Friendly Skies: The Aviation History Online Museum

I've been to Kitty Hawk to see the Wright Brothers' airplane models.  I also went to Arctic Thunder 2010, a daylong air show at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage.  Beyond that, my knowledge of air transportation is limited.  So I was glad to find the Aviation History Online Museum because, at least in some cases, it provides a lot of interesting and engaging information.

The best part of this museum is its Aircraft gallery, which lists many different airplane models (alphabetized by manufacturer).  For almost every model, you can view photos and a few short paragraphs of information.  You also have the option to see a much longer and more technically detailed history of the aircraft.  I love the way this is set up with two different levels of information because visitors who are really into aviation will be curious enough to read the longer texts, while those who are novices will find the shorter interpretation to be a good introduction.

I also really like the Early Years section, which details all the different inventors whose ideas led up to the first airplane.  The information here is truly interesting and not overly long, and it's presented in a way that lets you see how each person piggybacked off previous discoveries.  The Theory section also does a good job of taking difficult scientific concepts and explaining them for visitors to understand.  There's also a nice selection of videos that show clips of the Battle of Okinawa, the history of TWA, and many other relevant subjects.

There are a few sections that might be tough for the average visitor to get through, like the series of articles posted to the museum.  They're long and too much like Wikipedia, and I imagine that only the nerdiest of aircraft enthusiasts would find them interesting.  The same is true for the section on engines and, disappointingly, the gallery featuring famous aviators.

All in all, though, this is an unexpectedly engaging museum.  It makes aircraft and the history of flight fun and accessible to visitors of all interest levels.  There's a lot of pictures and simple explanations for those of us who have never considered why we fly, and there's also plenty of technical information for airplane enthusists.  I would recommend this museum to anyone, because I guarantee you'll learn something and maybe even become more interested in flying.


The Aviation History Online Museum
Website:  www.aviation-history.com

As Rome Goes: The Ostia Virtual Museum

Roman art and architecture is beautiful, even if most of it is now crumbling.  But since many people haven't had the chance to visit Italy's historical sites (I've only ever been to Rome's airport), we have to rely on images of the these ancient splendors.  That's the function of the Ostia Virtual Museum, which is dedicated to displaying ruins and unearthed artifacts from this port within the Roman empire.

The breadth of objects you can view at this museum is impressive - the images are organized by medium, so you can view things made of glass, metal, terra cotta, bone and marble, as well as mosaics, stucco reliefs, fading paintings and what's left of ancient buildings.  The images are of varying quality (only some are in color, and most were taken pre-digital camera) but almost every piece has been photographed at various angles, so you can still get a good sense of what each looks like.

The text accompanying the images is better than many other virtual museums I've encountered, but not perfect.  In many cases detailed information is provided about where the object was found and what is depicted, and where there are black-and-white photographs some effort is made to describe the true colors.  It would be nice to know about how old everything is (if ages are indeed known), but more importantly I would like to know just how each piece fits into the Rome's story and culture.

This, I think, is the biggest flaw in the museum:  there is not enough historical context.  From just browsing the museum's website, I got the impression that Ostia was a coastal city somewhere in Italy.  It took a visit to Wikipedia to learn that Ostia is in fact a part of the city of Rome, and was a popular place for Romans to vacation in the summer.  This is information that should be readily available throughout the museum, along with explanations of why the art and architecture mattered in that time.  If you were unfamiliar with Roman mythology, for example, a lot of the art might seem confusing, and the museum provides no way to help understand the depictions and symbolism.

I don't want this criticism to detract from the greatness of this museum, because it's definitely worth a look if you're at all interested in seeing how the ancients lived.  If you like Rome, old things, or seeing well-known myths illustrated, there's plenty to view here.  For a novice, though, this museum could seem stuffy and intimidating.  A little more information here could go a long way.


The Ostia Virtual Museum
Website:  www.ostia-antica.org/vmuseum/vmuseum.htm

Digital Millenium: The Museum of Computer Art

When you think of art, you probably imagine paintings, drawings, sculptures, and other hand-crafted works.  You might stretch your definition to include performance and found-art pieces, but likely any piece you consider to be art is the result of physical creation.  But what about non-physical art:  works that were created by someone but do not exist in the real world.  Are those art?  Certainly they are, according to the Museum of Computer Art, which aims to collect and display this kind of virtual art.

At this museum, art is categorized by its genesis.  You can view art that was created by manipulating pixels, by 3D rendering, or by algorithms and fractals, among other genres.  You can also search by artist or by the year the art was created.  For each artwork you can view larger images and interpretation by the artist, although it can be hard to get this information.  For some images, you have to click on a thumbnail of each piece just to see its title, and then click again to view any other interpretation.

The museum has also gathered several essays and other pieces of criticism about digital art on its website, which is helpful for the novice visitor.  Some of these are a little stuffy, but for the most part they're written to be at least somewhat helpful in understanding this new form of art.

The only thing I found really off-putting about this museum is the ads, which are incredibly distracting.  They're everywhere - on top of the pages, to the sides, even mixed in with text.  The homepage is such a cluttery mess that it's hard to tell what is and isn't part of the museum.  This is especially disappointing because the Museum of Computer Art tries hard to present itself as a formal museum, but this is greatly undermined by ads asking me to subscribe to People and check out Eastern European dating sites.

If you can get past this commercialization, though, this museum is worth checking out to learn about new forms of art.  There's a lot of art to browse, and enough supporting materials to help you understand why it matters.  If the Museum of Computer Art could only present a more professional image, it might earn its place as a virtual counterpoint to the world's physical art museums.


The Museum of Computer Art
Mission:  To promote digital art in its various forms and manifestations, including such categories as 3-D, fractals, photo-based, mixed technique, computer-drawn, surreal, video, etc.
Website:  moca.virtual.museum