ECAI Publication Design Guide

This guide describes the elements that all ECAI authors should consider when proposing a publication. It should assist authors and technical associates in devising publication plans, estimating the time and resources necessary for completing a publication, and managing project development.

1. Content. Content in an ECAI publication should adhere to relevant disciplinary standards concerning footnotes and citations, explanation of method, representation of degree of error, et cetera. Publications have the following components:
   1. Spatial data: ECAI publications should have a mappable element. For some publications, elaborate spatial data will be associated with extensive attribute information. For other publications, spatial data may consist simply of points or bounding boxes that link to websites. It is highly desirable for temporal data to be associated with spatial data.
   2. Other resources (optional): Many publications also have additional resources, including historical maps, remote sensing or other raster data; images or texts associated with places on the maps or concepts in the manuscript; web sites or web applications, and contextual or framework spatial data that support interpretation or analysis.
   3. Text: ECAI publications should incorporate an authored document that describes the premise, intention, intended intellectual contribution, and literature associated with the project as a whole. For some publications, a lengthy manuscript will be fundamental to the intellectual contribution of the project; for others, a short preface will suffice for aiding in the interpretation and understanding of spatial data or web resources.
   4. Technical summary: The technical summary should include an inventory of all the software and programming incorporated into the publication, and information about any significant data rectification that might influence the interpretation of the publication.
   5. Title page: The title page is a template-based web page created and hosted by ECAI. It includes a table of contents (navigation guide) listing all components of the publication, a short abstract written by the author(s), and a graphic, if submitted by the author(s).
      
      
2. Architecture design. ECAI publications consist of both mappable and non-mappable resources. Creating an architecture design to link all elements is the first step in completing a successful publication. The architecture design should include plans for:
   1. Connecting the mappable and non-mappable components of the project.
   2. Creating a database structure or adapting an existing database structure to take best advantage of ECAI's information technology architecture. Please consider the functionality provided by TimeMapView when designing the project architecture.
   3. Creating complete and accurate metadata and registering it in the ECAI Metadata Clearinghouse. Metadata is the key to enabling users to find a publication and enabling it to be visible in TimeMapView. Please consider the terms that you would like to enable users to search on when designing the metadata.
   4. Constructing discrete map layers from mappable resources. Note that many map layers may be created from a dataset associated with a single metadata entry. Each map layer should have an associated documentation file that notes the provenance of the spatial data and other pertinent information about it.
      
      
3. Graphic design. ECAI publications have a web component and a map browser component. Each of these requires design decisions.
   1. Website. The website for the publication should be easily navigable and visually pleasing. The front page of the site should clearly indicate the title and author(s) of the publication and should include direct links to all components of the content and to both the web and desktop version of the TimeMap interface.
   2. TimeMapView. Cartography should be clear, visually pleasing, consistent with the recommendations of the ECAI Cartography Committee, and should ideally illustrate any vagueness and ambiguity associated with the spatial data. TimeMapView can be lightly customized for particular publications. For instance, it can match the color scheme of the publication website and display a logo, and the timeline and zoom range can be tailored to the specifications of each publication.
      
      

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   Mostern/Publication Design Guide/1/24/02
   
   ECAI Publication Documents:
   
   ECAI Publication and Project Comparison Checklist
   ECAI Publication Process Guide
   ECAI Publication Submission Guidelines
   ECAI Publication Design Guide
   
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