[with apologies for
cross-posting]
On 13 February 1997 the ‘Map History’ site was officially
launched. So today is its 20th birthday.
Rightly, online longevity is not valued for its own sake but the
site does remain dynamic, being
updated on most days.
Besides 7000 links, it covers a wide range of topics, among
them, conferences & deadlines,
fellowships, collections and collecting, journals &
newsletters, researchers, doctorates, teaching,
marketplace, thefts, fakes, etc. If you don’t already know it,
use ‘Map History’ for the full
range of History of Cartography topics, and to get access to its
hidden corners. [Check out the
full coverage on the Sitemap].
A geographical hierarchy helps you find map image sites. An
index to the largest such gatherings
(i.e., those with over 300 images) now runs to about 300
entries. Freely available web articles
are listed geographically or thematically.
It claims to be a gateway site partly because of the seamless
collaboration with a number of
specialist ‘companion’ sites. ‘Related subjects’ and ‘Special
topics’ also save the site from being
too inward-looking.
From the outset it has been a one-man affair. The site is wholly
non-commercial. There are no
committees, no supervision, no external influence. Relevance and
merit are the only reasons for
inclusion. Changes can and are made in minutes, not weeks or
months.
**
However, there is one big
problem: BROKEN LINKS **
Webpages disappear (deleted or moved) without leaving a
forwarding address. The webmaster who
carelessly turns an .htm ending into .html has potentially
killed off thousands of links that
had previously pointed to it.
It is easy to get a full list of broken links, and a page’s new
home can often be found by intelligent
sleuthing. But it takes time.
So this is a plea to one or more people to consider helping me
remove the dead wood and, better
still – by detective work or intuition - resurrect pages that
have been moved. From my own experience
I can assure you it is satisfying work.
Once the site has been thoroughly refreshed, maintaining its
currency will be straightforward.
If you even *might* be interested please get in touch and I can
explain just what is involved.
I always welcome additional information and corrections.
Thank you,
Tony Campbell
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'Map History':
http://www.maphistory.info
Academia:
https://independent.academia.edu/CampbellTony
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/portolanchart01