Rationale:
The Visible Human: A Guided Tour is part of
the MAD Scientist Network, a web-based
Ask-A-Scientist service. While the raw data from the
Visible Human is
avilable on the Internet, few sites provide
materials to help explain content in the images. This site
attempts to provide an introduction.
The design of the annotated images lets users explore
sections at their own pace.
Since K-12 schools often have limited computer resources
(in 1997, we found many St. Louis Public Schools were
using Netscape 1.3 with 9600b modems!), I opted for a "low-tech"/server-side
approach that functions in any browser.
The
clickable interface lets people learn by
(1) clicking on the image, (2) clicking
on selected "key points," (3) selecting a term listed among
all annotations for the image, or (4) running a
keyword
search of all images in the archive.
Try it! It explains
itself in actions better than I can with words.
What does it take?
The "annotated images" require three elements + the CGI script:
- An image file.
- An imagemap (NCSA or CERN formats are supported).
- A plain text file of annotations.
- The Perl CGI script that runs the interface. A single
script handles all the images.
The site has served more than 10 million "annotated images" since its
inception in 1997.
The Archive of Annotated Images remains
the favorite area.
