Timelines

Chronology is the science of arranging events in their order of occurrence in time. It is really important to us because it determines the actual temporal sequence of past events. While historical texts have been subject to critical analysis, we ignored the formal and historical problems posed by graphic representations of time, the most important tools for organizing information for a long time. The “timelines” used to present the history is simple and intuitive while are not without a history themselves. At the same time, it shows us a story of history that held a status higher than the study of history itself. This week, we have experienced the Timemapper and the Timeglider to analyze the transcript of Payne Travel Journal. Let’s explore more with these two tools.

The web-based timeline software Timeglider is kind like Google maps, but it’s for a time. We can create and collaborate with other’s work together as interactive timelines. I can add the event from the journal with the time, dates and the images of the event. Also, I can edit each event in different words size with different color theme according to the importance of the event. By zooming in and out of the timeline, I will gain a broad view of the sequence of major events happened, which creates a brief outline of the story.

Chronology is also the study of the geologic time scale. Grafton observes that chronology and geography were the two eyes of history. In geography, the visual metaphor fits beautifully. By plotting geography, chronologies became precise and testable in a new sense and passion for exactitude to represent time in novel ways.Timemapper is one of the interactive timeline whose items connect to a geomap. Compare to Timeglider, Timemapper shows us the different events that happened in the same period with different location around the world. When I looked over the Timemapper we created in the period of 1740s, it gave me a chance to think about the story and the relationship behind each event. However, the exact place of the events might be difficult to locate since the location’s name and boundary might change over time.