Website Evaluations
9/11 Memorial
The first website I reviewed was www.911memorial.org, which is a museum website. This is because it is a site about a memorial and provides us facts about the 9/11 memorial. The purpose of this website is to give readers an insight on 9/11. It not only shares information on what the 9/11 memorial is, but it also gives us information on how to go visit this memorial and the hours of accessibility. On this website, Google can give you a 3D tour which is awesome because if you never have the chance to see it in person, you can see it exactly how you would see it in person, but at home on your computer. Another interesting thing about this website is that it gives us the names of all the victims, which is about 3,000.
The creator of this website is the National September 11 Memorial and Museum,which makes it definitely credible. Before visiting this site, I knew what the 9/11 memorial is. I believe this website is designed for anyone who is willing to learn more about the 9/11 memorial and victims, or for someone who would want to visit this memorial.
This website is extremely organized. The links on the page include, “Plan Your Visit,” “Memorial,” “Museum,” “Teach and Learn,” “Get Involved,” and “Donate.” Under each of these categories are more links that can take you to exactly where you want to go. This website does not leave any information out about the 9/11 memorial and museum. This also makes it easy to navigate.
On this website, one aspect that I valued was the online tour, provided by Google Earth. This is really beneficial for someone who does not have access to see the memorial and museum in person. I also think it’s really helpful that you can donate to this memorial. This is important because 9/11 is something that will never be forgotten by many families. Unfortunately, it was a traumatic event that caused a lot of damage so it’s great that people are able to give back.
The picture above is a picture of the 9/11 memorial, which is located at the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York.
American Photography: A Century of Images
The second website I reviewed was http://www.pbs.org/ktca/americanphotography/, which is an archive because it has a lot of older images and photography form the past and present. The purpose of this website is to give viewers an insight on art and photography during the war, presidential image-making, and the digital truth. It shares information about old art pieces and how art can be sold for six figures. Wow!
This website revolves around one question. What kind of art is photography? The art of photography is continuously changing as the world changes. Artists and photographers are taking new perspectives on the images they wish to capture.
The creator of this website is is PBS so it is credible. There are links to the image credits, as well. Before visiting this site, I did not know what it was about, however I like photography so I wanted to check it out! This website is designed for someone who is interested in learning the history of art and photography.
This website is organized because there are different links that navigate you throughout the site, which makes it easy for us to view. There are many features to this site giving information on social change, being one example.
I really valued that you were able to see some sample photographs from the past. It is amazing how art photography is rapidly changing throughout each century.
2 Comments »
Filed under: Theory and Practice
February 3rd, 2014 at 10:03 pm
Elizabeth,
You have done a very thorough evaluation of each website. The way you explained how important the interactive nature of the 9/11 website is to your experience of history is very good – you’ve noted ways that historians can use the web to help not only communicate history, but create an experience for the user.
One question I would ask you is: what does credibility mean? You say the PBS website is credible, but I wonder why you make this evaluation. Some historians will tell you that you have to be careful about a PBS website: it may be informative, but not necessarily as critical as a more academic historical source. I would ask similar questions about the 9/11 museum website. How do we know where they got their information? How can we evaluate their biases? These are important questions to keep in mind as you move forward with your own project.
– Claire