WORKING TITLE: A
Tribute to Wild Red
Name: Elizabeth
Mack
Email: emack3@cox.net
Date: 02/16/10
Course and
Section: Ed Tec 541 Thurs 7pm
PROBLEM, NEED
& OPPORTUNITY
My fatherŐs story was an integral part of our national history and a very
meaningful part of my life. He was one of the first Air Force pilots to fly the
new B-29s in WWII and for 18 months in the Pacific Theatre. The particular area
he served in is under represented in the history books and needs to have more
exposure. Most importantly to me since the loss of my father has been so
difficult, this website in his honor is a way for me to pull his life together
making it easier to appreciate his life in total. When someone you love is with
you it is hard to see all there is that makes them so valuable to you. In
reality his value went way beyond me to saving lives in the war, protecting his
country during 2 subsequent wars and touching many lives with his kindness in
his next career. This website is an opportunity to grieve his lose, celebrate
his life, reveal his part in history and give its readers information and
inspiration. The best way that all potential users would have access would be
via website. Most of his relatives are in Kansas and of course any other
persons interested in history would be worldwide.
AUDIENCE
Initially the primary audience will be family and friends, but as I plan to
link it to other sights it may also become a source of War history and War
stories. Most relatives including my siblings and myself are not aware of all
the parts of history my father was involved in. The baby boomers are the last
generation to have first hand knowledge of a parent or relative involved in
WWII. Once I get this website on search engines it may serve as a reference for
high school or college students. My husband teaches American History in high
school and will make reference of it to his students. My mother and older viewers
may need help viewing the Internet, but all students and other family are
familiar with using the Internet.
USERŐS NEEDS
I spoke to some
family member and friends and history teachers from my husbandŐs school:
The three most
important user needs were:
á A way to remember him and honor him.
á Historical information and his place in it.
á A time line of his life and times.
Solution: I could
group his personal pages apart from the historical pages with different color
themes included on the timeline links.
What major areas of
information do they expect from a site like this?
á A general introduction about who my father is and the
purpose of the website.
á Various old pictures of him
á An emphasis on his part in history with various pages for
various times like pre-war depression era, WWII, Korean War, Viet Nam, the Cold
War, Second Career, Retirement and death.
á In the WWII part a description of his metals and missions.
á Some of his war stories on tape, video or in writing.
á All the bases at which he was stationed and all the
different planes he flew, especially the B-29 and B-52.
á A timeline of his life with links to information on the
different times in history.
á Personal life, family etc.
á The last page will include his obituary and death
announcement.
How do they want
to find the information?
á Most all said by a time line with links, or links
organized by time on each page,
What kind of media
– animation, video, and audio – do they want or need.
á Lots of pictures with explanations, video or audio of him
telling war stories.
á Songs of the times
ENVIRONMENT
Family and friends, I expect, will access the website from their homes on their
personal computers in their free time. The oldest most of those computers would
be may is 5-7 yrs. Most of those will have
access to the Internet through a cable or DSL connection. Most will have software
to access the video or pictures from the website. I may use some music in
the website to give the feeling of a certain period of history. In high school
or college it may be accessed from a library or classroom computer.
RESOURCES AND
LIMITATIONS
The personal information will come from first hand knowledge, either left by my
Dad on tape or in writing, or from my mother. The history information will be
from research and included references. Some of the pictures that I use may
require copyright permission, however I have many pictures of the war and
planes taken by my father. I intend to work on this website 8-10 hours a week
for the next 12 weeks. My husband will help me with some of the history
information. The rest I can write easily because I have chronologically arranged
all of his pictures and life events within the last year. I have a total of 20
hours of class each week so my time will be limited by my other class work. It
is my intention to complete the bulk of the website over the next 12 weeks,
i.e. including only the major events and times and as many pictures as I can
get on it. There may be only part of a page with 1-2 war stories.
GENERAL SOLUTION
This website about my father will be a work of love for me and an expression of
how proud I am of him. He never sought recognition for his service to our
country, but it is my desire to reveal him as the humble and true hero he was
not only in the War, but also in my life. The possibility of sharing his
history with young students and having his story included in the chronicles of
history is all the more exciting. The feel of the sight will be old fashion,
WWII era muted colors and background. There will be pictures of different
planes he flew at the top of each page in the same spot. Each page will have
links to other pages organized by time. If a person wants to know about his
time in the Cold war for history reasons they can go there. If family wants to
see personal pictures they can go there. If someone wants to hear or read war
stories they can go to that page. I hope to use a time line on the first page
with picture icon links on the time line that will rise up and double click to
open that page. I will also list the pages organized by subject and time