The Burgess Shale, a new Web site from the Royal Ontario Museum

The Royal Ontario Museum developed a Virtual Museum of Canada Web site around The Burgess Shale, a UNESCO World Hertiage Site, which is located entirely in BC in Yoho National Park. The ROM has done fieldwork at the Burgess Shale. None of the Burgess Shale fossils appear to be on display anywhere in BC, so it's great to have this opportunity for a virtual visit. The guy with the sledgehammer kind of worries me though.

Gigapixel art, the Google Art Project

The Google Art Project was started by Google employee Amit Sood. Launched on February 1, 02011 at London's Tate Britain gallery, the Art Project contains content from 17 major galleries and collections around the world and allow a virtual visitor to explore these museums and one art art using "gigapixel" technology. The virtual tours use the same technology as the Street View you experience through Google Maps.

Points of View 19th century photography exhibit, British Library, October 02009-March 02010

The British Library opened a free physical and online exhibit on October 30, 02009 titled "Points of View: Capturing the 19th Century in Photographs." If you register for a free account with the Online Gallery at the British Library you can comment on the photographs and select your favorites. The library will choose the best comments for display in the physical gallery (I wasn't quite clear about exactly where this would happen). A blog for the exhibit that links the past with the present is also available.

Historical Perspectives on Canadian Publishing

A wonderful Web site titled Historical Perspectives on Canadian Publishing brings to life some of the many stories behind the writing and production of Canadian books. According to the Overview page:

The aim of this website is to highlight archival documents relating to Canadian publishing history. These documents – letters, manuscripts, photographs, diaries, artwork, audio interviews, financial records, and many other materials – are found in publishers’ and authors’ fonds and collections at McMaster University Library, Queen’s University Archives, and the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto.

Emerging and senior scholars from across Canada have written over 90 case studies – short essays – based on these materials. Authors were asked to consult the archives and choose documents to help them tell a story relating to Canadian publishing. The site was launched on 8 October 2009.

Source: ARCAN-L mailing list, 02009 10 19

Expanding Horizons: Painting and Photography of American and Canadian Landscapes exhibition

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts' exhibition Expanding Horizons: Painting and Photography of American and Canadian Landscape 1860-1918, which will be travelling to the Vancouver Art Gallery, is a spectacular assemblage of some of the best landscape art and photography of its period. Except for Emily Carr whose earliest explorations of Northwest Coast First Nations villages are included, none of the Canadian photographers or artists lived west of Ontario. The Museum's Web site includes every artwork and photograph in the show, so it's well worth exploring. The Museum is also encouraging on-site and remote visitors to share their own comments and photographs of American and Canadian landscapes.

The Best of Cybermuseology 02008 (FIAMP 02008)

Check out the winners of the Best of Cybermuseology 02008 from the ICOM/AVICOM conference in October in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. The formal name of this event is FIAMP, the Festival International de l’Audiovisuel & du Multimédia sur le Patrimoine.

The Grand Prize was awarded to Simon Fraser University's Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology for its A Journey into Time Immemorial, part of the Virtual Museum of Canada.

Collected Visions, an online archive of personal photos

Collected Visions is a provocative photo site brought to my attention as something to "read" in preparation for an online discussion with a couple of photo curators and critics:

Approximately 3,000 images collected from over 300 people are in a searchable archive of family snapshots. More than 250 photo essays exploring how photographs shape our memories are posted in the CV Gallery, the CV Museum, and Positive Visions. Please contribute stories and photographs or create essays inspired by images in our archive. Launched in 1996, Collected Visions was conceived and is updated by Lorie Novak.

Source: front page of Collected Visions