Map of the World by John Senex, c.1721

a brief overview of the project in progress

| CEIR Portal | Interactive Atlas | Regional Image Database | The Brumfield Collection |
| Regional Periodical Indexes | Instruction and Outreach |

The Central Eurasian Information Resource consists of a uniquely cataloged collection of information resources, some developed at the University of Washington (examples are described below), others acquired contractually (such as the UW Libraries' subscriptions to online Russian and East European newspapers), and the remainder freely available on the Internet, but identified as particularly valuable by subject and area specialists, and selected for inclusion in the CEIR Online Resource Collection on the strength of their quality. The collection is expected to number between 500 and 1,000 cataloged resources by the completion of the current stage of the CEIR project in late 2002, and it will be added to continually thereafter. The CEIR Resource Collection is cataloged using a set of controlled metadata that differs from conventional library metadata, and it is searchable through a specially designed portal.


CEIR Portal
The search criteria used in the CEIR portal are:
  • Area of interest, input hierarchically: a particular region of Central Eurasia, then a country within that region (the Russian Federation is defined as a region, and its geographical/administrative regions are defined at the country level).
  • The primary language of the resource.
  • Subject, selectable at two levels of specificity.
  • Data type, in some cases more than one, also selectable at two levels.
  • Date range for historically defined data.

Since the underlying characteristic of all the information presented through the CEIR portal is its geographical specificity within the ‘Area Studies’ enterprise, the input page is based on a three-level interactive map – a natural counterpart to the data-mapping sites that are being developed by CEIR.

CEIR portal search results differ significantly from those of conventional Internet search engines:

  • The search locates sites (databases and other extensive resources) rather than pages within sites.
  • The located sites are associated with a visual map of the region to which they are relevant.
  • Each search result is presented as a ‘data icon’ which graphically indicates the data-type of the resource it represents, and has five clickable areas that lead the user to different types of information about the resource (description, catalog information, instructional use and similar resources), or directly to the located resource itself.

The CEIR portal page design reflects a careful analysis of the behavior and preferences of computer users at different levels of experience.

  • Visual cues are used as much as possible to (a) anchor and reinforce verbal communication, and (b) convey some navigational information non-verbally, thereby reducing the amount of text necessary for navigational cues.
  • The layout takes advantage of typical user reactions, especially the tendency to explore a web page with the cursor in search of clickable features.
  • Verbal instructions and input menus are displayed only when requested by the user, so that the screen is not cluttered with navigational cues that are unnecessary after the first few visits.

Last but not least, the portal has an educational function: fostering the development of basic geographical knowledge in the user -- a spatial framework that is a valuable aid to visualizing and remembering detailed information about the region. The combination of graphics and text in the search specification also invites wider exploration by the user.

The CEIR portal prototype is located at http://depts.washington.edu/ceir/portal/level-1.htm.


Resources Developed at the University of Washington

Interactive Atlas of Eurasia

Traditionally, detailed statistical data covering the former Soviet Union have been difficult, if not impossible to obtain. Even now, the collection and distribution of geographically specific data within the former Soviet republics remains a decentralized, uncoordinated, and sometimes classified activity. The CEIR project has been successful in obtaining comprehensive data of unprecedented geographic and thematic granularity for the Russian Federation, in creating highly accurate GIS shape files based on currently published administrative maps of the region, and in reformatting available statistical data in an original database which standardizes all thematic indicators and units of measure, allowing for uniform display and comparison of query results both countrywide and within very localized subregions.

The current test site for the Interactive Atlas of Eurasia presents only a few selected indicators for the Russian Far East. In fact, the entire Russian Federation will be completed and publicly released in summer 2002.

CEIR’s goal is to obtain comparable data for all of the former Soviet republics and to format these, to the maximum extent possible and as we have done for Russia, within a single GIS framework which allows for seamless cross-border data displays. Users will be able to visualize the relative distribution and progression of any of more than 600 specific demographic, economic, social, and political themes over time. The use of landsat images for 300 Russian and 150 other cities will allow CEIR staff to refine city boundaries and intraurban divisions to provide ultra-high resolution displays of urban information. Links to text describing administrative units, cities, towns, and geographic features will be layered in. Long-range goals include the incorporation of historical data from the 1880s until 1917.


Regional Image Database

Using Content-dm® multimedia database management software originally developed at the University of Washington, CEIR is currently building a collection of professional and quality amateur photographs of landscapes, cityscapes, architecture, folkways, and lifestyles throughout the Central Eurasian Region. Images are being contributed by faculty and students at the University of Washington, as well as by individuals in the Pacific Northwest and nationwide. In February 2002 the database contained 3,500 images accompanied by Dublin core metadata, and it is expected to grow to 5,000 by summer 2002.

A development site is currently being used to aid in the solicitation of new image contributions. In preparation for the public release of the database in summer 2002, a combined text and map graphic interface is being developed that will allow users to select their region of interest by selecting successively more detailed map segments (e.g., Central Eurasia, Russian Federation, Russian Far East, Kamchatka Region) and/or by making selections from drop-down subject and geographic boxes.


The Brumfield Collection

The UW Libraries recently secured separate funding to create the pilot of a Russian architectural digital archive, based on some 50,000 slide and print images created by Prof William Craft Brumfield of Tulane University over the past three decades. A version of CEIR’s highly accurate Russian Federation boundary files will be used to develop a GIS-based interface that will allow users to view all images of a given building, and related data, in the context of their geographical location. It is expected that the Brumfield Digital Collection will be the definitive online resource for the study of Russian architecture, growing steadily over time as new images created by Professor Brumfield are added. Approximately 1,400 images are available on the Brumfield Collection pilot site.


Regional Periodical Indexes

The absence of easily accessible indexes to publications from and about the many regions of Central Eurasia has been a perennial challenge for students and scholars specializing in the area. Traditionally, bibliographic control in Russia has focused overwhelmingly on the publishing output of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, the two historic capitals, giving little if any attention to the provinces. However, many provincial libraries located in the capitals of Russia’s 89 regions have maintained detailed indexes to their local publications, which have typically been poorly distributed in very small press runs. CEIR is collaborating with eight regional libraries in Russia to convert their local indexes to digital format for the period from 1988 to the present. A sample of the Kamchatka Region index for 1997 provides a menu of English-language subject headings, in addition to the original Russian ones. A number of regional indexes will be publicly released in late summer 2002.


Instruction and Outreach

Aside from its function as a research resource, the CEIR is intended to be an instructional resource, making information remotely available for use by students and teachers in a variety of post-secondary institutions. The University of Washington and its consortial partners, The Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA and South Seattle Community College, exemplify three of these in the WA State higher education system:

  • A major research university with a strong commitment to undergraduate as well as graduate education.
  • A primarily undergraduate four-year university, a proportion of whose students advance to graduate programs at other institutions, including the University of Washington.
  • A community college in the Seattle area that gives major emphasis to preparing a proportion of its students for entry to universities, including the University of Washington, and includes high school Advanced Placement students in its clientèle.

In addition to digital resources that make available basic information on the region in a variety of subjects and disciplines for users at many different levels, the CEIR aims to provide some resources that have a primarily instructional function. In particular, we aim to:

  • Work with faculty at the three institutions to develop digital resources that correspond to their teaching as well as their research needs. The Evergreen State College is currently building a set of interactive historical maps of Russia covering its development from Kievan times to the present day, and an ecological and environmental DataMap of the Tatarstan region.
  • Link the CEIR user, through the extended metadata of the portal, to faculty who use particular resources in their teaching and scholarship and are willing to share their contact information, their course websites and their curriculum materials.