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A Journey to the Ancient Greek Myths An Enhanced Educational Framework to Story-Telling with Geo-Visualization Capabilities
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A Journey to the Ancient Greek Myths
An Enhanced Educational Framework to Story-Telling with Geo-Visualization Capabilities
Emmanuel Stefanakis
Department of GeographyHarokopio University of Athens
First International Workshop on Story-Telling and Educational Games (STEG'08) The power of narration and imagination in technology enhanced learning.
(September 16, 2008, Maastricht, The Netherlands)
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The Scope
• A prototype educational framework for…– modeling, – analyzing, and – visualizing
… the Ancient Greek Mythology
Visualize the Myth events in the geographical space and time
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Special Issues…
• The Myths …– involve…
• many heroes, characters and gods and
– consist of…• numerous parallel events
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Special Issues…
• The events…– occur in the geographical space and, – although the absolute time is missing, – they are related to each other …
• by temporal (topological) relations, • inside a single myth or across myths.
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Data/Info Sources…
• Ancient Myths …– as they appear in
the official school book (Greek Ministry of Education)
– follow the same organization/ structure
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Motivation…
• Pupils…– cannot easily perceive the
geographical space
• School books…– are missing maps and – other geovisualization content
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Motivation…
• The prototype…– aspires to help …
• school pupils• general users
…in getting a clear geo-spatial perception of the mythology events
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Motivation…
• The prototype – can be easily customized to present
• other historical or religious content • taught in the primary or secondary education
• Obviously, special attention – to be given in the educational aspects– close interaction with experts
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Motivation…• The main concerns are …
– making the presentation of the myths • attractive and pleasant to the pupils
– helping them recognize the geographical space,
• focusing on the physical geography and • encouraging them interrelate the past with the
present infrastructures
– compiling • attractive and educational quizzes and • game scenarios
– to help pupils understand the myths and recognize their interactions and relations in space and time
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The tools…• The prototype…
– has been developped using merely • free and open source s/w and tools
– Web Client Interface…• PostgreSQL/PostGIS• XML tools (XSD, XSL, CSS, etc.)• Google Maps• Google Maps API / Javascripts
– the full Google Maps can be embedded on an external Web site (mashups)
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The Data Repository…• PostgreSQL/PostGIS…
– Mythology•Myths
– Myth Sections»Events
PostgreSQL/PostGISDatabase
Schoolbook
geographic+
temporal
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The UML Diagram (part of)
Character Id Name Sex Description
Event Id Name Description
Geometry Id
MultimediaEntity Id Type Content
Myth Id Name Description
MythSection Id Name Description
- child_of
- parent_of
0…*
1…*
1…*
1…*
involved_in
involves 0…*
0…*
- temporarily_related_to 1
0…*
0…1
assigned_to
described_by
0…*
depicts
0…*
0…*
shown_in
TopologicalRelationship Type
described_by
spatially describes
0…1
0…*
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Towards the Geo-Visualization…
• Overall Architecture/Workflow…
PostgreSQL/PostGISDatabase
Schoolbook
XML Doc
XML Doc
GoogleMaps API
XSL
Web ClientApplication
HTML+
Javascripts
geographic+
temporal
eventdescription(thematic)
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Towards the Geo-Visualization…
• XML docs…– Description of events and images
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Towards the Geo-Visualization…
• XML docs…– Placemarks and trip (sequence of events)
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Example: The birth of Hercules…
DEMO
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Open Issues (technical)…
• Google Maps API is relatively slow… • Optimization of the javascript code…
– to minimize the access to the Web Server and the Google Server
• Alternative Web Client Application…– based on OpenLayers Javascript Library
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Heraklion SDI• The Web Client Application …
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Open Issues (educational)…
• Why Google Maps ?– because they are available and easy to use
for free !– But…
• We see the earth as it is today – This is not a problem for small scales– It is a problem for large scales though !
» On the way to Mycenae Hercules passed near my place
– Must incorporate as an optional background a digital map of the greek mythology
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Open Issues (educational)…
• Enrich the content…– with multimedia items, such as sound and
videos – overlay of diagrams, 2-d and 3-D maquettes
and plans of the archaeological places on top of Google Maps
– development of quizzes and game scenarios for pupils to both test and assist their understanding/ knowledge;
– translation of the content in other languages (e.g., English, German, Spanish, etc.).
DEMO
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A Journey to the Ancient Greek Myths
An Enhanced Educational Framework to Story-Telling with Geo-Visualization Capabilities
Emmanuel Stefanakis
Department of GeographyHarokopio University of Athens
First International Workshop on Story-Telling and Educational Games (STEG'08) The power of narration and imagination in technology enhanced learning.
(September 16, 2008, Maastricht, The Netherlands)
