Hi, First a disclaimer: I am not a professional computer science person, just someone with very moderate computer skills interested in using Exhibit to build a family website.
I Googled upon the paper on Exhibit by Huynh et al, from WWW2007 recently, and it was a eureka moment for me. I have long hoped to be able to use fairly complex parallel timelines and maps on a family website that I hope to build. After giving up this quest about a year ago in frustration, I was excited to read your paper. Your Exhibit approach seems to bypass my main stumbling blocks--dealing with servers and related software and database issues, which are beyond my present skill level. My point in writing is to ask if you would consider developing a converter from the GEDCOM format (used extensively to publish and share genealogical data) to, say, Exhibit JSON? (I suppose this would be the most appropriate format, but I am far from an expert here). I should mention that the genealogical software I use exports in both a GenBox database format and also in GEDCOM format. Being able to convert the GenBox format to Exhibit would be ideal for me, but I am suggesting the GEDCOM conversion at present only because it is more commonly used and would probably be a better investment of your time. But if you could manage a way to convert both formats, so much the better. At present I do not have my own website (still no broadband out here in the woods of Interior Alaska). Until then, I am trying to work out how to use Exhibit and develop materials at home . The other day I had my first success displaying a picture and related text regarding one of my relative's by interacting with the Simile-MIT computer--a Yippee! moment--and am now struggling to expand that initial success. PS: The js file Validator was a big help. I am currently running XP Pro on my Dell desktop, but will also be running XP Pro SP2 using "Parallels Desktop for the Mac, v. 5160" on a MacBook Pro Core Duo Laptop using OSX 10.4.10, especially when visiting relatives in the "lower 48." My genealogical software program is GenBox 3.6.5. Finally, I want to thank David Huynh and all involved in the project for making this possible. Amazing work, guys. I'd be glad to answer any questions you may have for me. --Richard McCaffrey _______________________________________________ General mailing list [email protected] http://simile.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/general
