Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), I was not able to identify any sites which dealt with the history of encyclopedic knowledge. This is due in part to the difficulty in searching for such a site, something I will need to strongly plan for when executing the project. There are a number of sites which deal with the knowledge/power structures of oral, text, and new media cultures, but they seem to wholly be comprised of hypertext documents without accompanying multimedia presentations.

Fortunately, there are an endless number of sites which incorporate the various facets I hope to include. One such feature can be seen on several of the sites created by our own Megan Hess, including her M.A. Thesis, “They Wore America on Their Sleeve.” Using Flash, she has created scripts which simulate the turning of the pages of copies of Vogue magazine and a Sears catalog. Not only is it a snazzy feature, but it closely recreates the textual experience of using a book rather than a hypertext document, and conveys the essence of such an experience. This should be very useful for the recreation of encyclopedia volumes, creating a contrast with the hypertext documents.

Returning to one of the first websites we examined this semester, Do History offers a good example of how I might structure the simulated encyclopedia with interactive content. An excellent resource for training students to think critically about historical sources, Do History presents the user with a series of documents and guides through which a better understanding of the underpinnings of historical scholarship might be discovered.

For example, the Decoding the Diary section takes the user through several pages of Martha Ballard's diary highlighting information which would be pertinent to a historian researching the document. Using Javascript, parts of the pages can be expanded with accompanying instructional notations. Employing a similar model, I could direct students to examine the encyclopedic entries, highlighting biases, shortcomings, and facets inherent to the medium.

World History Matters also contains a number of learning tools that seek to encourage critical thinking by its users. However, they incorporate a variety of document types, creating a truly multimedia experience. As this is the foremost goal of my site, these provide excellent models on which to base the experiential tools I hope to create.

For example, the “Unpacking Evidence” sections not only guide students through a series of lessons regarding how to approach and analyze historical evidence, but they also present opportunities, to put into practice the methods highlighted in those lessons. Clicking on “You Be the Historian!,” the user is presented with a historical document and guided through the process of identifying pertinent information, and making contextual sense of it. Text, images, audio, and visual elements are all incorporated in presenting materials to be studied. Students are then prompted with a series of questions, engaging them in an interactive critical thinking exercise. These are an excellent use of the potentials of new media, and I hope to create something similar. For example, I would create an audio file of information on a given topic. Then after listening to the initial presentation, users would have an opportunity to “ask” a series of questions to which the “speaker” might or might not know the answer. Similar to Word History Matters, this would be followed with a set of questions designed to guide users to an understanding of the unique characteristics of oral traditions.

Wikipedia is likely the most visible and known example of free open-source scholarship on the web. While Wikipedia has finally edged into mainstream consciousness with the recent controversy over the John Seigenthaler entry, it has been well-known in the online community for a longer time. It's growing presence as a commons-based peer-produced knowledge repository has indicates its popularity as not only a resource, but as a project. Many of its users do not simply seek knowledge, but help to create it as well, revamping the encyclopedic process.

The wiki sections of the site will mirror the look and feel of Wikipedia. I will likely limit the number of entries (since my server space will be infinitesimally smaller than Wikipedia's), but will encourage users to edit the entries. Not only will the site serve as an example for the entries I make available to be read and edited, the Wikimedia foundation makes the software which powers it available for free!

Finally, I hope my design skills advance enough to create something stylistically similar to Doing Digital History. Maybe it is because we spent so much time with it this semester, or maybe it is my addiction to browns and yellows, but I really like the way it looks. And since the physical bulk of my site will be text-based narratives, this seems like a good model—clean, readable, and appealing.