Introduction

In order to create a timeline that was relevant to the history of visual information, the first thing that came to mind was the GIF. I remember briefly learning about its history in my Information Technology class and I wanted to explore more and see how GIFs like Nyan Cat and many more that followed became a part of the internet culture. Graphics Interchange Format also known as GIFs are used by a lot of internet users and to this day GIFs have a strong user group that is constantly growing globally. They are used to convey messages and other relatable content across different social media platforms. Hence, I wanted to explore its brief history to see how the GIFs that we love so much came into being.

VIEW TIMELINE

Materials

To create this timeline from scratch, I used the TimelineJS tool by Knight Labs. TimelineJS is an open-source tool that enables anyone to build visually aesthetic and interactive timelines that don’t require any coding experience. TimelineJS uses a Google spreadsheet, a format that is familiar to many users to build out the timeline. Additionally, TimelineJS also lets users use JSON to create custom installations while keeping TimelineJS’s core functionality.

Process

To create this timeline, I didn’t start with any dataset. I first had to understand the full history of GIFs to the best of my knowledge. I then collected information regarding all major events from various sources that I thought would be important. In order to flesh out the timeline, I arranged the top 10 events in chronological order and onto the timelineJS linked google spreadsheet. This is how I created the blueprint for my timeline.  Once I had the timeline set, I added headings and descriptions to each event. Additionally, I also searched for imagery that would go well with the respective events on the timeline. There were a couple of issues I encountered while trying to change the background, but I eventually found the perfect media that I was satisfied with, one that made sense holistically.

Results

I feel that the timeline did a great job of capturing the important events that led to the development, rise & fall, and rise of the GIF. There was a lot of information to sort through and quite a bit of tech jargon involved while researching the history of the GIF, so I aimed to explain the timeline by simplifying the jargon for a non-technology-based audience but still keeping it informative. The imagery that I chose for the timelines mainly consists of popular Gifs that have had a huge impact on internet culture coinciding with other popular historical internet trends like Memes. The timeline in a way is divided into three categories that talk about the rise of GIFs, its death in the late ’90s, and its resurrection through social media in the following years.

Reflection 

Layout

I personally liked how minimal the timelineJS tool is and I felt that it did a great job of conveying the timeline in an aesthetically pleasing way. The heading and description to the right and the imagery on the left add a good sense of visual hierarchy to the timeline. Additionally, I also found the arrows on the slides and the interactive timeline at the bottom to be quite useful giving user’s multiple ways of accessing the information. There were some issues that I ran into while trying to adjust the background for a couple of slides on the timeline. There were some slides that I didn’t want to change the text color so it was challenging trying to find a background color that would have a good contrast which would make the text legible to readers. Another issue that I experienced was when I tried embedding GIFs, as some of them didn’t work while some did. Those that did work, took about 20+ minutes for the change to show up on the timeline. 

Content 

I feel that the timeline did a good job of portraying the brief history of GIFs. In the future, I would remake it with additional information regarding the evolution of GIFs. TimelineJS does warn its users to keep the timeline simple by keeping only 10-20 events on the Google sheet. In regard to issues with content, this was the only qualm I’ve had as it restricted the amount of information I had to convey in a holistic manner. 

References

CloudApp. (2022, November 9). The extraordinary history of gifs (and how to use them today). CloudApp. Retrieved January 26, 2023, from https://www.getcloudapp.com/gif/history-of-gifs/ 

Magazine, S. (2017, June 2). A brief history of the GIF, from early internet innovation to ubiquitous relic. Smithsonian.com. Retrieved January 26, 2023, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/brief-history-gif-early-internet-innovation-ubiquitous-relic-180963543/ 

Nyan Cat (Link: https://thumbs.gfycat.com/AccurateAgreeableDairycow.webp )

Moving airplane (Link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zachwise/6894476777/in/photostream )

Animated GIF of “Baby Cha-Cha” (Link: https://media.tenor.com/-2wk6S1405IAAAAC/abdulmaraj-baby.gif )

Flaming Elmo GIF (Link: https://media.tenor.com/vxFNoJHV3I4AAAAC/chiquichico.gif)

Dancing Bananna (Link: https://thumbs.gfycat.com/TallIdenticalAxolotl.webp )

Leave Brittney Alone (Link: https://media.tenor.com/o62rikwpgX4AAAAC/leave-britney.gif )

Leonardio Di Caprio “Cheers” GIF (Link: https://media.tenor.com/Txpz5I8c34YAAAAC/congrats-leonardo-dicaprio.gif )

That’s all Folks GIF (Link: https://tenor.com/view/thats-all-folks-gif-26468387 )