Ancient Egypt Magazine

Volume Four  Issue Three -- December 2003 / January 2004

Netfishing by Hapy  

Various people have forwarded what looks to be a very promising URL but visits have proved a little frustrating so far. The web site is www.eternalegypt.org and it is the fruits of collaboration between the Egyptian authorities and IBM as far as it’s possible to tell. In a world apparently dominated by Microsoft, the name of IBM does not produce the effect it used to a few decades ago; however, behind the name is a century or so of expertise in business machines. IBM was the face of the first office machine revolution in the early 20th century, when the imminent end of the secretary was prognosticated.

Remember similar predictions from the early 1980’s of the ‘paper free office’? Take a look around yours. It didn’t happen, did it?

Nonetheless, somehow the revolution in personal computing has caught up with most of us, leading to phenomena such as the ‘Silver Surfer’ of mature years as well as more obvious stereotypes.

It’s impossible to tell what percentage of overall internet use is represented by the numerous, flourishing sites devoted to Egyptology, but if it were ever possible to research this, no doubt Egyptology would rank high on the ‘most visited’ list, which is gratifying to those who otherwise think online use is leading us to hell in a dotcom.

Thus far, eternalegypt.org has a lot going for it: a popular subject, established expertise and a charitable suffix.

The opening visuals are stunning without resorting to the clichéd braying and overkill on mysteries which so often accompanies web sites and DVDs. The home page is very promising, seeming to combine a top level educational experience – it’s very similar to the best museum and academic institution web sites - with a ‘tour’ atmosphere. If the browser is familiar with, for example, ‘Digital Egypt for Universities’ plus the ‘Touregypt.net’ sites, he or she will have an inkling of what’s involved here.

At first glance it’s like a chocolate box with too many choices. That’s not to say that the menus aren’t good or clear, it’s just somewhat overwhelming. The designers must have been aware of this, because they’ve organised a ‘tour’ of the web site itself. Those people who are involved in teaching will understand the need to walk a line between instructing students and encouraging them to learn for themselves; in fact anyone who takes up a new interest or study will confront this almost immediately. So a tour is a good opening gambit for new visitors to an extensive site. There is a map which should lead in to particular artefacts, related items, a timeline and so on. The instructions are clear enough. The clarity of the images is breathtaking.

However, once one actually starts to use it, problems begin. Firstly, everything takes so darn long you don’t know whether it’s doing anything or not.

Secondly, clicking on the map, instinct suggests, should bring up images of artefacts related to that site in the box below – but this doesn’t appear to happen.

Should it? Clicking on the artefacts one believes would bring the opportunity to view them from different perspectives, as is available on, for instance, the Liverpool Museum and Global Museum web sites. This leads into the third problem area – software downloads from the site tend to take place whether or not you need them. This is one of the biggest problems I’ve encountered, not only with this site but with many others where the visual impact of art and artefacts is strongly promoted.

Don’t let the foregoing put you off – perhaps the site is still developing, perhaps the PC was having a bad day, perhaps it’s time a load of extraneous files were cleaned off the hard disk. But it would be interesting to know whether other people have had similar problems, and it would be a pity if the raison d’etre of this site – the ability to create sharp, clear, visually stunning images of Egyptian art and artefacts – were also to prove a serious limitation.

HAPY

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