Vistas: A searchable database of Spanish-American
images
Vistas is a royalty-free archive intended
for the educational community.
Jeffrey
C. Barnett, editor, Washington and Lee University
Vistas is a royalty-free archive intended for the educational community.Jeffrey C. Barnett, editor, Washington and Lee University |
|
| Do's and Don'ts in Searching | What's Different about VISTAS |
| Current Status of the Project | Rationale of the Project | Technology Requirements |
| Acknowledgments & the Contributors |
**IMPORTANT NOTE on CURRENT STATUS: While there are hundreds of images currently loaded in VISTAS, you will only find examples that correspond to Mexico, Cuba, Bolivia, Chile and Peru at this time. Moreover, the present images are only intended to allow me to experiment until I officially open the site in Spring of 2002. Please return at that time when I hope to make available over two thousand images.** (JB)
"Do's and Don'ts": When searching keep in mind....
<> VISTAS has fewer problems when browsed with INTERNET EXPLORER. Some aspects are not yet functional in Netscape and other browsers.
<> For best results when searching multiple criteria, use the CATEGORY SEARCH. You may select from any or all of the seven categories. Likewise, you may choose more than one attribute in each category by holding down the CTRL button while selecting. Example, hold down the CTRL button and select MEXICO and PERU, then under TIME PERIOD select PRE-COLUMBIAN and CONQUEST. This will give you the union set of all matches.
<> Don't use accents! The Keyword function is based on the captions which at present are included only in English. I hope to provide a Spanish "shadow version" in the future.
<> The Resource Number link is not yet functional; check back in 2002.
<> As indicated under the Current Status section, this is the first phase of the project and at present there are only a few countries represented: Mexico, Peru, Cuba, Chile, and Bolivia. Likewise, only a portion of the attributes have been matched up with the respective image to date. Others will soon be added, and attributes will be assigned. I hope to finish this experimental phase in Spring 2002.
<> For examples of how I use some of the images in the Archive see my Technology Portfolio, especially the "Visual Tests."
What's different about VISTAS...?
One can currently find many images on the Internet that deal with Latin America. These range from amateur vacation pictures to Web Art galleries and even professional journalistic databases. While these provide beneficial resources, there are a number of problematic issues that hinder their use as a pedagogical tool. Having learned from these, I have proposed to incorporate a number of features that make VISTAS unique and distinguish it from other available image sources.
1. Royalty free: One of the most pressing issues currently involved in image databases entails proper legality of copyright. Many databases share images that have not been obtained legally; conversely, other databases that have obtained legal images do not share them freely. For example, the commonly recognized Perseus Project does not permit the user to copy materials. VISTAS on the other hand encourages the sharing of materials. Images will not be included without the author's permission, and it will include only those which the author allows to be reproduced. You are free to download images for educational use; I only ask that you email me at barnettj@wlu.edu to let me know how or in what ways you are using the images.
2. Organization: There are currently many available "galleries"on the Internet that include pictures from Latin America. In such cases, however, the user often experiences difficulty in locating the correct image if the only means of searching is by key word or by browsing. Unlike other galleries, VISTAS is organized specifically and efficiently for scholars.
3. Multi-discipline: Many image collections are designed with a singular approach in mind. This requires the user who is interested in Spanish-American studies to be familiar with and search a variety of databases. For example, one may find the sought after image of Spanish-American art within a particular museum's art gallery, whereas another database will yield images of Spanish-American architecture along side buildings in Europe. VISTAS is dedicated exclusively to issues that pertain to Spanish-America at large. As a multi-disciplinary tool, it will ultimately draw from a number of existing databases in order to create a site specifically for Latin Americanists.
4. Researched: The Internet has afforded all types of users the opportunity to exhibit and share images freely. Unfortunately, this particular capability has also led to one increasing drawback: many image database administrators do not address the content or, worse still, they mistakenly disseminate incorrect information. The Internet as a tool can only be as a worthy as the quality of the information provided. To ensure the dissemination of accurate information, each image in VISTAS will be accompanied with a caption field that verifies the subject, locale, date taken, and photographer, among other details.
5. Accessible: Some databases serve as exemplary models as for the quality and quantity of images, accuracy of information, and organizational format. Such is the case with the Associated Press database. Unfortunately it is only accessible to those who pay a subscription. VISTAS, however, will be equally accessed by any user via the Web.
6. Comparative format: In most image collections the user may enlarge a single image by clicking on its thumbnail link. In the Associated Press database, for example, the enlarged photograph is displayed in the "parent widow" and not in a "new window." Since one of the main pedagogical uses of images entails comparison, VISTAS allows the user to bring up multiple enlarged images in new windows.
7. Collaborative: To ensure copy-right free materials, VISTAS will seek contributions from colleagues and students. In this sense the overall project will become a collaborative venture which will grow and transform according to the needs of those who receive the benefits as well as those who supply the content. A second aspect of collaboration and sharing involves the template itself. VISTAS is designed in such a way that the ACCESS database can be easily shared among schools. Furthermore, as a template it will allow others from disciplines beyond Spanish-American studies to create similar collections.
Project Description and Rationale: VISTAS is a web-interfaced database that allows the user to access a digital library of images relevant to the history, culture, and civilization of Spanish-American nations, made possible by support from the Charles E. Culpeper Foundation and the Associated Colleges of the South Technology Initiative. Its purpose is to provide copyright-free images of Spanish-America that will serve as a pedagogical tool for scholars and students alike from a number of disciplines, but especially for Spanish language instructors at the college and secondary level. The subject matter or focus of the images includes a wide variety of issues pertinent to Spanish-American life. In terms of multi-disciplinary interests, the images correspond to the following topics: Agriculture, Archaeology, Architecture, Art, Ecology, Eco-tourism, Ethnicity, Festivals, Film / Cinema, Flora / Fauna, Folklore, History, Housing, Military, Music, Politics, Popular Culture, Religion, Sports, and Transportation.
To acquire the desired image the user will follow a series of hyperlinks. From this page the user enters the archive, which is searchable by Category, Key Word, or Resource Number. More than a gallery of photos, VISTAS provides a thorough taxonomy of categories in order to guide the user in associating the correct images with the desired field of study. The user may select one or more categories as well as one or more of the attributes. For example, "Mexico / murals / conquest," will reveal a series of slides from Diego Rivera's depiction of the conquest, whereas "Architecture, Colonial, Facades, Ecuador" would result in pictures of churches in Cuenca, Ecuador. There are a total of ninety-one attributes within the taxonomy, thus resulting in thousands of possible searches for any given image. In this way, the "Search by Category page" serves as an efficient way of focusing on and delimiting specific criteria.
In addition to the "Search by Category" function, the user may also submit a query with key words or by using the ID resource number (not yet functional as of Winter, 2001). Within the key word search the user may specify one of the following three possibilities: match any key word, match all key words, or match key phrase. Regarding the ID resource number, the database automatically assigns a sequential number to each image and then displays it on the results page. This function is useful for the instructor who has already previewed images during preparation and desires to access an image quickly in class without having to complete an exhaustive search. For example, "32, 110, 111" would efficiently yield only the three desired images on Costa Rica / Ecology.
Once the user submits the query, the database then produces a subsequent page in which the relevant images are displayed in a thumbnail-or reduced-size. (If a query results in more than twelve images, multiple pages are generated due to the time required for loading.) The thumbnail images appear in order of weighted relevancy. When the user selects the desired thumbnail, a secondary window appears with an enlarged version of the image along with textual commentary. As a final feature of this window, the user can toggle on and off a series of details, including the name of the file, photographer, date taken, and copyright information. For purposes of comparing images, more than one image window can be opened simultaneously.
The impact of technology: If the adage that a "picture is worth a thousand words" is true, then electronic images can serve to elicit better discussion in class. Specifically the in-class use of the database may be used to illustrate lectures, to review material previously studied, to seek divergent interpretations, or to aid in synthesizing concepts, among others. VISTAS can also be used as an efficient tool to elicit written comments as well, especially in conjunction with a discussion forum or email. In short, given the cost prohibitive nature of the printed image in textbooks, the Web provides an effective alternative tool if in fact one can locate the correct image. VISTAS is designed to serve this very purpose: to aid the instructor or student in finding the correct image, and then to allow the user to incorporate a copyright free reproduction of the image. In my own case, it will become an invaluable tool for teaching Spanish-American culture courses as well as intermediate language classes. Moreover, other Latin Americanists in the Humanities and Social Studies will also benefit from its use.
Technical requirements. The archive is comprised of four major components: an informational gateway page, search engine, database, and digitized images accompanied with textual commentary. The technology used in VISTAS makes the final product accessible to any platform through a web browser. However, there are several technological demands necessary for creating the application. Specifically, VISTAS consists of an ACCESS2000 back-end database which is interfaced using Active Server Page (ASP) to generate automatically the front-end web page. The database itself resides on an NT 4 server running Information Internet Server. There are two major justifications that led to this type of arrangement. First, as for the end-user, my aim is to provide the greatest "cross platform" accessibility possible. Thus, the Internet is the logical medium to deliver the final product. Second, regarding the creation of the project, I have chosen to simplify the software and hardware demands since I plan to share the template with others on campus and at other institutions. Thus, I have deliberately implemented software and hardware that is commonly available. This will enable others to create or modify similar collections simply by utilizing ACCESS, an NT server, and disk space to store compressed images.
Jeffrey C. Barnett, Editor
Washington and Lee University
Winter, 2001
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