General Interest
Color theory has been worked on by a number of individuals over the years, and those with an interest in the field include artists, scientists, and of course, interior designers. Janet Ford, a web designer in Minneapolis, has been interested in this field for over a decade, and her website explores some of the issues surrounding color theory in a way that is both accessible and interesting. On the site, visitors can learn about the basics of color, complementary colors, and concepts such as contrast, dominance, proportion, and intensity. The site is rounded out by a very good “Resources” area, which contains a bibliography of recommended works drawn from the past several decades. [KMG]
http://www.bso.org/images/conservatory/
Since its earliest days, the Boston Symphony Orchestra has done a splendid job of reaching out to the public beyond its august surroundings along Massachusetts Avenue inside of the lovely Symphony Hall. Several years ago, they teamed up with Northeastern University to create the Online Conservatory. Each interactive feature is based on a series of concerts given by the Orchestra, and for each one, visitors can hear excerpts from the score, and learn about the musical structure and compositional style of each work. There are a number of interesting pairings here, including one concert that brought together performances of John Cage’s “The Seasons” and Benjamin Britten’s masterful “Four Sea Interludes” from his opera, “Peter Grimes”. After a few visits to this site, visitors may find that they are comfortable discussing the differences between Stravinsky and Shostakovich. [KMG]
http://www.mbnms.nos.noaa.gov/
If you’ve ever been to the central coast region of California, it’s hard not be impressed with the natural beauty of the various landforms, vegetation, and animal life around the area, and we haven’t even started talking about what’s in the ocean. Created in order to preserve and protect this unique habitat in 1992, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS) is larger than either Yosemite or Yellowstone National Parks as it extends 30 miles from shore. Some of the other resources within its borders include the nation’s largest kelp forest and one of North America’s largest underwater canyons. On the Sanctuary’s site, visitors can learn about the resource management plan for this area, and of course, learn about visiting the Sanctuary. One helpful resource in this area is their online field guide to the Sanctuary, which can be downloaded and printed out for handy reference. The site is rounded out by a selection of publications, including their newsletters and annual reports. [KMG]
http://www.blueeyesmagazine.com/
The web has opened up a wide world of opportunity for emerging photojournalists, and Blueeyes Magazine is one such unique online venture. Started in 2003 in response to declining editorial space for documentary images, the magazine was the creation of a group of close friends who studied together at the Missouri School of Journalism. As their mission statement notes, the magazine “…strives to publish longer, more personal, and more intricate bodies of work.” Here, visitors can browse through previously published photo essays, including one by Travis Hartman that documents places of importance to the hey-day of jazz in Kansas City and the Lubavitch community in Brooklyn, as photographed by Carolyn Drake. Finally, visitors can also sign up here to be notified when a new issue of Blueeyes is released. [KMG]
Humans have been to the moon numerous times, but the United States is gearing up to do so again with the creation of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission. With a launch date of October 31, 2008, the goal of the LRO is to obtain “data that will facilitate returning humans safely to the Moon and enable extended stays.” On this site, visitors can learn all of the excellent details about the mission. The site includes a timeline of scheduled events, the particulars about the spacecraft and its instruments, and a wide range of multimedia files and images. In keeping with NASA’s high video standards, there are a number of rather remarkable short films here, including one that shows the LRO orbiting the moon. [KMG]
While the name “Social Explorer” may conjure up images for some of a new and powerful social networking site, this site is actually a splendid way to learn more about your friends and neighbors. Created by a team of demographers and GIS experts at Queens College in New York, the Social Explorer website offers access to dozens of different interactive data maps including time series maps that chart the ethnic transitions that have occurred throughout New York and Los Angeles over the past decades. Before delving into the maps any further, first-time visitors may want to go to the “Getting Started” section, where they can read a brief introductory essay about these data maps and their basic objectives. Finally, visitors can also use the site to generate their own specialized maps and reports. [KMG]
http://www.sfmoma.org/modotti-weston/index.html
Tina Modotti and Edward Weston, photographers active in the first half of the 20th century, lived and worked together in Mexico for several years, and both believed that the country - and each other - provided an important source of inspiration for their art. This exhibition explores the intersections of Modotti and Weston's personal and artistic lives. Modotti learned photography from Weston, and her pictures, depicting workers on construction sites, loading bananas for shipment, or reading a Communist newspaper, are more politically motivated than Weston's. Modotti, however, was the first of the two to photograph still life up close, creating images of flowers. Weston took up still life as well, creating some of his most famous pictures of vegetables and shells. The online exhibition includes film of Modotti and Weston, an interview with art historian Patricia Albers, photographs by and of both artists, as well as digital versions of letters, albums and scrapbooks. [DS]
http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/ITB/html/introduction.htm
If the average reader thinks that understanding Joyce’s Ulysses is difficult (and at times, downright impossible), the stories behind the creation and history of the book we call the Bible is as complex, if not more so. This delightful interactive online exhibit was created by staff members at the Freer & Sackler Galleries Smithsonian Institution, and was created by guest curator, Michelle P. Brown. The exhibit brings together (with some nice audio commentary) a number of important early Hebrew and Christian bibles. The sections of the site tell the stories of the earliest printed Bibles and also how readings from early Bibles brought the Old and New Testaments to life in a very vivid fashion. The exhibit site is rounded out by some very fine extras, such as a bibliography, a chronology, and for those who find themselves a bit confused by all the names that are bandied about, a “Who’s Who”. [KMG]
