Know Your smART History

Easy to access and informative, smARThistory.org is like a back pack full of college level art history textbooks without the weight or expense. Considered a free multi-media web-book, the website uses pictures, podcasts, and insightful writing to discuss standard art history texts through collaborative communication.

Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker in conjunction with The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) began smARThistory in 2005 to, as they describe on their site, “create a more engaging ‘web-book’ that could be used in conjunction with art history survey courses. We are also committed to joining the growing number of teachers who make their content freely available on the web.”

The free access to information means more to smARThistory’s creators than simply the ability to educate, it also undermines the control publishers have on content. “We are interested in delivering the narratives of art history using the read-write web’s interactivity and capacity for authoring and remixing. Publishers are adding multimedia to their textbooks, but unfortunately they are doing so in proprietary, password-protected adjunct websites. These are weak because they maintain an old model of closed and protected content, eliminating Web 2.0 possibilities for the open collaboration and open communities that our students now use and expect.”

Take it from someone who has spent some time on the site, the interface is smooth and the information is easy to digest. Perfect for the next time you hear, “I just don’t get art.” Send them to smARThistory, point them to the beginner’s page, and let the conversation begin.

posted by: Harold Johns III