About+the+Library

=**About the Star Wars Digital Library** =

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This website was the result of a class project to create a digital library. Each member submitted 3 potential topics which were all collected and then voted on by everyone in the group. Each member was asked to rank their top three choices based on personal preference. The Star Wars Franchise was the stand out winner with five out of the six members choosing it as their first choice, and the sixth member as their second choice. This anecdote alone shows the power and popularity of the franchise. ======

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One of the first questions we had to wrestle with was what to include, or more specifically, what to exclude due to the scope of the Star Wars Franchise. There was a push to limit things only to the prequels, but it was eventually decided that it was not necessary to limit our scope. Almost any aspect of the franchise would entail tremendous depth and face similar problems. Since a digital library is always a work in progress, we did not feel the need to start out fully comprehensive. We figured that more content could always be added, since the Star Wars universe is constantly expanding, so we chose to focus on the main issues and make sure they were addressed above. ======

The categories we settled on were three broad categories with some additional sub-categories:

 * ======A. The Movies ======
 * ======1. Original Trilogy ======
 * ======2. The Prequels ======
 * ======B. Merchandising ======
 * ======C. Culture ======
 * ======1. Popular culture ======
 * ======2. Stories ======
 * ======3. Sub Cultures ======
 * ======4. Videos ======

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One problem we faced were the limitations of the editing tools for the site. Initially, we wanted to include only the main categories as links on the left, with the sub-categories found within the main categories. As this was not possible, we decided to include direct links to the subcategories in the main navigation area. A corollary problem was with classification itself: Under what category should something ultimately go? It was left to each contributor to make the final decision on where something finally went, though some of the more difficult ones required consultations amongst the members. For instance, should Merchandising only include officially licensed items? Does it need to be sub-categorized? In the end, it has a //de facto// subcategory in Games, and we ultimately included unofficial and fan created items under the heading. ======

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The intent here was to create a collection of materials that reflects the wealth of materials that the Star Wars Franchise has created, as well as the impact it has had on, not only the movie industry, but as part of our modern culture. Despite the original movie release 33 years ago, the franchise continues to inspire and produce new materials and fans to this day. Take the prequels, for example, which have divided many Star Wars fans. Part one, //The Phantom Menace//, used a massive marketing scheme that sold the movie everywhere, and to all audience sectors. For the second and third film, marketing schemes were pulled back considerably. Today, merchandise is still abundant and thriving; however, it is important to note that the majority of the products are based off of the original films. ======

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Since most of our resources are links to information found online, the meta-data was kept to the simple basics: Title, Author/Creator, Creation date, and URL. For non-web material the most distinct unique identifier was used: ISBN for a book, UPC code for a game. We've included some pictures of items to help you visualize the objects, since they are not physically located here. We have also provided sources to help you access this information. ======

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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thomas Gill (tjgill), Mary Gracyalny (gracyal4), Honora Greenwood (starwarsgroup5), Nicole Seibold (nicole.murphy09), Blair Nelson (CinemaParadise), William Ziegler (wziegler81) ======

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">April, 2010