TTI PROPOSAL


February 14, 1997
John J. Dobbins
McIntire Department of Art

Department Chair: Lawrence O. Goedde

I.   Period of Fellowship: 15 July 1997 to 30 June 1998
     (with some video work in Pompeii in June 1997)

II.  Project Title and Summary Description

     Pompeii as Urban Laboratory
     
The applicant is the Principal Investigator of the Pompeii Forum
Project, a collaborative, interdisciplinary research venture that
is archaeologically based, heavily dependent upon advanced
technology, and so conceived as to transcend its archaeological
parameters in order to confront wide ranging issues of urban
history and design.  The present project seeks to piggy-back on
an IATH Fellowship, three years of NEH funding, and the
collaboration of eight scholars in order to exploit new
technology in presenting urban issues to an undergraduate
audience.  

Proposed is a Web-based project that would be a component of the
already established Pompeii Forum Project Web site:
(http://pompeii.virginia.edu).  In one sense I am focusing the
following proposal on a course that I teach on Pompeii.  In truth, I
am really thinking about the classroom without walls.  The following
would most directly serve our own students, but it would also reach
out to the world and be available to whomever had the equipment to
access it (for example, all of the eight graders in Kansas who seem to
know our URL!).

III. Pedagogical Aims.

The simply stated goal is to engage students in a serious
consideration of the nature of urbanism and the processes of
dynamic urban change by using Pompeii and the enduring paradigms
it presents as a case study.  The purpose is not only to teach
specifics about Pompeii, but also to cause students to think
about and strive to understand the nature of the city in abstract
terms.  Since the time of Plato and Aristotle the discussion of
the nature of the city has been a major theme in humanistic
thought.

Replace Existing Methodologies.  This proposal does not seek to
rip a paperback edition of Plato from the hands of our students. 
Let's leave the Republic in their hands.  I do, however, seek to
replace the existing methodology for examining Pompeiian urbanism
and, by extension, urbanism in general [see John J. Dobbins,
"Problems of Chronology, Decoration and Urban Design in the Forum
at Pompeii," American Journal of Archaeology 98 (1994) 629-694]. 
Prior to the work of the Pompeii Forum Project all previous study
of the urban space at Pompeii engaged in a building-by-building
analysis.  By contrast, our work has demonstrated that the
Pompeian designers concentrated on the urban ensemble.  In the
years following the destructive earthquake of A.D. 62, the forum
(the urban center of Pompeii), was transformed according to a
kind of master plan into a monumentalized and a unified urban
ensemble by linking building facades, suppressing streets that
had intruded upon the forum, upgrading building materials, and
echoing developments in Rome, the capital.  

Fine.  I know this because I have studied Pompeii for years.  The
process was one of incremental discovery and the recognition that
small pieces fit into a larger, coherent picture.   For me, those
epiphanies were moments of great intellectual excitement.  The
challenge is to translate the information to our students, the
method by which it was obtained, and the excitement involved.  
I have achieved these goals using the 50-minute lecture format in
which the students are witnesses to my discoveries.  The goal of
the TTI project is to make students participants in these
discoveries.

The research method of the Pompeii Forum Project is to employ the
physical remains in order to understand the design thinking of
the Pompeians who shaped their city.  In other words, the built
form is the physical embodiment of abstract ideas of what a city
should be.  Ephemeral ancient conversations are long gone and the
written records of discussions and decisions in the city council
perished in the Vesuvian eruption of A.D. 79.  The physical
remains endure and it is through them that we strive to reach the
minds of the ancient Pompeians.  My colleagues and I are using
Pompeii as an urban laboratory in order to analyze ancient
urbanism and interpret it in a broad chronological way.  

The opportunities that Pompeii offers are too rich to pass up in
our undergraduate teaching.  A TTI fellowship will allow me to
prepare materials in such a way that students would become
participants in the process of discovery and analysis.  Here are
some ideas.

Digitized slides.  The slides I plan to use do not have copyright
restrictions.  The goals are (1) to create an image file that my
colleagues and I can draw upon while teaching in an electronic
classroom; depending on the topic, such images would supplement
or replace traditional slides; (2) to provide students with
visual resources that are not otherwise available to them; (3) to
permit access to such data on a 24-hour-a-day basis via computer. 
Images will be available via the World Wide Web and will be
attached to the alreading existing Web site for the Pompeii Forum
Project (URL above).  It is acknowledged that this application of
technology, while pedagogically useful and much appreciated by
students, is not particularly creative and does not exploit the
present capacity of computer technology.  We might think of this
collection as a visual database that invites further
manipulation.  

Case Studies.  This is the most interactive part of the proposal,
because here I try to combine advanced technology and the
Socratic method.  Several discrete case studies are planned that
illustrate specific problems or that present certain
methodologies.  Like most aspects of this teaching design, these
exercises will be available at the Project's Web site.  A certain
amount of information will be presented, questions will be asked,
clues will be provided.  Then the student will confront the
evidence directly, working individually or in small teams. 
Responses will be made via fill-out forms that direct all
responses to a single file that the instructor can access.  (The
use of student response forms is self-consciously and unashamedly
modelled on Kirk Martini's approach as presented at the January
1997 TRC Workshop.)  My aim here is to stimulate student
involvement, encourage clear thinking in problem solving, and
monitor and participate in the analyses as they develop.  

Three examples: 

(1) Architectural: Examine the relationship of the Imperial Cult
Building to its building site, to the immediately adjacent
buildings, and to the forum as a whole.  Students would first
identify those relationships and then discuss them and their
implications for the building and its urban setting.  There are
several levels of analysis here through which students will be
led.

(2) Pictorial: How to read a Roman wall painting.  Use the
"Theseus Victor" from the House of Gavius Rufus.  Draw students
into the painting and allow them to discover its compositional
subtlties and multiple layers of meanning through a series of
general and detailed views combined with a set of leading
questions.

(3) Epigraphic: The dedicatory inscription on the Eumachia
Building.  One opening set of questions is for students who have
studied Latin.  A parallel set of questions is for those without
Latin.  The questions then converge to lead the student from the
identification of who dedicated the building, to the parts of the
building, to the motivation of the donor, to overt references to
Rome and patronage by imperial women there.

Linking Plans, Images, and Text.  At other times I would like to
present information in a more straightforward manner and link
plans and images as I have done at several points in the Pompeii
Forum Project's Web site.  Images are linked to plans and are
called up by clicking on a camera icon.  My intention for
pedagogical purposes is to annotate the images that appear (using
inote) so that attention is drawn to certain features of
significance.  In other words, I provide the guided tour through
a house, or painting, or mosaic.

The Silent Video.  Reuben Rainey, colleague in the School of
Architecture and current TTI Fellow, joined the Pompeii Forum
Project in Pompeii for several days in 1996 in order to video the
work we are doing and also to shoot in public and private spaces
beyond the forum.  Reuben will join us again in 1997.  Using a
steady cam, a tripod, a remote microphone, and good Hi-8
equipment, Reuben produced some high quality instructional videos
that are far superior to the superficial schlock that one sees on
T.V.  Sometimes the narrator is in the frame.  Sometimes the
narrator walks behind Reuben and is therefore not on camera. 
Using some of the latter walking "takes" through a house or a
public space, I would like to conduct an experiment.  The videos
will be transferred without narration to CDs in multiple copies
so that students can check them out of the library and play them
on their computers or on library computers.  Instead of listening
to a narration in which everything is explained to them, the
students will experience the house or public space in as direct
and unfiltered a way as one can through such a vicarious process. 
The students then will write the narration themselves which might
be delivered orally in class as the silent video is playing.  The
aims here are to encourage close and active looking followed by
the verbalization of observations made.  (I would also use the
narrated videos, but I'm not discussing that.)

Set Pieces.  By this I mean non-interactive informational units
that are presented to students in a straightforward way by means
of advanced technology.  An historical text or a presentation of
some material that I traditionally present by means of slides are
here shared with any student who can access the Web.  Here are
two examples.  (1) Pliny the Younger's two letters to the Roman
historian Tacitus describing the eruption of Vesuvius.  Pliny
provides our only eye-witness account of the deadly Vesuvian
eruption of A.D. 79.  His account is vivid and really should be
the first thing one reads when considering te destruction of
Pompeii.  If I can obtain permission from Harvard University
Press or Penguin Books I will present a full English translation
of the letters, and possibly the Latin text too.  Lacking such
permission, I will write a vivid paraphrase myself.  (2)  How to
read a Roman Wall.  Unlike the "How to Read a Roman Painting"
unit above, this section is not amenable to the Socratic method. 
Pompeian construction methods, of which this is a subset, require
specialized knowledge if they are to be understood.  I will use
annotated images in order to explain salient issues in ample
detail.  Technical information that students learn here will be
applied in some of the case studies of the sort already
discussed.  By actually employing in the case studies skills
learned here, the students will recognize the interconnectedness
of the elements of this whole computer package and they will be
aware that they are putting information to use.

Frequently Asked Questions.  The Pompeii Forum Project Web site
is already serving a student audience.  We are now reaching the
point where I am receiving too many e-mail queries from students
throughout the world (8th grade through college).  The need for
an overtly educational dimension to our project was evident at
least as early as last summer when I began to develop a section
called "Notes for Students."  Time did not allow that project to
progress very far.  A TTI fellowship would permit the creation of
a FAQs section that will provide many students with the basic
information they are seeking.  

Large Class/Small Class.  All of the foregoing will serve for
large and small classes.  Offering the Pompeii course as an
undergraduate seminar will allow students to do more, namely to
use technology as creators, not just users, of information.  In a
seminar (USEM or ARTH 491) students will select houses, public
buildings, paintings, gardens, social issues, political issues,
etc., and present the fruits of their research as hypertext
documents.  Good studies can be maintained as part of the site.

Transportability.  While this project is designed for a Pompeii
course, the specific information will be useful in several other
courses in which I treat Pompeii (e.g., Etruscan and Roman Art,
Roman Architecture) and in several other U.Va. courses taught by
Martini, Westfall, Rainey, and Morford).  The use of technology
is eminently transportable and may be used as early as Fall 1997
in a graduate seminar on Antioch and the Roman East.

Assessment.  Given that the various elements of the project will
appear on the Web as they are completed, I expect to have
constant feedback from users.  I hesitate to build in a response
form because I fear a deluge.  I could be pursuaded on this
issue, however.  More likely, I would target colleagues around
the country who actively use the Web in their teaching and ask
them to have their students provide an evaluation as the project
is developing.  I would also ask my own students and those in TTI
Fellow Mark Morford's Roman Civilization course to offer
comments.  Then once the project is implemented in the context of
a Pompeii class I will read student responses to case studies and
thereby judge the effectiveness of the pedagogical construction. 
I will also ask for anonymous evaluations each time we test a new
approach.  

IV.  Preparation and Feasibility.

Stages of Implementaton.  Slide scanning will begin in September
and continue throughout the year.  I'm hoping that bulk scanning
will be adequate because individual slide scanning is too labor
intensive and is not the way in which I want to employ student
assistants.  Detailed labelling, such as that presented in the
"Archival Photographs" section of the Pompeii Forum Project Web
site takes time.  Even more time consuming is the linking of
photographs to plans.  Scanning will run ahead of labelling and
plan-linking.  We will proceed in a unit-by-unit fashion, for
example, presenting the House of the Faun and its decorations. 
Basic information units (FAQs, Pliny's letters, Roman and
Pompeian construction) upon which interactive case studies will
build will be produced first.  Then several case studies will be
written.

Student Assistants.  I will need about 20 hours per week and have
two students lined up to cover 15 of those hours.  One already
has CAD and html experience.  The other has taken an html course
and is just now learning how to link images to plans or maps.  I
will select slides for scanning, write labels, write some set
pieces, write case studies, select units to be developed and the
sequence of development, and oversee project.  Students will
perform the following tasks: scanning, html tagging of slide
captions, typing of Pliny's letters and appropriate html tagging,
linking images to maps, writing some FAQs and some set pieces. 
Either I or subsequent assistants can maintain and update
materials.  

Programming.  Light cgi scripting, and possibly programming using
java for the case studies--perhaps 40 hours. Also some data base
programming--40 hours.

Timetable for Completion.  May 1998 for everything described
above, but the project is intended to continue for the forseeable
future.

When Implement Results?.  Spring 1998 as a component of ARTH 214
and Fall 1998 in teaching a Pompeii course.

Assessment.  This seems to be the same question as above.  The
answer is the same.

V.  Collegiality in Project Development.

As a Lilly Foundation Mentor (for Kathryn Rohe) I experienced
some of the most stimulating and important extradepartmental
collegiality in my career at U.Va.  I have high hopes for other
such interdisciplinary exchanges in the context of the TTI
program.  In preparing this proposal I have consulted not only
Judy Thomas and Jude Reagan, but also former and present TTI
Fellows Martini, Ray, Morford, Rainey, Roberts, and Rohe.  Their
collegiality and enthusiasm leads me to look forward to valuable
interactions with the 1997-98 TTI Fellows.  I hope that I can be
one of them.

VI.  Dissemination. 

"Showcasing" within Department."  A link to this Web-based
project will be provided at the Web site for the McIntire
Department of Art.  In addition the project will be presented to
faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate majors by means of
official colloquia and less formal discussions and work sessions. 

If I am awarded this fellowship, it will be the second in the Art
Department.  Together, Marion Roberts and I will use new methods
to present two major aspects of ancient and medieval art to our
students.  The renaming of the Art Department's Slide Room as the
Visual Resources Center, the extensive use of computers begun
under the direction of Judy Thomas, the digitizing of numerous
slides for a Byzantine art course, the Digital Image Study
Project, and the MESL project all signal the sweeping changes
that are to come in the teaching of art history.  A TTI
Fellowship would contribute to this evolution in the Art
Department's approach to teaching.

Applications Beyond Department.   We can anticipate that they
will be considerable.  The main part of our Pompeii Web site has
already been selected by a French firm for inclusion on a CD to
be given free to students in several European countries
purchasing Macintosh computers.  It is not an exaggeration to say
that students and teachers around the world will use materials
developed under the aegis of a TTI fellowship.

(Here followed list of equipment needed and a proposed budget for
equipment, student assistants, and supplies.)