Nancy,

I was going to pass by your message but as an ex-classicist I figured
the responsible thing to do would be to have a look and make comments.
And seeing as my last paper in graduate school was to a large extent
based on an article by Eleanor Leach, it became absolutely imperative.

So having said that:

1) Overall, a nice job.  The site certainly flows well, is easy to use,
has great links and bibliography.

2) Perhaps a little more sign-posting would be helpful.  For example,
having arrived in the "Life After Death Section," I assumed after a
little consideration that the material comes from tombs.  Going back to
the home page, it's clearly marked as such (Cemeteries & Sarcophagi);
but I had browsed around the collections and got to "Life After Death"
long after having left home, i.e. having forgotten (or overlooked) the
descriptive phrase.  So it sounds dumb, but perhaps you should just put
that on the collection page as well as the title page.

3) Similarly, I had already been to glass and jewelry, where I could
click on individual images for enlargements.  In Life After Death, I
didn't have that option; it was just by luck that I found that the "Life
After Death" label at the top was the route to much more information.
You ought to have a sentence under the label that says "for more info on
etc., click here."  Basic, but very helpful.

4) It may have been outside the purview of the project, but I would have
liked to have seen more of your own thoughts and/or opinions about some
of the "stuff" -- especially in view of your focus -- "the relationship
between art and architecture in society as a reflection of historical
and ideological thought."  I'm sure you have lots to say, though I can
certainly understand if you don't want to just scatter opinions around
for everybody to see!

5) For a general audience, sign-posting and general guidance along the
lines of "this is what they did with pots, this is what they did with
jewelry, here is what we know about their burial customs" is needed.

6) The maps are not labeled correctly.  "Roman World in the 1st c. AD"
is a lot more than Italy, and for that matter, Italy had more than four
towns.  (Picky, I know.  Sorry.)

7) Is this everything the Field has from Rome/Etruria, or just a
portion?

Thanks for putting so much work into this project.  You've done a real
service to the Field and to the public.  Now just get them to bring some
of this stuff out of storage!

Andy Finch
American Association of Museums
[log in to unmask]

PS  Leach article was on Metamorphoses, and it was the best one of all
the ones I read.

USUAL DISCLAIMERS APPLY


> -----Original Message-----
> From: HOHO and a Bottle of Rum [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Saturday, December 05, 1998 12:18 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      research critique
>
> Hello to Everyone,
> In 1997, I received an internship at the Field Museum where I
> conducted
> research with the Roman and Etruscan Collections.  My research
> involved
> building and maintaining an on-line web site of many of the artifacts
> in
> this collection.  This past summer I "completed" (barring any major
> problems, minor glitches etc) the site and am about to post it to the
> Field's web site.  Before I do this, my advisor and I wanted to get
> opinions about the site and ways to improve it.  I am asking anyone
> who is
> interested in viewing my site to take a look at it and give
> suggestions,
> comments good or bad. My main concern is the flow of the site and ease
> of
> use with the site as well as any inconsistencies with regard to
> factual
> data.  This is a closed site, and can only be found by directly typing
>
> http://www.fmnh.org/anthro
>
> Please post comments to my personal e-mail address, so not to bombard
> others with comments or suggestions.
>
> Some questions I am interested in:
>
> Did you like the site, appereance, colors, ease of use?
> Is it understandable?
> Any inconsistencies found?
> Thank you for your time.
> Nancy Marszalek
>
>
> ;-)     :-O     :-)     8-)      %-)    :-D     ;-<>    D;-)    :{)
>
>
> Nancy Marszalek
> [log in to unmask]
> http://ezinfo.ucs.indiana.edu/~nmarszal
> http://www.fmnh.org/anthro
> (812) 335 2339
> (219) 923 9513
>
>
> ;-)     :-O     :-)     8-)      %-)    :-D     ;-<>    D;-)    :{)