Content

Who is the author of information for the site?

The Valley of the Shadow Project is authored by and copywritten under Professor Edward L. Ayers.  He is a history professor at the University of Viginia. Anne S. Rubin and William G. Thomas III are co-authors.

What is the source for the information?

The information published on the Valley of the Shadow is obtained through research completed by students of Professor Ayers and employees of the University of Virginia. The site's information should be considered as fact and the site itself a scholarly work.

What is the purpose of the site?

The purpose of the web site is educational. The site examines two civil war communities that were located on either side of the Mason-Dixon Line. The only basic difference between the communities was slavery. The site does not attempt to explain the differences of the two communities, instead it presents information and leaves the interpretation of that information up to the reader.

How is the information communicated?

The presentation of the Valley of the Shadow Project is a mixture of text and advantages the world wide web provides. The text parts are reasonable in length, meaning they are long enough to provide appropriate amounts of information but short enough they are not simply a book on the web. There are two movies on the site that break down battles during the war and take full advantage of the interactive medium which the web provides.

Brief summary of the Content on the Valley of the Shadow Project.

The Valley of the Shadow Project is split into two main archives, The Eve of the War and The War Years. Under each archive the information is further divided up into appropriate headings that conviently organize the information. These headings group data into areas such as maps and images, letters and diaries, public records, and church records. The archive also provides a quick walking tour that allows visitors to browse the highlighted portions of the site quickly. All the information is presented in a manner that allows the visitor to make up their own mind on the actions of the Civil War.

Design

Is the page easy to navigate?

The Valley of the Shadow Project does an excellent job of presenting its information in an easily accessible manner. It is easy to get anywhere you want in the site and hard to get lost while moving from page to page. There are however some pages that could be combined into other pages to cut down on any possible problems that the site may have. For example, the first page of the site is simply a title page,as if in a book. There is really no need for this taking up an entire page. Instead, this first page should be incorporated into the second page.

Is the information presented in a readable fashion?

For the most part the Valley of the Shadow Project does a good job of limiting its text to a pleasing amount that conveys enough, but does not become too much. However, there are certain areas where it is easy to notice that the authors of the different areas are students who have developed through a text based education. This is not a major problem, but at times it is a little too much. Also, there are certain areas that could use more images.

Technical Skill

How do the technical components of the site use the advantages of the world wide web?

The Valley of the Shadow does an excellent job of taking advantage of the interactive medium the internet probides when it does use these advantages. For example, the site provides video segments and divides up the information well. However, there is no search engine within the site and this is a major lose, especially with the amount of information the site provides.

Final Thought

The Valley of the Shadow is an intriguing site that provides interesting information. The ideal visitor for the site would be a student in the high school or above range who is somewhat educated in the area of the Civil War. However, the site is interesting enough easy enough to navigate that anyone would enjoy visiting The Valley of the Shadow Project.