About ACARI
Web site
The Afghanistan
and Central Asia Research Information (ACARI) web site was
created on February 14, 2002, as part of Nazif Shahrani's
research on Afghanistan and the Central Asian regions. The ACARI
web site was designed by Kevin Miller, Jr., a graduate student
from the School
of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University.
In the summer, 2003, Shawna Ayoub, an undergraduate student
with the
Near
Eastern Languages and Cultures department, will assume responsibilities
as Webmaster for this web site.
The web site
was originally created using the following programs:
The following programs were used to scan and convert Dr. Shahrani's
publications into Word text document format, and then printed
into pdf format:
The following programs were used to create the pdfs in the Publication
archives:
ACARI Perl/CGI Project
In January,
2003, a new web site development project was initiated as part
of the School
of Library and Information Sciences' L548
Computer Programming for Information Management course taught
by Prof.
Kiduk Yang. Information on this project is included below:
ACARI Perl/CGI Project Description
The ACARI
Perl/CGI Project adds some new Perl/CGI functions to the ACARI
web site. The most important function requested
by Dr.
Shahrani involves adding a search engine to the www.indiana.edu/~afghan/publications_nazif_shahrani.htm
web page. Dr. Shahrani also requested adding some email request
forms
for password and general requests.
Search Engine
The search
engine will be an important element of the web site since it
will allow visitors to easily find the specific article/s
based on the topic they are looking for. Currently, there are
roughly 40 articles listed in the ACARI web site with various
topics. With the search engine, visitors will be able to enter
a specific keyword to locate specific articles (An example
includes
using the keyword "Kyrgyz" to locate any article written
on this topic). As requested by Dr. Shahrani, the titles of the
articles will be the main criterion for the keyword lists.
The search engine utilizes metadata embedded in the portable
document files (pdf) as part of the search function.
The Project Group members would like to thank Prof. Kiduk Yang
for his generous help in the coding for the search engine.
Email Request Form
The primary purpose of the email request form is to help Dr.
Shahrani and the NELC department reduce the number of SPAM emails.
Also, many visitors swamp Dr. Shahrani with emails
asking various questions and information. The email request forms
will hopefully remedy these situations. Before, visitors would
request passwords and other information by clicking on the appropriate
email hyperlinks. Now, the project creates a HTML-to-
Email form
which collects the necessary information and then forwards it
to the Webmaster and appropriate faculty who will then process
the information.
The project
modified John Callendar's mail_form.cgi* program for this web
site.
(*) Callendar,
John. 2002. "Running a Form-to-Email Gateway".
In Perl for Web Site Management. O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.,
pp. 51-73.
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Project Members
The following L548 Computer Programming for Information Management
graduate students took part in this project:
Michelle Cooper - Graduate Student, School of Library and Information
Sciences
Michelle served as the Project Manager and made sure the
the project made the appropriate deadlines. She designed the
ACARI user interface. Michelle was also responsible for
writing
the necessary documentation so Dr. Shahrani and his staff can
maintain the ACARI web site in the future.
Matt Dever - Graduate Student, School of Library and Information
Sciences
Matt was responsible for the design, coding, and testing of
the search engine (search_engine.cgi).
Kevin Miller, Jr. - Graduate Student, School of Public and Environmental
Affairs
Kevin is the current administrator and Webmaster of the ACARI
web site for Dr. Shahrani (until May, 2003). His task
was to act
as a liaison between the group and Dr. Shahrani. Kevin was
responsible for the design, coding and testing of the Email
Request Form
and mail_form.cgi program.
Jason Price - Graduate Student, School of Library and Information
Sciences
Though Jason left the group, his input for the search engine
component of the project was very valuable. Jason came up with
the idea of using the metadata in the pdfs as part of the search
engine function.
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Project Helper Applications
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Project Design Considerations
Web site Design and Structure
The current
web site design and structure, approved by Dr. Shahrani, will
remain as is. Content for the web site has already been uploaded.
The only modifications currently permitted to the web site
will
be the addition of the search engine and email request form.
Any modifications must follow the "least is best" rule
in regards to graphics and download speeds. Many of the web
site
visitors reside in countries with poor internet connections.
Search Engine
The appropriate keyword list must be defined. It also must take
into account the various variations in spelling of keywords, i.e.
Kyrgyz can be spelled: Kirgiz, Kyrghyz, Kirghiz, Qirqiz, etc.
The project members must work with Dr. Shahrani to make sure all
variations of word spellings are included in the keyword list.
All the keyword variations will be added the the pdf metadata.
Email Request Form
The main goal here is to make sure the request forms are emailed
to the appropriate email addresses with the appropriate subject
headings, i.e. Password Request or Information Request.
Maintenance of Web site
The most important element of the project. Dr. Shahrani has
requested written documentation in regards to the maintenance
of the web site.
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Flowcharts
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Source Codes
Source codes for the HTML and Perl/CGI programs are include below:
(Updated as of May 1, 2003.)
- View ACARI User Interface Source Code download
pdf
- View Search Engine search_engine.cgi Source Code download
- View Email Request Form HTML Source Code download
pdf
- View Email
Request Form mail_form.cgi Source Code download
Updates
- ACARI
web site was redesigned (8/1/2003)
- Javascript
used to create dynamic hyperlinks
- Source
codes for ACARI updated to reflect new web site design
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