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Our ongoing collaboration with the NSU Computer Science Department will enable us to build a three-dimensional, interactive, Internet-based application to allow students and educators to explore the operations of the Underground Railroad (especially those with initial travel in the Virginia Tidewater region). The focus of the interactive display will allow users to choose various geographical aspects of the Railroad to selectively learn about important historical facts (and marked suppositions and conjectures) regarding these activities. We will create an ArcView database and generate geo-referenced maps out of it. Using layering techniques of GIS will make this study come alive visually as well as provide opportunities for research and even simulation. The three-dimensional explorations will include views of the ships transporting escaped slaves to Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, hiding places in Virginia, and interactive links to historical information. The challenge will be to produce a virtual tour of the Greater Tidewater region with the ability for the learner to have a user-focused interactive experience of the Underground Railroad processes. Our research shows that a broadband Internet connection has not produced anything similar to this.
The Computer Science Department is experienced in developing similar interactive environments other applications (vocational counseling and persuasive computing). For at least one year, the Computer Science researcher worked with two graduate research assistants in collaboration with the History Department in expanding the information available to Internet users. This included data mining of death records and a cluster mapping of deaths of African-Americans to electronic maps contemporary to these deaths to try to discover historical implications regarding causes of death. This initiative will expand on that experience and develop a unique interactive display allowing visitors to the website to choose a perspective. To make this website especially useful, it will be self-contained, meaning that there will be few external links (which tend to be problematic because other websites often change addresses and links) and no additional programs requiring download.
We envision that this interactive website will integrate topographical (3D) mapping of Virginia and its many waterways with the ships (sloops, steamships, and schooners) and buildings, wharves, and other physical objects that were important to those seeking freedom via the Underground Railroad. Visitors to the display will be able to choose to interact from the perspective of a fugitive slave, a conductor, a station master, or a slave owner. These four perspectives will provide a unique experience for visitors who may not understand what each represented individual endured as they sought to achieve differing (and sometimes contrary) objectives.
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