of the image and learn more about it, such as who created it and when. Therefore, we ask that you add a link to the item in the main TIMEA archive both in the "links" section of the module and in the caption for the item.

Using a TIMEA image in Connexions:

1) Download the image from DSpace, TIMEA’s content management system. Simply right click on the image (or, if you are using a Mac, CTRL-click) and select “Save Image As.” Since all TIMEA content is available through the Creative Commons attribution license, you can download it without worrying that a horde of lawyers will soon descend upon you.

2) Resize the image so that its width is no greater than 600 pixels. You can use commercial programs such as Adobe Photoshop or free programs such as IrfanView(our favorite), Gimp, or Picasa. Save the image in a format that will display on the web, such as jpg, png, or gif.

3) Import the image into Connexions. Once you are in the “Edit Module” part of Connexions, click the files tab, then follow these steps:

  • “Click the down arrow in the text box next to Add New Item. A drop-down list of valid item types appears.
  • Select "Image" from the drop-down list and click Add New Item. The "Edit Image" tab displays.
  • Click Browse. The "File Upload" dialog box displays.
  • Find the file you need and click on it.
  • Click Open. The image filename appears in the text box next to Browse.
  • Click Save to upload the image file into Connexions. A confirmation message and a preview of the image display.” (See Connexions’ tutorial on Editing Modules)
Figure 1: Managing Files in Connexions. (Courtesy Connexions)
Figure 1 (Graphic1.png)

4) At the point where you want to insert the figure, use the <figure> element, as shown below. You’re required to provide a unique ID for the figure (it can be pretty much anything, so long as it is unique). You can use the <name> tag to provide a title for the figure, which will appear immediately above the image. To bring an external figure (such as a jpg file) into the module, use the <media> tag; in the "type" attribute, indicate what type of file it is, and in the "src" attribute what it is called.

Be sure to provide a caption, which will appear below the image. In the caption, give the title of the resource, its creator and creation date (if available), and a brief description. Also include a link to the DSpace metadata record for the image that you are using. The following example provides a template:

Example 1

<figure id="id8018405">

<name>The Great pyramid of Gizeh</name>

<media type="image/jpg" src="Graphic1.jpg"/>

<caption>"The Great pyramid of Gizeh, a tomb of 5,000 years ago, from S.E. Egypt."

Stereograph. NY: Underwood and Underwood, 1908. From <link src="http://timea.rice.edu">TIMEA</link>. (August 19, 2006). <link src="http://hdl.handle.net/1911/5586"> http://hdl.handle.net/1911/5586</link> Note how only half of the tree on the left side of the left frame is visible, while two-thirds of the same tree can be seen in the right frame.

</caption>

</figure>

Using a section of a TIMEA text in Connexions:

To include a quotation from a TIMEA text in Connexions, simply copy and paste it into a paragraph (<para>) in your module. If you would like for the quotation to appear as a block quote, use the quote element, as shown below.

Please provide a link to the DSpace metadata record for the text in TIMEA so that readers can quickly access the complete text. This record provides lots of useful information about the text, such as its original publication date, Library of Congress subject headings, and author. Use the identifier indicated as the preferred citation; it will look something like http://hdl.handle.net/1911/9179, since it uses the handle system to ensure permanence. You can place the link in the citation appearing in the main text, in a note or bibliography, or by using the quote element. (If you use the quote element with the "src" attribute, a link to the original source will appear in parentheses at the end of the quotation.) Ultimately, we hope to provide a way of linking directly to the paragraph in which the original quotation appears.

Example 2

<para id="id7276133">In the introduction to <cite><link src="http://hdl.handle.net/1911/9166">Egypt through the Stereoscope</link></cite>, Breasted touted the ability of the stereoscope to make a distant place seem real and allow close study: <quote src=”http://hdl.handle.net/1911/9166”> In the preparation of the following pages, I have constantly had my eyes within the hood of the stereoscope, and I cannot forbear to express here the growing surprise and delight, with which I observed as the work proceeded, that it became more and more easy to speak of the prospect revealed in the instrument, as one actually spread out before me. The surprising depth and atmosphere with which the scientifically constructed instrument interpreted what were actually but bits of paper and pasteboard, were a revelation; indeed, I constantly sat by an open window looking out over the actual ruins of the Nile Valley, which I could study, one after another, at will. (13) </quote>[source]</para>

Linking to a Point on a GIS map in Connexions:

Would you like to quickly pinpoint a place on a dynamic map of Egypt or Cyprus? You can link within a Connexions module to a specific point on TIMEA’s GIS map t if you know the place's decimal latitude and longitude. To find the decimal latitude and longitude for the place, download the Egypt or Cyprus names file from the GEOnet Names Server (GNS). Once you have unzipped the file, open the text file in Excel in the delimited format, which will allow you to more easily work with the data. Search for the place name that you need. (The file for Egypt contains over 40,000 places names.) The decimal latitude is in the fourth column (marked LAT), while the longitude is in the fifth column (marked LONG).

Formulate the URL as follows:

http://aries.rice.edu/website/timea/viewer.htm?:LS31.1980556:29.9191667:Alexandria:LE

  • where http://aries.rice.edu/website/timea/viewer.htm is the URL for TIMEA’s GIS map
  • followed by ?:LS
  • followed by the latitude given in decimal form (31.1980556 in this case)
  • followed by the longitude given in decimal form (29.9191667 here)
  • followed by the place name
  • followed by :LE

Contact timea@rice.edu if you need assistance

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Definition of a lens

Lenses

A lens is a custom view of the content in the repository. You can think of it as a fancy kind of list that will let you see content through the eyes of organizations and people you trust.

What is in a lens?

Lens makers point to materials (modules and collections), creating a guide that includes their own comments and descriptive tags about the content.

Who can create a lens?

Any individual member, a community, or a respected organization.

What are tags? tag icon

Tags are descriptors added by lens makers to help label content, attaching a vocabulary that is meaningful in the context of the lens.

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