1. A system for interaction with datasets in support of scholarly commentary and other commentary, comprising a computer having a processor and a memory and a set of modules each comprising code executing in the processor, including: an editor module for a dataset container file (DCF) creator to create a DCF in which a location and a structure of one or more datasets is input, wherein at least one dataset comprises a tabular arrangement of data, the one or more datasets being stored in a database within the DCF; an import module configured to import a first dataset having a first format from the defined location; a dataset processing module configured to convert the first dataset of the first format into the defined structure; an interface module operative to obtain author-commentary and associate the author-commentary with the first dataset in response to interaction with a user, wherein the author-commentary is included in the DCF; and a synchronization module configured to coordinate on a display a presentation of a portion of at least one of the datasets defined in the DCF in accordance with a selected position on a timeline by querying the datasets in the DCF, returning a subset of the one or more datasets, and presenting one or more multimedia visualizations of that subset on the display, wherein the presentation includes the author-commentary within the timeline and wherein the selected position is input through the editor module, wherein the editor module is further configured to allow positioning of at least one of media objects and the visualizations on the timeline and defining the visual appearance and behavior of the visualizations the at least one of the media objects and the visualizations depicting one or more representations of the one or more datasets.
1. A system for interaction with datasets in support of scholarly commentary and other commentary, comprising a computer having a processor and a memory and a set of modules each comprising code executing in the processor, including: an editor module for a dataset container file (DCF) creator to create a DCF in which a location and a structure of one or more datasets is input, wherein at least one dataset comprises a tabular arrangement of data, the one or more datasets being stored in a database within the DCF; an import module configured to import a first dataset having a first format from the defined location; a dataset processing module configured to convert the first dataset of the first format into the defined structure; an interface module operative to obtain author-commentary and associate the author-commentary with the first dataset in response to interaction with a user, wherein the author-commentary is included in the DCF; and a synchronization module configured to coordinate on a display a presentation of a portion of at least one of the datasets defined in the DCF in accordance with a selected position on a timeline by querying the datasets in the DCF, returning a subset of the one or more datasets, and presenting one or more multimedia visualizations of that subset on the display, wherein the presentation includes the author-commentary within the timeline and wherein the selected position is input through the editor module, wherein the editor module is further configured to allow positioning of at least one of media objects and the visualizations on the timeline and defining the visual appearance and behavior of the visualizations the at least one of the media objects and the visualizations depicting one or more representations of the one or more datasets. 6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the synchronization module further comprises an explorer module configured to explore the one or more datasets by one of zooming, panning or filtering the presentation on the display.