Smarthistory
What people say about Smarthistory
TWITTERERS
What people are tweeting about Smarthistory
WHAT STUDENTS SAY
The Smarthistory audio was awesome, was never so interested in a history class before, enjoyed it thoroughly from beginning to end.
—Melissa 7/14/09
I just wanted to say a big thank you for all your posts, especially those from the Met. I am a gender studies student at Columbia and amtaking my first Art History course (focusing on women and art) and your audio clips have helped me get a feel for how one might begin to analyze a work. So thank you from an art history novice!
—Lucy 2/27/08
I never have really understood Picasso before now. Thank you for so eloquently describing and SHOWING the artwork along with the real life objects that he is representing. What a great use of technology! We need more art history instructors like you!
—Kristen 1/22/07
WHAT EDUCATORS SAY
[T]hank you for creating such a wonderful resource for teaching art history. I've taught the survey at a variety of institutions over the past 15 years and have been pretty dissatisfied with the traditional way we all learned the subject. I've been using the Smarthistory site quite a bit—the videos really reinforce key ideas and hopefully, cause the students to think about the material in new and accessible ways.
—Dr. Karen H. Brown, 9/19/09
Rating: Exemplary. This is an incredible resource for any art history teacher or any teacher who integrates the study of art into their subject area. Created, in part, as a way to replace expensive textbooks and study art in a non-text based medium, this website has videos, timelines, articles, podcasts, and so much more to increase engagement and understanding. The website is well-organized and full of information to help both students and teachers as they explore the role that art has played throughout history.
—Curriki.org, 7/31/09
This elegent, content rich, easily maneuvered website is a joy to experience and offers much for the beginner art history student and studio art student to explore.
—Dr. Kate Jordahl, from her review for the Community College Open Textbook Project (funded by the Hewlett Foundation) 6/30/09
A+
—Education World Site Review, 5/1/09
SmARThistory is an edited online art history resource to augment or replace traditional art history texts. For a given artwork, smARThistory brings together podcasts, video clips, images, links to other resources, and commentary, providing a rich context for the work.
—2009 Horizon Report (New Media Consortium and EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative)
Ok so if the thought of an "editable" textbook is just plain scary and send you running out of the room, why not have a look at smarthistory? I think Smarthistory makes online textbooks and user centred and contributed media look darn attractive!
—A. Hall, 3/16/09
Smarthistory is a great resource that makes art history and its research accessible to the public. So ditch your bulky text book and take a look, and listen, to what Smarthistory has to offer.
—Torrence Art Museum 8/15/09
Wanted to thank you for your fabulous site. I benefited from it tremendously while studying for my "Art Content Knowledge" Praxis test, (needed for teacher certification). I've been out of college for about 13 years, needed a refresher on Art History and could not have found a better resource.
—H. Chowdhury 8/5/09
Bravo! Thanks for bringing art history into the 21st century. I am definitely going to share this site/as well as your accompanying blog with my students and colleagues....Stokstad and Jansen are great but soooo heavy!
—J. Perez 4/7/08
On behalf of art historians everywhere, thank you for your innovative thinking and application of current technologies in the teaching of art history. I’ve learned so much from your posts and appreciate your willingness to collaborate with other educators.
—Michelle 7/18/07
WHAT THE PRESS SAYS
Huffington Post
In March of this year, the Mindshare Awards, acknowledging innovative websites that support lifelong learning, creativity, professional skills, or social responsibility in 25 categories, were announced. The awards, from eLearners.com, a PR-savvy organization that aims to connect non-traditional college students with online programs and universities - admittedly for profit - targeted 25 categories, such as visual arts, history, writing, food, crafts, and travel. McSweeney's, The Wooster Collective, The Chronicle, Alex Ross: The Rest is Noise, SmartHistory, TED, Think Big, and numerous others were cited.
College Art Association News
Addressing many issues not found in traditional survey books, the videos are intended to demonstrate the process of viewing and thinking critically about a work of art, while creating a more effective learning experience, not unlike a good classroom discussion. November 6, 2009
Voice of America Radio
Smarthistory, VOA Website of the Week, November 6, 2009
Learning Solutions Magazine,
Revolutionizing eLearning: Innovation Through Social Networking Tools, October 12, 2009 (Read excerpt at bottom of page)
Kim Sherrell
By far, the most dramatic advancement on the internet in a long, long, while! Gardner’s (Tansey De LA Croix) ‘Art Through the Ages’ the definitive 1200 page art history text has been subplanted by a web application: Smarthistory. October 5, 2009
Sacramento Bee
Kim Ossi (McClatchy-Tribune) pick Smarthistory as Site of the Week August 19, 2009
PC Magazine
Smarthistory amoung the "Top 100 Websites of 2009"
Philanthropy News Digest
On the Web
Flavorpill
Flavorwire's Daily Dose
Fast Company
Cliff Kuang wonders if Smarthistory is the future of the textbook
YE Magazine (Yale)
Art History for the Next Generation
Utne Reader
Interactive Art History
Fast Company
Here are 12 must-listen-to podcasts for creative knowledgeworkers–those entrepreneurial spirits who start and staff the mostinnovative, fast-growing companies. For the artist: smARThistory. These video and audio podcasts, by arthistory professors Beth Harris and Steven Zucker, place great works ofart in context....
Studio 360 with Kurt Anderson, "Podcasts for the People" by Aimee Rinehart (PublicRadio International and WNYC New York Public Radio)
EXCERPTS
"Revolutionizing E-Learning: Innovation Through Social Networking Tools" by Paul Signorelli, Learning Solutions Magazine:
Smarthistory.org
http://www.smarthistory.org Smarthistory, combined with social networking tools, offers a new way to view e-Learning. Designed to be a dynamic enhancement or substitute for traditional Western art history textbooks, it goes far beyond the traditional model of trying to replicate classroom-based learning online. It provides education when the learner needs it — whether through a formal, organized university-level course or as a resource for those who are standing in museums throughout the world and in search of more information about artwork they are viewing. The site adds value by:
• Creating a strong element of collaboration by showing that contributors are trainer-teacher-learners
• Forming a community of learners through the Smarthistory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog blogs
• Providing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rss RSS feeds for those who want to remain aware of new additions
• Incorporating well-produced Podcasts as an integral part of the learning mix
• Using http://www.flickr.com/about/ Flickr for images
• Supporting extremely easy navigation
Learning through disagreement, emotion, and passion
Founders Beth Harris, who has served as assistant professor of art history for the State University of New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, and Steven Zucker, dean of the school of Graduate Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology, began Smarthistory as a blog in 2005. A partnership with the Portland Art Museum, and a Samuel H. Kress Foundation grant to support the redesign of the Website, have encouraged the continuing development of the project.
“The thing is that most art history texts and even audio are very authoritative-sounding — like you are being told what the work of art means — where we are interested in disagreement and emotion and passion and exploring openly, and sometimes not knowing the answers,” Harris said during an online interview for this article. “We ask for content from artists and art historians and art critics. By the end of this month, you will be able to add comments to the Smarthistory pages, and we welcome that.”
Reaction from users has been strong and positive. Institutions listing Smarthistory as a resource include:
• The Corcoran Gallery and College of Art;
• Education Network Australia;
• The Glasgow School of Art;
• Princeton University;
• UNESCO Bangkok;
• The University of Amsterdam;
• The University of Hong Kong; and
• The University of Melbourne.
The site, in a recent month-long period, was visited over 50,000 times by people in more than 130 countries. It is also listed as required reading for college courses, according to Harris and Zucker. Smarthistory even receives abundant praise from users of http://www.howcast.com/videos/149055-How-To-Use-Twitter Twitter.
“We’ve experimented with annotating images — having students annotate images in Flicker and others tools — and we’ve experimented with students creating http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasts Podcasts,” Harris added. “They really enjoy it, so we’d like to move toward doing more experimental things.”
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.jpg "Neo-Assyrian Art: Human Headed Winged Lion and Bull (Lamassu)")
.jpg "Sutton Hoo Ship Burial")
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.jpg "van der Weyden, Deposition, c. 1435 (Prado, Madrid)")
.jpg "Saint Peter's Basilica")
.jpg "Robert Mills and Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Lincoln Casey, Washington Monument, completed 1884")
.jpg "Newman, Vir Heroicus Sublimis, 1950-51")
.jpg "Klee's Twittering Machine")
