I remember reading an article on
the Google art project in school last year. The project is basically virtual
museums and you get the feeling that you’re at an actual museum. The purpose of
the web site is to “Explore museums from around the world, discover and view
hundreds of artworks at incredible zoom levels, and even create and share your
own collection of masterpieces.” The website functions amazingly. You use your
mouse and cursor to walk through the hallways of all of the major museums. You
can just browse through the artwork and once you find one you would like to
view you can click on it and zoom in. When zooming in you can get so close that
you see the actual stroke marks of the paint brush. I personally think this
aspect of the website is better than going to the actual museum because you can’t
get close to the art work in museums to see these details in some paintings.
The website has countless features my favorites are seeing the floor plan to
know exactly where you would be located, they include history on the museum
itself, videos on the painting and essentially a visitor’s guide. The website
could easily be directed at art lovers because some people might not have the
financial stability to be able to travel around the world to view these
historic pieces but get the pleasure and convenience of viewing artwork with
the click of a mouse. This reminds me of the virtual temple and church because
users/worshipers liked the convenience of being able to perform their rituals
online when they could find the time. Yancey said “…the portfolio hypertext- usually,
the linear arrangement of the book argues for a beginning-to-end reading.” Like
e portfolios you can go from one tab to another tab, the museum websites offers
you the experience to jump from one picture on one floor to a whole different
picture on a completely different floor without having to get on an elevator or
walking up stairs like we normally would have to in actual life. Another great
thing about this website is that it’s free! Imagine that.
http://www.googleartproject.com/
