Choosing one of these displays its larger image and an array of historical thumbnails across the top. The left image is the historical photo chosen from the retrieved collection. The students now need to explain why they liked or disliked the objects that they photographed. They do this by creating descriptive ontologies and labeling objects in the images with these features. The historical photos are tagged with these labels, and students can begin comparing images over time to see similarities and differences.
Students develop ontologies to characterize interesting features of images.
Objects in the photographs are labeled with these features and used to develop explanations of community change. We assist this process by giving access to historical images that might otherwise go unseen by students. We build on these projects by allowing students to acquire their own data in the form of photographs, and the annotation tools allow them to construct theories around issues in urban planning and cultural change. In the above scenario, there are a number of ways that students can learn with historical images provided by the camera. Comparing images across time periods can also provide insights into community change.