After spending more time doing research of the history of student housing, new and exciting things have been discovered and will soon be added to this site. Firstly, we have a new Further Reading tab which provides users with links to websites that may assist in further reading about the history of LU. We have also added an Exhibit tab which will display visual aids such as photographs, maps, and potentially a timeline to provide further understanding of our topic. There is a new Bibliography tab that will be consistently updated to display the resources and research materials used in this project.

The House that Jerry Built

          An institution as large and influential as Liberty University had to start somewhere. Liberty University had humble beginnings as Lynchburg College and and had to house some of its students. Presenting the history on campus student housing cannot only serve to sate the curiosity of various persons but foster an appreciation for how far the school has come in almost half a century. By digitizing it, it will be accessible toeveryone.This site would provide a look into the history of the residential housing of Liberty University students since it’s beginning in 1971. We would aim this blog at the Students of Liberty, The Faculty and Staff of Liberty, prospective members of the aforementioned Liberty Family, and people who are just curious. We hope to cover each and every building that housed students. There are various interviews that have the potential to tap into. Dr. Hines is granting us an audience. We can present it in interview form as a page on the site. A museum worker at the University has also agreed to give her testimony as well as other sources.  If there is an opportunity to embed media (videos and pics) we will do it. Aubrey and I strive to make this site educational, functional, and immersive.

Stage 3

Though WordPress proved to be an effective mode of creating a functional website for free, it did not meet the needs for the projected digital history website. Wix, however, can only be described as much more malleable than WordPress. That being so, Housing at Liberty University: Then and Now, has been moved to Wix. On this new site, the user is greeted by an image of the Blue Ridge Mountains on the “Home” page. Right next to the “home” button is the “about” page that tells the user a bit about the creators of the site. Adjacent to the “upcoming” page is the “exhibit”, in which text about the documents and photographs will be placed. Also connected to the exhibit, is a photo gallery. There is also a page titled “further reading.” This page is meant to provide the reader with more information related to the topic of the website if they so wish to access it. A “bibliography” tab is the last on the navigation bar. It provides all the sources that we have used.

Once the site has more content, the colors will be changed to complement the new media. Fonts, text, and overall formatting will be changed as more is learned about utilizing Wix’s interface and the topic at hand. It is important that no color is chosen haphazardly. Hopefully, these changes will contribute to a more user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing site.

Finally, because the site is transferring over to Wix, all of the text must follow. We are still in the process of completing this task. Because interviews as well as other sources have been obtained since the initial publishing of the bibliography, they must, of course be added in. Like other websites that are still in progress, this website has text that needs to be updated. Some of the text added in the past is also a bit too conversational and needs to be changed.

This website is rapidly changing. Be sure to keep checking back here for more updates. 

Stage 4

The final stage of this journey has proved to be the most productive. Articles, interviews and more information have been added. All photos used have had alt text and short descriptions added to them.  The bibligography has been updated. The whole site has been revised.The site is virtually complete! This "updates" page, however, will most likely go away and the "exhibit" page will be made unclickable; the tabs will stay.