Timelines in the Scholar's Toolbox

We are in the very early stages of making tools for creating timelines, i.e. databases of events. This database is intended to keep track of events, whether cultural or natural. Each event is given a descriptive title, is described (both with a summary and an extended description), is keyed to a time or period, is classified according to type, is keyed to place, and finally is classified according to cultural region. The classification allows one to extra various timelines from the database – such as a timeline of monastery foundings, or a database of events within a specific sectarian tradition, or of political timelines, and so forth. Below one can download a very rough manual, and an equally rough Filemaker Pro database. Neither is intended for use at present to create actual data, but rather are in a stage of experimentation. Download, play around with and let us know your thoughts at thdltools@virginia.edu.