As a matter of fact someone else is doing the "virtual museum" thing.  I
am a doctoral student at the University of Maryland College Park who is
co-teaching the class Material Aspects of American Life, with another TA
and a prof.  At the onset only the other TA really knew the technology
now we are all knowledgeable in not only creating homepages, etc. but
also in scanning images.  The students had to complete four projects
throughout the semester two of which used E.M. Fleming's model of
analyzing objects or material culture.  The last project is to contribute
to the growth of a virtual museum which was already mounted: Virtual
Greenbelt.  That is one of three planned communities built during the New
Deal which still exists.  We have placed most of the museum's objects on
the web but the students are continuing this process.  It will be
furthered by the students from the class that that I will be TAing for
next semester: American Suburbia.

To check out the student's work and the class homepage visit us at:
http://otal.umd.edu/(ntilda)googie/amst205.html

I couldn't make the ntilda sign but there needs to be one before googie.


Psyche A. Williams
University of Maryland College Park
Dept. of American Studies

On Sun, 3 Dec 1995, RAY BUCKO, S.J. wrote:

> Hello.... this is my first message on the net.
>
> I'm an anthropologist (U of Chicago) teaching at a small undergraduate
> school in Syracuse.  I do a course in museums and social science every
> other year trying to show the interaction between museum display and social
> theory and the importance of ethics, community involvement, etc.
>
> This year I had the students create "virtual museusm".  I'd like to invite
> you all to visit their museums if you have time and to comment on them if
> you have the inclination.  Also, is anyone else out there doing something
> similar?  I don't 'run' in a museum crowd!
>
> You can get to the museums at this address:
>
>              http://maple.lemoyne.edu/~bucko/ant301.html
>
> Thank you for reading this message.
>
> Oh, none of these students have had computer experience or previous courses
> in anthropology!  It was a big learing curve but most of them made it.  The
> hardest part of the course was getting them to think of what Boas had to
> say rather than to change the color of the background on their home pages!
> The latter is easier once you get a hang of it.
>   __|__                                                              __|__
>  {__ __}                                                            { _ _ }
>   | / |==============================================================| \ |
>   | \ |                LE MOYNE COLLEGE * SYRACUSE, NY               | / |
>   | / |           DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY           | \ |
>   | \ | RAYMOND BUCKO, S.J. * ANTHROPOLOGY * [log in to unmask] | / |
>   |_/_|==============================================================|_\_|
>  {__ __}                                                            {__ __}
>     |                                                                  |
>