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David SilverAmerican Studies, University of Maryland
The Information Age, Being Digital, the Cyber Revolution. A few short years ago, one could expect to find such terms only between the pages of science-fiction books. Today, they speak to many of our everyday activities. Indeed, the Internet, along with its graphically-based companion, the World Wide Web, has become an integral part of the way many of us live, play, and, perhaps most dramatically, work.
This development is especially apparent within the academic workplace. Today, professors communicate with one another and with students via email; entire classrooms correspond using listservs and newsgroups; and a number of departments, centers, organizations, and journals have established sites on the World Wide Web. Unfortunately, this information, however relevant and valuable, is too often lost among a sea of virtual noise.
The following article serves as a practical guide to use the World Wide Web as a tool for both studying and teaching film. Designed for film educators, researchers, students, and fans, this guide is divided into three major sections. The first section examines two key Web sites: the Internet Movie Database and SCREENsite. The next section explores a number of on-line journals, including Bright Lights Film Journal and T[verbar]E[verbar]L[verbar]E[verbar]C[verbar]I[verbar]N[verbar]E. The final section explains the utility of search engines and demonstrates how to use two such engines: Alta Vista and Yahoo!
Key Web SitesInternet Movie DatabaseWe begin with the Internet Movie Database, located at [http://www.imdb.com/]. The Internet Movie Database began in 1989 with the USENET newsgroup rec.arts.movies. In response to a few prolonged threads regarding favorite films, actors, and actresses, one participant, Col Needham, decided to index the threads into separate categories. Over the next few years, Needham worked with others to compile a huge database organized by movie fides, actors, directors, and writers. By 1993, the database was transferred to the World Wide Web.
Today, the Internet Movie Database exists as an international organization devoted to providing film fans, students, researchers, and educators with useful and up-to-date movie information. Moreover, this information is not only available on-line, it is available for free. A result of over six years of collecting facts,...