Timeliner: Building a Learning Tool into a Digital Music Library

Timeliner is a pedagogical tool integrated into Variations2, the Indiana University digital music library. Timeliner enables students and instructors to create visual representations of the formal structure of musical works contained within the digital library. The tool incorporates content visualization and annotation features drawn from traditional multimedia design principles. This paper describes the Timeliner tool and its integration within Variations2. We then describe results from multi-method user studies that have informed the tool’s design. Finally, we describe our plans for improving Timeliner and integrating other pedagogical tools in Variations2. The application of these ideas is not limited to music: pedagogical tools can be integrated into digital libraries for other disciplines as well.