RESOUR> Britannica Internet Guide Brings a World of Art to the Deskto
Gleason Sackman
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Sent: Monday, April 13, 1998 2:08 PM
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Britannica Internet Guide Brings a
World of Art to the Desktop
Most Comprehensive Catalog of Art Sources on the Net Covers
Traditional and Contemporary Forms and Movements
CHICAGO, Ill., March 27, 1998 - Whether your tastes run to Rauschenberg or
Raphael, the Old Masters or postminimalist sculpture, there's one place to
go for a comprehensive guide to art and arts information on the Web: the
Britannica Internet GuideÔ, at www.ebig.com.
Art and Literature is one of 14 major subject categories covered in the
guide, a free service of Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Among its features
is the most complete catalog of sources on contemporary and traditional art
on the Internet. Consisting of sites selected and described by Britannica
editors, the guide steers art lovers straight to the best sources on
specific artists, works of art, and major art movements.
The highly refined subject outline divides art sites neatly by medium,
genre, and historical period, making it easy for users to find what they
want with just a few clicks of the mouse. Within each medium of the visual
arts (painting, sculpture, architecture, etc.) it provides a chronological
list of all major art movements throughout history, each with a list of
related artists and concepts.
Among the service's particular strengths is its coverage of cutting-edge
developments in contemporary art, such as the emerging category of "Web
art," consisting of works created on the Internet itself and which exist
only in virtual form. Recognizing this as a unique and growing category,
Britannica's editors have distinguished Web art from other forms of
computer-generated art, as well as from other contemporary forms such as
film and video, performance art, installation, and environmental art. This
topical organization, which helps browsers find the sites they want
quickly, represents the first fully developed outline of contemporary art
anywhere.
Traditional art is equally well represented. The service encompasses all
periods and genres, from prehistoric cave painting, ancient Greek vases,
and Gothic cathedrals to Renaissance masterpieces, Impressionist paintings,
and early photography, all presented in an historical outline. Individual
artists are indexed both alphabetically and by period, enabling a user to
easily locate any particular artist as well as gain a sense of the context
of his or her work. The guide also offers an extensive listing of art
museums throughout the world, a valuable tool for anyone planning to visit
a museum, be it across town or across the ocean.
"The quantity of fine art on the Web is growing exponentially," said
Britannica publisher Paul Hoffman. "You can find classic works. You can
find new art forms, everything from digital painting to holography and
virtual reality. You can find art history and criticism. Until now, the
problem has been finding your way through this abundance of material.
That's where the Britannica Internet Guide can help. It provides a
well-marked path to the best sources on the Net. It's a useful tool for
art experts and invaluable for people with a general interest in art.
"What distinguishes our coverage is the work of our editors, who have
outlined art from ancient to contemporary times and filled the guide with
the best Web sites available in each category. Our treatment of art
reflects our goal for the entire Britannica Internet Guide: coverage with
exceptional depth and breadth, presented in a way that's easy to access."
Especially helpful is the information that accompanies each site. The
Britannica Internet Guide provides brief descriptions of the sites the
editors have chosen, in order to help the user make an informed decision on
where to go next. And because of their sometimes avant-garde nature, many
sites selected for the fine art area are given a more analytical and
interpretive editorial treatment.
"Things change at such a bewildering speed that most people who aren't in
the middle of it find it hard to keep up," said Karla Loring,
contemporary-arts editor of the guide. "That's why we've included useful
interpretations with the sites we've selected. People sometimes need help
making sense of what they're seeing, and that's what we give them. This is
more than a directory; it's a guided tour through art on the Web."
The Britannica Internet Guide is the first major Web-navigation service to
combine an advanced search-and-retrieval system with site selections by
highly skilled subject editors and knowledgeable contributors. Britannica's
editors choose Web sites for the quality and usefulness of their
information and provide straightforward descriptions of the contents of
most sites.
The directory provides two ways to find information. Users can search
according to a word, name, or phrase. For example, searches on particular
works of art, such as Mona Lisa, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La
Grande Jatte, Guernica, Venus de Milo, or Parthenon, produce especially
good results. A search on any of these titles takes you right to a list of
locations where copies of the work are available on the Web, even if the
work resides several levels down in a site.
Viewers can also browse through the guide's outline of 14 major subjects -
including Art and Literature; Health and Medicine; News and Current Events;
Science, Technology, and Mathematics; and Social Science. Each topic
encompasses a rich hierarchy of subtopics, and users can browse both up and
down the outline to find Web sites related to the topics in which they're
interested. The combination of the discriminating selection process, the
service's browsable outline, and the informed site descriptions produces
search results with a clarity and focus rarely achieved in Web navigation.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. publishes the most authoritative and
comprehensive encyclopedia products in the English language. They include
Britannica CD, on CD-ROM; Britannica Online, on the Internet; and the
famous 32-volume Encyclopædia Britannica. The company, headquartered in
Chicago, is located on the World Wide Web at http://www.eb.com. To purchase
or get information about Britannica products, customers may call
1-800-747-8503 or visit the Britannica Bookstore at
http://www.eb.com/bookstore/index.htm.
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