Tapestry of Times Past: A paleontological portal for North America

University Of California-Berkeley, Berkeley CA

Investigators

Abstract

Tapestry of Times Past is a joint project of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, the Paleontological Society, and the US Geological Survey, working together to build a "paleontology portal" for North America. The project is facilitated by the UC Museum of Paleontology. Its goals are to create a central, interactive entry point to paleontology resources on the Internet for multiple audiences: the research community, K-12 education, government and industry, the general public, and the media. The centerpiece of the portal is the USGS color-coded geologic map of the contiguous United States draped over a shaded-relief digital elevation model. This map and associated stratigraphic column will become interactive, allowing the user to access information about particular geographic regions, geologic time periods, depositional environments and representative taxa. By linking together a network of local individual museums and institutions, the user will also find information specific to the particular geographic region of exploration, including current research projects and publications, websites, on-line exhibits and educational materials, information on collecting fossils in that state, and availability of other resources. In addition, the site will provide a "Doing Paleontology" section that will contain practical links to paleontology meetings, careers, academic programs, and other resources as well as a "Demonstrations and Tours" section that will house site tours and special interactive exhibits developed to enhance the Paleontology Portal. The project will be developed using a very simple initial approach utilizing HTML, Javascript, Perl and PerlDBI. With this approach, anyone with a Web browser with Javascript enabled can request information from the database using simple, familiar actions such as clicking on the map or key, or using buttons and pull-down menus. Responses are delivered as standard HTML pages, requiring no plug-ins or proprietary software. Later enhancements will include an alternate multimedia-rich interface, an alternate query form for more directed, advanced queries, and a GIS visualization tool for working with collections and research data. Dissemination strategies will include society publications and websites, conference and workshop presentations to target audiences in education and geosciences, and working with DLESE and other digital resource libraries.