Hi all,

I wanted to announce, and invite feedback on, our new website at the
Berkeley Art Museum / Pacific Film Archive @ the University of California.
In particular, we've added substantial new resources in the form of
searchable databases of film documentation and art collections info, and
educational multimedia areas for kids. There are "behind the scenes"
sections explaining how each was done. Below are some of the new features;
any early feedback from this group would be greatly valued! Thanks.

new URL:
http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/

* Online Multimedia Collection Guides: these searchable in-depth guides are
comprised of object records and essays by curators, as well as artists
biographies and historical context of their creation and collection. These
were encoded using the EAD implementation of the SGML standard, and are
delivered converted to HTML on the fly for viewing on the web.

* Searchable PFA Filmnotes. This searchable text resource contains over
12,000 filmnotes written by our film curators between 1979 and the present;
representing the history of world cinema and including independent,
avant-garde, classic and foreign films. Searchable by Director, Film Title,
Year, Credits, Filmseries, Playdate, and by any text occurring in the
filmnote. These are also full-text marked up in SGML.

* Multimedia Guide for Young People to the BAM Collection. This guide
includes interactive questions with a chance for kids to answer questions
online about art and architecture, and see what other kids have answered to
those same questions, to choose music clips that might reflect the mood of
a Hofmann painting, and more.

* Search engine for entire website: now find what you want on the BAMPFA
website quickly and easily by conducting a search using the same fast
search engine used for the above resources.

* Cinefiles: is a document image database of film reviews, press kits,
festival and showcase program notes, newspaper articles, and other
documents from the Pacific Film Archive Library's clippings files. The
database is currently in a development phase, with retrospective indexing
completed for around 5000 records, which will eventually grow to over
200,000.

* Searchable Museum Bookstore database, with over 2000 titles for ordering;
many include descriptions as well as record info.

and lest you think it's all serious....

* The Great Online Easter Egg Hunt is On! As a way to make exploring our
website even more fun, we decided to create a "Treasure Hunt" or "Easter
Egg" hunt on our website. As you browse our site, look for links to hidden
pages - if you find one you win a prize :)

Thanks, please let me know what you think if you have a chance to visit.



Richard Rinehart              | Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive
Systems Manager & Education   | University of California
Technology Specialist         | 2625 Durant, Berkeley, CA 94720-2250
[log in to unmask] | http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/
& Board of Directors, Museum Computer Network, http://world.std.com/~mcn/