Timeline Upgrade Input?

[David Lang]

As you all know, the Accordance Timeline currently covers the periods of history and geographical regions most related to the Bible, so we included people and events through the Fall of the Roman empire in 476 AD in the regions of Egypt, Israel, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, Anatolia, Greece, and Rome.

 

For some time now, I've been working on an upgrade to the Timeline which would extend to the present day. The primary focus is on religious history (church, rabbinic, Islamic, etc.), but of course, that has to be presented against the backdrop of secular history. For this new upgrade, we've added 5 new regions: Africa, Arabia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and World (which will cover East Asia, India, Oceania, and the Americas).

 

Obviously, this is a lot of history to cover, and I'm constantly faced with the challenge of which people and events should be included. I'm nearly done with my plan for what to include, but before we release this, I thought I'd give Accordance Forum members the chance to chime in with last-minute input:

 

1. What people and events do you think absolutely should be included in the Accordance Timeline?

2. Are there any biblical people or events we missed in the original Timeline we ought to include?

3. When you get the new Timeline and proudly show it off to a friend, colleague, or student, are there any items you would be embarrassed to discover were missing from the Timeline?

 

Now is your chance to give your input, so speak now or forever hold your peace. 

 

Thanks!

[EricC]

Now is your chance to give your input, so speak now or forever hold your peace. 

 

Thanks!

 

I'd say the main thing is not so much what Accordance includes in the new-and-improved Timeline database, but to what extent the Accordance Timeline allows user extensibility. What the user can put into the Timeline and manipulate and use and export, etc. is, in my view, far more important than what "it comes with."

Edited June 4, 2020 by EricC

[Solly]

Oh my, David—what a formidable task to take on. As I ponder the questions posed and think about combinations and permutations of data to include, I feel the pressure inside my head rising that may lead to the explosion often portrayed in that popular meme. You, sir, are much braver than I. 

 

Best wishes in this project,

Joseph

[Λύχνις Δαν]

I'd say the main thing is not so much what Accordance includes in the new-and-improved Timeline database, but to what extent the Accordance Timeline allows user extensibility. What the user can put into the Timeline and manipulate and use and export, etc. is, in my view, far more important than what "it comes with."

 

This was my first thought too. I do not expect that the timeline will include, out of the box all events, of interest to all users. It would be a monster db if it did. But a solid support for export/import (CSV for example) would be great. I assume you have to be loading the data in some way so that would hopefully not be a huge addition to the work. Hopefully that would include the ability to setup regions of one's own too. One thing I have in the past looked at using the timeline for is for the history of languages across ages and geography, just to throw a use case into the mental grinder, so to speak.

 

Thx

D

[David Lang]

Part of the rationale for the various Regions and subregions we've added is to give you a logical place where you can enter your own items. So for example, the Timeline will not cover the fine political details of the Baltic States, but there's an appropriate subregion of the Eastern Europe region where our Baltic users could add those items if they wish.

[JohnABarnett]

First of all, really appreciate your efforts (and the Accordance team's determination) to improve and extend the Timeline.

 

As mentioned above by the others the scope of your project is:

 

1. Immense

2. By it's very nature subjective

3. Guaranteed to be seen from widely different points of view

 

So I agree with the comments above that emphasize user capability over a massive database that might make for long, complex lists of selections and filters. If two thirds of the stuff included is of no relevance for me, I would prefer not to have to wade through it to find what is relevant. It would be great to see user databases and user interface be the primary focus of any work (perhaps it already is).

 

Take my words with a grain of salt. I am not a constant user of the Timeline. I do appreciate it's current capabilities.

First of all, really appreciate your efforts (and the Accordance team's determination) to improve and extend the Timeline.

 

As mentioned above by the others the scope of your project is:

 

1. Immense

2. By it's very nature subjective

3. Guaranteed to be seen from widely different points of view

 

So I agree with the comments above that emphasize user capability over a massive database that might make for long, complex lists of selections and filters. If two thirds of the stuff included is of no relevance for me, I would prefer not to have to wade through it to find what is relevant. It would be great to see user databases and user interface be the primary focus of any work (perhaps it already is).

 

Take my words with a grain of salt. I am not a constant user of the Timeline. I do appreciate it's current capabilities.

[Fabian]

I'd say the main thing is not so much what Accordance includes in the new-and-improved Timeline database, but to what extent the Accordance Timeline allows user extensibility. What the user can put into the Timeline and manipulate and use and export, etc. is, in my view, far more important than what "it comes with."

Export, Import and Merge

[Fabian]

As you all know, the Accordance Timeline currently covers the periods of history and geographical regions most related to the Bible, so we included people and events through the Fall of the Roman empire in 476 AD in the regions of Egypt, Israel, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, Anatolia, Greece, and Rome.

 

For some time now, I've been working on an upgrade to the Timeline which would extend to the present day. The primary focus is on religious history (church, rabbinic, Islamic, etc.), but of course, that has to be presented against the backdrop of secular history. For this new upgrade, we've added 5 new regions: Africa, Arabia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and World (which will cover East Asia, India, Oceania, and the Americas).

 

Obviously, this is a lot of history to cover, and I'm constantly faced with the challenge of which people and events should be included. I'm nearly done with my plan for what to include, but before we release this, I thought I'd give Accordance Forum members the chance to chime in with last-minute input:

 

1. What people and events do you think absolutely should be included in the Accordance Timeline?

2. Are there any biblical people or events we missed in the original Timeline we ought to include?

3. When you get the new Timeline and proudly show it off to a friend, colleague, or student, are there any items you would be embarrassed to discover were missing from the Timeline?

 

Now is your chance to give your input, so speak now or forever hold your peace. 

 

Thanks!

Oh yes, I wait for this so long. (As you can see with my request:-)

 

Luther as I wrote 

Catholic councils etc. 

More church fathers etc. 

More church history in general

 

What BW has included.

 

Thanks

[jarcher]

Wow, David. That's pretty amazing.

 

I agree that the most important thing is to be able to easily add items (which is already true).

 

As I was reading this I remembered I used to own this book (https://www.amazon.com/Most-Important-Events-Christian-History/dp/0800756444).

 

I would say that the inclusion of those top 100-200 items that are most relevant to the church as a whole is most important.

[JonathanHuber]

David,

 

This is great news and I can't wait to see the update. You've likely thought of anything I'll suggest, but I'd like to see gobs of church fathers (and later theologians like Luther etc who aren't labeled "church fathers"), church councils, pope/bishops at the major churches, leaders of various groups like Menno Simons and Joseph Smith, the various works in the Creeds module like the writing of Westminster standards and 3 forms of unity. I'm glad to see you're including rabbinic history. 

 

Jonathan

[A.D. Riddle]

It would be helpful to add key events/persons in the Eastern Church as well (if you have not already). One interesting source might be:

 

 

Baumer, Christoph.

     2016  The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity. New ed. New York: I. B. Tauris.

 

(The same author has also published a 4-volume set entitled The History of Central Asia.)

 

A.D.

[Paul Meiklejohn]

David, I would love to see how and when denominations began especially over the last 500 years.  One of the best resources I've come across and use extensively is Walton's Chronological and Background Charts of Church History (Zondervan Charts).  The flow charts are exceptional.  If Accordance could get that resource and then link the Timeline item to the relevant page that would be a great asset.

 

     https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chronological-Background-Charts-History-Zondervan/dp/0310258138

 

Actually, you'll probably be aware that Zondervan have a full set (17 vols) of these charts.

 

     https://www.zondervan.com/9780310535256/the-zondervan-charts-library-complete-17-volume-set/

[ukfraser]

There are also a load of important events and stuff in the tim dowley atlases.

 

Two are in accordance, church history and european reformation, but feel there was a lot of events between the councils around 325  leading up to the Great Schism Around 1050's is missing so as many events as possible would be useful. Also i feel there is a focus on western churches and events in the orthodox traditions need expansion.

 

a third on world religions currently isnt in accordance but will give a good starting resource for other events

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Atlas-World-Religions-Tim-Dowley/dp/1912552000/ref=sr_1_14?dchild=1&keywords=Tim+dowley&qid=1591349700&sr=8-14

Edited June 5, 2020 by ukfraser

[lesterchua]

Can we have an option to import and export in JSON format? That would be wonderful.

[Abram K-J]

David: a nice little "Easter egg" would be the inclusion of the release of the first Accordance (or proto-Accordance) version....

[Fabian]

To the 2500 is great, but not enough for Zager And Evans - In The Year 2525 - YouTube

[JohnABarnett]

To the 2500 is great, but not enough for Zager And Evans - In The Year 2525 - YouTube

 

 

Makes me think back to my freshman year in high school. Lots of water under the bridge since then!

[mgvh]

As noted by others, that's a huge undertaking, David! Maybe one approach could be to include things for which Accordance has resources available. (E.g., all the authors in the Ante-, Nicene, and post-Nicene Fathers)

Another option: Maybe you could check with the BibleWorks folks to get permissions to use some of their timelines. They did have a "World" timeline that would be helpful.

User created datasets would be great. BibleWorks did provide for that. What I would hope, then, is that such sets could be shared on the Accordance Exchange.

E.g., I created a timeline of English Versions of the Bible. (Info and download of the BW file HERE.) You are welcome to use and update that!

[Fabian]

As noted by others, that's a huge undertaking, David! Maybe one approach could be to include things for which Accordance has resources available. (E.g., all the authors in the Ante-, Nicene, and post-Nicene Fathers)

Another option: Maybe you could check with the BibleWorks folks to get permissions to use some of their timelines. They did have a "World" timeline that would be helpful.

User created datasets would be great. BibleWorks did provide for that. What I would hope, then, is that such sets could be shared on the Accordance Exchange.

E.g., I created a timeline of English Versions of the Bible. (Info and download of the BW file HERE.) You are welcome to use and update that!

And as a wrote merged, so not only to replace one Timeline to another but to merge to not loose the own content.

 

BTW, I would love this in the Range List too.