Visualizing chronology

Imagine a combination of several component charts brought together to form a single large one.

Thus began Denis Diderot in his Encyclopedia entry on Jaques Barbeu Dubourg's mechanical timeline, the Carte Chronographique (see on the left). Dubourg's 1753 invention was a 54 foot long annotated timeline rolled into a small wooden container.

More images from Princeton University, where a version of the chronographique is available in the rare books collection (D11 .B37 1753) are available here, here, and here

Although, Dubourg's carte chronographique was not the first timeline, his device included several important innovations. Key among those innovations was an effort by Dubourg to present history with pedagogical intent. Stephen Ferguson, in his 1991 article The 1753 carte chronographique of Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg, describes Dubourg's pedagogical thinking as it appered it in a three-part pamphlet that accompanied the chronographique (Dubourg's pamphlet is available online with English translation here). According to Fisher, "Dubourg declares that the two ancillary fields to history ("eyes," he calls them) are geography and chronology. He notes the advanced development of geography as a means of studying history, calling it 'lively, convenient, attractive.'" Dubourg, according to Fisher, called chronology "dry, laborious, unprofitable, offering the spirit a welter of repulsive date, a prodigious multitude of numbers which burden the memory." Dubourg coined the word "chronoghraphie," derived from chronos (time) and graphin (to write) as a way to use the "lively" elements of geography to enhance the labor of chronology.

A horizontal line marked with dates in ten year intervals appears across the top of Dubourg's chronographique. Each of the alternating black and white squares represent years. In his entry for the Encyclopedia, Diderot called this line the scale. Decades are marked above the black and white squared scale and are represented by a line which runs down the page to the bottom. Between these horizontal decade lines are dotted lines descending from the black or white year marks on the scale. Diderot referred to the vertical lines as lines of contemporaneity, suggesting that events and/or people marked on the line were contemporaneous. Below the horizontal year line are successive parallel lines that mark the duration of events. Diderot described the functionality of these parallel lines as follows.

"All the events located on any one of the perpendiculars of the scale began at the same moment in the time-span; all the events located on another perpendicular to the scale which is closer to our own time have continued or ended together. The lines parallel to the scale, contained between two such perpendiculars, indicate the duration of these events; and, since the ends of the two perpendiculars touch two points on the scale at the top, we can see where in the time-span of the world contemporary events have begun and ended. And with the help of other perpendicular and parallel lines, we learn how much before and after one another non-contemporary events have begun and ended; and according to the place that these parallels occupy on the perpendiculars, we ascertain the places in the world where the events have occurred."

Dubourg's pedagogical intentions can also be seen in his focus on people. Ferguson (1991) described Dubourg's approach. "Dubourg's emphasis on people---the Carte displays a great deal of bibliographic material---demonstrates his belief that history is learned through the study of individuals" (p. 197). Dubourg considered his timeline to be an ideal tool for learning history. Ferguson quotes from a second section in the accompanying pamphlet, which was titled Advertissement." Dubourg wrote "Are you reading a book of history? Then to see at a glance world event covered by the book, just roll the Carte to the relevant years and there it is!" Dubourg's pedagogical view of history was summed up at the beginning of his accompanying pamphlet. Dubourg wrote,

But what is History? It is the Compilation of all that eyes have seen, of all that ears have heard; it is a captivating School, where we learn at the expense of our Masters, where we may blame others without any risk to ourselves, where we learn at one and the same time to judge the past, to discern the present and to foresee the future; where our experience is grounded in that of all times, of all countries, of all the ages and states of man’s life; finally, where, as our reason develops and our minds open themselves to truth, morals become gentler and our hearts cleave firmly to virtue.

The final two pages of the Dubourg pamphlet (page one seen here on the left) is a legend of 55 codes used in the chronographique. The legend includes descriptive codes for people according to occupations (e.g. artist, geographer, jurist), titles (e.g. bishop, king), as well as codes reflective of the qualities of people (e.g. cruel, fortunate, wise, savant). These codes served an important pedagogical purpose for Dubourg. As Ferguson (1991) puts it, "The annotations declare Dubourg's teaching agenda; the study of history is intended to lead the student to virtue. The symbols give the answer to the question: 'What sort of person was King-so-and-so?' underlying his annotations is the grand tradition of moralistic emblems, devices, and impressa" (p. 198).


References 1991

Ferguson, S. (1991). The 1753 Carte chronographique of Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg. Princeton University Library Chronicle. (Winter). Précis in Historical Abstracts.

Amplifying Student Learning

I've spent some time checking some visual content stuff out...and wanted something to show for it, so am writing this post.

As John noted, whether or not these sites amplify student learning is the most difficult question. Agreed. My thinking is that this is the case because there is not a clear cut answer - even the question itself begets another - what is meant by amplifying? Better standardized test scores? Higher retention? Better ability to write an essay? Increased engagement? To me, I know when I've seen amplification of learning, but describing it is more difficult.

So...I'm wondering if there can be a 'formula' so to speak for ensuring that student learning is amplified as a result of using these sites? Since they're different sites, obviously, would that necessitate specific scaffolds for each? Or, could there be a general scaffold that asks students to do something like analyze at least 2 graphs (look at x axis, look at y axis, what does line(s) represent, what do you think this graph means, etc), look at a map, look at an image, etc.??

And then...(and I don't know what I'm so fixated on the apps part of this) have an app that helps students do all of this?

HOWEVER...one major snag about that...I'm wondering if a lot of these sites are created in Flash. I just checked, and Visual Eyes is. Of course, an iPad won't support that...

What do you all think?

Beautiful, appropriate, and critical social studies?

David raises some interesting questions about the visualization efforts underway with projects such as Visual Eyes. Below, I have applied David's critical questions to the Visual Eyes project.

What is really being done here and for who? - Visual Eyes is clearly a scholarly project. It's an interesting mix of scholarly product and process, see Andrew Torget's essay on the Texas Slave Project. Torget argues that the Visual Eyes' presentation of Texas Slave Project data (online here) "frees the historian from...restrictions by allowing the user to manipulate multiple sets of data simultaneously, rendering complex visualizations of historical information spread across time that can reveal relationships and historical processes embedded in the datasets which would not otherwise be apparent." In Torget's view, the data visualization is a tool for illustrating relationships while engaged in the study of some historical question. Torget recognizes the centrality of questions in the process of using visualizations. Again from Torget, "Let us imagine there is a historian of slavery, for example, who wishes to understand why slaveholders in nineteenth-century Texas established their plantations in certain parts of the region rather than in others. Using the HistoryBrowser, he or she could take existing census data of slave and slaveholder populations to create a map of where people lived in the region and how those populations changed over the years." In summary, Visual Eyes is a tool for historians, and presumably students of history, to access complex, mostly data-based information in context-rich environments.

Is it about the historian and the designer? I think the design issue is impacted by the designer's intention. Visual Eyes was designed for historians, so we might expect that a certainly level of scholarly complexity has been designed into the system.

Is it done because it can be-- Is it an example of just longing for something aesthetic? I wonder what the aesthetic is for Visual Eyes? Noah Illinsky (his blog at http://complexdiagrams.com/) has written that beautiful data visualizations should seek to be aesthetically pleasing, informative, efficient, and novel (Illinsky's chapter is here). Visual eyes is, in my judgment, more than aesthetically pleasing. In fact, we might argue the complexity of the the data presentations overshadows the aesthetic.

Can it amplify student learning? Here is the most difficult question. University students of history can certainly profit from using the projects at Visual Eyes, particularly when that use is drive by well-constructed questions, see http://www.viseyes.org/class.htm for more on how Visual Eyes is being used in university settings. Additional pedagogical structure or scaffold is needed to engage 6-12 students with the resources. What those supports and scaffolds are depend on the pedagogical intent of teachers or the learning needs of students.

Are there any learning goals for this? No overt learning goals are apparent, although the supplementary material makes it clear that all the Visual Eyes projects were created with scholarly inquiry in mind.

Is it designed to amplify student learning and if so what scaffolds and supports are put in place to help students process the information? This is a question that should probably be asked during the design phase. However, we might go about a process of pedagogical backfilling to enable middle and high school students to use the projects. This pedagogical work should involve a process of unpacking goals and objectives for learning, considering prior knowledge and providing additional support where needed, allowing for the development or emergence of questions, and structuring the process of engaging the data with a scaffold such as SCIM-C - http://www.historicalinquiry.com/

beautiful and appropriate social studies

So here is the link to the New York Times article John was talking about--.
I am intrigued by the role data visualizations can play and the possibilities it has for amplifying or clarifying our understandings of the world - past and present in the social studies classroom.. I do see that visualizing data is a literacy project in itself- as students will need to learn how to read the data. This just goes beyond learning how to use the tools but also how to slow down and pay attention to what is being displayed- spending time with the material. - In looking at some of the visual eyes projects-- they look cool- but there is a lot there- I have to be patient in orientating myself to them- the chronologies themselves can move fast and there is a lot of graphic movement and a chart appears (looking at the TJ in London one) and also there is the text box that details what he spent- I am in danger of cognitive overload. Not sure where to look and I have to slow it down.. I think it would be cool if there was a clear question or series of inquiry questions offered up that I could consider as I "watched"-- -- And this goes back to what john mentioned- an important question is have the designers and historians developed this stuff with a pedagogical eye to how this work can support student learning. What is really being done here and for who. Is it about the historian and the designer? Is it done because it can be-- Is it an example of just longing for something aesthetic - can it amplify student learning? Are there any learning goals for this? Is it designed to amplify student learning and if so what scaffolds and supports are put in place to help students process the information? Scaffolds don't have to be visible but I am not sure if there are any there that are designed to support student learning? But it looks cool - but how far can cool go when time and purposefulness is an essential element in the classroom. Often it is easy to back end pedagogy in and throw in some objectives.. But how different would some of these visualizations look if they were designed with students in mind..
There is potential and I think we should look to play and think of how. Remind me to talk about my first go with wordle and what I wanted to do with it...

First thoughts - perhaps a step back

OK, so the digital humanities is an emerging area...featured in the NYT...but what would be our added value in terms of what we can provide that others cannot? (I'm not usually a fan of rhetorical questions, but felt it was necessary here). Anyway, my simple answer to this is pedagogy, specifically, measurable objectives aligned with state standards that include activities in which the learner engages with the material. In other words, this is all out there, but how can it be used by teacher candidates, and subsequently, by K-12 students? It's great stuff, but what would we want them to do with it? I think that there has to be a tangible example(s) that people can grab on to. I'd be happy to create a 'lesson' with some data. Does that all make sense?

Also...now jumping way ahead...I'm still fixated on the idea of creating an app(s) for specific content to let students work with.