Tapestry of Times Past: A paleontological portal for North America

Tapestry of Times Past是古脊椎动物学会、古生物学会和美国地质调查局的一个联合项目，共同致力于为北美建立一个“古生物学门户”。 该项目由UC古生物学博物馆提供便利。 它的目标是为多个受众创建一个中央的，交互式的入口点，以在互联网上获取古生物学资源：研究界，K-12教育，政府和行业，公众和媒体。 该门户网站的核心是美国地质勘探局的彩色编码的地质地图，覆盖在一个阴影浮雕数字高程模型上。 该地图和相关的地层栏目将成为互动式的，使用户能够访问有关特定地理区域、地质时期、沉积环境和代表性分类群的信息。 通过将当地各个博物馆和机构的网络连接在一起，用户还可以找到特定地理勘探区域的特定信息，包括当前的研究项目和出版物，网站，在线展览和教育材料，在该州收集化石的信息，以及其他资源的可用性。 此外，该网站将提供一个“做古生物学”部分，将包含古生物学会议，职业，学术课程和其他资源的实际链接，以及一个“演示和图尔斯”部分，将容纳现场图尔斯和特殊的互动展览，以加强古生物学门户网站。 该项目将使用非常简单的初始方法开发，利用HTML、JavaScript、Perl和PerlDBI。 通过这种方法，任何拥有启用了JavaScript的Web浏览器的人都可以使用简单、熟悉的操作从数据库请求信息，例如单击地图或按键，或使用按钮和下拉菜单。 响应以标准HTML页面的形式提供，不需要插件或专有软件。 以后的增强将包括一个替代的多媒体丰富的界面，一个替代的查询形式，更直接，先进的查询，和一个地理信息系统可视化工具，用于收集和研究数据。 传播战略将包括学会出版物和网站，向教育和地球科学目标受众举办会议和讲习班，并与DLESE和其他数字资源图书馆合作。

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.