Marco Polo & Ibn Battuta (Map on pages 568-569)

Based on the map, Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta would not be considered as typical people. For example, the sheer distance the two traveled from Africa and Europe to East Asia is abnormal. While it is typical of people during the time to engage in trade, those peoples's trade routes would be more regular or simpler. The map shows the two travelling everywhere as if they were in it for adventure rather than trade which is evident because the routes continuously switch from land to sea routes therefore limiting what one can carry to other places. They are not typical of today's people either. For example, tourists today would not visit so many places, but rather would visit a small region instead.

My awesome map of Oceania

Crusade Prezi

Bibliography:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vZ2JPRnhu8GSZEJj7lxLu1TZiYs26aq6WDritGPOt_A/edit

Prezi:
http://prezi.com/7dtj8lcrr6o4/crusades/?kw=view-7dtj8lcrr6o4&rc=ref-5488953

Instructions:
In order to view a Prezi on the iPad, you must download the "Prezi for iPad" app. This app is free and you can find it by simply searching the keyword "Prezi" on the app store.

Progress on Crusades Project 4

What problems occur(ed) with this choice? 

Some problems that occurred using Prezi are . . .

The lack of a fade-out animation makes it difficult to have characters have a conversion with each other through speech bubbles. Also, depending on the theme I choose, it limits me to what colors I can use in shapes whereas I can use any color I want with text. Some other difficulties are making sure the text was readable against the map.

Did it work as you envisioned? Why or why not?

Overall, my Prezi did work as envisioned. My goal at first was to move the camera through the path of each crusade, which I was able to do successfully. My second goal was to be able to use characters to convey their perspective on the crusades through speech bubbles which I was also able to accomplish, although with difficulty.

Search Engines

Today, I mainly used SweetSearch. I had never heard of it before but it is good to use because you know all the results are from reputable sources unlike Bing or Google which were the other two search engines I used for this project. I feel that I was able to do my research quicker on my last crusade, the Peace Crusade, with SweetSearch over Bing and Google. I also tried to use google.jo but I found that the results were very similar with normal Google.

To Tim

Dear Tim,

Thanks for that information-rich link on the third crusade. It appears to be a reputable source because it is from a college professor.

To Shams

You click "Add frame" and choose invisible frame. Keep in mind that you'll have to copy everything in your old frame and paste it into the new frame because when you delete a frame, everything inside it also is deleted.

Progress on Crusades Project 3

How do you hope to accomplish your goal?

I have chosen to make a Prezi for my project and I plan to take advantage of the pathing of frames in Prezi to make it go through the path of each Crusade and then focus on the perspective of the crusades of three generations of fictional characters from the same families (since there is at least a 120 year gap between the First and Peace crusade).


How and where are you finding your information?

I mainly have used Bing, Google, and the ABC CLIO database.

I have find a few links that will help me on my project such as:

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook1k.asp#The First Crusade

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2000/472/bk2_472.htm

http://ancienthistory.abc-clio.com/Feature/Story/1744581?cid=1744582&terms=first+crusade

The ancient world history database has good information on the crusades although you will have to look deeper to find evidence on how Muslims would have felt or events from the crusade that would provoke a type of response.

Also, a man named Fulcher of Chartres was a first-hand witness of the events of the crusade.

http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/sterk/Practicum/fulcher.pdf

Page 91 (according to the actual book pages) has a description of the bloodiness of the siege on Jerusalem

Is one search engine proving to be more useful than another?

The only other search engine besides Google that I have used in this project is Bing. I find the results on Bing to be relatively on par with Google. Using Bing while searching for the Muslim perspective on the Crusaders, a book name came up as a related search titled "The Crusades Islamic Perspective" and there is a sample of the book on Google Books here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=UalnoF5MBHMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

However, I feel that the related search terms with Bing are more helpful in research over Google's related search terms.

What problems are you having with finding the information?

It is hard to judge whether or not a site is a trustworthy source since the author may have a bias in favor of the Muslims during the crusades or of the Christians. There are also many Christian-related sites with information regarding the crusades that come up with using Google and Bing which makes finding good information harder.

Why have you chosen to display your understanding in this way?

I feel that Prezi is a great way to visually present information and it will benefit me more in the future when I need to look back on the crusades if I have an interactive presentation that can be viewed from any computer or on the iPad with the Prezi App

To Nick Fahey

Dear Nick Fahey, 

That Prezi looks quite spiffy. There is a template that gives you a colorful background of the world instead of that bland white one you are using.

To Nick Fahey

Dear Nick Fahey, 

I like your idea of using Prezi for this project. I think I will also use Prezi as well.

Progress on Crusades Project 2

I did not do any work on the crusades project yesterday because I was preparing the CCOT essay on Africa.

However, today, I decided that I will be doing the First Crusade (1096), the Third Crusade (1182-1192) and the Peace Crusade. The reason why I choose these specific three is because each of these crusades result in contact with Muslims rather than some of the other crusades which failed to even make any contact with Muslims whatsoever or had no impact on them.

I have not decided on the medium I will do my project through but I am considering either a Prezi presentation with a map of the Mediterranean region in the background while the pathing follows the same path of the crusade or some form of a rage comic. Or I could combine both . . . I have visited a few blogs and I have seen a that Nick Fahey plans on using Prezi while Matt Martin and Tim Sunnerberg plan to use memes. Harsh Dedhiya informed me that he will be using storytelling software from xtranormal.com which is something I may do as well.

In terms of information gathering, I plan on using Google and Bing and perhaps different language versions of each to get a different perspective on the crusades. I also plan on taking advantage of the ancient historical databases provided by the library.

Progress on Crusades Project 1

I have begun to brainstorm ideas for the crusades project.

Critique on Map of Africa

Why did the textbook company omit these details from its map?

The textbook company omitted these details from the map in order to simplify the map. The map would be too cluttered if they were to include all of our additions. Perhaps the textbook company was trying to make Africa look more primitive, isolated, and presented as an importer only on purpose.

What is the impact of those omissions and your additions?

The impact of those omissions makes the reader believe that there are no existing city-states outside west Africa. Also, they make the size of city-states or land features unknown as well as not showing the existence of trade routes going out from Africa and what is being traded on those trade routes. The map also does not tell the reader about the religions in Africa. The additions add the city of city-states such as Zimbabwe, Kongo, and Axum. It also labels the major religion of the region and shows that not all of Africa is Islamic. It also shows the goods being traded in both directions.

My awesome map of Africa

How I would want my story to be told

I would want my story to be told as a riveting tale or as a song instead of a list of bullet-points or plain facts in a textbook. The reason why is because more people would remember me if I they knew my personality behind my name. Also, people are more inclined to remember oddities in my story or a catchy song.