Media Studies Websites

Educational Web Adventures
http://www.visi.com/~eduweb/ss.html

Susan Nagel, an art teacher and David Schaller, an educational media developer from Minnesota, are the talented couple behind Educational Web Adventurers. They explain their educational philosophy on their 'About Us' page: "We believe learning should involve more than merely seeking facts and information. Learning should be a journey of exploration and discovery - an adventure. Nagel and Schaller have produced a series of these 'Educational Web Adventures'. One example is 'A. Pintura: Art Detective'. The student plays the role of a 1940s detective with a degree in art history. The task is to identify the painting a woman has found in her grandfather's attic. At each stage the student is introduced to more information about the world of art and eventually they reach the point where they can identify the painting. 'Inside Art' concerns the student being sucked into a vortex during an art museum tour. The student eventually ends up inside a mystery painting and the only way to escape is to answer the questions who, what, how and where. There are also adventures about environmental issues such as the 'Amazon Rainforest' and 'Tiger Ecology'. Educational Web Adventures fully deserve the many awards they have won for this superb website. (KS2 HR)

The Victorian Web
http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/hypertext/landlo w/Victorian

The Victorian Web is the result of Brown University's Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship Intermedia Project funded by IBM and Apple Computers. One aspect of the project is a study of the Visual Arts in Victorian Britain. This section is divided into six separate sections: 'Design', 'Painting', 'Illustration', 'Sculpture', 'Architecture' and 'Art Collections'. There are overviews on 'William Morris', 'Punch Magazine', 'The Great Exhibition', 'The Pre-Raphaelites', etc. There are also links with other resources in the Victorian Web such as 'Political & Social Context', 'Religion & Philosophy' and 'Victorianism'. (GCSE 16+ GA UE)

Artsource
http://www.uky.edu/Artsource/directions.html

A gateway to the best networked resources on Art and Architecture. The site is selective rather than comprehensive and is an attempt to list the best places to visit. Electronic exhibitions highly recommended include the 'Age of Enlightenment in France's National Museums', 'Alamkara: 5,000 Years of Indian Art', 'Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library' and 'The Complete Pictures of Dante Gabriel Rossetti'. (KS3 GA UE)

Paris Web Museum
http://sunsite.unc.edu/louvre

The Paris Web Museum has 200,000 visitors a week and they call-up over 10,000,000 images. One of the main reasons to visit the Paris Museum is the Paul Cezanne exhibition that contains over 100 artworks. Also on show is the Duke du Berry's 'Tres Riches Heures'. The original manuscript is stored in the Chantilly Museum but is so degraded that it is no longer available to the public in its original form. Painted by the the three Limbourg brothers in about 1412, these pictures provide a fascinating insight into life in the 15th century. There are four information sheets to go with the exhibition, including one that explains the different minerals, plants and chemicals used by Limbourgs to make their paint. There is an organised tour of Paris from the Web Museum. A website that provides material for a good cross-curriculum project. (KS2/3 GCSE UE)

Exposure: Beginners Guide to Photography
http://www.88.com/exposure/index.htm

'Exposure' is Gavin Cheng's attempt to teach the basic concepts of modern photography on the Internet. This impressive looking website was an immediate success with over a quarter of a million visitors in its first month of operation. Sections include 'Crash Course' (an explanation of exposure and photography); 'Lo Tek Tips' (ways to jazz up your pictures) and 'Exposure' (an explanation of exposure theory). The most impressive feature of this website is 'Sim-Cam' where you can adjust the camera and see the results on the computer screen.

Internet Movie Database
http://us.imbd.com/introduction

The Internet Movie Database is the ultimate movie reference source and covers everything you could ever possibly want to know about movies. It is hyperlinked both within the database and to thousands of external sites and is updated continuously. The database currently covers over 100,000 movies with over 1,600,000 filmography entries. It covers filmographies for all professions in the industry; plot summaries; character names; movie ratings; year of release; running times; movie trivia; quotes; soundtracks; country of production; distributors; reference literature; filming locations; detailed technical data; reviews; box office grosses, etc.