A very promising approach to my digital archive would be the use of a database to store primary sources and metadata from the contributors. The advantages of a database over a wiki are promising: the database would be structured, allow sorting, and with work–allow exporting to mashups. The use of chronological and geographical mashups would enable integration of all the materials on a map and timeline. These resources would make browsing more effective and intuitive vs a “hunt and peck” approach to searching the database.
Here are the Desired Data Fields:
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Date of Mission
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Type aircraft
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Position in formation (lead/wingman/solo)
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Other aircraft in the mission
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Unit (squadron/Wing)
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Location of action (geo-tag)
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Takeoff base/landing base
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Mission type
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Narrative/description of the mission
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Resources: cockpit video/audio/photos/map
I built a database with most of these fields in lazybase to learn how the database might work. I input a few missions I flew in Desert Storm to test it.
http://lazybase.com/dbhome?a=797442748 I suggest you search for “F-16”
I quickly found Lazybase was very limited in its field choices–I wanted to put latitude/longitude formatted to use in a mashup, but had to enter it as text. This will lead to format problems with the geo mashup, indicating a more capable database is needed (until lazybase adds geo-tags).
The second learning point I encountered was I need to decide if the artifacts will reside inside the database (uploaded there) or linked from the database. Lazybase doesn’t accept files, so I uploaded the files to my server space and included links.
I found that a few additional fields that might help include: a short description of main mission events (to help search/browse), names of other aircrews on the mission.
Another limitation of Lazybase that would have to be adjusted with a more capable database is that editing privileges are “all or nothing” Either you have editing privileges and can change all the records, or you can only view them. Ouch. If I give you the opportunity to put in your mission, I have to give you the option to delete the whole database.
In the end, the database exercise was an excellent learning opportunity, but makes the case to go for a more capable database.
