Today I did a dumb thing.  I accidentally deleted the blog.  Completely.  I have backups but they are in an awkward format so I may or may not be able to restore the old posts.

Luckily for me, though, I am writing this post to mark a new chapter in the site.  I have been finished with school, and therefore the technical requirements, for quite some time now.  I have been a long trip, during which I had plenty of time to reflect on the project, especially on where I want to take it.  I have decided that I will be unable to stop myself from working on Visualize History, no matter how hard I try.

Therefore, I have put the site as it stood up for public display at http://proto.visualizehistory.com/?v=alpha.  Feel free to visit, play around, or do whatever you want.  I won’t be changing this version at all.  I consider it to be a highly successful proof of concept - though I may be biased - but nothing more than a proof of concept.  I wanted to explain my vision through code, and I think the above version satisfies that goal.

That being said, I have a clear and deep vision of where the project should go.  I am starting a job in September so the amount of time I can devote to this passion of mine may be strictly limited.  Nonetheless, it is my intention to continue work so long as it does not interfere with my professional responsibilities or my social activities.

One thing that I learned from the project is the value of user input.  Shortly I will put up a place where you have input on the site, both in a public and private way.  When I get a moment to do that, I will.

If you would like to contact me in the meantime, I think the best way would be through facebook, to prevent spam.  So: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=304561.