Re: Historical Events Database
It's done:
http://historicalevents.thebigrede.net
Who would like to have an user account?
A short user manual:
After you log in, you see a list of all created events, sorted by year. To add a new event, click on the "Add new event" button, you will see the input form.
1) Select the general category. Right now we have Archeology, Atmosphere, Environment, Geology, Society, Other. Only I can add a new category since it will not be that often.
2) See if the event type (e.g. comet) is already listed for the selected category. If yes, just select it. If you cannot find it because the list is too long, there is a search field. If the event type is not there, you can add it by clicking on the "Add!" button. Right now only Laura, Mr. Scott and me can add new event types since they should be chosen very carefully -- no duplicates, not too similar, not too different, they should be 'orthogonal'.
3) Under the group "Coordinates" you have to enter the year. The year is the only required attribute.
4) Fill in all other attributes if they are given in the source. Attributes which are numbers have the default value of -1, this means that it is "not specified".
Here is a list of currently available attributes, where (optional) means: may be omitted, and (auto-hints) means: when the user starts typing, a list of previously entered values is displayed. This helps to avoid different spelling, e.g. Livius and Livy, or Roma and Rome.
If someone edits or deletes an event, the changes are recorded, so nothing can be really destroyed.
Coordinates:
Year: (required)
Month: fill in 1-12 (optional)
Day: fill in 1-31 (optional)
Duration: in days (optional)
Uncertainty: in days (optional)
Location past: the ancient name of the city/area/state (optional) (auto-hints)
Location today: the modern name of the city/area/state (optional) (auto-hints)
Other:
Affected: how many were affected by the event (but did not die), e.g. for sicknesses, famine, etc. (optional)
Died: how many died due to the event, e.g. for sicknesses, famine, etc. (optional)
Witnessed: how many have seen the event, e.g. object in the sky (optional)
Intensity: can be specified for the strength of earthquakes (optional)
Notes: Any useful information that you could add to the event, e.g. doubts, hints, etc. (optional)
Keywords: Any related keywords that you can think of. it may help us later to search for a particular event (optional)
Source:
Author: The author's name of the work which mentions the event. (optional) (auto-hints)
Title: The book title where the event is mentioned (optional) (auto-hints) (auto-hints)
Page: The page/paragraph/verse where this event is mentioned (optional)
Derived from: If the author has not seen the event himself, enter the primary source (optional)
Quote: The plaintext quotation which mentions the event (optional)
Validity: estimated truthfulness/fidelity of the event report (optional)
Reported year/month/day: the date of the publication where the event was mentioned. For archeological findings, enter the date of discovery. (optional)
I'll investigate the Orbis thing which Mr. Scott mentioned: if we somehow can get GPS coordinates from the ancient location names.
Features, suggestions, complaints, etc. are welcome!
