diff --git a/examples/timeline/16_navigation_menu.html b/examples/timeline/16_navigation_menu.html
index a51d435d..7c5153be 100755
--- a/examples/timeline/16_navigation_menu.html
+++ b/examples/timeline/16_navigation_menu.html
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 <script type="text/javascript">
     // create a timeline with some data
     var container = document.getElementById('visualization');
-    var items = new DataSet([
+    var items = new vis.DataSet([
         {id: 1, content: 'item 1', start: '2014-04-20'},
         {id: 2, content: 'item 2', start: '2014-04-14'},
         {id: 3, content: 'item 3', start: '2014-04-18'},
diff --git a/examples/timeline/17_data_serialization.html b/examples/timeline/17_data_serialization.html
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..80d73f7b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/timeline/17_data_serialization.html
@@ -0,0 +1,120 @@
+<!DOCTYPE HTML>
+<html>
+<head>
+  <title>Timeline | Data serialization</title>
+
+  <style>
+    body, html {
+      font-family: arial, sans-serif;
+      font-size: 11pt;
+    }
+
+    textarea {
+      width: 800px;
+      height: 200px;
+    }
+
+    .buttons {
+      margin: 20px 0;
+    }
+
+    .buttons input {
+      padding: 10px;
+    }
+  </style>
+
+  <script src="../../dist/vis.js"></script>
+  <link href="../../dist/vis.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
+</head>
+<body>
+
+<h1>Serialization and deserialization</h1>
+
+<p>This example shows how to serialize and deserialize JSON data, and load this in the Timeline via a DataSet. Serialization and deserialization is needed when loading or saving data from a server.</p>
+
+<textarea id="data">
+[
+  {"id": 1, "content": "item 1<br>start", "start": "2014-01-23"},
+  {"id": 2, "content": "item 2", "start": "2014-01-18"},
+  {"id": 3, "content": "item 3", "start": "2014-01-21"},
+  {"id": 4, "content": "item 4", "start": "2014-01-19", "end": "2014-01-24"},
+  {"id": 5, "content": "item 5", "start": "2014-01-28", "type": "point"},
+  {"id": 6, "content": "item 6", "start": "2014-01-26"}
+]
+</textarea>
+
+<div class="buttons">
+  <input type="button" id="load" value="&darr; Load" title="Load data from textarea into the Timeline">
+  <input type="button" id="save" value="&uarr; Save" title="Save data from the Timeline into the textarea">
+</div>
+
+<div id="visualization"></div>
+
+<script>
+  var txtData = document.getElementById('data');
+  var btnLoad = document.getElementById('load');
+  var btnSave = document.getElementById('save');
+
+  // Create an empty DataSet.
+  // This DataSet is used for two way data binding with the Timeline.
+  var items = new vis.DataSet();
+
+  // create a timeline
+  var container = document.getElementById('visualization');
+  var options = {
+    editable: true
+  };
+  var timeline = new vis.Timeline(container, items, options);
+
+  function loadData () {
+    // get and deserialize the data
+    var data = JSON.parse(txtData.value);
+
+    // update the data in the DataSet
+    //
+    // Note: when retrieving updated data from a server instead of a complete
+    // new set of data, one can simply update the existing data like:
+    //
+    //   items.update(data);
+    //
+    // Existing items will then be updated, and new items will be added.
+    items.clear();
+    items.add(data);
+
+    // adjust the timeline window such that we see the loaded data
+    timeline.fit();
+  }
+  btnLoad.onclick = loadData;
+
+  function saveData() {
+    // get the data from the DataSet
+    // Note that we specify the output type of the fields start and end
+    // as ISODate, which is safely serializable. Other serializable types
+    // are Number (unix timestamp) or ASPDate.
+    //
+    // Alternatively, it is possible to configure the DataSet to convert
+    // the output automatically to ISODates like:
+    //
+    //   var options = {
+    //     type: {start: 'ISODate', end: 'ISODate'}
+    //   };
+    //   var items = new vis.DataSet(options);
+    //   // now items.get() will automatically convert start and end to ISO dates.
+    //
+    var data = items.get({
+      type: {
+        start: 'ISODate',
+        end: 'ISODate'
+      }
+    });
+
+    // serialize the data and put it in the textarea
+    txtData.value = JSON.stringify(data, null, 2);
+  }
+  btnSave.onclick = saveData;
+
+  // load the initial data
+  loadData();
+</script>
+</body>
+</html>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/examples/timeline/index.html b/examples/timeline/index.html
index d94e82a6..88ba04b7 100644
--- a/examples/timeline/index.html
+++ b/examples/timeline/index.html
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@
   <p><a href="14_a_lot_of_grouped_data.html">14_a_lot_of_grouped_data.html</a></p>
   <p><a href="15_item_class_names.html">15_item_class_names.html</a></p>
   <p><a href="16_navigation_menu.html">16_navigation_menu.html</a></p>
+  <p><a href="17_data_serialization.html">17_data_serialization.html</a></p>
 
   <p><a href="requirejs/requirejs_example.html">requirejs_example.html</a></p>
 
diff --git a/examples/timeline/requirejs/scripts/main.js b/examples/timeline/requirejs/scripts/main.js
index ff6d5108..6549d024 100644
--- a/examples/timeline/requirejs/scripts/main.js
+++ b/examples/timeline/requirejs/scripts/main.js
@@ -6,14 +6,14 @@ require.config({
 
 require(['vis'], function (vis) {
   var container = document.getElementById('visualization');
-  var data = [
+  var data = new vis.DataSet([
     {id: 1, content: 'item 1', start: '2013-04-20'},
     {id: 2, content: 'item 2', start: '2013-04-14'},
     {id: 3, content: 'item 3', start: '2013-04-18'},
     {id: 4, content: 'item 4', start: '2013-04-16', end: '2013-04-19'},
     {id: 5, content: 'item 5', start: '2013-04-25'},
     {id: 6, content: 'item 6', start: '2013-04-27'}
-  ];
+  ]);
   var options = {};
   var timeline = new vis.Timeline(container, data, options);
 });
