artcylcopedia.com

TITLE AND URL
Artcyclopedia: The Fine Art Search Engine http://www.artcyclopedia.com

AUTHORITY
The site is a .com domain, which is appropriate for an online encyclopedia. John Maylon is the creator of Artcyclopedia. He has been in the software industry for 17 years, has had 9 years of data modeling and online interface design experience, and his article "At the Robot Olympics" was published in the Spring 1992 issue of [|Whole Earth Review] magazine. Elizabeth Maylon helps run the website, and she holds a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts and a master's degree in Museum Studies. Artcyclopedia is a [|Search Engine Watch Select Site], a winner of the [|Britannica] Internet Guide Award, and was named one of the [|MARS Top 25 Free Internet Reference Sites] by the American Library Association in 2001.

INSTRUCTIONAL CONTENT
Artcyclopedia does not have any musical content to speak of since it is totally devoted to visual artwork. Users can access articles and information about artists, pieces of art, museums, and links to other art websites. There are archives of articles dating back to 1999. Information is searchable by artist, art work, museum location, or visitors can browse artists by name, medium, subject, nationality, or gender. One feature that is especially useful for music educators is the list of different art movements available on the home page. Additionally, the site classifies its images by image use permissions, so it is easy for educators to see which images they might use in the classroom. As of September, 2006, visitors to the site are able to click links to full-text articles at Encyclopedia Britannica, free of charge. All the information appears to be reliable and well-documented, and the articles include links to biographies of the authors as well as links to email the authors. All of the authors appear to be educated and qualified. For example, [|Joseph Phelan], one of the site’s main contributors, has a PhD from the University of Toronto. Information on this site is copyrighted for the year 2007, so it appears to be current.

This website addresses the following [|National Standards for Music Education]: 8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts. 9. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.

PURPOSE, VIEWPOINT
This page is meant for sharing and explaining. It is meant to educate and inform about art news and art history. Although contributors choose what information and topics to write about, they are not writing opinionated editorials. There does not seem to be any evident bias. The site includes links to other museums and galleries, as well as articles by other authors. The site is sponsored by [|Dick Blick Art Materials].

REPUTATION
The site links to various other publications museums and galleries including [|ArtWatch International], [|The Artist’s Magazine], and [|The Worldwide Art Gallery]. A [|Google link: search] returned nearly 29,000 results including the [|Chicago Public Library], [|The National Art Education Association], and many collegiate library websites. This site is associated with many reputable sources.

OVERALL EVALUATION
This site is easy to navigate and has an extensive database of articles and works of art. Users can browse artists, time periods, authors and article subjects. It would seem that Artcyclopedia is updated at least every month and has archives of articles dating back 8 years. There is biographical information about the authors of articles as well as links to other outside sources. This seems like a great resource for a solid overview of certain art education topics. Rating: * * * *

REVIEWED BY
Jeremy Gorin 04/07/2006 edited by Erin Grady 04/03/2007