About Ohio History Central

Description
Mission
User Guide
Credits

Description

Ohio History Central is a readily accessible, online resource that documents Ohio's natural history, prehistory, and history through encyclopedic-style entries that are complemented with multimedia elements.

Ohio History Central incorporates a variety of finding-aids that enable users to access information based upon individual preferences. Currently, users may search for specific entry titles, or they may browse the encyclopedia by disciplines and by sub-topics within disciplines, or by alphabetical index. Eventually, users will also be able to browses by topics, media types, time periods, locations, and Ohio Department of Education instructional standards.

Mission

Ohio History Central strives to be the most authoritative, expansive, accurate, and readily accessible point-of-entry resource on the World Wide Web that documents Ohio's past.

Requirements:

Ohio History Central is a media-rich website that was designed to be viewed through a minimum browser window size of 800 by 600 pixels. Many of the features on the site require the free Adobe Flash^TM Player plug-in and the free Apple QuickTime^TM plug-in. Although the encyclopedia's multimedia elements are accessible through a 56Kbps modem connection, they may require long download times. Your ability to thoroughly use all of Ohio History Central's features will benefit from a faster network connection.

Minimum Setup for Macintosh Users

Macintosh computer with PowerPC G3 233 MHz
Mac OS X 10.1 or greater is recommended, but Mac OS 9 will work
Safari 1.0, Firefox 1.0, or Netscape 6.0
Internet connection speed of 56Kbps (higher speed recommended for faster display of multimedia components)
800 x 600 monitor resolution required; 1024 x 768 or greater recommended
Adobe Flas^TM Player 8.0 ? free download information and instructions
Apple QuickTim^TM Player 5.0 (or higher) ? free download information and instructions

Minimum Setup for Windows Users

Windows computer with Pentium I 200 MHz or compatible processor (or greater)
Windows 98 SE, Windows Me, Windows 2000, or Windows XP
Firefox 1.0, Netscape 6.0 or Internet Explorer 6.0
Internet connection speed of 56Kbps (higher speed recommended for faster display of multimedia components)
800 x 600 monitor resolution required; 1024 x 768 or greater recommended
Adobe Flas^TM Player 8.0 ? free download information and instructions
Apple QuickTim^TM Player 5.0 (or higher) ? free download information and instructions

Finding Aids

Ohio History Central is comprised of thousands of text entries, images, and multimedia elements. To help you find what you are looking for we have developed two basic finding aids: Title Search and Browse.

Title Search

The title search feature enables you to search for a string of text in the titles of any of the elements in the encyclopedia.

To use the search feature, simply locate the search box at the top of any page, enter a word or group of words, and click on the "Go" button. Your query will be sent to the site's database. After a search of the database, you will be directed to a page listing the titles of the elements in the encyclopedia containing the word or words that you entered in the search box. From there you may click on any item on the list to navigate to that element.

Browse

The browse feature is useful for discovering the wide range of items in Ohio History Central. For your convenience, the editors have arranged the items in the encyclopedia into several structured categories. You can currently browse the encyclopedia by alphabet and by three disciplines or categories: natural history, prehistory, and history. Each of these categories also includes a menu of browseable sub-categories. For example the history category includes the sub-categories of "Documents," "Events," "Groups," "Images", "Organizations", "People," "Places," and "Topics." In the future you will be able to browse Ohio History Central by topics, media types, time periods, locations, and Ohio Department of Education instructional standards.

To use the browse feature, click on any of the browse menu items at the top of any page. From there you can navigate to any of the sub-category pages that will contain lists of items in the encyclopedia. Click any item listed to navigate to it.

Reading an Entry

A typical text entry in Ohio History Central has five basic features. Please read the descriptions below to learn about those features. You may also move your cursor over the highlighted areas on the interactive image below to locate and learn more about the features.

Breadcrumb: This is a string of text under the navigational menus that indicates the path you took to get to the entry page. A sample breadcrumb might look like this: Ohio History Central >> History >> People >> Thomas Worthington.
Entry Name: This is simply the name of the entry.
Content: This is the text that describes or interprets the entry.
Image: Many, but not all entries have a primary entry associated with them. If an entry does have an image associated with it, it is displayed at the right of the opening paragraph.
Related Entries List: This is a list of other entries in Ohio History Central that are related to the entry being displayed. All of the items on this list are hyperlinks. Clicking any item on the list will send you to another page containing content about the item you clicked. Most, but not all entries have a related entries list.
Related Media List: This is a list of media elements in Ohio History Central that are related to the entry being displayed. These elements may include images, documents, maps, audio, video, and slideshows. All of the items on this list are hyperlinks. Clicking any item on the list will send you to another page containing the media element that you clicked. Not all entries have related media elements.
Reference List: This is a list of references used to compile each entry, as well as works suggested for further reading.

Citing Ohio History Central

Ohio History Central is designed to provide basic information about Ohio's past, or as a launching point for more serious research. Images or portions of text contained in the encyclopedia may be copied if proper credit is provided. To cite an entry, list the title, followed by Ohio History Central, the date you retrieved the article, and the entry's URL. For example:

"Akron Rubber Strike of 1936", Ohio History Central, October 16, 2006, http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=461

Choosing Your Text Size

When viewing Ohio History Central it is easy to change the text size displayed on your screen. Locate the "Choose you text size" options near the top of any page and click any of the three letter A's to make a change. The middle A is the default text size. The small A decreases the text size on the page, and the large A increases it.

Printing

To print an entry or image from Ohio History Central, use your browser's "print" button. All of the entries and images in the encyclopedia have been specially formatted for printing. When you print an entry or image no menus or other navigational features are included. Your printed document includes only the content you requested.

Subscribing to Ohio History Central

You can easily subscribe to Ohio History Central using an RSS feed. This is a free and easy way to be notified automatically when content is added or updated without even visiting the site. To subscribe, locate and click on the "Subscribe to Ohio History Central" link on the bottom of any page. Follow the instructions on the page that is displayed after clicking the link.