MW2006 BoW: Performing Medieval Narrative Today: A Video Showcase

Thank you for nominating Performing Medieval Narrative Today: A Video
Showcase [http://euterpe.bobst.nyu.edu/mednar/] for the Education
category.

Institution: French Department, New York University. Hosted, and with
assistance by the Studio for Digital Projects & Research, Bobst
Library, New York University.
Designer[s]: In house.
Explanation:
The study of the performance of medieval narrative (as opposed to the
performance of medieval plays or lyric poetry) is a relatively new
one and there are very few scholarly resources available on the
subject. There are even fewer visual examples of how narrative might
have been performed in the middle ages or how one might perform
medieval narrative today for modern audiences. This site was designed
specifically with scholars and teachers/students in mind and provides
them with free, streaming videos showing professionals and
non-professionals performing, in various settings, some of the most
famous extant medieval narratives (Dante's inferno, the Roman de la
Rose, Beowulf, etc.). The site was designed and content is selected
according to the project directors specifications: the site has to be
simple to use; the video has to be available to anyone in the world
with an internet connection and a dial-up, 56k modem; and the content
has to provide students & teachers with examples of how they might
creatively incorporate performance into the classroom. The metadata
for each clip, created by one of the project directors, is rich
(including an explanation about the work's genre, translation, etc.)
and is invaluable for students and teachers exploring this material.

Though I am the project coordinator of this project, the pedagogical
and scholarly content are wholly the creation of the French
Department faculty project directors. My role has been and continues
to be to advise on technical matters and to bring the site online. I
write in support of this project because it's the only website of its
kind; it provides its target audience with visual content available
nowhere else, either online or off; and it uses relatively
sophisticated technology (mpeg-4 video, compressed for streaming via
dial-up modem) to great advantage through a very simple interface.

I also recommend this site for a Small Budget award because the
project operates on a shoestring and the project directors are adding
content to the site as they can. The site is only partially supported
by funding for various departments at New York University, nearly all
of the work collecting/creating the content and putting it online is
done for free out of love for the project. A Small Budget award would
help to defray the costs of creating new content and entering the
metadata into the website (done by students).

Jennifer Vinopal
Librarian
Digital Library Program, Bobst Library
New York University
USA
www:

You can check the Museums and the Web 2006 Best of the Web site
[http://www.archimuse.com/mw2006/best/] for the results anytime
after March 24, 2006.

All sites are reviewed by the Best of the Web judges. Nominating a
site multiple times does NOT improve its chances of winning an award.

Thank you for your interest in Museums and the Web -- we hope to see
you at MW2006!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Trant and David Bearman, Archives & Museum Informatics
MW2006 Conference Co-Chairs