What is Timeline JS?

According to their developer Knight Lab’s website, Timeline JS is a Knight Lab open-source tool that enables you to build visually rich interactive timelines by using a Google Spreadsheet and an embed code generator.

Why use it?

It requires no HTML knowledge and can be easily updated and edited. This technology, with its potential to combine text, images, and interactive elements, should be seen as a vehicle for telling stories rather than simply illustrating information, a way to show temporal processes while making a powerful point.

Learning curve/drawbacks?

Adding information is less visually intuitive.

TimelineJS requires some interaction with Google (a not so open-source).

What you will do in this module:

Your assignment for this module is to tell us a story in about 5-7 slides, each slide representing a specific point in time.

Choose one of the following 3 prompts for your Timeline:

1. Talk about 5-7 points in time, in your own intellectual journey, that brought you to your academic interests or a current research project over the course of specific dates in years/months/days.
2. Take us through 5-7 books you have read—identifying the different points in your life that you read them—that have inspired you as a scholar.
3. Tell us about your process of putting together or planning for a particular class, identifying 5-7 key moments and including any media (like images/video/texts) that inspired you along the way (and include them or excerpts of them in your Timeline entries). 

For an example, see Katherine’s timeline of a historian’s intellectual progress (opens in a new tab).

Before you start

• You will need a Google account. If collaborating with students they will also need their own Google account.