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Government Software

Timeglider Software Outlines Rosenberg Spy Case 99

An anonymous reader writes "Related to the previous story on Slashdot on the release of the Vassiliev Notebooks: the Cold War project has created a timeline on the Rosenberg spy ring (using Timeglider — a web-based, Flash-powered software for creating timelines), integrating the documentation from the Venona Intercepts, the FBI files related to industrial and atomic espionage, the Rosenberg trial papers and the Vassiliev notebooks in a easy-to-digest, complete picture of the evidence on the Rosenberg's involvement in atomic espionage. It can be accessed via the project's webpage. The use of Timeglider makes understanding the complex nature of the case and the newly available documentation more manageable."
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Timeglider Software Outlines Rosenberg Spy Case

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  • by Threni ( 635302 ) on Thursday May 21, 2009 @04:12AM (#28036801)

    It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York.

  • by Chrisq ( 894406 ) on Thursday May 21, 2009 @04:40AM (#28036917)

    (using Timeglider â" a web-based, flash powered, software for creating timelines) ... The use of Timeglider makes understanding the complex nature of the case, and the newly available documentation more manageable."

    Yes we get the picture

    • by idlemachine ( 732136 ) on Thursday May 21, 2009 @06:51AM (#28037461)
      And it's almost identical to the 3+ year old Simile Timeline project, other than its dependence on Flash over Javascript.

      http://www.simile-widgets.org/timeline/ [simile-widgets.org]

      The Timeline sample project covers the Kennedy assassination, incidentally.

      • Mod parent up (Score:1, Offtopic)

        by Chrisq ( 894406 )
        It is always good to highlight open-source alternatives in an "advertising" story.
        • True, especially when said Flash-based version fails to load any of the data with Swfdec on my Fedora 11 Linux box while the JavaScript version is light and responsive and probably a hell of a lot more accessible to boot.

    • by plover ( 150551 ) *

      (using Timeglider â" a web-based, flash powered, software for creating timelines) ... The use of Timeglider makes understanding the complex nature of the case, and the newly available documentation more manageable."

      Yes we get the picture

      Actually, I don't get the picture. It wants me to install some new version of Flash to get the picture, and I don't want to.

      • I got the same message ('you need to install a new version of Flash') when I visited. After telling NoScript to allow wilsoncenter.org, and then timeglider.com, I had access without the need to load another Flash reader.

        I don't know what that site is doing to test for Flash on the browser, but I don't like its dishonesty.

        • I don't know what that site is doing to test for Flash on the browser, but I don't like its dishonesty.

          I'd agree with Bernard Ingham on this one - cockup before conspiracy every time:

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor [wikipedia.org]

          • Yeah, its probably a matter of incompetence rather than evil intent, but I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. You can regard evil behavior as something separate from the person who uses it and then you can sometimes get them to mend their ways.

            But there's not much you can do about incompetence, except hope that the person grows out of it. And unless the person is still a teenager, it is not realistic to entertain high hopes about that.

            Seems a little strange to be more pessimistic than a c

        • by plover ( 150551 ) *

          Ah, that did it, thank you. It didn't occur to me that it was displaying that warning as a result of JavaScript. And I have NoScript set up to permit base second level domains, but didn't think to enable timeglider.com.

  • 5 years ago this would have still been relegated to a kiosk in a learning center somewhere... but a little investigation into how to write javascript could have made this lighter, more usable, and less frustrating. Unless they were going for a "technology of the times" feel...
  • Timeglider, eh? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by dangitman ( 862676 ) on Thursday May 21, 2009 @05:11AM (#28037063)
    Doesn't seem to work very well. Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but it didn't do anything to enhance my experience or make the information easier to digest. If anything, it made it more confusing and less informative.
    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It's not just you. This timeglider thingie does an excellent job of confusing the user.

      The Zoom-out feature is especially silly: When you zoom out to see an overview of the timeline, it hides all but one event, and creates the illusion that almost nothing happened. why it doesn't simply make the data smaller I have no idea.

      Great way to get lost in data with no way to find yourself. Well done Timeglider folks!

  • This is a job for... (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 21, 2009 @05:59AM (#28037261)

    Consider the following far-more-useful timeline presentations...

    http://newstimeline.googlelabs.com/
    http://simile.mit.edu/timeline/examples/religions/religions.html
    http://www.timerime.com/ ...The shame of it all is that Timeglider fails to beat the above three technologies, and NONE of them use Flash.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      http://www.timerime.com/ ...The shame of it all is that Timeglider fails to beat the above three technologies, and NONE of them use Flash.

      eh, then why does that last one say
      "You will need Flash Player 8 (or higher) to view this website."

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by TimeGlider ( 1559591 )
      Well, I'm biased (being a founder of TimeGlider), but none of these other tools provides a user the ability to quickly, with a nice ui, start making and sharing timelines. Timerime.com IS actually flash-based, Mr. Grumpypants. There's also Dipity.com, which is not Flash-based. Each has its strengths and flaws. We're getting lots of positive feedback today, as well as lots of helpful bug reports : ) Thanks /. !
      • by plover ( 150551 ) *
        OK, so you're trolling for feedback. Here's some.

        Now that I'm viewing it, it looks pretty straight-forward. I was kind of expecting a more two-dimensional approach, perhaps interconnected lines that would refocus me on a different path or view of the network. I could imagine having the main timeline change focus from primary topic to primary topic. Not that this isn't usable as is, but I was trying to follow my interests, rather than the interests of the article author. And I can see where the "autho

  • I am a teacher (former geek) and I have struggling to find good timelining software for use by both me and my students...my needs are:

    A. Must be free
    B. Easy to add events
    C. Exportable to a file
    D. Multiple user support would be nice

    Simile Timeline looks nice but is certainly not easy, and probably requires more skill to implement than I am capable of. Plus, I don't have a server to run it on. Timeglider are Timerime look fine as easy to use software, but are ultimately commercial services and I suspect will

    • Hey @Raindog, as long as we're in business, we'll keep a robust free version of TimeGlider available â"Âand this is with classrooms in mind. A "Plus" layer (currently free) will cost roughly $60 per year, so a teacher could then manage timeline collaborations, export to CSV, etc. We've had great success with classrooms collaborating. Yes, we'll pursue "enterprise" (commercial) clients, but will also make sure it's easy & free (and free of ads) for educational use. I'd be happy to help you set

I have hardly ever known a mathematician who was capable of reasoning. -- Plato

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