(no subject)

[wispfox]

The thing about history is that it's rarely taught in a way I can grasp and retain.

I kind of want a globe that is a physical object but also digital - let me tell it a time period (year, decade, century, whatever) and have it show me the world at that time.

Maybe pop up the biggest events in a particular area for that time period, with the ability to adjust what you're interested in. Boundary markings to the best of our knowledge at the time, indications of what changed where, when, and why for boundaries. Inventions, preferably including not just the people famous for them, the option to see our best understanding of a day/week/time period in the life of someone from a place and time.

Just. Let me explore. Help me be able to see what was going on in the world at the same time, how it was then in various parts of the world. I always love finding out what was happening at the same time, but it's rarely taught that way. It's usually names and dates and I'm bad with those in my own life, let alone as dry, isolated information I'm supposed to remember.

Comments

[squirrelitude]

Back in high school history, I remember saying that what I wanted was a sort of interactive diagram of world history, represented as a graph -- nodes for major events, edges for processes and influences. I could never quite figure out how one would make that work, though, because I would *also* want it to show simultaneity and at least an abstract version of geographic relationships between events.

EDIT: Hmm... I think what would make that work is a map or globe, with annotations showing current processes and arrows showing major cross-regional influences. Examples of these might be "increasing dissatisfaction with the monarchy" or "colonization of X by Y". Then you could scrub forward or back in time. Showing events would be harder in this view; maybe have them fade in and out over time. But then you have to somehow indicate whether they're coming or going. :-)

[wispfox]

Your idea sounds very similar to what I want! Clearly it needs to exist. :)