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February 9th, 2007
12:05 pm - Link(s) of the week: A virtual (really!) world of museums
I arrived at work this morning to find, much to my delight, a box from Jefferson County Public library containing the weeded copies of two-volume The Masterpieces of the J. Paul Getty Museum which we'd requested. Thanks JeffCo folks!
These are beautiful, beautiful books. Really. Come take a look. In celebration of these and other art and design books we've added recently (ranging all over the map, from The New Yorker Book of Cat Cartoons to Seeing America: Women Photographers Between the Wars to The Complete Guide to Calligraphy) - and also in celebration of our very cool new logo - I've decided to focus next week's main floor display on art and design. And also to share some of my favorite museum links.
Of course, starting with the Getty. There's some fun stuff here. Play Flash-based logic and observation games using images of the museum's vast collection of both paintings and antiquities; download lesson plans; explore the indexed collection, including current exhibitions with audio commentary and full pan-and-zoom images of the artworks. But all in all, this site is really intended to be more an introduction to the Getty's physical holdings. Likewise, Colorado's own Denver Art Museum is really a teaser for the bricks-and-mortar museum, although the Explore Art section offers beautifully presented and intuitively organized examples of art styles from around the world.
The coolest thing about the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the Timeline of Art History. This scrolling, totally interactive timeline spans 20,000 years and nineteen special subject categories.
The Interactive Museum of News is just that. Read the front pages of any of 560 daily newspapers from 54 countries. Play the Flash current events trivia game NewsMania. View current and past online exhibitions. Read a critical analysis of today's news, and learn about this week in news history, on the news page. Find out about student journalism awards. Do more in-depth reading about free speech and journalism in America by visiting the museum's partner institutions: the Freedom Forum, the Diversity Institute at Vanderbilt, and the First Amendment Center.
The Exploratorium created the standard for interactive museums over a decade ago, and it's still one of the best. Explore the permanent online exhibits, including Stories from the Path of Totality (solar eclipses), The Accidental Scientist (science in the kitchen), From Jungle to Lab (biodiversity), and Space Weather. Take a look at at the lists of online activities, hands-on projects, and Exploratorium Snacks (quick, simple hands-on projects requiring very few materials). Watch a webcast. Find something I've missed - the Exploratorium site is huge!
Of course, don't miss the Smithsonian, with its many member institutions, including the National Air and Space Museum and the National Zoo. Want more? Check out MuseumStuff, one of the most comprehensive and user-friendly of the many museum directories online.
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