History education through creative computing: Multi-dimensional views and interactive navigation of the historical development of a town

Abstract

This paper introduces an emerging (research-in-progress) creative computing prototype, refined iteratively through user feedback, to retrieve and display information regarding a historical timeline composition of a town, in particular a Canadian prairie town. The purpose of this prototype is to use the advantages of creative computing, by means of multi-dimensional visual and aural content within an n-tier system of historical period layers, to provide an interactive, multiple style (visual, textual, and aural) approach to education, notably the teaching of the developmental history of a small town with the significant historical factors affecting it. As part of the iterative development approach of the prototype and to ensure that the historical context was conveyed adequately to the user, a series of usability studies were conducted using a small but representative group of users. The feedback from these usability studies helped direct and validate the refinement of the prototype to enable it to convey its historical composition's content to the user/learner more effectively.