discontents

Cooliris-enabled scrapbook

There’s more 3D goodness for you to enjoy now that the Mapping our Anzacs scrapbook is Cooliris-enabled. If you have Cooliris installed, you’ll notice that the Cooliris icon on your browser toolbar lights up when you visit the site. Just click on the icon to browse all the photos posted to the scrapbook on a glorious 3D wall.

Scrapbook posts in 3D

(If you don’t have Cooliris then go and get it. It can be used both in Internet Explorer and Firefox, though you’ll probably need to have admin rights to install for IE.)

Having given the 3D treatment to digitised files from the National Archives of Australia and portrait images from the Australian Dictionary of Biography, it wasn’t too hard to do. The scrapbook is a Tumblr site and the api makes it easy to extract all the photos. So I created a php file to gather all the details and then write them to a media-rss file. Then it was just a matter of inserting a link to it in the scrapbook. Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 09 February 2009 † tim § hacks ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: 3d, Cooliris, Mapping our Anzacs, photos

ADB DIY RSS

So I was thinking, wouldn’t it be nice if the Australian Dictionary of Biography’s ‘born on this day‘ feature could be made available as an RSS feed. Every morning you’d get a new list of biographies delivered direct to your feed reader. And so…

[sounds of xpath wrangling and PHP coding]

here it is.

It’s pretty simple – it harvests all the links of people born on the current day, then loops through the links to gather the first paragraph of each biography. Then it’s just a matter of writing everything to an RSS file. Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 04 February 2009 † tim § hacks ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ADB Online, birthdays, rss

MoA buttons galore

Mapping our Anzacs, in case you don’t know, provides a Google map interface to the 375,000+ WWI service records held by the National Archives of Australia. Amongst other other things, you can add scrapbook posts to individual entries and create tributes. It’s meant to encourage exploration, so go on… explore!

If you’ll do, you’ll notice that there are direct links into the National Archives’ database RecordSearch. However, there are currently no links going to other way. Why does this matter? Well perhaps you’d like to use NameSearch to find an individual record, but then add a scrapbook post in Mapping our Anzacs. Up until now you had to find them all over again. But not any more…

Introducing our new range of ‘View in Mapping our Anzacs’ buttons:

For the discerning Firefox devotee we have a Greasemonkey userscript which adds a button to the RecordSearch item details page.
For fashion-challenged IE user we have a bookmarklet. Just right click on this link – View in Mapping our Anzacs – and save it as a favourite in your ‘Links’ folder (you may need to enable the ‘Links’ toolbar first by checking Tools > Toolbars > Links.)

Yes, it’s true… you could use the Bookmarklet with Firefox (just drag it to your bookmarks toolbar), but Greasemonkey is so much more chic.

Once you’re fully button-enabled just head into RecordSearch, find an item in series B2455 (the WWI service records) and click! Hurrah! You will be instantly transported to Mapping our Anzacs.

You can test out your new button by heading here:

B2455, WRAGGE C L E

¶ Posted 30 January 2009 † tim § archives § hacks ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: bookmarklet, buttons, greasemonkey, Mapping our Anzacs, recordsearch, userscript

Cloudy biographies and portrait walls

With a bit of time to play over Christmas I had a go at applying some of the techniques described at ProgrammingHistorian to the ADB Online. I thought it might be interesting to create some word clouds, both for what they could reveal about the content of the ADB, and to see what they had to offer as a way of improving access to the articles.

So I set about learning Python and was soon downloading and scraping the more than 10,000 articles that make up the ADB online.

My first tests revealed that the most frequent words in ADB articles were…

born and died

Who’d have thought it? In a biographical dictionary?

After further refining the stopwords list I started to generate some useful clouds. Finally after 147 minutes of processing time, I had a word cloud representing the content of all 16 volumes of the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

The complete ADB word cloud

¶ Posted 24 January 2009 † tim § experiments ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: ADB Online, biographies, Cooliris, python, visualisation, word clouds

A wordled Constitution

Wordle's interpretation of the Australian Constitution

If you haven’t played with Wordle yet, you should. Feed it your latest article, your thesis, your blog and see what emerges from the cloud.

Some months ago I wordled the Australian Constitution (as you do). Wordle’s expert legal analysis offers a fairly positive assessment of our federal system, suggesting that Commonwealth and state powers are fairly well balanced. Who needs a High Court when you can just count words?

¶ Posted 22 December 2008 † tim § web ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: constitution, federation, visualisation

Archives in 3D

All dressed up – RecordSearch has a new look

The new version of my Greasemonkey userscript, RecordSearch Image Tools, gives RecordSearch’s digital image pages a rather new look. My previous version had done away with the tired ol ‘lemon-chiffon’ background colour, but I decided it was time to get a bit more adventurous, so I blitzed the old design and rebuilt the page from the beginning.

As you can see from the screenshot, I’ve tried to give the images as much as the screen as possible. I’ve also created a consistent set of navigation buttons, and improved the functionality in various ways. Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 17 December 2008 † tim § archives § hacks ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: archives, Cooliris, greasemonkey, recordsearch, visualisation

RecordSearch tools broken!?

BREAKING NEWS (2.00pm, Monday, 8 December): RecordSearch seems to be back on the old subdomain, so now the userscript fix is not working! To be safe, I’ve updated the userscript again so that it will work on both the old and new subdomains. I’ll do the same with the Zotero translator, though for the time being it should be working. If you updated the userscript in the last few hours, you’d better do it again – sorry… Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 08 December 2008 † tim § hacks ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: greasemonkey, recordsearch, userscripts, zotero

Looking at the sun

From Wallal, in Australia’s far north-west, to Goondiwindi, near the New South Wales-Queensland border, local and international scientists watched the sun and waited.

A total solar eclipse was due on 21 September 1922. An eclipse always held scientific interest, but this one offered the chance to confirm one of the most revolutionary theories in science. Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity predicted that light passing near an object such as the sun would be bent by gravity. In 1919, Arthur Eddington’s observations of a total solar eclipse lent support to Einstein’s theory, but some challenged his results. The 1922 eclipse, best observed in Australia, promised to decide the matter. Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 01 August 2008 † tim § magazine articles § weather ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: Bureau of Meteorology, Commonwealth Solar Observatory, Geoffrey Duffield, Griffith Taylor, Henry Ambrose Hunt, long-range forecasting, solar eclipse, solar radiation, weather cycles, weather forecasting

Civilisation versus the giant, winged lizards

‘Modern man is a forest butcher’, warned the pioneering science journalist Hugh McKay in 1923. ‘He is also an oil-spendthrift and a coal waster’, McKay continued, ‘recklessly spending his capital of fuel… with never a thought of the tomorrow when he will stand shivering and motionless in the middle of a coal-less, oil-less, treeless, steel-less planet’. Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 14 November 2006 † tim § articles and book chapters § weather ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: apocaplypse, arms race, atomic bomb, climate change, Cold War, crossroads, dung beetles, fear, global warming, Hugh McKay, Mark Oliphant, progress, Tim Flannery, time, turning points

Treasures

Australia is blessed, it seems, with a frightening abundance of treasures. A quick survey of our cultural institutions reveals an escalating ‘treasures race’, as libraries, museums, and archives bombard the public with accounts of their rarest, most beautiful, and most interesting items. The State Library of Victoria, for example, has published a lavish description of its ‘treasures’, and features them prominently on its redesigned website. The National Library of Australia also has an online display of its most treasured holdings, hoping to bring in sponsorship for a permanent ‘treasures gallery’. Meanwhile, the ‘Treasures Gallery’ at the National Archives of Australia is already up and running, while the South Australian Museum guides visitors around a ‘treasures trail’. The Australian Museum recently presented their ‘treasures’ in a special exhibition, and even the University of Melbourne has catalogued the highlights of its collections in a glossy book of ‘treasures’. Celebrating its 150^th birthday, the Museum of Victoria has made an impressive entry into the fray, with a well-designed treasures website, a treasures trail for visitors, and a beautiful volume simply entitled Treasures of the Museum. Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 29 June 2005 † tim § reviews and review essays ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: archives, collections, history of science, libraries, museums, narrative, objects, stories

Remembering Lawrence Hargrave

Remembering Lawrence Hargrave – Hargrave's models on display, 1919.

In 1962 William Hudson Shaw, a Qantas executive, knocked at the door of a cottage in the seaside village of Walmer, Kent. Shaw was in the grip of an obsession - a ‘labour of love’ to document the ‘true story’ of Australian aeronautical pioneer Lawrence Hargrave. This quest had brought Shaw to the home of Helen Gray, Hargrave’s eldest daughter, his beloved ‘Nellie’. Now into her 80s, Helen Gray remained firmly protective of her father’s memory, yet strangely ambivalent about his achievements. Nonetheless, through Hudson Shaw’s visit and the correspondence that followed, the two became friends and collaborators. ‘I feel so grateful that you have such great interest in L.H. [and] his work’, the elderly woman wrote in 1963, ‘what a difference it has made to my life that you appeared at the right time’. The biographer gained insight into the personal life of his subject, and the daughter was relieved of the burden of defending her father against the ill-formed judgments of history. Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 01 May 2005 † tim § articles and book chapters § history of australian science ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: aircraft, flying, innovation, inventions, Jim Willis, kites, Lawrence Hargrave, memorials, models, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, patents, Powerhouse Museum, Richard Baker, Sydney, Technological Museum, William Hudson Shaw, World War I

Frontiers of the future

The glow of his campfire framed a simple tableau of pioneer life. Across this ‘untenanted land’, Edwin Brady mused, ‘little companies’, such as his own, sat by their ‘solitary fires’. ‘They smoked pipes and talked, or watched the coals reflectively’. Around them, the ‘shadowy outlines’ of the bush merged into the dark northern night, and ‘the whispers’ of this ‘unknown’ land gathered about. It seemed to Brady that this camp, this night, represented the ‘actual life’ of the Northern Territory as he had known it. But the future weighed heavily upon that quiet, nostalgic scene. The moment would soon fade, Brady reflected, as the ‘cinematograph of Time’ rolled on. It was 1912, and something new was coming. Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 01 March 2005 † tim § articles and book chapters § atomic age ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: Alfred Deakin, atomic bomb, atomic tests, Australia Unlimited, Cold War, crossroads, defence, Edwin James Brady, frontiers, Littleton Groom, progress, progressivism, race, science, secrets, uranium, White Australia

Human elements

‘I say emphatically that the climate has changed’, Henry Hodgson told the Argus in 1928. The experience of seventy-eight years brooked no denial, summers were milder, and thunderstorms were fewer. ‘It is no use telling me that weather bureau statistics do not bear this out’, he added defiantly. ‘You can do anything with statistics, but no statistics will convince me that the climate has not changed radically.’

It’s hard not to have some sympathy for Mr Hodgson, for even as we express our concerns about global warming and educate ourselves about the characteristics of Australia’s variable climate, there remains a nagging feeling that somehow he was right. Think back to the boiling-hot Christmases of your youth, to those long weeks spent at the beach, and answer honestly – do you remember summer as being hotter? Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 01 January 2005 † tim § articles and book chapters § weather ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: Bureau of Meteorology, climate, climate change, cyclones, drought, global warming, heatwaves, Inigo Jones, long-range forecasting, meteorology, rainmaking, variability, weather

A Change in the Weather

We live between weather and climate – between the daily experience of nature and our attempts to discern the patterns and regularities that define an Australian climate. In this land of extremes, where climatic variability is the norm, we are constantly challenged by the experience of change. Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 01 January 2005 † tim § edited books § weather ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: Australia, climate, climate change, El Nino, history, meteorology, weather

Stromlo: an Australian observatory

Few institutional histories could boast such a dramatic conclusion as Stromlo: an Australian observatory. The manuscript was substantially complete when a savage firestorm swept through the pine plantations flanking Mount Stromlo, destroying all the major telescopes and many of the observatory’s buildings. Among the losses was the Oddie Dome, built in 1911 to test the site - one of the first buildings in the nation’s yet to be inaugurated capital. This sudden twist of fate forced the authors to add an epilogue, providing both a poignant account of the fires, and an expression of hope for the institution’s future. Inspecting the scene shortly after the devastation, Prime Minister John Howard promised government assistance in rebuilding the site. Like many others, he lamented the loss of what he described as a ‘national icon’. Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 01 June 2004 † tim § history of australian science § reviews and review essays ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: astronomy, Commonwealth Solar Observatory, Geoffrey Duffield, Mount Stromlo, Richard Woolley, telescopes

Atomic wonderland

The development and use of the atomic bomb was a turning point in history. It seems so obvious—the world was changed, a new age dawned. But this was not the first turning point, nor the last. History is littered with critical moments, crossroads, watersheds and points of decision. Each brings a new sense of urgency, each draws renewed attention to the fate of humankind, but the moment soon passes and the urgency fades…until next time. Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 31 July 2003 † tim § atomic age § history of australian science § theses ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: atomic bomb, atomic energy, Australia, David Rivett, Edwin James Brady, Geoffrey Duffield, history of science, HV McKay, Littleton Groom, Mark Oliphant, Mount Stromlo, progress, science, secrets, spies, weather

Hedley Marston

In the 1950s, CSIRO biochemist, Hedley Marston, became embroiled in what Roger Cross describes as ‘the single most important crisis’ of his professional life. Research into fallout from the British atomic tests in Australia brought Marston into bitter conflict with the government appointed Safety Committee. It was a dispute that involved many of the major players in the Australian scientific community, and one that culminated in ‘perhaps the most unseemly episode in twentieth-century Australian science’. This is a fascinating story of ‘jealousy, hate and power’ that takes us behind the facade of scientific detachment and adds to our knowledge of the politics and personalities involved in Australia’s atomic adventures. Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 29 November 2002 † tim § atomic age § history of australian science § reviews and review essays ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: atomic bomb, atomic tests, CSIRO, Ernest Titterton, fallout, Hedley Marston, Les Martin, Maralinga, Mark Oliphant, Monte Bello Islands

Wragge

On 26 September 1902, exactly 100 years ago today, the people of Charleville tried to make rain.

Stationed around the town were six Stiger Vortex guns, their long, funnel-shaped barrels aimed skywards.

At noon the guns were manned, and at the direction of the Mayor, ten shots were fired from each in quick succession’.

Charleville’s assault on the weather was marshalled by Queensland’s energetic, but irascible meteorologist, Clement Wragge.

[Wragge enters reading from paper]

‘Soon after the firing a few drops of rain fell, and at 2 o’clock a slight shower fell. At the time of firing the guns a strong wind was blowing, which doubtless interfered with the force of the vortices’.

Doubtless…

‘Later - A second experiment with the Stiger Vortex guns was made at half-past four this afternoon, but without any visible results. An accident happened to two of the guns, one stationed at Mr Ormiston’s paddock, and the other at Mr Spence’s residence; each of these guns had a large piece of iron blown out of the sides, making them worthless…’

[Slams down paper, takes up pen]

To the editor, Brisbane Courier, dear sir… Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 26 September 2002 † tim § speeches § weather ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: Clement Wragge, meteorology, rainmaking, stiger vortex, weather

Australia’s bid for the bomb

It’s rare for a book relating to the history of Australian science to draw the attention of the national media. But Australia’s Bid for the Atomic Bomb made the front page with its claims that the origins of major institutions such as the Snowy Scheme and the ANU could be found in the government’s frustrated longing for nuclear weaponry. Wayne Reynolds’ ‘controversial’ book, it was reported, made use of ‘recently declassified documents’ to ‘debunk’ conventional assessments of Australian government policy in areas such as defence, foreign policy, education and science. Exciting stuff… I just wish I liked the book more. Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 01 December 2001 † tim § atomic age § reviews and review essays ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: AAEC, ANU, atomic bomb, atomic energy, Cold War, CSIRO, David Rivett, Ernest Titterton, Mark Oliphant, secrets, Woomera

A climate for a nation

forecast: 1 January 1901

The day had been hot, the air hung ‘heavy and dead’; but as evening approached, ‘ominous-looking clouds’ swept over the city, and a thundery change seemed imminent. On this, the last day of the nineteenth century, as Australia prepared to celebrate its birth as a nation, the people of Sydney looked to the weather. ‘The keenest dread is that Proclamation Day will be wet’, the Age reported, ‘“Will it rain?” is the question in everybody’s mouth’.

The storm broke shortly after 7 o’clock. Fierce winds and heavy rains battered the city’s festive finery, toppling some flags and hoardings, and making ‘rather a sorry sight’ of the buntings. As drizzle continued on into the night, the Government Astronomer, H.C. Russell, offered calm reassurance: ‘Prospects are strongly in favor of fine weather for our natal day’.

Despite Russell’s confident prediction, 1 January 1901 dawned uncertain. ‘Overhanging clouds and portending thunder’ threatened to mar the procession that was assembling in the Domain. But just before the parade marched off on its triumphant journey towards the inauguration ceremony, the cloud cover began to break. Suddenly, the sun ‘burst forth’, flooding the scene with new colour and life: ‘His beams were never before half so welcome’, remarked the Age. Soon, an ‘invigorating southerly breeze’ arose, rustling the banners and the flags, freshening the air. The weather, it seemed, had succumbed to the sense of occasion. ‘The new nation was awakening’, the Age continued, ‘and with it inanimate nature was springing into renewed beauty and life’. Continue Reading »

¶ Posted 03 July 2001 † tim § articles and book chapters § weather ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: atomic bomb, Bureau of Meteorology, climate, El Nino, fallout, federation, JJC Bradfield, Littleton Groom, Thomas Griffith Taylor