A Journey to the Ancient Greek Myths

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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

estef@hua.gr

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

estef@hua.gr

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)